Defiance (Defiance #1)

A well-paced, heart-wrenching tale of loyalty, courage, and love – set in a darkly dystopian world some readers may find reminiscent of 'Reign of Fire.' Redwine presents convincing teenaged characters with potent prose and palpable emotion, all while never underestimating her audience.

Admittedly swayed by the gorgeous cover, I went into this book thinking I would immediately love the fiery heroine. Not so. It actually took this reader until about 1/3rd of the way through to get past the crippled grief and bullheaded impulsiveness to fully warm up to her. But that was okay, because instead, I immediately connected with Logan. Rational, studious, and noble, he was a far cry from the quazi-mysterious angsty badboy archetype that so annoy me about many recent YA novels.

The author captures masculine vs. feminine misunderstandings and awkward moments with with a believable and authentic candor. And in doing so, she conveys a concept that will ring true for those who've lived in close quarters with pain: that even in the middle of unfathomable stress and tragedy, humor still crops up to provide us both guilt and relief. The tunnel may be long, but there is always a light at the end of it.

I had the opportunity to read this prior to release and that makes me the luckiest girl in the world! DEFIANCE has fabulous pacing, characters worth loving AND a bad guy who deserves all the hate you can lob at him. There are surprises too, a bit of mystery, and swoony romantic moments peppered through it. Read it. You'll thank me.