Title: Perfected
Publication Date: July 1st 2014
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Gender: Young Adult, Dystopia, Fantasy
Summary from Goodreads
Perfection comes at a price.
As soon as the government
passed legislation allowing humans to be genetically engineered and sold as
pets, the rich and powerful rushed to own beautiful girls like Ella. Trained
from birth to be graceful, demure, and above all, perfect, these “family
companions” enter their masters’ homes prepared to live a life of idle luxury.
Ella is happy with her new
role as playmate for a congressman’s bubbly young daughter, but she doesn’t
expect Penn, the congressman’s handsome and rebellious son. He’s the only
person who sees beyond the perfect exterior to the girl within. Falling for him
goes against every rule she knows…and the freedom she finds with him is
intoxicating.
But when Ella is kidnapped and thrust into the dark underworld lurking beneath her pampered life, she’s faced with an unthinkable choice. Because the only thing more dangerous than staying with Penn’s family is leaving…and if she’s unsuccessful, she’ll face a fate far worse than death.
But when Ella is kidnapped and thrust into the dark underworld lurking beneath her pampered life, she’s faced with an unthinkable choice. Because the only thing more dangerous than staying with Penn’s family is leaving…and if she’s unsuccessful, she’ll face a fate far worse than death.
For fans of Keira
Cass’s Selection series and Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical
Garden series, Perfected is a chilling look at what
it means to be human, and a stunning celebration of the power of love to set us
free, wrapped in a glamorous—and dangerous—bow.
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Praise for Perfected
“Compelling, imaginative, and
unique. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!”
— Mary Lindsey, author
of Shattered Souls
Purchase Perfected on
First of all, don't you love the cover? The dress is so beautiful and elegant,which represents perfection but there's also a cage which describes the book perfectly. One of the smartest covers I've seen!
The characters
Now,back to the story.Our main heroine is Ella. Ella is a genetic engineered human raised for one cause: to be a pet and serve whoever buys her. She's pure perfection but there's one thing science can't control and that is her emotions. She doesn't want to feel the way she feels and she knows that her feelings will be the end of her...
You can't have a forbidden romance without a guy and that's Penn. He's the son of the powerful congressman that bought Ella. In the beginning, he didn't even want to look at her but her innocence and honesty eventually made him fall for her and put both their lives in danger.
There are other characters in th story as well. The most important is the congressman who wants to have complete control over his family and his pet, Ella. He doesn't love his wife, he forces Penn to follow a career he doesn't want and he wants Ella for himself. Before Ella, there was another pet, but she mysteriously got sick and the congressman or any doctor could not heal her so he sent her back to the place she was created and trained, the Greenwich Kennels. He's a man of many secrets and that makes him a dangerous one as well.
The plot
Perfected is based on a very sensitive subject, that of Human Genetic Engineering. It belongs to Biology's most important field, Bioethics. Some people are in favor supporting that if we accomplish something like that, organ transplantation will become one of the easiest procedures because there won't be a lack of organs. On the other hand, there is a portion of people believing that creating Genetic Engineered Humans or clones and using them as an organ storage or pets will violate the most important of human rights, freedom.
I'm glad that writers lately choose subjects like this because Young Adult books are read mostly by children/teenagers and then by adults and it's nice to introduce them to bioethic topics in such a young age. I recommend this book because it represents both sides on this matter,the good and the bad. The final decision, however is yours and yours only.
Verdict
Kate Jarvik Birch is a fresh and very promising YA author and I believe that she has a bright future in the dystopia category of the gender. The only thing I didn't like is the fact that this is a standalone. The book ends with a cliffhanger and as you can read in the comments below, there's going to be a sequel!! Overall, Perfected is worth reading with genuine characters and a beautifully written story.
Rating: 4 stars!!
Kate Jarvik
Birch is a visual artist, author, playwright, daydreamer, and professional
procrastinator. As a child, she wanted to grow up to be either a unicorn or
mermaid. Luckily, being a writer turned out to be just as magical. Her essays
and short stories have been published in literary journals including Indiana
Review and Saint Ann’s Review. She lives in Salt Lake
City, Utah with her husband and three kids. To learn more visit www.katejarvikbirch.com
Thanks for the awesome review!!! I just wanted to poke my head in and tell you that there's actually a sequel coming out next year :)
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! Looking forward to it! :)
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