Cecelia Ahern

A Novel

Flawed

Rebecca

Melissa Palmer

Book #31 Read in 2017
Flawed by Cecelia Ahern

This is the first in a young adult dystopian series. There are flawed and there are perfect. Flawed people have committed some sin against society. They are branded with Fs on body parts, where depends on what they did. Celestine was always a good girl, who followed the rules. One day she aides an old, sick Flawed man to a bus seat and that moment ends life as she knew it. She is then tried as to whether or not she is flawed. She is caught up in politics and does not know who is really on her side. This book will keep readers--high school age and adult alike--engaged throughout the book.

courtney garrison

Flawed caught my attention, in the fact that everyone had to be perfect. The story is centered around a teenage girl named Celestine. She lives in a world that you have to be perfect, you can never make a mistake or anything. When you make a mistake in this world, you have to go in front of a court and they decide whether or not you are guilty, if you are found guilty you are branded on a part of your body. You can be branded on your temple, chest, hand, the heel of your foot, tongue, and spine.

They call this system, The Guild. The Guild is not the law, though, you still have the government and police officers. The Guild is Just a system they developed after their government collapsed, because all their elected officials made awful decisions and caused so much damage, they created the guild. Celestine is perfect, She’s always done everything right, except helping the old man on the bus. The Old man is flawed, he has a brand on his temple.

Celestine helps him into his seat because he was sick and coughing, he needed help. Celestine ends up getting branded for helping a sick old man to a seat. She ends up being told to lie in court, so she must be flawed and tell a lie to be deemed not flawed. Celestine ends up telling the truth in court and gets 5 brands, except the judge is so angry with her for telling the truth, he gives her a 6th brand. The 6th brand is not on the record and can get the judge in big trouble if Celestine can save her skin and find the video, She and she only can bring the whole system to an end.

lauren carla

4.5 actual rating. if you liked this you might like Perception by Lee Strauss :)

Katharina Hoffmann

When I read the first chapters of this book, I definitely had that "Divergent" vibe. So similar and yet so different.

There's multiple settings that are definitely better than in Veronic Roth's Divergent books. The main character, Celestine, is black. It was only mentioned at the beginning and I tended to forget that while reading and imagining the story, but it's a nice detail that immediately adds more representation to the novel. Second, one of the side characters is gay. That was also nice to read. Both (a person of colour and a lgbt+) character can barely be found in dystopian novels!

What I found to be pretty similar is the setting of the society, its people and the government. There are people considered first-class and second-class. A girl decides to be brave at just the wrong/ right moment, gets imprisoned and later on founds herself initiator of a revolution planning to bring down the system.

Still Celestine is in my opinion very different from Tris.

99% of the time I found her decisions and thoughts reasonable. I liked that she wasn't the typical YA stubborn teenage girl character. The change she went through (from someone believing in the system to someone disobeying the rules and hating the system) wasn't too fast-paced.

I also liked the relationships between her and the other side characters. They are as interesting as the personalities of said characters as well. I adored the change her mother went through while I found her brother to be especially boring and not at all relevant, the reader doesn't even get to know his age and so his actions were hard to judge.

It took me a little, little bit to get into the story, but as soon as I woke up this morning, I dived right back in and finished reading it in one sitting. It's entertaining, interesting. The story and setting develop quickly and although some people stated it, there's NO love triangle!
In the beginning Celestine is in a romantic relationship with Art, her boyfriend, but this relationship breaks apart over the course of the story and although she meets someone else she feels connected to, she is never torn between these two, doesn't get winy about them, etc. 

In the end there's nothing left for me to say than: I definitely recommend this book!

laura

I always forget how much i loved this genre of books. I loved how the book was set in modern world with no fantsay elements. It really explored moral issues and political drama. i love the main characters and it left me on such a big clifthanger. I enjoyed the main character and I am so excited to read more in this series.

Caitlin

AMAZING AND THRILLING. I was on my toes the entire time and it was such a quick read - I couldn't put it down. At every chapter I was desperate to find out more, I read it in one sitting and I cannot wait to read the sequel. THAT ENDING WAS INSANE. I also love Carrick and Celstina whereas Juniper, Art and Carven can just leave.

COMPLETELY RECOMMEND!!!

sera

First few chapters nearly makes me stop reading. Because Cecelia is one of my favorite of all time and I have quite a high expectations upon this premise. Flew through the pages, the plot developed okay. Not a bad start for her first young adult book.

Samantha Bass

I liked the overall plot of the book but I feel like the writing was too choppy. It made it harder for me to read fluidly. But besides that I loved the concept, the characters, everything else about it! Hopefully Perfect’s writing is a bit mature than Flawed.

Siobhán

I have started this review about three times and I just can't decide what I really feel about the story. On one hand I sat up until 3.30am to finish because there was something that I can't quite put my finger on that just kept me reading. However, on the other hand, I found the main character just so annoying. I found idea of the story intriguing and it had great potential yet I feel it just wasn't executed all that well.

See more at: http://weeshubbasworld.blogspot.co.uk...

Joleen

I was looking forward to this book because I love Cecelia Ahern. I didn't love this book, but I didn't hate it. It was an interesting concept, I love the idea of this kind of a dystopian type world. But it was very predicable, I feel like minus the council, I've read this book a million times. So hopefully the next one is better. We shall see.

Laura Allen

Ashlie Reifer

OMG THIS BOOOKK ASDFGHJKL IF I COULD I WOULD GIVE IT 100 STARS IT EXCEEDED MY EXPECTATIONS!! I NEED THE NEXT BOOK!!

Neeti Choudhari

This is Cecelia's first YA book and I am impressed at how it was executed. It was very different from her other works. The storyline a bit unconvincing in the beginning. It was weak and confusing, also a bit slow. And But once certain events occurred I digested it and the story paced up. So did my interest. It was dark, angsty, violent and it did unsettle me because I wasn't used to this style of her writing. But I am not complaining, it was a good change. There are times where you are uncertain how you feel about Celestine, the protagonist. Are you frustrated by her views, proud of her actions, wary of her uncertainty? But as in every YA book, you endure. Overall a good book, worth a read. Waiting eagerly for the sequel. 
It always surprises me how I can read her books without any extra effort, even during reader's block. They have a certain flow and soon you realize you are already halfway through the book. She has that effect, at least on me.

Kate

I unexpectedly enjoyed this so much! I say unexpectedly because I've not read many dystopians in the past, due to being a little dubious of the genre after the huge surge of them a few years ago but this had me hooked from the moment it started. The concept was very intriguing, although sometimes the parallels between this fictional government and historical governments was a little unsettling and questionable! An aspect I really enjoyed and appreciated was the fact that being deemed 'perfect' wasn't synonymous with anything other than your actions. People weren't deemed 'flawed' because of anything that people have been oppressed because of )in the past or present), which is something I'll admit I was initially concerned about with this book. Being 'flawed' or 'perfect' had nothing to do with how you looked, who you loved, what you believe in etc. Instead it's about whether you lie, steal, or are disloyal to the government etc. That being said, the plot focus's on just how flawed these laws and government ideas are! 

I really enjoyed the characters in this and what I especially loved in the main character, Celestine, was how quickly she began to question the authority figures and everything she's grown up understanding, which is something I've doing often takes characters far too long to do. She also soon begins to recognise her own prejudices against people who are 'flawed' and on numerous occasions calls herself out on them, which I thought was really great. 

"I don't expect them to show any gratitude for something that should have been said from the beginning."

At times she definitely makes some questionable decisions and comments but you definitely see her character grow throughout the book! The family dynamics were also really interesting to read and watch evolve and I kind of love the fact that, despite there being a romance, it definitely took the back burner to the action and questions the story bought up. 

I did want to put a trigger warning that there are some quite violent and distressing scenes in this, which definitely shocked for a YA. So if that's something you're more sensitive to, you might want to give this a miss.
But although those scenes definitely distressing to read, I found it somewhat refreshing to see some darker, gritty scenes and having a YA book pushing the boundaries. But again, I do want to put a trigger warning on it, as it's not something I expected and I can see it potentially being upsetting to some readers. 

Overall, this book definitely made me think. It's fast pace made it a total page turner, although I will say that I'm still undecided on how I feel about a few of the elements featured. However I'm definitely intrigued to see how this story ends in the next book!

'Flawed' is set in a powerfully realised society where perfection is valued above humanity, with an intense love story at its centre. Good-girl Celestine has always agreed with the system, but following an act of kindness towards one of the Flawed is herself excluded and soon she is fighting for her own survival - and for love.

Beth Bartholomew

Flawed is Cecelia Ahern's YA debut and she most definitely rocked it! I have been a massive fan of her novels since I read Where Rainbows End many, many years ago and she continues to draw me in with her mix of fantasy and romance. I have only started reading young adult books recently, I had moved onto the adult genre quite a while ago, but truthfully I think YA novels offer more interesting and exciting storylines. This was definitely the case with Flawed, from the first page I was hooked to the story - it is the very definition of a page-turner.
If you would like to read more of my review please click on this link to visit my blog https://booksnestbookishopinions.word...

Colleen

In a breathtaking young adult debut, the bestselling author of P.S. I Love You depicts a society in which perfection is paramount and any misstep leads to punishment. If you break the rules, you will be punished. Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister and she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers. She’s also a girl of logic. To Celestine, every problem has a solution. Every action is either right, or wrong. Celestine has always known about the Flawed, second-class citizens who are branded as punishment for their crimes. And she always thought they must deserve their punishment. But everything changes when Celestine witnesses the mistreatment of a Flawed man, and steps up to help him. But in helping him, she reveals that she is imperfect. And in Celestine's society, imperfection is punished. She is imprisoned. She is branded. She is flawed. Praise for Flawed by Cecelia Ahern: “Pick up Flawed if you’re a fan of awesome YA . . . or just if you appreciate really well written fiction.” —The Guardian “Ahern is a brilliant storyteller. . . . [Flawed] grabs [readers] from the opening pages and refuses to let go.” —The Irish Times “This book is a masterpiece. . . . [Flawed] is a book that exposes the underbelly of a society which idolizes and demands perfection from its people.” —The Young Folks “A compelling thriller that's very hard to put down.” —School Library Journal

Flawed A Novel

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