New to You (22): Nicole reviews Altered by Jennifer Rush {giveaway}

Posted December 27, 2018 by Andi in Books, Giveaway, New to You, Review / 1 Comment

Welcome to New to You!

This idea came along last year when I was supporting Lauren Miller’s newest book All Things New and I asked Kelsey to read and review Parallel, a book I have read more than once. I didn’t really get it going until December when I offered people the chance to sign up to read and review a book that has been a favorite of mine that they have never read. I got a great response and I’m happy to tell you (minus January) you will see a New to You post twice a month.

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For my last New to You of the year we have Nicole from Boundless Bookaholic. She read and reviewed an old favorite of mine, Altered by Jennifer Rush. Let’s see what she had to say about it.

Altered (Altered, #1) by Jennifer Rush
Published: January 1, 2013
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When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who has stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them.

Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.

Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

Not a bad read, but not a favorite either. This one fell right in the middle of the rating scale for me. I’m giving it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

I’ll be honest…when I started this book, I was not engrossed in the story. I was having a hard time connecting, and the writing style was part of the problem for me. I kept noticing the overly descriptive passages, how there was repetition sometimes, etc. But that being said, the plot was interesting and unique. There were even some twists that surprised me, which doesn’t happen often (i.e. almost never).

I liked Anna’s character quite a bit, and Sam, Cas, Nick, and Trev were super entertaining as well, especially Cas. He might have been my favorite character in this book because of his personality. Anna had a different “relationship” with each boy, but most of the focus was on her and Sam. Without spoiling anything, I will just say that Sam was swoony at moments, but he never lost sight of the important things. He was almost laser-focused, which makes sense considering everything they were dealing with.

This book could easily be read in one sitting; I didn’t want to put it down most days after I finally got hooked by the story. I need to know what happens next, so I’ll be checking out the rest of the series. If you love young adult sci-fi/dystopian books, I think you’ll enjoy this one.

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Thanks Nicole for signing up for New to You. Sorry this was middle of the road for you but happy you gave it a chance!