Review: Transparent by Natalie Whipple

Title: Transparent 
Author: Natalie Whipple
Publisher: HarperTeen 

Publication date: May 21, 2013

Genre(s): Young Adult (Fantasy/Paranormal)

Source: Edelweiss

Format: eARC

Pages: 368

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Plenty of teenagers feel invisible. Fiona McClean actually is.

An invisible girl is a priceless weapon. Fiona’s own father has been forcing her to do his dirty work for years—everything from spying on people to stealing cars to breaking into bank vaults.

After sixteen years, Fiona’s had enough. She and her mother flee to a small town, and for the first time in her life, Fiona feels like a normal life is within reach. But Fiona’s father isn’t giving up that easily.

Of course, he should know better than anyone: never underestimate an invisible girl.

Fiona McClean, the main protagonist, is invisible. Fiona McClean's power is used as a weapon by her own father, who is part of this major organization who steal and do crimes. Transparent definitely didn't start off how I wanted expected it to start. It was actually shocking but fun to see how Fiona is actually part of a "mafia" that is led by her own father. All of her family have different powers. Her father is able to make any female totally fall in love with him, and bow to all of his orders. Her brother can fly, her other brother produces smell, and her mother is able to mind transport (is that what it's called?). Anyways, each person have their own unique powers, but some may be awesome while other might be totally useless. When Fiona is asked to go on a mission to murder someone, that's when Fiona wants to escape. Fiona and her mother start their escape.

It was cool to see that her mother and Fiona were taking a stand against the father. He was really frustrating me with how we was basically controlling all the women around him. Fiona's mother was very supportive, and I really liked that she was doing this for her daughter. Fiona, being home schooled all her life, never set foot in high school. Everything was new to her, and what was even worse, was that she was basically "transparent". It's a bit tricky here, because basically people can see what she's wearing, but the just can't see her skin of her hair. Imagine seeing floating clothes, sneakers, and glasses. I guess that was a reason why I also wasn't able to connect very well to Fiona. I found it a bit hard to be able to put a face to her, when she was never described. Also, in school, everyone knows that there are those who have powers, but they are usually just ignored. When Fiona starts, she meets two students who welcome her with open arms. 

I really liked how throughout the book, the mission was for the girls to not get found out by Fiona's father, and also for Fiona to adjust to a normal life. Fiona's younger brother was so awesome, and I totally loved him as a character! The romance in this book was very unexpected, which always makes a story much more interesting! It was shocking for Transparent to be a stand-alone, as most paranormals are trilogies. The ending was really great, and I ended the book with a smile. Overall, Transparent was a very good book with good characters and a great storyline. I really liked Natalie's writing style as well! Will be looking out for future books by her!