True Calling

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. At this moment, I don't have many thoughts on this book. The two I do are: This book was entertaining, even if it took awhile to get into. I want to read the rest of the series but don't know if it honestly worth paying for. I got this book for free on Amazon. I probably wouldn't have read it other wise.

It bears some similarities with the Hunger Games, but man, did this book hook me in like the book-loving fish I am. Proper review soon to come.

This was free in the Amazon Kindle store and I thought it looked pretty cool, so I downloaded it a few months ago. Despite being just 369 pages long, it took me a shockingly long time to read... Ariana is now a citizen of Novo, where only the fittest humans were transported after the near-destruction of planet Earth. From very early on, we are introduced to Zane through Ari's dreams - but she has no idea who he is, or why she can see him in her sleep. We don't discover Zane's identity until much further through the book. A matchmaking system is set up for all eligible young people, taking the name of "The Calling." Ari realises her feelings for the popular Cal Remus, and is luckily given the opportunity to be matched with him. The whole deal with "The Calling" reminds me very much of books such as The Selection and Matched. Things seem to be going pretty well (despite the fact that Ariana is appalled at the way the government is choosing who can love who) until Ariana's father disappears and leaves behind some vital information. Suddenly, Ari isn't sure whether Cal can really be trusted, and Zane is beginning to contact her directly through her mind. A small section of this book takes place back on Earth, told from Zane's perspective. He's working for an underground resistance movement, and is still infatuated with Ariana. He gets training to try and help him communicate with her, and Ariana's father has bestowed a dying wish upon him; to keep Ari away from Cal. Things get pretty complicated, and the love triangle is both predictable and not at the same time. Ari doesn't remember how much she loved Zane, but can sense that there was some emotion there. Cal's father is clearly opposed to his son being associated with Ariana, and is also a despicable man in himself. There are even hints as to Cal being untrustworthy, which was something I didn't actually expect. It's kind of a typical dystopian YA novel, but it does have some good twists. My main problem was with the lack of time-keeping; I couldn't tell whether things happened over a course of a few days or multiple months. Even if the time-frame was specified in some places, it still didn't feel like it passed in the intended way. Another thing is that the characters spoke in a rather unnatural language. Extravagant words were unnecessarily used, coupled with overly-simple phrases. It just sounded wrong. It took me a long time to read a relatively short book, which is always a bad sign. It wasn't painfully hard to read, but I wasn't really begging to read on either. That being said, I read a little into the first chapter of the sequel, Beyond Reach, which is included at the end of this ebook, and I am rather curious as to what's going on. Still, I don't know if I'm willing to spend any money on it. So this wasn't a great book, but it wasn't bad. Some parts felt as though the author was trying a bit too hard to make the book seem more professional, which always irritates me. I think 2.5 stars is an appropriate rating for this.

Firstly, the cover is captivating. I absolutely love it! Now onto the actual book. True Calling is a science fiction dystopian novel that has a little bit of everything. Action, romance, mystery. I found it to be a real page turner myself, knocking out 75% of the book in one sitting, completing it in 2 days. However, at the beginning as I read, the plot felt very reminiscent of, well nearly every dystopian novel I ever read. What immediately was brought to my mind was The Hunger Games. But don't let that deter you because the book does have its unique points. Let's face it, it is really hard, in my personal experience, to find books in this particular genre that are truly original. Everything seems to have been written already over and over to the point of exhaustion. So with that in mind, I am not too critical of the book having similarities with others because it is bound to happen with pretty much any book. The reason this book gets 4 stars and not 5 is partly due to the fact that I felt as if the author spent a lot of time telling rather than showing. The first bit of the book was just explanations of everything, the world they live in, the old world they left behind, how things at Novo work. I felt like we could have learned much more about the world of Novo if there had been less telling, more description and showing. I think that would have helped make the world building even more interesting. There was some predictable developments but there was also ones that caught me off guard, which is always good. I liked the characters though I am never quite sure how I feel about Cal. At first, he seemed kind of arrogant, but then I started to believe he may actually have true feelings for Ari. However, I can't help but have this nagging feeling in my gut that something huge is going to go down in that relationship and by huge, I mean bad. Something awful. But, I'm no psychic, I could be totally wrong. And Zane, can't forget him. I don't want to spoil anything about his role but I do feel so extremely bad for him. I really enjoyed how the story was told from both Ariana's and Zane's perspectives and that their views were divided into parts rather than alternating constantly in chapters. It made the story easier to follow this way and everything just flowed really well. The whole concept of The Calling, the population regrowth plan is outrageous and honestly, I would feel the same way Ariana did. It does not seem very fair and there are other ways they could have gone about increasing the population. Thankfully though, this is just a story and not real life. The romance took up a lot of the plot which I was both okay and not so okay with. I would have liked to know more about Novo itself and all the secret plans going on, but I am also a sucker for romance so it wasn't such a major deal for me. However, I have grown to strongly dislike love triangles because they sort of kill me inside, having to choose between two people, and gosh darn it there's kind of one in this novel xD Overall, despite how the book shared similarities with other novels in its genre, I really enjoyed it. I could not put the book down, refused to do anything else but read it; always a good sign, right? I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

I was given this book for free for a read and review. I really enjoyed the concept of this book and found it quite interesting that they used such high technology to erase memories of people that the families left on earth. I really connected with the main character and I love how love has a way of breaking down barriers even when the memories have been erased - Ari still remembered Zane. One thing that bothered me about the book is that Ari hated Cal for the first what 5 chapters in the book and then in the next one she is practically jumping into bed with him. I just don't feel like you would change your feelings for someone overnight. Other than that I really enjoyed it, by the second chapter I was completely hooked and couldn't put it down. I am very thankful that Siobhan sent me the second one in the trilogy so that I can continue with Ari and her adventure. My heart broke for her at the ending! The book was written beautifully and, even though, there are over 400 pages it went back extremely fast. Siobhan has a way of hooking you in so that you have to continue reading to know the ending, her character are very easy to connect with and fall in love with. By the end, I wasn't sure which guy I was rooting for. I can't wait to continue! Thank you again Sioban Davis!

I received True Calling from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Earth is becoming less and less viable. A new planet will be inhabited. Those selected to inhabit the new planet are chosen form the remaining people on earth that are under 45 and they have been stripped of their memories. Ariana Skye is a teenager who was selected and forced to leave earth and start a new life on the new planet called Novo. Novo was made to seem like earth so that the people would adjust to their new environment. The people on Novo and those that remained on earth are worrisome over the way things were handled. Ari experiences confusing dreams about someone she can’t remember from Earth. She is part of a love triangle with Cal and Zane, the boy from Earth. The government forces all 17 year olds to participate in The Calling Pageant and to date from a short list and eventually results in marriage. The government says this is to populate the new planet. As Cal pursues Ari we always wonder what his real motives are. He is trying to convince her that he is genuine but Ari remains distrustful of the new government and her surroundings. This is a really intriguing book. I look forward to book 2.