When twelve-year-old Ruth Quayle uses a face-recognition app to search for images of herself online, she finds plenty of photos of herself, as she expected. Then she stumbles across a couple images of a complete stranger—yet one that resembles Ruth almost identically. Ruth soon comes to the conclusion that the stranger, Ruby, is her identical twin!

Ruth and Ruby communicate over the Internet, learning more about each other, themselves, and their families. They share many differences and similarities—Ruth is an extroverted American adoptee, while Ruby is a shy English girl living with her single mother.

Yet both carry lives bursting with family, friends, and blooming romances. Together, Ruth and Ruby investigate the truth about their birth and separation, all the while balancing their busy lives and learning how to navigate them.

Ruth and Ruby’s story turned out to be one of my favorites! Throughout the massively complicated shift in Ruth s and Ruby s lives, they are still only twelve-year-olds learning to deal with the small changes in their lives that come with growing up.

I absolutely loved that this novel was written only in emails, handwritten letters, Tumblr entries, and film scripts. The way the characters wrote their emails and letters really helped embody their personalities, and this format was such a unique, inventive, and expressive way to write a novel.

Finding Ruby Starling by Karen Rivers is a creatively crafted story of family, friendship, and love. I truly enjoyed it so much, and I found myself rereading certain scenes over and over after I had finished the book. I’d definitely recommend Finding Ruby Starling! Happy reading!

-Lam T.

Finding Ruby Starling by Karen Rivers is available for checkout from the Mission Viejo Library.