Review: Revived

"It started with a bus crash.
Daisy Appleby was a little girl when it happened, and she barely remembers the accident or being brought back to life. At that moment, though, she became one of the first subjects in a covert government program that tests a drug called Revive.

Now fifteen, Daisy has died and been Revived five times. Each death means a new name, a new city, a new identity. The only constant in Daisy's life is constant change.

Then Daisy meets Matt and Audrey McKean, charismatic siblings who quickly become her first real friends. But if she's ever to have a normal life, Daisy must escape from an experiment that's much larger--and more sinister--than she ever imagined.

From its striking first chapter to its emotionally charged ending, Cat Patrick's Revived is a riveting story about what happens when life and death collide." -Goodreads


Stats:
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Page Count: 336
Would Appeal To: Those who like witness relocation program type stories plus a little mystery

Favorite Quote:
"...instead I zone out, pulled away by thoughts of Matt's hair. Of his tanned arms and the wide, industrial-hip watch that looks like it was made specifically for his arm."

Things I Loved:

• The premise. You can die over and over and have no fear of not coming back to life? What a cool idea to explore. This has elements of sci-fi I can get onboard with. 
• There were at least three twists I can think of through the story. 
• Matt's super cute and says really frustrating things sometimes. He's truly the boy next door plucked right out of real life.
• As Daisy investigates the bus crash victims from so many years ago, she learns more about the Revive project and God, the maker. I enjoyed being a part of her discoveries. It was fun to try to put the pieces together of case file 22. 
• Daisy and Megan's friendship is effortless, even though it's not one of the main focuses of the story. It's always in the background, the one friend Daisy can rely on, who truly understands who she is and where she came from. And that she's died five times. The two have a blog where they take opposing sides on different issues. Reading their texts and hearing about their blog posts added some light energy to the story.
• Mason is such a cool dad. He's not Daisy's real dad, just the agent assigned to her. There are some mushy but genuine father-daughter I really appreciate you moments that pass between them.
• Audrey is so cool. Another one of those friendships that seems to have a life of its own. It's natural and fun. She is down to earth and happy. I was so excited that Daisy had a friend at her new school, since she was usually a loner. It's too dangerous for her to get close to anyone.
• There are some life-is-so-unfair moments I felt as the reader, but Cat Patrick did justice in the writing and telling of the story, otherwise, I wouldn't have been so emotional.

What bugged me:

• Two of the twists were predictable.

I enjoyed this book and read it pretty fast on a plane. It makes me even more excited to read Patrick's Forgotten, which received a lot of praise and was recommended by Jay Asher.

Review: Unravel Me

tick
tick
tick
it's almost
time for war.

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life. -Goodreads

Stats:
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release Date: February 5, 2013
Page Count: 461
Would Appeal To: Dystopian fans (Article 5 series, Delirium series)
Favorite Quotes: 
"But then Adam's lips press against my head and my worries put on a fancy dress and pretend to be something else for a while."

"How hollow I feel...Like I'm one of those chocolate rabbits they used to sell around Easter, the ones that were nothing more than a sweet shell encapsulating a world of nothing."

"Synonyms know each other like old colleagues, like a set of friends who've seen the world together. They swap stories, reminisce about their origins and forget that though they are similar, they are entirely different...Because a quiet night is not the same as a silent one, a firm man is not the same as a steady one, and a bright light is not the same as a brilliant one because the way they wedge themselves into a sentence changes everything."

"Castle looks like he's a balloon that fell in love with a pushpin that got too close and ruined him forever."

"I want to study the secrets tucked between his elbows and the whispers caught behind his knees."

I had to leave out some of my favorite quotes a mystery because there is a steamy love scene that I refuse to ruin for you. The stream of consciousness that Juliet sometimes thinks in really works for it. She's so carried away with her feelings that she can't think straight and her sentences go on and she's kissing and touching and the earth is spinning... I will always remember the way Mafi wrote this scene. It's different than anything I've ever read and absolutely perfect, from innocent to less than in minutes.

Anyway, now that Juliet and Adam have escaped Warner's clutches and immediate danger, they have promised to work in Warner's resistance with others who have unique powers. It's hard for them to continue their relationship with such harsh rules as curfew, no opposite sex members in each other's quarters, training, etc...and it's possible that Juliet is wondering things she shouldn't be about someone who actually held her hostage.  

This book rocks because:

• Just like Shatter Me, each sentence is gorgeously turned from a mash up of words to a flowing piece of heaven on a page. 
• Warner. He's so much more developed in this novel. You'll see pieces that make him human, glimpses that make you sad he's a victim of circumstances (it'll make you totally overlook the fact that he's a murderer.) I've fallen in love with him, and I'm actually Team Warner over Team Adam. I'm going to go back and read the novella Destroy Me because it's his side of the story. With the tagline "She will choose me," I can't resist.
• Juliet makes friends! And they are cool friends. And she sits with them at meal times, occasionally jokes with them. 
• Kenji's dialogue constantly cracked me up. He's kind of a hero underground, Juliet realizes. Yet he helps her train and keeps an eye out for him, even when she accidentally uses her strength against him.

A few things that bugged me:

• A few too many grammar/parts of speech analogies.
• Some things were mentioned twice, like for example, the fact that the girls, Juliet's roomies, gave her pajamas to sleep in. 
• I felt like Shatter Me was a little more fast paced, even though I believe there is more action in this book. I kept waiting for the action to happen. But when it did, it was great! 
• Juliet is super mopey, most of the time weak, and very co-dependent. Also, she can't get away from that darn thing called the past. These things do change, thank goodness, by the book's end. 

And my final thoughts...Warner, Warner, Warner...