Sync, Ellen Hopkins
Sync, Ellen Hopkins
List: $23.00 | Sale: $16.10
Club: $11.50

Sync

Author: Ellen Hopkins

Narrator: Kirby Heyborne, Alexandra Ryan

Unabridged: 8 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/27/2024


Synopsis

From #1 NYT bestselling author Ellen Hopkins comes a new heartbreaking young adult novel in verse about twins separated in the foster care system and the different paths their lives take.

Seventeen-year-old twins Storm and Lake have always been in perfect sync. They faced the worst a parent could do and survived it together. In the wake of their mother’s rejection, they’ve spent the last five years moving from foster home to foster home—sometimes placed together, sometimes apart.

After being separated from his sister once again, Storm is devastated. He’s the older brother and promised to always take care of Lake. But after a stint in juvie, his newest placement has him feeling almost hopeful. His foster dad is kind, and his girlfriend, Jaidyn, is the first person other than Lake he feels he can trust. But when Jaidyn is sexually assaulted by a violent ex, it pushes Storm over the edge. He retaliates and lands back in lockup—and he fears this time it will be for good. He wishes he could talk to Lake, but he doesn’t know where she is, and he' s now feeling more alone and out of sync than ever before.

Lake, like Storm, has found her own happiness in a relationship with someone new—her fellow foster, Parker. Life with Parker is never boring, but Parker has her own scars. She can be withdrawn and unpredictable, and that can be dangerous, especially after Parker convinces Lake to run away from their Bible-thumping fosters after they are caught in a compromising position. With no money, shelter, or ID, they’re living on the streets. Lake thinks of Storm and his promise to take care of her, and wonders where he could be now.

Told in dual perspectives through unsent letters, at turns heartbreaking and always honest, this latest novel in verse from #1 New York Times bestselling author Ellen Hopkins is a searing and unforgettable account of two teens caught in the teeth of the foster care system, fighting their way out and back to each other.

About The Author

Ellen Hopkins is a poet, a former journalist, and the award-winning author of twenty nonfiction books for young readers, fourteen bestselling young-adult novels, two middle grade novels and four novels for adult readers. SYNC is her fifteenth YA novel-in-verse. After six decades in the west, Ellen recently moved with her extended family and two German shepherds to a lovely log home on five acres of Missouri woods.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Mallory

I’m always fascinated by a story told in poetry, basically just the essential emotion and bits of story without everything else. I did enjoy this book, but it was quite the emotional punch to me. I work in child welfare to see two such great kids struggle in the system (and be kept apart so long) wa......more

Goodreads review by Amina

✰ 2.75 stars ✰ ​“So, no. I’ve never believed in some fairy-tale future. But I’ve always hoped for happiness.” ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎There was a time when I felt that Young Adult books were written simply for its intended age-audience. But, now I don't know which target audience authors are writing......more

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 This book cover is absolutely stunning! I love everything about it Ellen Hopkins always writes about the heaviest topics in such a raw and sensitive way, not holding back one bit. This book is told in verse, and it follows two twins who grew up in the foster care system (those books alwa......more

I typically love books written by Ellen Hopkins but this one, for some reason, felt very flat to me. It had all of the basic framework of her other works, but it just felt almost disengaged. The plot is definitely engaging. It's easy to read through the book in just one sitting because you really wa......more

Goodreads review by Katie

Dual POVs; deep, heartwrenching, and challenging topics; truly felt for the two main characters and went through a rollercoaster of emotions; was fully hooked and never wanted to put it down; a masterfully written, captivating, impactful, and inspiring story with tragedy, hope, trauma, and redemptio......more


Quotes

Praise for Sync:

A 2025 Children’s Book Council Favorites Award
A 2025 Texas TAYSHAS Reading List Pick
An Amazon Best Book of the Month – September 2024

An August 2024 Kobo Best of the Month Selection

“Twins Storm and Lake, 17, have been tossed from one foster home to the next …[Their] stories are told through undelivered letters the two write to each other. Written in true Hopkins style, these verses pack a punch… Their captivating voices make it all the more heartbreaking…This story is highly accessible and will be devoured by realistic fiction readers.”—School Library Journal, starred review

“Ellen Hopkins can convey so much in so few words… If you came for a stirring page-turner that sparks conversation, Sync is definitely a winner.”—Associated Press

“Storm and Lake share Hopkins' signature lucid free-verse narrative, and while the events are heartrending, terrible, and too frequent, their resilience shows, even when they are at their lowest points…Hopkins is a household name in the YA literary world, and her many fans will be eager to get their hands on her latest offering.”—Booklist

"A gritty, powerful novel in verse...poignant, unflinching...the narrative doesn’t shy away from portraying the harsh realities of a broken foster care system. A wrenching and necessary read."—Kirkus Reviews