Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted at Breaking the Spine

Hey guys! So, I literally just dropped coffee all over my Mac… Which I guess isn’t really a very good combination! Thankfully, Mac still works and I managed to get all the off of it! *Phew* Anyway… This weeks pick for me is a book that is pretty relevant to today’s society in the sense that everyone does everything over technology! It doesn’t matter what it is, technology is always at play somehow, and it can always bite us back!

Antisocial by Jillian Blake

Expected Publication: May 16th 2017 by Delacorte Press

Senior spring at Alexandria Prep was supposed to be for sleeping through class and partying with friends. But for Anna Soler, it’s going to be a lonely road. She’s just been dumped by her gorgeous basketball star boyfriend—with no explanation. Anna’s closest friends, the real ones she abandoned while dating him, are ignoring her. The endearing boy she’s always had a complicated friendship with is almost too sympathetic.

But suddenly Anna isn’t the only one whose life has been upended. Someone is determined to knock the kings and queens of the school off their thrones: one by one, their phones get hacked and their personal messages and photos are leaked. At first it’s funny—people love watching the dirty private lives of those they envy become all too public. 

Then the hacks escalate. Dark secrets are exposed, and lives are shattered. Chaos erupts at school. As Anna tries to save those she cares about most and to protect her own secrets, she begins to understand the reality of our always-connected lives: 

Sometimes we share too much.

This kind of reminds me of the group Anonymous… I definitely look forward to reading it and the fact that it is so true to society today!

What books are you guys waiting for? Feel free to leave links and comments and I will check them all out!

The Program by Suzanne Young

In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.

Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.

Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them. (Goodreads)

I ended up DNFing this book at 13%. I was just so bored!! I feel like the hype monster has gone to his work and he has ruined yet another book for me.The premise of this book was really good and I was really looking forward to reading it – but it just wasn’t my thing.

I know that this book was supposed to be about depression in a way – depression has taken hold of the teenage population and has become an epidemic; but the characters came across as whiny and irritating and I just couldn’t take it! I hate why people in real life, let alone them ending up in my books!

There also seems to be very little world building and there isn’t really an explanation as to why depression has become an epidemic. It even says in the beginning of the book that no one knows what caused the epidemic in the first place.Although it is supposed to be in the near future (which is entirely possible) there is no set year or even a round about year.

Can I just mention how creepy the program really looks. These depressed teenagers go in with all their memories and not really of their own free volition, but then they come out with no real memory of who they are/were or the people that they knew. They are put into rehab facilities, so to speak, after they come out and are not placed back into society (even though the general population are told that they are). It is relatively creepy, if you think about it!

Having read other reviews of this book, this is very much what I like to call a marmite book. The reader is either going to love it or hate it. There isn’t that much in between. This book wasn’t really for me, which is a shame because the premise looked really promising. I ended up giving this book 1/5 stars.

I would still recommend this book to other people  – just because it isn’t my thing doesn’t mean to say it won’t be yours!