4.5 Stars
HACKING?!?! THIS IS SO AN ASHLEY BOOK!!
I seek out hacking/computer/nerd/programmer books like a moth to the flame. For me, it's like a bonding session with my fellow epic computer nerds. It's awesome. And Find Me was just like that, but it also had a super cool mystery element to it!
I've read a few reviews where people said they "saw the twist coming". I have to admit, I didn't. Maybe it's because I was in denial (see spoiler at the end).. but either way, I DID. NOT. SEE. IT. COMING! :| Throughout the whole book we know there's an evil douchebag predator out there preying on young girls. Or at least one young girl, and eying a second one. Although Wick didn't want to be involved, the situation has kind of been thrust into her lap so she takes it on and hunts for the psycho murderer, putting her hacking skills to good use!
Find Me has so many different elements to it, and when you put them together, you truly get an awesome book! We have the hacking, an intense thriller/mystery element, and a romance. I love how they all came together to form a really different book that stands out from so many of the others I've read. And although the romance certainly wasn't the focus of the story, I thought it complimented it nicely. It wasn't too overpowering, but it was still pretty awesome. ;) There were a few hot, swoony moments in there!
But above all, I like how Find Me kept me guessing and doubting. I enjoyed trying to figure everything out so much, that I found myself wishing the book would never end. I wanted to sit there longer and struggle over the pieces, trying to put them together. And some of my favourite parts were the quotes from Tessa's diary at the beginning of each chapter. They were a little morbid and creepy, but they were one of the things I tried to use to piece together who the creepy rapist guy was! I felt like I was the one solving the puzzle (and failing O_O).
Now I do have a few things to say about the ending... I'm not sure I like how it ended. It turns out that her foster father, Todd, was the bad guy. This actually kind of upset me. I wanted a villain that I could really HATE and despise with all the force of my being. But when it turned out it was Todd, I was just devastated. Because before that point, he had been a really nice guy and played the "concerned parent" role really well. He acted like he enjoyed having Wick as his foster-daughter, and he always stood up for her. It made me want Wick to stop doubting her foster parents and believe that they could be good, supporting people—which they always acted like. But when it turned out Todd was the bad guy.. it's like that hope was gone. Wick was always so skeptical of her foster parents, and it's like she got to says "I told you so" to me, because in my head I was constantly yelling at her to trust them. I'm just bummed that the bad guy ended up being a character I liked. I wanted it to be one I hated (like Tessa's dad, even though he was the "too obvious to be true" choice).
I will mention that as a complete nerd, I do have a tendency to severely nit-pick at computer/technology books. If I read about computer/hacking things that aren't that realistic/feasible, they scream at me. I did find one thing that irked me, but I think only finding one thing is pretty darn good. :P
I've embedded Trojans in Flickr accounts, YouTube links, and now, a simple email.
Embedding Trojans in e-mails is perfectly possible (and very common). But in Flickr accounts and YouTube links?? That's not happening. ONCE in a blue moon, for about 5 seconds, there might be a vulnerability on those sites.. but it's the kind of thing that happens so rarely, and when it does happen, they notice and patch it in like 2 seconds. It's certainly not something that someone could be doing frequently!
But when I pointed that out to Romily (actually she saw me telling someone else about it, which was slightly embarrassing because I felt bad!) she took it like a champ! Seriously, that girl pretty much rocks.
Overall, I loved this book! Find Me definitely kept me on the edge of my chair! It was a very hard book to put down, and it drew me in effortlessly! Plus the hacking stuff was AAAAWESOME!