Altered (Altered, 1)

Altered (Altered, 1)
by Jennifer Rush
Rating: 5 Bows!

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’s 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.

Before I start my review, can I just say how gorgeous the cover of this book is?! The guy looks pretty hot, the dark and eerie feel to it is intriguing, and the branch tattoo is awesome! I love it!

Okay, by a first glance you may think that this book is dytopian themed but it's actually a thriller. I haven't read many, if any at all, books in this theme but after reading Altered, I think I just might.

I really liked the protagonist Anna. She wasn't whiny or ditzy, she was smart and level-headed and every thing she did I found reasonable, in my opinion, and that's what I loved the most about her.

The boys all had distinct personalities: Nick is stand-ofish and at times mean, Trev is always calm and reasonable, Cas is a joker and kept the tension at bay, and Sam is the smartest of the group and the leader. The boys work together exceptionally well and the way they handle situations is pretty darn cool. I liked watching Anna's interactions with each of the boys because they all were so different from each other. 

This is a thriller so that's really the main focus of the novel but we are given a little romance..YAY!! Although there isn't much, from what we are given Sam and Anna make a pretty good pair. Their both loyal to the group and you can see that the feelings they have towards one another is something that could possibly grow into something bigger.

I am so in love with this book and I would recommend it to everyone! There's action, suspense, and little bit of romance thrown in there to keep everyone on their toes! Jennifer Rush, I applaud you, you have made a new fan and I look forward to Erased (Altered, 2)!

Never Too Far (Too Far, 2)

Never Too Far (Too Far, 2)
by Abbi Glines
Rating: 4 Bows!

He withheld a secret that had destroyed her world.

Her entire life had all been a lie.

Blaire couldn’t stop loving him but she knew she could never forgive him.

Now, she was back home and learning to live again. Moving on with life… until something  happened to send her world spinning once again.

What do you do when the one person you can never trust again is the one that you need to trust so desperately?

You lie, hide, avoid, and pray that your sins never find you out.

I can't say that I was completely happy with some of Blaire's decisions in this book. The whole reason she is hurting over Rush was because hid secrets from her, and for most of the beginning of the book, she kept a secret hidden from him! It was kind of hard not to think she was being a tad hypocritical.  Even then, I liked how she matured a little and knew what her priorities were. So YAY for Blaire!

Now Rush, wow did I yell at him so many times! I didn't like the fact that he kept making promises to Blaire and he always failed her. Rush needs to understand that Nan is always going to be mean and hateful and if he want's any semblance of a future, he needs to start doing things that make him happy.

So one major thing that bothered me was that the whole anger and hurt between Blaire and Rush in the first book was because of her father. Now in this book, it turns out it isn't even true! Really?! There was so much drama over this and now we find out it was a lie? This bothered me through out the rest of the book that I was skeptical about what the next twist was going to be.

In the end however, I did like this book, there were some heartfelt moments and Rush does redeem himself. Never Too Far tests the limits of how far Rush will go to win Blaire back and keep her forever.