Barb Han

After a polarized nation was broken by the threat of civil war, States have now become countries. And in New Maine, things have gotten worse. Giving my family a better life is everything. And my selection to attend an elite prep school suddenly offers my family a dramatically different life—food on the table, a roof over their heads, and a fighting chance at a future. Everything is going great until some of my friends begin ghosting me, and then disappear. Soon it becomes clear this “chance of a lifetime” isn’t the Holy Grail I was promised. And the attention from one of Easton’s elite has me questioning why a boy with a golden future wants to risk it by being seen with me. But when I find out why I’m really at this school, I may have to trust him if I want to live.

Selected

Leelynn Brady

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club, Netgalley, and Entangled Publishing for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

Already from the beginning of this novel, even before we hear Tori speak and even know her name, I was already getting a feeling that something bad was going to happen. She was just way too anxious about her grade in a test, and the punishment for getting a bad grade did not even match what a normal punishment would be. It was bad, guys. Bad. I also didn’t end up reading the synopsis for this one so I kept forgetting what it was about until shit got real.

I mean shiz got real. Hopefully my review still goes through with this one.

I was reminded of Ever Wong from Loveboat, Taipei when I was reading about Tori with her love of dancing. I was reminded of Day from the Legend trilogy when she talked about how her mother and brother would end up homeless on the streets if she failed out of school. It was weird how I came up with those similarities in this novel, and while I know that there’s nothing wrong with that, it did make it a little bit difficult to keep Tori separate.

However, I will say that the premise of this story was unique enough for me that I was able to enjoy it still. Tori was her own person, despite the similarities that I found. They were more surface similarities I guess, in the end.

I was also really intrigued at the premise of the United States being separated into their own countries. Basically all the states became countries and the US became the Countries of America. So I’m so glad that I got another dystopian novel to read, because I noticed that I haven’t been reading them lately. They always interest me because I like to know what kind of messed up worlds authors will create when it’s the end of the world as we know it.

I was really upset with some of the things that happened in this novel, and I hated how Tori felt like a prisoner in what is supposed to be such a prestigious school to the point that she hasn’t even been able to go home and see her family. It just sucks for her though, and then everything else that ended up happening in that school and I just want to hug her. Ugh, man.

Selected

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