I think the story could have been a bit more detailed, but it was nice overall. Liked the illustrations, especially those of the Jack O'Lanterns.

On the run from General Holland and the Vita Obscura, Mila has somehow managed to rope Hunter into her plans under the guise of looking for her real father - with nothing but the name "Richard Grady" to lead the way. Along the way, Mila unveils secrets related to her creation, her real parents and she also has to deal with the sneaking suspicion that Hunter isn't exactly who he seems.

Now for this baby, the first half is actually rather disappointing. It's basically about Mila and Hunter on the run. Mila's all confused and stressed out about telling Hunter that she isn't a normal girl. She's actually not human at all, she's an android with programmed emotions.  I actually spent a lot of time imagining myself shaking Mila and telling her to just spit it out because I couldn't take her indecision. I get that it's a big decision and she just wants to have someone to talk to for a while longer but seriously, her life was in danger and she could only think about her loneliness? What about your life? And where's the action I was promised?

Mila and Hunter's relationship take up a lot of the second book and it was quite annoying because I wanted Mila to use her android powers and kick some butt. I wanted Mila to just tell Hunter the truth about herself and go find out her origin story. I didn't want them to be on a seemingly endless road trip acting like nothing's going to come after them and disrupt their seemingly perfect calm. I want to know why the Vita Obscura's out for her and I really want to see her beat the crap out of her twin.

Suffice to say it was quite tiring to read this book and it was only around the second half or rather the last third of the book where things started to pick up. There were a few action scenes and those secrets that her mother kept were all aired out now. Mila also makes a really life changing decision that will definitely affect the tone of the next book. 

But the way this book ended does make me want to pick up the third book. Because after Mila's big decision, what's going to happen to her and Hunter's relationship? What of the Vita Obscura and Holland? You know. Things like that. 

*May Contain Spoilers*

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue – Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is – she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are – and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she’s kept hidden from everyone because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, Tris also learns that her secret might help her save the ones she loves…or it might destroy her.

To start this review off, let me say I didn’t plan on reading this series. I had heard good things and knew the hype was growing, but I’m not that huge on dystopian novels per say. So, I some how inherited a copy of Divergent and with the film releasing, I decided to give it a whirl. And what a great whirl it was too.

Beatrice Prior was born into Abnegation, the selfless faction, and has spent the last sixteen years trying to uphold the ideals of the faction for her family. Wearing drab grey clothes, no games, or pets, and only allowed to look in a mirror once a year, but Beatrice knows that she doesn’t belong and finally the day of her aptitude test arrives and she hopes it will tell her where she does belong. However, the results turn out to be inconclusive. As it turns out, she doesn’t test into a single faction because she shows dominant traits that are found in Erudite (knowledge), Abnegation (selfless), and Dauntless (brave), thus making her part of a rare subset known as Divergent. When her time to choose her faction comes, she chooses Dauntless, where she learns what she is truly made of and what it means to be Divergent.

Divergent ended up taking me by surprise. I liked the idea of the factions and breaking down of society to just five traits, despite the implausibility of this in real life. It would be extremely difficult to conform society like that, into specific categories because of all the different dreams, personalities and feels people have, but Veronica Roth took the main categories you would think of and created a great story, and an even greater heroine.

I felt that Tris helped make this book. She is trying to find herself, surprising herself, she learns who she is and kicks some butt along the way. But Tris is a great example to show that, sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and do what you want, to be what you want to be instead of falling in line and doing only what people expect or want you to do. Tris also isn’t your classic book character, she gets beat up, she’s selfish, she’s manipulative, blunt and vengeful, which allowed me to connect to her more because she felt so human, and not so ‘perfect’. I loved the tension between herself and her fellow initiates, the discrimination she feels for being an abnegation – born, and how tough she grows to be.

Also with that, I liked how Roth was able to sink the nails in and kill off people, even ones that readers may have liked. Some authors can’t kill off their characters, especially secondary or main characters, so I give Roth props for that, especially for a debut novel. The pacing of the book and high adrenaline nature of this book surprised me and turned out to be a great read!

Lynn's okay with the way she lives. It's day after endless day of protecting her pond, looking for food and surviving the winter. She doesn't see the point of moving away from the tiny pond, content with her day-to-day routine. So when stragglers threaten her pond - she's going to do anything to keep it safe, things happen and she's got no choice but to deal with this upheaval on her routine.

The scariest thing about Not a Drop to Drink is how the events that happen in the book could actually happen in real life. It's an intense read about a girl's struggle to survive in a world where water is scarce and if you have it, you'll have to fight to the death to protect it. And that's exactly what Lynn does, with the help of her mother. 

The post-apocalyptic setting was really well done. One of the few post-apocalyptic books that actually feels like a dark, desolate world where people cling to fragments of their old life. The author doesn't drop you in the middle of some wasteland, says it's the aftermath of the war and boom. Post-apocalyptic. She takes time to build the world and introduce her characters.

McGinnis has a strong heroine - Lynn. All her life she's been taught to survive by her mother. Taught how to shoot, to hunt, skin an animal and how to purify water from their pond. She keeps vigil over their house at night by setting point up on the roof. But from the way her mother brought her up - to not trust strangers and shoot before she speaks - it makes for a very lonely life. She's stubborn and set in her ways, but she's totally unsure of how to interact with other people.

When she meets a boy - there will always be a boy - named Eli, she starts acting differently and the book started loosing it's survivalist feel. I get how meeting Eli was totally new for Lynn seeing as how there aren't much teenage boys just hanging around but things start getting more emotional and survival seems to be the last thing on Lynn's mind... I got bored. Mainly because it was't as gripping but also maybe because I wasn't really feeling Eli and Lynn. She's such a capable heroine and Eli's this bumbling idiot who can't do anything to save his own life. Maybe the idea of having to care for someone lesser than her was her thing - she did take in a little girl you know - and regards Eli as a pet. Wishful thinking on my part because it's pretty obvious that they're into each other.

But the book isn't all about the survival of these few people because there are bigger things going on and there are still men in trucks who snatch people of their belongings to looks out for. Obviously, Lynn's got to find out more about these people and when she does, she's going to have to find a way to stop them from bulldozing over her and everyone she's come to care for. 

I'll stop here to keep myself from being too spoilery but if you're on the lookout for a post-apocalyptic survivalist story, pick this one. It's terrifyingly realistic.

Regan's father created Elusion - a sort of virtual reality accessible through an app that transports users to a world where everything is perfect. Elusion recreates natural wonders that have been lost and gives users a sense of euphoria helping them momentarily forget about their problems. But ever since her father died, Regan can't seem to bring herself to Escape into Elusion, knowing that when she wakes up it'll all come crashing down on her - the pain, the grief and the loss. But when rumors start to circulate about problems within Elusion, Regan takes it upon herself to verify these rumors and prove them false because she can't have anyone sully her father's invention. 

So, while Elusion does have an interesting premise everything else just falls flat. Regan isn't engaging enough - she's kind of like a petulant child and it's boring how everything's just laid out for her. Everything came so easily for her - figuring out clues and boys and Elusion. Patrick adores her and Josh is obviously attracted to her - love at first sight anyone? And the thing is, both boys aren't even good catches mainly because I can't get a bead on them, Patrick's crazy and Josh's just a good looking military jock. No. Please. Frankly, even Regan isn't that much of a catch herself and I can't believe how fast her friendship with Patrick crumbled so quickly. Don't those years of being friends count for nothing at all?

What's even worse is how Regan is such a wuss and a sucker for Josh. I mean after he blatantly betrayed her she still manages to forgive him? I mean yeah, okay, maybe I'm overreacting but how is it okay for Josh to just give away information that's purely confidential and CLEARLY involves Regan and her father? And come on, she's only met him and she's melting into unseemly puddles around him? Let's just not go there.

Aside from that, I felt like the story was going nowhere. Regan fighting against invisible bad guys, Regan dealing with two boys who have feelings for her (barf), Regan saving the world and a few other plot twists that wanted to be all twisty but ultimately failed. A lot of the things I don't like seeing in YA books appeared here and I couldn't read this book without a few eyerolls here and there.

Sad to say that I was pulled in by the gorgeous cover. The story didn't do anything for me.

I'd like to thank Katherine Tegen for allowing access to an ARC of this book.