Let me begin by telling you a little story. Me and my dad live in a mother-in-law suite which is like a mini apartment below a house. That means we share a mailbox with the people who own the house. Well, I just started babysitting after school so instead of checking the mail before them right after I get off of the bus, I've been riding the bus to my cousins' house and by the time I get home, the mail is already checked by them. Well, I knew there were quite a few books I was supposed to get this week and I kept getting frustrated when they WOULDN'T GET HERE. I was also supposed to get a package from my siblings as a Christmas present. And that hadn't come either. Well, I figured out the people that own the house have been taking my mail and returning it to the sender due to the "wrong address." We're moving tomorrow, but I am SO MAD. Sosososo mad. Not only for me, but for the people who have had to pay to send books to me only to have them sent back. I'd feel horrible asking them to send them to my new address because it is EXPENSIVE to send books. And I had so many that I was looking forward to! Anyway, I obviously don't have any physical books this week, but the NetGalley books I got I am superlyduperly excited for :) Clicking the titles will take you to the book's Goodreads page.
This book sounds sooooo good, and I loveloveloved Robin's Frozen. Her writing is just fabulous and I am really excited to read this. I actually got denied the first time I requested it, but then, having absolutely no shame, I requested again and got approved.
Series: Cold Awakening Trilogy #1 Genre: YA Sci-Fi Publication date: October 25, 2011 Publisher: Simon Pulse Format: eBook Pages: 368 Source: Simon Pulse It
The Download was supposed to change the world. It was supposed to mean the end of aging the end of death, the birth of a new humanity. But it wasn't supposed to happen to someone like Lia Kahn.
And it wasn't supposed to ruin her life.
Lia knows she should be grateful she didn't die in the accident. The Download saved her--but it also changed her, forever. She can deal with being a freak. She can deal with the fear in her parents' eyes and the way her boyfriend flinches at her touch. But she can't deal with what she knows, deep down, every time she forces herself to look in the mirror: She's not the same person she used to be.
Maybe she's not even a person at all. (Goodreads.com - There are a ton of different summaries, so I just chose the one I thought was best :D)
Scott Westerfeld blurbed this book and I knew I had to read it. I pretty much read any book he blurbs, and he hasn't steered me wrong yet.
I didn't like this book. I LOVED IT. I was hooked from the very beginning. Wasserman has provided the world with a book that has marvelous writing, an original concept, and emotional depth. I was completely sucked into the world of Frozen, and I never wanted to leave!
I love the premise! It's unique and not at all confusing, which is always a plus. When books begin to go too in-depth about the wiring in our brains and whatnot in too little time, I feel like I'm going to explode! But in this, the main character Lia didn't completely understand the "downloading" herself, so as she learned, we learned. I feel like a story like this could go in a lot of negative directions, yet it was executed very well! The pacing was very natural. Nothing happened neither too fast nor too slow. And since the majority of this book is made up of emotions, even when there is not a lot of action, it is still interesting!
Lia's a bitch. That much is obvious from the get-go. She's selfish, rude, stubborn, and, as one of the other characters likes to point out, she's very good at running away when times get tough. And yet, as the story progressed, I began to really like her. It's hard not to! She's so real. She's very relatable, even if you don't want to be anything like her. The desire to be pretty and popular and loved lurks in the heart of teenage girls everywhere, even if you don't succumb to it. Lia loses everyone she loves and everything she has ever worked for in her life. It's impossible not to feel horrible for her. People want to kill her. She's not even sure if she has a soul. She just wants to find out who she is - what she is. One thing I liked about her, though, is that she has a big heart for the ones she loves. She may not be good at expressing it, but you can tell she'd do anything for them. Even if she doesn't realize she's doing it for them. Needless to say, I felt very connected to Lia. Her narration had a melancholy, yet very determined tone to it.
The other characters I liked, too. Everything about Auden just depressed me. I didn't particularly love him, but there's something pathetic about him that makes me so sad. I loved Jude. Maybe I don't love him in the way I love Jace or Adrian Ivashkov, but I still love him. He's a total jerk who doesn't give a crap about anything or anyone. Nobody really knows anything about his past before the "download" because he refuses to speak about it, and when anyone brings the past up he gets all touchy and tells them it is irrelevant. He's the type of character I can't wait to see cracked open and exposed. I'm definitely hoping that the next book will have more of him!
There's not really any romantic focuses in this book. Romance is mentioned. Some of the characters have crushes, others are hooking up behind every one's back, the is some needy kissing. But none of the story really revolves around any of the romance. And it's a testament to how much I love the book when I say that romance wasn't necessary. This book was a lot more about Lia discovering who she is that who's pants she wants to crawl into.
I seriously loved this book and I need to get my hands on the sequel - PRONTO! It's something fresh and exciting and offers a nice break from paranormal. The F-word is thrown around casually and frequently, and there are references to sex, but nothing too horrible that would make you want to avert your eyes.
This book was originally called Skinned, and was released in 2009. Simon Pulse renamed it, gave it a new cover, and re-released it this year.
