Tag: #Dystopian

Tarnished by Kate Jarvik Birch

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Tarnished

Tarnished by Kate Jarvik Birch 

Published: December 1st 2015 by Entangled Teen

Freedom comes at a cost…

Ella was genetically engineered to be the perfect pet—graceful, demure…and kept. In a daring move, she escaped her captivity and took refuge in Canada. But while she can think and act as she pleases, the life of a liberated pet is just as confining as the Congressman’s gilded cage. Her escape triggered a backlash, and now no one’s safe, least
of all the other pets. But she’s trapped, unable to get back
to Penn—the boy she loves—or help the girls who need her.

Back in the United States, pets are turning up dead. With help from a very unexpected source, Ella slips deep into the dangerous black market, posing as a tarnished pet available to buy or sell. If she’s lucky, she’ll be able to rescue Penn and expose the truth about the breeding program. If she fails, Ella will pay not only with her life, but the lives
of everyone she’s tried to save…

I loved the first book in this series. I thought it was unique and well written and I was looking forward to seeing what the author was going to do with this world she had created and how she was going to develop it. However, this book fell completely and utterly flat for me. I was left feeling so disappointed and wanted to punch the characters.

One of my biggest issues with this book was the plot – in a lot of ways, it felt too convenient and predictable. From Missy being right there when Ella wanted to escape the safe house in Canada (with no explanation as to how she got there and why she was there), to the easy way these characters just strolled through the story and the way that Ella’s plan to get Penn just fell into place without any issues whatsoever. The plot really suffered in this book, and I struggled to pick the book up throughout.

I loved the unique idea of people (namely women) being owned as Pets. Having said that, I was expecting this to be more developed in book 2. We had gotten a pretty good look at the life of Pets and what they’re expected to do, but we have no idea how America got to the point of allowing this kind of legislation through. The world needed to be developed more to make it plausible. The America that was presented to us was very much like a modern day America…they had just allowed people to becomePets (slaves). What happened to the constitution, the people who uphold the law, the supreme courts and everything else that would stop this kind of bill from being passed? Especially genetically engineering people to be pets – where are the ethics? Scientific ethics etc. Nothing about this was written in a plausible way.

Another major issue I had with this book was Ella. She was naive to the point of being a 10 year old child and a lot of her actions were extremely stupid. I physically couldn’t get on board with her actions because they all felt extremely stupid and I didn’t agree with her reasoning. The love between Penn and Ella is really too insta lovey for me, so using love as the reason to return and get him (even after everything he sacrificed to make sure she got OUT of America) just… I wanted to bang my head against the wall, ok? I struggled. Her naivety about EVERYTHING else throughout the whole book, despite everything she had been through in book one and the things she had seen, also left me struggling to pick up the book if I had put it down.

Missy was another aspect of this book that I struggled with, but I did sort of like her. She was constantly sacrificing herself for Ella and protecting her. She was definitely a strong character – but her actions made no sense to me. She openly admitted to not liking Ella in the first book. She suffered and went through a lot to get to Canada and then she just decides to help out Ella (eve after miraculously being there with no explanation). Nothing she did was explained and I honestly don’t know why she did what she did throughout the book.

All in all, this book suffered severely with second book syndrome. The plot was underdeveloped and all too convenient, the world building itself was completely lacking anything that would make it plausible and the characters were naive to the point of me wanting to bang my head off the wall. I gave this book 1.5/5 stars (half star for Missy).

 

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

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Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

Published: July 1st 2014 by Entangled Teen

Perfection comes at a price.

As soon as the government passed legislation allowing humans to be genetically engineered and sold as pets, the rich and powerful rushed to own beautiful girls like Ella. Trained from birth to be graceful, demure, and above all, perfect, these “family companions” enter their masters’ homes prepared to live a life of idle luxury.

Ella is happy with her new role as playmate for a congressman’s bubbly young daughter, but she doesn’t expect Penn, the congressman’s handsome and rebellious son. He’s the only person who sees beyond the perfect exterior to the girl within. Falling for him goes against every rule she knows… and the freedom she finds with him is intoxicating.

But when Ella is kidnapped and thrust into the dark underworld lurking beneath her pampered life, she’s faced with an unthinkable choice. Because the only thing more dangerous than staying with Penn’s family is leaving… and if she’s unsuccessful, she’ll face a fate far worse than death.

For fans of Kiera Cass’ Selection series and Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden series, Perfected is a chilling look at what it means to be human, and a stunning celebration of the power of love to set us free, wrapped in a glamorous—and dangerous—bow.

I have had this on my TBR for AGES! I have also had it on my kindle for the longest time. So, when I was offered a place on the blog tour for the third book (which releases in a few days), I thought it would be a great time to FINALLY pick this series up. I actually really enjoyed this book, and I am totally bummed at myself for not picking it up sooner!

I liked the concept of this book. The idea of certain humans being raised to be ‘pets’ (and those people being exclusively women) was unique. It was very reflective of society today in the way in which they have expectations of how they are to act and present themselves and what is expected of them b their ‘owners’ – they were expected to be thin, beautiful, have shiny hair, hold themselves in a certain way, have multiple talents, etc.But of course they weren’t allowed to speak for themselves. It is very reflective of the way in which some parts of society still see women and I liked the fact that it was compared to slavery in its own way (which it basically was).

I also liked the fact that the author didn’t shy away from using language that really drove home the fact that these people were considered pets and, therefore, property. She repeatedly used phrases such as ‘pets’, ‘Kennel’, ‘Trained’ etc. It made me extremely uncomfortable in places that humans were considered this way, and I liked the fact that it made me stop and consider it.

What I also like about this book was the fact that a lot of people in the society were vehemently against the idea of keeping humans as pets, despite the fact that the MC didn’t really understand that she was a slave in her own right. Whilst a lot of dystopian books focus on MC’s who are a part of the rebellion to change the society they are in, this book wasn’t like that. It took a lot of convincing from people outside of the MC’s usual life, along with other aspects, for her to really understand what was going on.

This book, however, was a little predictable – much like a to of the books written around this time period,I think. I had already guessed from relatively early on why the previous girl had been sent away and I was expecting the ending to happen in the way in which it did. I also felt like the ending was a little too easy (Don’t want to give away spoilers) and I would have liked to have seem more of a challenge for the characters to face.

I would have also liked to have seen the characters be fleshed out a little more. I felt that they were a little superficial and I struggled to really connect with them. The relationship between Penn and Ella was eye roll worthy because of the insta love and I felt like that could have been developed much better to be a slow burn, as opposed to what it was.

All in all, despite a couple of issues, I enjoyed this book. I liked the pacing of it and the plot overall and the way in which it reflected aspects of today’s society. I gave this book 4/5 stars.

 

Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

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Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Published: March 13th 2018 by Knopf Books for Young Readers

Kady, Ezra, Hanna, and Nik narrowly escaped with their lives from the attacks on Heimdall station and now find themselves crammed with 2,000 refugees on the container ship, Mao. With the jump station destroyed and their resources scarce, the only option is to return to Kerenza—but who knows what they’ll find seven months after the invasion?

Meanwhile, Kady’s cousin, Asha, survived the initial BeiTech assault and has joined Kerenza’s ragtag underground resistance. When Rhys—an old flame from Asha’s past—reappears on Kerenza, the two find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict.

With time running out, a final battle will be waged on land and in space, heroes will fall, and hearts will be broken.

I’m not going to lie, I don’t even know where to start with this review. Obsidio is a book that I had on pre order since last year May – so you can imagine my reaction when this baby FINALLY reached my door! Words cannot even describe. I loved this instalment so much and I am feeling bittersweet about it because it is the final book in the series. I am no ready to let go of this world and the characters and, honestly, I call for a spin off. Like… I need more!

Like with Illuminae and Gemina, I loved the layout of this book! It is so unique from everything else out there and it was easy to follow, despite the layout. It was fun, eye catching and is a huge reason that I fell in love with this book. The book itself is HUGE, and the layout really helps to cut through that amount of pages and really makes it a quick read, despite the size (or maybe I was just too obsessed?)

I also loved the fact that the characters from the previous book started to come together in this one, whilst also introducing us to new characters at the same time. The story of each and every one of these characters began to weave together as they got to know each other and become a part of their every day lives. All of the previous characters, along with the new characters, retained their unique personalities, so it was easy to see who’s perspective we were reading from. Each and every single character brought something new to the story and they all had their own purposes throughout – even as things and circumstances changed.

I loved Aidan’s character. The authors managed to weave him into an extremely complex character (considering the fact that he’s AI). He’s lovable in his own way, but then commits really horrific actions that has the readers struggling to deal with. His character is really morally grey, and will have the readers questioning their own morality. He was programmed to think and act logically, and save the most amount of people – so while his actions were horrific, they saved the most amount of people… I love the fact that readers are struggling to really decide if he is evil or not, a protagonist or an antagonist and I loved the fact that he brought something extremely complex to the story that could generate a debate for both good and evil.

The plot, like the first two book, was just fantastic. It was full of twists and turns that I never even saw coming; character deaths that I wasn’t expecting(don’t worry, no spoilers) and an ending that I really just reeled at. This book was a rollercoaster from beginning to end and I was just hooked the whole way throughout – I finished in less than a day, which had my husband really questioning how I managed to read that many pages in such a short amount of time.

This book even had me ugly (and I mean UGLY) sobbing in a corner… TWICE! I’m not going to mention what happened, either time, but it broke me… and then broke me all over again for completely different reasons and I really struggled to deal. I love the fact that the authors managed to suck me in completely and really had me invested in the plot and the characters to that extent.

Another thing I found relatively amusing (and actually pretty clever) was the way in which the author paid homage to OTHER AUTHORS throughout. Whether it was Claire LeGrand, Danielle Paige, Alex London amongst others, I thought it clever how they wove the names into the story, along with something that linked to their respective book series throughout. I had fun picking them out as I read.

All in all, I absolutely LOVED this instalment! I’m still up for a spin off after the ending and… I just want more from these characters and this world. I am not ready to say goodbye just yet – if ever! I gave this book 5/5 stars.

Goodreads Monday and Cover Reveal!

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Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme hosted here. To participate, choose a random book from your TBR and show it off! Don’t forget to link back here and feel free to add your link to the comments so that others can see what you picked! 

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great weekend – and happy (belated) easter to all those who celebrate! It’s still ice cold over here and it keeps snowing…so I am kind of hoping the weather gets over that some time soon.

Anyway, I come to you with a cover reveal this week of a book that I am looking forward to picking up! The cover is absolutely beautiful as well! I will note, there was a short synopsis available for people who signed up to do the cover reveal, but I’m not sure if it’s the final synopsis or not, so I won’t be sharing it!

Star-Crossed-500px (1)

Star-Crossed by Pintip Dunn

Expected Publication: October 2nd 2018 by Entangled Teen

Look at how pretty it is! As mentioned, there was a short synopsis, but it wasn’t included in the email – I will update it if I get a synopsis! 😀

Pre Order:

Amazon/iBooks/B&N

About the author:

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Pintip Dunn is a New York Times bestselling author of YA fiction. She graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She received her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL. Pintip’s debut novel, FORGET TOMORROW, won the RWA RITA® for Best First Book. In addition, it is a finalist for the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire, the Japanese Sakura Medal, and the MASL Truman Award. THE DARKEST LIE was nominated for a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award. Her other books include REMEMBER YESTERDAY, the novella BEFORE TOMORROW, and GIRL ON THE VERGE. She lives with her husband and children in Maryland. You can learn more about Pintip and her books at http://www.pintipdunn.com

March Wrap Up

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Hey guys! I hope you all had a great month. I have definitely had an amazing month, and when I look back through it, I feel like March has been extremely long. In amongst everything I managed to read, I also managed to binge watch Vampire Diaries up until about episode 8 in season 5. So… I’ve definitely gotten through a lot this month!

Read:

Started:

Bought/Acquired:

ARCs/Review Copies:

Beta:

  • Rock – A – Bye Baby by LRW Lee

Goodreads Monday:

 

Other posts:

Book of the Month:

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The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Published: January 2nd 2018 by LBBFYR

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

And Cardan is even more beautiful than the rest. I hate him more than all the others. I hate him so much that sometimes when I look at him, I can hardly breathe.

Jude was seven years old when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.

To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.

In doing so, she becomes embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, discovering her own capacity for bloodshed. But as civil war threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.

I hope you all had an amazing month like I did! Feel free to add your links to the comments so I can check them out!

Goodreads Monday

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Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme hosted here. To participate, choose a random book from your TBR and show it off. Don’t forget to link back here and feel free to add your links in the comments so that others can see what you picked.

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great weekend – I’m still waiting for the weather to actually decide what its wanting to do…hopefully get warmer!

This weeks pick for me is a book that I have been extremely excited about since it was announced. I loved the originally trilogy and I am so glad that the author decided to carry one with the series.

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Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi

Published: March 6th 2018 by Harper Collins

Juliette Ferrars thought she’d won. She took over Sector 45, was named the new Supreme Commander, and now has Warner by her side. But she’s still the girl with the ability to kill with a single touch—and now she’s got the whole world in the palm of her hand. When tragedy hits, who will she become? Will she be able to control the power she wields and use it for good?

Society of Wishes by Elise Kova and Lynn Larsh

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SOW

Society of Wishes by Elise Kova and Lynn Larsh

Published: January 29th 2018 by Silver Wing Press

First book in the Wish Quartet, a new-adult, urban fantasy series set in a near-future alternate reality

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR.

Josephina Espinosa makes her living as a hacker-for-hire in the Lone Star Republic, a remnant of the fractured U.S.A. That is, until the day she and her best friend are gunned down in a government raid.

With her dying breath, Jo uses magical lore passed down from her grandmother to summon a wish-granter. Her wish? To save her friend’s life. Except wishes have costs, and for Jo, the price is the erasure of her entire mortal existence.

Now, as the most recent addition to the mysterious Society of Wishes, Jo must form a new “life” alongside the seven other members, one of which being her savior himself. Living as an occupant of the Society’s lavish mansion should be quite the perk, but while it is furnished with everything its inhabitants could possibly need, it lacks one thing—freedom.

Her otherworldly identity crisis takes a backseat, however, when Jo learns that the friend she sacrificed everything for is headed down the same path to ruin. Jumping in head-first, Jo uses her newfound magical abilities to protect him, only to realize that the ripples of her actions have far-reaching consequences. When the Society’s aloof leader Snow decides to give her a taste of his own ancient magic, Jo discovers that there are threads woven into the tapestry of her new reality that reach far beyond the wishes she is now required to grant. Ones that, if tugged on, could mean the unraveling of the world itself.

NOTE: I received an ARC copy of this book from the authors in return for an honest review. This in no wan influences my opinion.

I ended up reading this a little later than I originally intended because of the huge slump I have been in, I really wanted to give this book a fair shot, so decided to read it when I was out of it, and I am so glad I did! I absolutely loved this book and I cannot wait for the next instalment to this series!

I’m going to start with the opening line to this story, and not even the entire line – “It was hotter than Satan’s tit outside…” – I was not expecting an opening like this and I just burst out laughing. I always think its a great sign when the opening line is one that is interesting/funny because it definitely hooked me into the story and it showed promise for the rest of the book. The opening scenes in general were extremely interesting and had enough information as to what was going on to keep the reader in the know, but still held enough mystery to make me want to know what was going to happen next and to know why they were doing what they were doing. The beginning hooked me into the story and I stayed hooked throughout.

I loved the characters in this book! Each and every character is unique and had their own voices. and they all brought something to the story that added to it in a unique way. I really felt like I could relate to Jo (the MC) and I was invested in her story and what was going to happen next, and how she was going to handle with the different situations that she was put into. She was an extremely likeable character, despite some of her character flaws, which made me want to go back to the book when I was doing something else.

What I also enjoyed about these characters was the fact that they each retained something from their own time period (because they all come from different periods in time – it is clear in the book why when you read it), which helped to keep the characters’ voices unique. While we only got snippets of each an every characters’ pasts (aside from Wayne’s), it was nice to see the authors keeping things in keeping with the character’s times, despite the fact that a lot of them are really really old. The world has completely changed since their timelines and it was a unique twist to have them keeping up with the new, as well as keeping the old.

As mentioned above, we did get to see more of Wayne’s history because of the connection he had with Jo. Whilst I don’t want to give too much away, I thought it was a clever use and twist of actual historical events that made up Wayne’s past and the reasoning behind why history went down the way in which it did. I’d be interested to know if they use this technique with other characters’ pasts, and if yes, how they will twist and turn history.

Whilst I enjoyed the connection that Jo and Wayne shared and everything that went down between them (more on that if you read the book), I definitely gravitated toward Snow as the main love interested (which is currently not a ship… yet). I gravitated toward his character anyway because he is so mysterious and his past is not at all clear, but I felt more of a pull toward him when it became clear that he and Jo are somehow connected. I am definitely looking forward to seeing how they are connected in future books and what exactly his deal is. I definitely feel more of a pull toward his character and I really really want to get to know him more.

The world building was done extremely well in this book as well. It was easy to visualise what the authors wanted us to see, especially as the rules of magic became clearer. I liked the fact that magic had certain rules and regulations that needed to be followed, and when they weren’t, something happened (don’t want to go into too much detail about what). It was also a fun twist on the concept of magic that it wasn’t always helpful in the way that we know magic to be. Some things were actually made harder, this is something you don’t normally expect from magic.

I constantly wanted to know what was going to happen next. Between he mystery surrounding the Society and the characters, rules regulations etc. To what Jo was planning to do and how she did it – I constantly felt the need to pick the book back up when I put it down. I definitely gravitated toward the characters and I cannot wait to find out more about them and their pasts (One thing I didn’t mention is that Pan reminded me of a gender reversed Peter Pan… but that might just be me and my imagination). I absolutely cannot wait for the next instalment and gave this book 5/5 stars.

Find Me Here:

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Goodreads Monday

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Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme hosted here. To participate, choose a random book from your TBR and show it off! Don’t forget to link back here and feel free to add your links to the comments so that others can see what you picked!

Hey everyone! As usual, I hope you had a good weekend. It was extremely sunny over here (but also freezing) so the weekend was pretty good!

This weeks pick for me is a book that I read a couple of years back, and one that I want to re read because I never actually finished the series off! I really enjoyed the first book from what I can remember, so I don’t really know why I didn’t pick up book 2 at the time.

Wither

Wither by Lauren DeStefano

Published: March 22nd 2011 by Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

Amazon: Wither

By age sixteen, Rhine Ellery has four years left to live. She can thank modern science for this genetic time bomb. A botched effort to create a perfect race has left all males with a lifespan of 25 years, and females with a lifespan of 20 years. Geneticists are seeking a miracle antidote to restore the human race, desperate orphans crowd the population, crime and poverty have skyrocketed, and young girls are being kidnapped and sold as polygamous brides to bear more children.

When Rhine is kidnapped and sold as a bride, she vows to do all she can to escape. Her husband, Linden, is hopelessly in love with her, and Rhine can’t bring herself to hate him as much as she’d like to. He opens her to a magical world of wealth and illusion she never thought existed, and it almost makes it possible to ignore the clock ticking away her short life. But Rhine quickly learns that not everything in her new husband’s strange world is what it seems. Her father-in-law, an eccentric doctor bent on finding the antidote, is hoarding corpses in the basement. Her fellow sister wives are to be trusted one day and feared the next, and Rhine is desperate to communicate to her twin brother that she is safe and alive. Will Rhine be able to escape–before her time runs out?

Together with one of Linden’s servants, Gabriel, Rhine attempts to escape just before her seventeenth birthday. But in a world that continues to spiral into anarchy, is there any hope for freedom?

Find Me Here:

Instagram/Twitter/Goodreads/Litsy @ Lauren’s Page Turners

Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

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Perfect Ruin by Lauren DeStefano

Published: March 10th 2015 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Amazon: Perfect Ruin (The Internment Chronicles, Band 1)

On the floating city, you can be anything you dream – a novelist or a singer, a florist or a factory worker… Your life is yours to embrace or to squander. There’s only one rule: you don’t approach THE EDGE. If you do, it’s already over.

Morgan Stockhour knows getting too close to the edge can lead to madness. Even though her older brother, Lex, was a Jumper, Morgan vows never to end up like him. There’s too much for her at home: her parents, best friend Pen, and her betrothed, Basil. Her life is ordinary and safe, even if she sometimes does wonder about the ground and why it’s forbidden.

Then a murder, the first in a generation, rocks the city. With whispers swirling and fear on the wind, Morgan can no longer stop herself from investigating, especially once she meets Judas. Betrothed to the victim, Judas is being blamed for the murder, but Morgan is convinced of his innocence. Secrets lay at the heart, but nothing can prepare Morgan for what she will find—or whom she will lose.

I added this to my TBR a while back (I think some time after I read Wither, which was a few years back). I really enjoyed Wither and I was definitely excited to check out more of this author’s work. However, this book fell flat for me and I ended up DNfing it about half way through.

Whilst the plot itself had a lot of potential, I feel like the execution of it left a lot to be desired. I often found myself putting the book down to go an do something else and I really had to force myself to sit and read it for the amount of time that I did. The plot itself was relatively repetitive, as well as the writing, and I didn’t feel like it was going anywhere in particular.

Another issue I had with this book was the fact that I didn’t feel any connection with the characters themselves and, so, I didn’t really care what happened to them or what was going to happen to them throughout the series. I struggled to pick this book back up when I put it down because I didn’t feel that connection that I feel is necessary for a reader to have in order to enjoy the book.

I feel like the world building lacked a little as well. I liked the idea of the floating city and the edge and what could happen to you if you get to close to the edge etc. but I don’t feel like it was executed well. We weren’t given enough information as to why the city is floating and why the things that happened to the people who got too close to the edge happened. I feel like I would have maybe enjoyed this book a little more had the world building been there and the explanations as to why certain things were the way they were.

All in all, whilst I feel like this book had a lot of potential, it definitely fell short for me and my expectations. I found this book relatively boring and the world building was lacking. I gave this book 1/5 stars

Goodreads Monday

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Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme hosted here. To participate, choose a random book from your TBR and show it off! Don’t forget to link back here and link up to the inlinkz below so that others can see what you picked. 

Hey guys! I hope you all had a great weekend! 🙂 I just want to start out by wishing the most amazing husband in the world a happy birthday! :-*

Anyway, my pick for this week is a book mid series that I am extremely excited about picking up because I absolutely loved the first two books!

the song rising

The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon

Published: March 7th 2017 by Bloomsbury USA

The hotly anticipated third book in the bestselling Bone Season series – a ground-breaking, dystopian fantasy of extraordinary imagination

Following a bloody battle against foes on every side, Paige Mahoney has risen to the dangerous position of Underqueen, ruling over London’s criminal population.

But, having turned her back on Jaxon Hall and with vengeful enemies still at large, the task of stabilising the fractured underworld has never seemed so challenging.

Little does Paige know that her reign may be cut short by the introduction of Senshield, a deadly technology that spells doom for the clairvoyant community and the world as they know it…