Review: Sia by Josh Grayson

Sia by Josh Grayson, YA, 2013, 3411, Rating=3
Publication Date: 11/20/2013
Source: ARC ebook copy provided by author in exchange for an honest review

When seventeen-year-old Sia wakes up on a park bench, she has no idea who or where she is. Yet after a week of being homeless, she’s reunited with her family. At school, she’s powerful and popular. At home, she’s wealthy beyond her dreams. But she quickly realizes her perfect life is a lie. Her family is falling apart and her friends are snobby, cruel and plastic. Worse yet, she discovers she was the cruelest one. Mortified by her past, she embarks on a journey of redemption and falls for Kyle, the “geek” she once tormented. Yet all the time she wonders if, when her memories return, she’ll become the bully she was before…and if she’ll lose Kyle.

I found myself turning the pages intrigued by the premise of fugue amnesia (DMS term would be Dissociative Fugue).  In this case, seventeen year old, Sia, finds herself waking up hungry and with memory loss.  Apparently not a good combination since she accepted the offer to get into a stranger's car.  Luckily she escaped his advances and befriended a homeless lady who ended up helping her survive the street life.  A week later Sia was reunited with her family and friends and finds out that she lived a luxurious lifestyle.  Plus, discover that she was queen teen of snob and the behind the curtain family troubles may have been the cause of the intense stress that put her over the edge.  This amnesia however had its perk ..it gave her morals.  And it seemed to put wonders in her life and those around her because by book's end things were squared away ..someone went to rehab, someone got the saving job, someone got the boy, etc.  May sound too neat and simplified but looking at the bigger picture, I applaud Sia's resolution to be an upstanding person and claim an identity.  In that sense, this story provided a heartwarming taste of the power of perspective ..."walk a mile in my shoes" kind of viewpoint.  Though I think this undertaking of amnesia may have been better suited for an adult novel because a mature character would be more plausible in such a case and supply a more enriching development.

About Author:

Josh Grayson was born in Mexico, raised in Massachusetts, and now lives in Martinsville, Virginia. It was his move to the South that stirred his imagination and gave him the courage to start writing. During his free time, Josh enjoys reading, jogging, swimming, and watching YouTube videos.
Josh currently works as a medical driver, shuttling people all over Virginia and North Carolina. He has also worked as a machinist, film sales rep, admin. assistant, and telemarketer (he apologizes if he called you).
Find him: Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter | Website