4 out of 5 hearts
Contrary to popular belief, self-published e-books do not all suck. There are some diamonds in the rough. As a part of Young Adult Novel Reader's The Undesirable blog tour, I committed to reading and reviewing this ebook. It took me three days to read it - only because I have to sleep, eat, and work. Is that enough to demonstrate how hooked it had me?
The year is 2072. The U.S. is in the middle of a brutal war against Canada, spurred by the vast depletion of oil. Anne Phillips was elected as the first female president and was assassinated by a radical group led by the Speaker of the House, Maxwell Cooper. Not only was she killed, two-thirds of her cabinet were annihilated, yet Cooper was never tried for his crimes. Instead, he led a political uproar and became the Supreme Leader of the U.S., an evil tyrant and Commander In-Chief of The Party. The Party's primary goal is to spread perfection over the United States by eliminating undesirables: the old, the weak, the ill. Innocent citizens are killed left and right if they do not fit the criteria set forth by The Party. Those who live, live hungry and afraid every second of each day.
Charlotte Walker is 18 years old. She lives in a small town in Ohio with her alcoholic mom. Things are only getting worse. The invisible miracle of love finds it way to Charlotte as it magnetizes her to Faustino Sanchez, a soldier of The Party. Charlotte does not approve of The Party, yet her bond with Faustino grows as they days pass, despite their opposing political views. He is the only thing keeping her sane. But, all good things must come to an end. Charlotte finds out about a dreadful secret, which proves that she is the ultimate undesirable and becomes the most hunted person in the U.S. If she thought her life was bad before, it is really bad now. She must choose between her happiness and the hope of an entire country.
I had a good time reading this. It had a ton of action that had me glued to my ereader. An issue I had, which separated this from a 5 heart to a 4 heart review, was that an important facet of this story was centered around Charlotte's relationships - with her mother, with Faustino, with her environment. These relationships are very superficial, like they were brushed over. I would've liked for Celi to dredge up Charlotte's soul; while I did understand how Charlotte felt, I felt that I was reading about her instead of reading through her. So, I felt she was very detached, even though the emphasis of these relationships and emotions built the plot. One other thing was that there were two instances in which the suspense was given away. In some of the dialogue, upcoming situations were given away and caused the suspense to wither. I would've enjoyed not knowing what was going to happen until it did.
Like I said, I was hooked. Celi is a great story teller and this book proves it. It was like watching an action film through words. It is the first of the Undesirable series. I am soooo ready for book #2!
Buy it and read it!
-Mariela
Published January 28th 2013 by Kindle Direct Publishing
Edition language: English
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