Altered (Altered #1)

Jennifer Rush has written a thrilling debut with a perfect blend of sci-fi and mystery. It was different from what I was expecting in a way that just worked.

Altered was such a great read. The plot is absolutely addicting and is completely action pact! It is great from the start, and only gets better with each chapter. By the last quarter of the book, I was on the edge of my seat absolutely enthralled. Altered has layers and layers with its story. You keep thinking you've gotten everything there is to get and Jennifer Rush throws another layer at you, delving even deeper. There are also SO many twists. It was just SO GOOD!

Some of the characters were a bit bland for my liking at first, but by the end of the book they all really rounded out. The boys particularly all really grew on me. I think Cas was my favorite- what a sweetheart! So much of Altered was a bit like a puzzle, trying to fill in the blanks, and I loved seeing the boys and Anna work together to try to solve it. There is so much more I am so excited to read about in

There were a few aspects that forced me to suspend reality beyond a point I found that worked. Some of the particulars of the world did not seem to fit perfectly together, which left me a bit confused at time. I was also left with a lot of questions. I wanted more answers, particularly in regard to the sci-fi aspect of Altered. Jennifer Rush crafted this really enticing neat idea, but at times, I couldn't grasp the entirety of it since everything wasn't quite fleshed out.

Altered by Jennifer Rush was a wonderful book. It was not without its flaws, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. After the intense ending Jennifer Rush leaves readers with, the wait for the next book will be intense indeed! I cannot wait to read more from this rising star in YA!

Thank you to the awesome Jenn Rush for loaning me a copy of her fantastic debut! Altered is a book that has been on my radar for a few months and I'm sooo excited to have been able to read an ARC of it! The original cover is what piqued my curiosity - hot guy, interesting synopsis but like the boys themselves, it too has been altered and now looks even cooler with the tree which is a vital part of the story. (pun completely intended)

Altered is a well written story that can be enjoyed by a variety of readers. Action, suspense, romantical tension and plot twists keep you engaged and on edge. The Sci-Fi elements are entertaining and not the least bit overwhelming. As a non-Sciency person, a book that makes me think too hard or causes my brain to hurt is one I will zone out of in about five minutes.

These characters are interesting and I found Anna, the MC, to be a good mix of innocence and strength. We get watch her go from a naive girl who has no clue of what's really happening with the boys to a bad-ars young woman who faces challenges head on and stops at nothing to protect the ones she cares about. *fist bumps her* All four of the guys, yes, four, are physically appealing (code for "hot"), but also posses qualities that make them unique and completely "crushworthy".

Sam is tall, dark and broodish, managing to hide both his secrets and his pain pretty well. He's the one Anna feels most connected too and is convinced she's in love with. Their relationship is complicated from the start and thankfully doesn't fall into the, "Instantaneous love affair at the first chance of freedom." trap. Even though they spent almost every day together for years, and there's a definite attraction, the issues that arise while they're hiding from The Branch will leave Anna wondering if Sam is the "Sam" she thinks she knows (and loves) at all.

The other guys, Trev and Nick are a yummilicious blend of brains, brawn and bravado but my favorite is Cas. *sighs* He's full of snark and fun and his obsession with food resembles a hilarious misguided love affair. He's hardly ever still and seems a bit scatter-brained but when he's needed, he's all focus and brute force. Unless, he's hungry. Then you're on your own. JK! (I wonder if Jenn would let me borrow Cas too? You know, as long as I promise to return him without any jelly doughnut stains.)

This really was a fun read (even if my heart ached for these characters at times) and it ended in a way that was satisfying but also left me eager for the next book! I'm a visual person and being able to "see" the story's setting and/or characters through the author's eyes takes the reading experience to a whole new level. Jenn has an Altered pinterest page where she's pinned pictures of what the boys look like (Anna too). Just try not to drool all over your screen, I hear it's not good for it. ;)

Despite the slightly more boy-friendly cover (maybe? I'm guessing. It seems like it holds more boy appeal than some, but I'm not sure about the shirtless guy), Altered is definitely what we generally quantify as a girl book. The main subject of the book, it's driving force, is romance, with all of the science-fiction-y aspects coming second. If you're in the mood for a really hardcore dystopian novel, this is not the one I would recommend.

We'll start with the things that I liked. The best part was Rush's writing style. Her writing is neither overly ornate nor laughably simple. I thought it worked with the story and the intelligence/education level of the heroine, Anna, from whose perspective we see. The only downside, which I'll extrapolate on later, was the tendency towards hackneyed phrases when it came to romance.

The science stuff was definitely cool. Though much of why this is happening and precisely who is responsible for it remains unanswered, Rush has not left her readers completely in the dark like some dystopian authors like to do. I hope to learn more about the processes and any special skills the boys have in the next book. I've always been a sucker for stories about people with special powers, whether mutated or scientifically-given, so this was right up my alley. So far, the book is not especially dystopian, although I think it does qualify, since the government does know of and fund the Program. Still, it's definitely not the best example of one.

There were, however, quite a few things I did not like. First off, there's the characterization. I hardly feel any connection to any of these characters, even Anna. Since I'm looking a the world through Anna's eyes, I ought to care whether she gets Sam, the boy she's been obsessed with for years...but I don't. Other than the fact that she likes to draw and drools over Sam, I know very little about her. She's sometimes sarcastic, but otherwise she's mostly just naive and kind of boring. The boys are a bit more interesting, with Sam being the one I have the least interest in. Actually, the character I liked best was definitely Nick, who I think was supposed to be the one that I didn't like.

It will likely not come as a surprise to find that I did not ship Sam and Anna, since I wasn't invested in either one individually. The biggest problem I had with them as a ship was that there didn't seem to be any reason for them to be into one another, aside from the whole physical attraction thing. Sam seems so much cleverer than Anna, and they really don't seem to share any interests aside from living. There was never anything to explain why she crushed on him so hard or any conversations between the two about something normal to show a real connection, a possible basis for a relationship not driven by heightened we-could-die-at-any-moment emotions. As far as I can tell, their feelings are manufactured solely by the conditions in which they find themselves.

Perhaps the biggest reason that I couldn't handle them, though, was how obnoxious Anna was whenever she thought about him. She indulged in the kinds of phrases YA heroines love to bandy about that always make me want to punch everything. Here are a couple (though they're from the ARC and could be changed pre-publication):
"If I had known the night before would be our final night together, I would have spent more time with him.
I would have told him how much he meant to me, that not a second went by when I didn't think about him."
Let's analyze this, shall we? It should be noted that this is early on in the book and Sam has expressed zero interest in her romantically at this point. Her phrasing implies a stronger connection than they had (they played chess together at night, which he always won). What really irritates me is the second half where she says that 'not a second went by' without thoughts of him. Really?! How does she manage to function? Well, she kind of doesn't. She really doze zone out a lot while thinking of him, but, still, think about the implications. When she's taking a dump, she thinks of Sam. All of her dreams? About Sam. NO.
"I fought for air but came up short, like I was drowning, like the panic had filled my mouth, my nose. I gulped. Sam tipped my head back and air trickled into my lungs. This was not happening. Those men were not dead. And Dad was not shot. And I was not so close to Sam that I could feel his breath on my face."
This quote is worse, as the first can be dismissed as merely a poetic flight of fancy, exaggeration used to show the scale of her love (obsession). This one, though, not so much. Let me add some context: Sam has just shoved her against a rough brick wall, only to stop her from punching him but still. Her first reaction is panic. Okay, good so far. Then disbelief at all the crazy shit that went down (many men were killed so the boys could escape). Realistic response. Her final reaction? Squeeing over how close she is to Sam. *headdesk* This guy just killed a bunch of people, shot your father, and shoved you into a wall and you're STILL distracted by how sexy he is. Oh, HECK NO.

That all sounds quite harsh, I know, but Altered was a fun, if mindless read. I definitely intend to continue with the story and hope that, since Rush's writing is good, that she will develop further with her characters. Personally, I would love to see a wrench thrown into the story...like Anna starting to like Nick instead? That would be awesome. My opinion: fun book with sexy boys and action scenes but with some major issues.