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Review: Strange New World (Brave New Girl #2) by Rachel Vincent

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Title: Strange New Girl
Author:  Rachel Vincent
Publisher/Year:  Random House Publishing 5/8/18
Length:  272 Pages
Series:  Brave New Girl #2

Overview

Dahlia 16’s life is a lie. The city of Lakeview isn’t a utopia that raises individuals for the greater good; it is a clone farm that mass-produces servants for the elite. And because Dahlia breaks the rules, her sisters–the 4,999 girls who share her face–are destroyed. She and Trigger 17, the soldier who risked his life for hers, go on the run, escaping into the wild outside the city walls. But it turns out Dahlia has one remaining identical, one who shouldn’t even exist.

Waverly Whitmore is teenage royalty, a media sensation with millions of fans who broadcasts her every move–including every detail of her wedding planning, leading up to the day she marries Hennessy Chapman. Waverly lives a perfect life built on the labors of clones like Dahlia. She has no idea that she too is a clone . . . until she comes face to face with Dahlia.

One deadly secret. Two genetic sisters. And a world that isn’t big enough for both of them.

My Thoughts

This story continues as we see what it’s like living outside Lakeview and trying to keep things a secret. Waverly is quite possible the most noticeable face out there and ironically the Administrator doesn’t even know what’s happened – meaning that Waverly has 5000 identicals. This story takes us from seeing Dahlia and Trigger try to escape Lakeview, to getting ‘discovered’ by Waverly’s friends as a means to get out of Lakeview (without even knowing who Waverly is mind you) and then figuring out how everyone can move forward once everything comes to a head.

We left off book 1 seeing the car pull up to the Witmores house and seeing Waverly in shock, her mother Lorna freak out, and Hennesy and the others really confused. From there, we see eyes become open, and we get to see things unravel and yet get pulled together all at the same time.

Lorna is forced to explain what she went through with her husband years ago to have a child, giving Waverly’s father a shock of a lifetime since the decision wasn’t his to go the route they did. We watch Waverly come to terms with the notion that she’s a clone and as a result, she’s not able to have children, and she has an expiration date. We see her also being forced to take a back seat to her wedding etc since there were events that have taken place that force Dahlia into the role of lead.

There’s also the undertone that continues here of young love – Trigger and Dahlia have a story line of their own that we want to root for, that we want to see flourish since they are a couple that’s fighting the odds to be together. They still don’t know what the future holds for them, but what they feel for each other is real. Just what Hennessey and Waverly have.

Then there’s the political bit of the story. Knowing that the Administrator has recalled all of Dahlia’s genome, 4,999 girls to be euthanized, yet we learn that the intention isn’t that at all. It’s for the girls to be sold at a discount price now since killing them would mean a significant loss of revenue. There’s a battle between what Waverly’s mom means to do with them and what Lakeview will do and we have to hope for the best since we know that neither can be trusted.

At the same time, we see Waverly truly come to terms with what she is, and what that means for her once the truth is out. She’s not the original, so she essentially is a clone with no rights, and that means that whatever she wants to do isn’t possible. She also has her eyes opened by the other clones in her family’s employ to the notion that clones are fully capable of free thought, of being unique and of being normal, and it’s a quest that she takes on to help prove her point. When Dahlia inadvertently forces her hand to make a grand statement that they want to make clones people, well the crap hits the fan yet again.

From this point on it’s a rollercoaster. There’s a plan crafted to make everyone in the world know the truth about clones and that they are fully capable of being the same as everyone else. there’s the education to the folks in Lakeview that what they’ve been told their whole life is very far from reality and that they should have a chance at something more.

Trigger, Dahlia, Hennessey and Waverly take it upon themselves to try to change the world, and that’s not an easy pill to swallow. There’s going to be destruction. There’s a high chance at failure, and we know that there’s no way for a complete happy ending. At least we should hope for the best, and if you read this second book of the series, you’ll get to watch how it plays out. Enjoy!

Review: Brave New Girl (Brave New Girl #1) by Rachel Vincent

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Title: Brave New Girl
Author:  Rachel Vincent
Publisher/Year:  Random House Publishing 5/9/17
Length:  272 Pages
Series:  Brave New Girl #1

Overview

In a world where everyone is the same, one girl is the unthinkable: unique. A high-stakes fast-paced series launch from New York Times bestselling author Rachel Vincent.

Dahlia 16 sees her face in every crowd. She’s nothing special—just one of five thousand girls created from a single genome to work for the greater good of the city.

Meeting Trigger 17 changes everything. He thinks she’s interesting. Beautiful. Unique. Which means he must be flawed. When Dahlia can’t stop thinking about him she realizes she’s flawed, too.

But what if Trigger is right? What if Dahlia is different? But if she’s flawed, then so are all her identicals. And any genome found to be flawed will be destroyed, ONE BY ONE BY ONE. . . .

My Thoughts

I was looking for something different to read and I have to say that t here are times w hen good cover are really manage to get me sucked in. This cover though seems to remind me of something else that I’ve read over the years, I’m just not able to put my finger on what exactly yet.

Anyhow, just like the summary tells us, we are in a time when people are manufactured based on genomes, with the intention to make the best of the best for an entire generation of sorts. Essentially 5,000 girls and 5,000 boys in each year, created for a specific purpose. No one knows exactly what, but that’s part of the intrigue.

we follow Dahlia 16 from the time she was Dahlia 6 i think until now, when she’s grown, she’s showing traits of being the best in her age group and she’s got pride for that – she’s competitive and proud. Yet, that’s a problem since the genomes are developed so that there’s no competition, that no one feels better than anyone else. When she’s recognized for her gardening ability, the way that she’s able to grow better fruits and vegetables faster and of better quality than almost anyone else. That’s when things go in a different direction for her. She’s called to the management bureau and there she’s given the proposition of being an instructor, which is an interesting proposition for her. It means that she wont’ go into the work force like her identicals, but it’s a prestige role. On her way out of the office though, if she felt that her life hadn’t changed enough, she gets stuck in an elevator with a cadet. Trigger17 and that is what throws her path completely off.

Trigger17 is the best in his cadet class, and that’s allowed since Defense personnel are supposed to have competition and pride. When there’s an immediate attraction between the two, and we know that Dahlia’s not supposed to talk to anyone, we can only imagine what is going to happen next.

The balance of the story is intense. We watch how these two can’t stay away from one another, but they know that it’s too dangerous to be together. They also find out more about Dahlia’s history and make-up which completely changes everything that we knew. We’re left on such a cliff hanger of sorts seeing how things have evolved and the trouble that’s occurred. There are mass killings, hope is lost, fugitives, an entirely unknown society and town. Everything that people knew from Lakeview their town proves to be something completely different.

I’m excited to see where this story goes since we’re now in a completely different place both physically and mentally than where we started and this means that there’s an opportunity to see these teens grow and learn things for themselves. We don’t know who we can trust and who’s going to go against us. There are so many questions and so few answers to this point, but the notion of the wild, freedom, and teen romance is enough to keep this story going at full speed. Enjoy!