Welcome, once again, to the #Collaboreads link up! You can read more about it here, but the basic synopsis is that you read a book based on that month’s criteria, and then write a review about it! They have even created a mnemonic to review the book. It’s amazing, and I hope you join in with us!
This month’s criteria: Same First Name
Book I Chose: Schism by Britt Holewinski
Synopsis: A government-created virus is accidentally released before testing is complete and within weeks it kills six billion people, children are the only survivors. Andy Christensen and her two friends travel across the country searching for a safe place to live, but nowhere, it seems, is capable of resurrection.
This prompt was a little tricky, since I really haven’t heard of any authors with the first name of Britt/Brittanny/Brittney, etc. (except for Brittney Spears and her book A Mother’s Gift, which I actually loved as a teenager and if my copy wasn’t at my mom’s you bet my britches I would probably have read it for this prompt) so I decided to just pull up my trusty Goodreads account and simply search the name “Britt” and chose a book that sounded interesting and that I could get on my Kindle for 99 cents. And so, I found Schism.
RIVETING.
What part of the book could you NOT get enough of? The story-line itself was pretty interesting. It definitely kept my interest as I wanted to know what was going to happen, where the virus came from, and the back story of the characters. (Keep reading for more thoughts!)
ELEMENTS.
How did you relate/care for the characters? What’s your thought on the plot line and twists and turns? I liked the characters. I didn’t love them, but there were none I really hated, so I’ll call that a win. The plot line was ok. As far as dsytopian YA goes, this was a newer idea that I haven’t read about before, so that interested me. There were a lot of parts that felt rushed and random, though. And the ending is a huge cliffhanger which I DID NOT enjoy. I hate cliff hangers. I enjoy series, but I still need each book to be fairly stand-on-it’s-own-ish and this was not that.
ASSOCIATE.
What other books are like this one? If none, did it remind you of a particular TV show or movie with it’s themes and characters? Well, as a dystopian novel, it had parts that reminded me any other books set in similar worlds — The Hunger Games, etc.
DESIGN.
You know you judged this book by the cover. What did you think of it? How did it relate to the contents of the novel? And the font and layout of the pages? I read a Kindle version so I didn’t really pay attention to the cover and of course the font/layout was just like any other e-book.
STARS.
How many out of five do you give this book? Would you recommend this book to a friend? I only gave it 2 stars. While the story was fairly unique, the cliffhanger ending made me upset and there were parts of the book that weren’t fully fleshed out, and felt rushed. I wouldn’t recommend it to a friend. I will, however, probably pick up the next book once it’s published, if I can get if 99 cents again 😉
For Next Month:
In February the criteria is Love At First Sight, so find a book with a cover that instantly grabs you, and then share your thoughts with us! We’ll link up on February 28 – ahem, my half-birthday!
