Don’t You Trust Me? by Patrice Kindl

Don’t You Trust Me? is one of those books that completely slipped under my radar – I hadn’t heard anything about it until a copy showed up on my doorstep (a huge thank you to the amazing folks at Simon & Schuster!), and I was incredibly impressed with it.  While the cover left a little bit to be desired, the story on the pages within the book was an interesting one that I couldn’t put down.

“I can’t even imagine how boring it must be to live like regular people, scared all the time.  But living without fear can make your life harder.  If you assume you are untouchable, you can find yourself taking stupid risks.”

Morgan calls herself one of the “cold ones,” those who can go unnoticed and trick people into doing things that they want.  And that’s exactly what she does.  When she is being sent away to a strict boarding school by her parents, she meets another girl at the airport – a girl she looks rather similar too (well, similar enough for the plan she comes up with, anyway). This girl is crying about being sent away from her parents to spend a while with her aunt, uncle, and cousin in another state – all because her parents didn’t like her boyfriend.  Morgan, who doesn’t exactly feel thrilled about the fact that she is being sent away to live at a boarding school, decides to help this girl out while helping herself – she tells her that she would be happy to take her place and pretend to be her  in order to get on the plane while she goes off into the sunset with the boy she loves.  Then Morgan figures she will just run off and start a new life for herself.

Only, when Morgan gets to “her aunt and uncle’s house,” she finds herself loving the lavish life – her own room, any kind of clothing she wants, pretty much anything she desires.  So she decides to stick around.  Sure, it’s tough, and she almost gets caught a few times (after all, she’s supposed to know how to ride a horse, so when she is signed up for riding lessons with her cousin and doesn’t have the slightest clue what’s she doing?), but she pushes through and tries to make the best of it.  Plus she can find a way to pocket some extra change…such as her “uncle’s” poker winnings.  When she starts helping out with some fundraising at school, however – she starts taking more than she gives for the charities and saving up all that money – until she can figure out what to do next.

I haven’t read any other books by Patrice Kindl, so I can’t compare it to any of her other works, but I will say that it has made me want to seek out other books that she has written.  The way this story played out and ended up coming together was brilliant – a girl who takes another girl’s place for her own personal gain, and then she works hard to make sure she can keep the new life she loves so much.  It just sounded right up my alley, and it really was.

Not only was this book a bit of a nail-biter, it also had quite a bit of humor in it, and I found myself laughing out loud a few times while reading.  Morgan’s snarky personality added a lot to the novel.

While at times Morgan’s mean attitude and the way she swindled money away and treated her cousin kind of bothered me, I was absolutely in love with her ruthless personality and brutal honesty.  I will admit, this book had me on the edge of my seat multiple times as I wondered if Morgan was going to get caught for the stunt she was trying to pull.

Morgan’s “cousin” was more or less a bit forgettable, as she seemed to have your usual “good girl” personality, but it was a great contrast against Morgan’s devious ways, so the two of them ended up making a pretty awesome pair.  There also isn’t any romance in this book, so I am definitely giving it points for that.

Don’t You Trust Me? is an amazing end of summer read that you’ll want to squeeze in before heading back to classes, or even a fun beach read.  The length of the book is on the shorter side, but I found that to be a positive, because sometimes when a book goes on for way too long the plot ends up getting watered down and, well…kind of boring.  However, Don’t You Trust Me? stays on top of things and keeps you guessing until the last chapter.