Select

(Hardback)

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Coming from a race of highly-evolved humans, Julia Jaynes has the perfect life. The perfect family. The perfect destiny. But there's something rotten beneath the surface--dangerous secrets her father is keeping; abilities she was never meant to have; and an elite society of people determined to keep their talents hidden and who care nothing for the rest of humanity. So when Julia accidentally disrupts the Jaynes' delicate anonymity, she's banished to the one place meant to make her feel inferior- public high school. Julia's goal is to lay low and blend in. Then she meets him--John Ford, tennis prodigy, all-around good guy. When Julia discovers a knack for reading his mind, and also manipulating his life, school suddenly becomes a temporary escape from the cold grip of her manipulative father. But as Julia's powers over John grow, so do her feelings. For the first time in her life, Julia begins to develop a sense of self, to question her restrictive upbringing and her family prejudices. She must decide- can a perfect love be worth more than a perfect life

Reviews

Julia Jaynes has always known she's special, just as she's always known she has to hide her special talents and abilities; she's a member of a select community of just a handful of families: human in many respects while so much more in others, they live among ordinary people but hold themselves apart. Her father has made it very clear that to be accepted into their clan, she must maintain a low profile, keep her abilities under wraps, and never, under any circumstances, mingle with an outsider but stay only with her own handful of beautiful young peers. Her own glossy, well-groomed white family, Julia notes, looks "like they'd externalized being members of the One Percent." She wants to do as he asks, to be included in the tribe when they relocate to their next place, but she knows that she's different. And when a chance meeting with a handsome, young outsider with tan skin and "almond-shaped eyes" shows her a new and very possibly unique ability, she's faced with a choice: to blend in and be accepted or to live a very singular life out on her own. Weisenberg frames teen issues in an eerie, unusual environment where nothing is quite as simple as it seems. Julia narrates, slowly revealing the rules of her peculiar community in a first-person narration that relies on concept rather than style to turn the pages. Readers who stay with Julia have a mighty twist at the end to look forward to
Kirkus Reviews

Julia is rich, talented, smart, and almost immortal, part of a private ruling class of superhumans hiding in plain sight. Shes also in big trouble. At a gathering gone awry, her powers overwhelm her, exposing her to the suspicious human world, and as punishment, her father sentences her to life in a human high school. Its there that shes drawn to star tennis jock John, who has secrets shes determined to uncover. Likewise, John is bound and determined to find out her secrets, especially when shes not trying too hard to conceal her own truth. Away from her friends and family, among the outsiders, Julia has to decide whats important to her, and how to go on when the most important people in your life have left you. Debut author Weisenberg is off to an ambitious start, mixing mystery with a heaping dose ofscience fiction. While her premise is intriguing, its slow to start, and this does drag a little, making it best for larger collections.
Booklist

What begins as a seemingly average addition to the literary world of super humans with extraordinary powers turns quickly into a page-turning adventure to determine if the leader of the Jaynes family is clever enough to save the Puras from extinction.People of the Puras lineage are smarter, prettier, more athletic, and take seriously the need to "fit in" in order to not raise attention to their differences.Julia Jaynes has lived her whole life repressing her incredible skills while living in her little sister's shadow in a seemingly perfect family.One heroic act thrusts the spotlight upon Julia's exceptional people and she is exiled to live among ordinary teenagers.This new life forces her to examine the fabric of her family, question her father's secrets, and to decide where she truly belongs.
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Author Bio

Marit Weisenberg has a master's degree from UCLA in Cinema and Media Studies and worked as a film and television executive for a number of years in Los Angeles. She currently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and two daughters. Select is Marit's debut novel for young adult readers.