Title: Tarnished
Author: Kate Jarvik Birch
Publisher/Year: Entangled Publishing 12/1/15
Length: 217 Pages
Series: Perfected #2
Overview
Freedom comes at a cost…
Ella was genetically engineered to be the perfect pet-graceful, demure…and kept. In a daring move, she escaped her captivity and took refuge in Canada. But while she can think and act as she pleases, the life of a liberated pet is just as confining as the Congressman’s gilded cage. Her escape triggered a backlash, and now no one’s safe, least of all the other pets. But she’s trapped, unable to get back to Penn-the boy she loves-or help the girls who need her.
Back in the United States, pets are turning up dead. With help from a very unexpected source, Ella slips deep into the dangerous black market, posing as a tarnished pet available to buy or sell. If she’s lucky, she’ll be able to rescue Penn and expose the truth about the breeding program. If she fails, Ella will pay not only with her life, but the lives of everyone she’s tried to save…
My Thoughts
This is an interesting series that we’ve got here – one that really gives you a reason to pause and wonder what else is going to go wrong. We go on this journey of finding yoruself and your place in life and then trying to find happiness and love all at the same time. The way that we see our main character Ella grow and change throughout gives you a reason to hope for the best.
Where we left off at the end of the first book is a place where Ella had managed to escape her home and was now in Canada, all alone since Penn was captured. Lucky for her though, she’s found herself back with Missy – the pet from down the street back home who’s also out there in ‘freedom’ and it’s through this friendship of sorts that we take the rest of our journey in book 2.
The biggest bit to think about in this 2nd book is the fact that Ella wants not only to be free from being a pet – learn how to be her own person and live her life with her own choices, but to also have that life with Penn. That’s the biggest problem since she knows that she has to go back for him and doesn’t know how to get there. We go on a rather interesting and colorful journey to get there.
It’s interesting to see the role that Missy plays in this 2nd book – i feel like there’s definitely much more to her than meets the eye, and we see that she’s far more knowledgeable and selfless than you’d ever imagine. It’s only through Missy’s street savy and willingness to just do whatever she needs to that they both manage to survive escaping not only from Canada, but to Buffalo and then all the way to CT where they are finally able to meet up with Penn.
That’s where things get interesting of course though. You see – they realize that there’s something dark and wrong going on with NuPet – the company that creates the pets and it’s their goal to blow the roof off what’s going on. While they think they’ve succeeded in uncovering the underbelly of things, they realize that there is so much corruption behind it all that there’s no end to what’s being done. It’s through misfortune, even through the good help of a reporter that we get one step forward and 2 steps back. Ella’s being hunted, Missy offers herself up instead to give Ella a chance, and again, we find that we’re on the run with loves and friendships torn apart.
It’s sweet really – seeing that the undertone of this story is to prove to yourself that regardless of what people say, human is human and you’re able to make your choices for yourself. you’re not to be told what to do or kept in a cage. It’s a coming of age bit honestly, where we see Ella come into her own, and stand up to be a focal point all with the best of intentions. I can only hope that there’s a book 3 that resolves it all and that we see that there’s a way for things to end up as they should. I honestly don’t know how it would all play out since there’s corruption and money and government behind things, but i feel like in these types of stories, we see that there’s an emotional tug that some how makes the public take a stand and then everything works out. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Enjoy!