DupliKate by Cherry Cheva

Title: DupliKate

Author: Cherry Cheva

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 256

Reviewed by: Sabrina

Getting into Yale has been Kate Larson’s dream for years—and being overworked and under-rested is the price of admission. But when she opens her eyes after falling asleep on her keyboard one night, she comes face-to-face with, well, herself.

Meet Kate’s computer-generated twin. Kate doesn’t know why she’s here or how to put her back where she belongs, but she’s real. And she’s the last thing Kate has time to deal with right now. Unless. . .could having a double be the answer to Kate’s prayers?

My Thoughts

Kate is seriously stressed out. With an important essay to write and college coming up, she gets little sleep at night. One day, while on her computer, she revisits on an old game called Simulife, a game she played years ago. When nothing happens and her computer freezes, she shrugs it off and goes to sleep. The next day, Kate wakes up and comes face-to-face with...Kate?

Rina is the Simulife version of Kate. After years of being neglected in an empty old virtual house, she's suddenly sucked out of the game and into real life. She's ecstatic and tries to make the most out her visit, despite the fact she doesn't know how to act in this world.

Kate, although reluctant to let Rina out, sees her as the answer to her problems. With Rina's help, she checks off items of her huge to-do-list one by one. But as Rina spends more time in the real world, she slowly takes over Kate's life. Her old friend, Jake, is the only one who realizes something is up.

Now Kate has to stop Rina and put her back before it's too late. During her mission, she must discover what she really wants and who she really loves.

This is one of those books that I found because I was bored and expected almost nothing out of it. It's also one of those books where I am completely wrong about my assumptions.

DupliKate is a book that keeps you laughing and eye rolling 'til the end (Cherry Cheva is one of the writers of Family Guy after all). I wish that there was more of a romance between Kate and Jake and more of a reason why Kate likes Jake. This book is more comedy than romance. I also wish that I could have better known the other characters better.

(This might be a bit of a spoiler) I was kind of shocked that Rina has an evil side to her. I pictured her as someone who was nice and ignorant of the ways of the world; a person who couldn't hurt a fly.