Welcome to The Undesirable book tour! The Undesirable is the first Mature YA / New Adult book that I've read! And I'm quite happy that it was a good one!
Blurb:
What if everything you knew turned out to be a lie?
Charlotte Walker knows how to live under the rule of The Party. She has managed for 18 years. She helps out her drunken mother and keeps life going at a familiar, steady pace. She doesn’t ask questions, even though she has many of them in her heart.
Fostino Sanchez knows how to live under the rule of The Party, too. For 19 years, he’s worked to be the perfect Party member. He knows what must be done to keep Maxwell Cooper in power, and how find the The Undesirables that threaten to take away everything that matters.
As the months go by, what matters most to Fostino is Charlotte Walker.
While their love blooms, danger comes to Charlotte and Fostino’s small hometown of Harrison Corners, OH. Threats they never knew existed could take away all that they care about. And just when these two teens think they know what will come next, Charlotte learns the truth about a secret she has long suspected.
What Charlotte finds out changes everything.
EVERYTHING.
THE UNDESIRABLE is Charlotte Walker’s story, from her point of view.
It is a thrilling, suspenseful tale of love, curiosity, adversity, and maturity against the backdrop of a futuristic war.
Should Charlotte trust Fostino with what she knows? Can she trust anyone? Will she find it in herself to rise up against terrible odds? What if the ultimate Undesirable is her?
Series: Undesirable, #1
Age: 14 years and up
Review: 4 stars
The Undesirable is a futuristic (no space ships or anything) novel that takes place in the United States. Honestly, it's kind of like a light version of "post-apocalyptic" novels. No apocalypse has happened, but there's a dictator and everything is monitored. Movies, TV stations, everything. The reason behind this is that the government doesn't want people knowing too much.
Charlotte is an independent, 18-year-old girl who's mother doesn't care about her. She's been taking care of herself for a long time now—after all, her mother doesn't—and is all alone.
Then there's Fostino, a 19-year-old boy in the Homeland Guard. Charlotte describes him as having exotic looks, and has a crush on him. He always comes across as being a "true believer," or someone who believes in what the Party (the dictator's government) does.
The first chapter is more of a prologue, giving us a view in what's happening at the moment. And then the second chapter and onwards describes how it all started. From then on, we start understanding what's happening more and more. Through each chapter, we see what led Charlotte to make the choices we see in the first chapter. This goes on until the end of Part One, where we catch up to right before the events of the first chapter.
Right around the middle of the book there's Part Two, that starts where the first chapter left off. From then on we know the whole background and everything, and that's where the real action begins. Not that there isn't action during Part One—there is—but since there doesn't have to be much explaining about history and how things got as bad as they did, there's more room for action.
I really liked the set up. The author gave us a tease in the first chapter that keeps us wanting to read more. Charlotte was a strong character who questioned why they were doing what they were doing. The beginning of Part One was a little slow at times, mostly because the author was explaining the history and the goings-on of the time period. And that's understandable. It is, after all, the year 2072.
The book is mostly action, but the author manages to have some romance in there. Fostino and Charlotte fall in love with each other, but Charlotte doesn't know if she can fully trust him. At times I felt as if Fostino and Charlotte's romance happened really quickly, since it kind of escalated rather quickly.
There were also some inconsistencies in the book. They were minor, but they still distracted me a little. There's a few occurrences where I was left wondering if I had read something right and, going back and re-reading, wondering why it said something different later on. One specific example is that in the beginning, Charlotte describes that she often caught Fostino looking at her, sometimes even catching his eye when she was laughing with her friends. However, a little while later, Charlotte says she doesn't have any friends and that she grew up alone.
Even with the minor inconsistencies, this book kept me interested enough to keep turning the pages and wanting to know what Charlotte was going to do and how the book was going to end.
The book, being part of a series, ends with some problems resolved and some bigger ones ready for resolving in the next book of the series.
I recommend this book for people who like light versions of post-apocalypse novels (Post-Apocalypse Lite? :D) with action and some romance sprinkled in.
A free copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Book Trailer
About the Author
New Orleans born Sara Celi has lived all over the United States. She calls the Greater Cincinnati area and the Queen City home.
She’s currently a TV reporter and anchor in Oklahoma City, and has spent more than a decade working in journalism. She graduated cum laude from Western Kentucky University in 2004.
Celi is also a contributing author to Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Power of Positive.
The Undesirable is her debut novel.
In her spare time, she likes to read, shop, write, travel, run long distances, volunteer with the Junior League, and fundraise for Cooperative for Education, a non-profit providing educational opportunities for Guatemalan kids.
Website * Twitter
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Labels: four stars, giveaway, new adult, promotion, reviews, romance
