THE MARK

written by M.R. Bunderson is an Urban Fantasy with a little mystery and a little romance—it’s an enjoyable read, and perfect for the tween in your life. I got this book at the Storymakers’ conference last year, and it’s the only one I bought where I wasn’t able find the author and get her autograph.
The story starts with main character, Tori, using a biology magnifying glass and noticing that the small birthmark on her hand is actually a microscopic design of some sort. Her best friend, Shae, doesn’t see anything more than a brown spot even with the magnifying glass.
The mystery deepens when Tori and Shae double date with Shae’s boyfriend and his best bud, Eric, from out of town. When Eric takes Tori’s hand to help her into the car, she feels a wave of strong emotions that takes her back to a place she doesn’t remember ever being, except she has never felt more at home than at that mysterious place.
They find out that Amanda, a girl who goes to Tori’s high school, can also share feelings and memories with them. There are five kids total, four of them were stolen from their homes as infants or small children and adopted into relatively stable homes in America.
Together, they discover all the things they have in common—extremely good eyesight, the same lavender-colored eyes, they’re unusually healthy and none have ever been sick, and they each have a mark similar to Tori’s. They also discover their various extra talents—Tori can enter and share memories with the others, Eric feels when danger is near and desires to protect.
As they search for clues to their identity, and wonder if they’re a rejected scientific experiment or if they’re children of Atlantis, they meet two people from their homeland. Sebastian is their age, and has the ability to seek out others of their race, and has come to help guide them home. Marco is willing to kill in order to keep them from knowing the truth about their lives, and is willing at all costs to keep them from returning to their homeland.
If there’s a sequel, I’ll definitely want to read it. Kudos go to M.R. Bunderson for a well-written and fun to read novel.