Tenley “Ten” Lockwood has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. She’s earned her rep as the craziest of crazies, but that doesn’t stop the torture. Ten can leave, but only if she allows her parents to choose where she’ll liveafter she dies.
There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.
In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the boy she’s falling for and the realm she wants to support. Who will she choose? Can she stay alive long enough to make a decision?
Welcome, readers! It’s been a hot minute since we’ve done a #readwiththeskinny Book Club review! And we just finished our 9th pick!! Phew! In saying that, I thought I’d get us caught up on our latest Skinny bookclub pick for May, Firstlife by Gena Showalter.
There was some serious mixed opinions on this book during our May’s meet. Half loved it, half thought it was so-so. The half that loved it, sought on to read the next 2 books [this is book 1 in a series of 3] and those that thought it was so-so still said it was an entertaining read.
Being a YA novel, most of us knew what to sort of expect on this one. And most of the feedback from the group all agreed on one point – We felt it was a little predictable at times. We all felt we had read the plot before and agreed it fell heavily into the territory of The Hunger Games or Divergent novels. Predictable female main character – “the chosen one”, predictable back and forth between two love interests, along with a struggle in the outside world. All very similar. However in saying that, it does not mean that we did not enjoy the novel. It truly was an entertaining read! There were some very creative twists + plots that kept up coming back for more.
Personally I fell onto the side of loving the book, and while I did agree with the group discussions on predictability, I still went onto read books 2 + 3 and enjoyed the outcomes. I felt that reading further along built the characters up a bit more, as well as explained the back story a bit better than the first book allowed. I also felt that it brought me to a place where books should take you in my opinion, away from the real world for a while. (I also really loved both the Hunger Games + Divergent series, so it’s no surprise that I enjoyed this series too)
In conclusion we think this is a great easy read and one that we all felt would be a wonderful summer read on a beach vacation.
Have you read this book yet? What did you think? And if you have any suggestions for our upcoming reads, let us know in the comments below!
And now!! June’s Book club pick is The Last Mrs. Parrish, by Liv Constantine (Fiction)
**Here’s a rundown of books from previous months, too. Just in case you want to play catch up 😉
#8 The Rules Do Not Apply, by Ariel Levy (Memoir)
#7 The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin (Fiction)
#6 Braving The wilderness: The Quest For True Belonging and The Courage to Stand Along, by Brene Brown (Self Help)
#5 Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng (Fiction)
#4 The Trouble With Mistletoe, by Jill Shalvis (Erotica- for our Dirty December 😉 Thanks, Janna!)
#3 Turtles All The Way Down, by John Green (Young Adult)
#2 Thrive, by Arianna Huffington (Self Help)
#1 Fierce Kingdom, by Gin Phillips (Fiction)
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Olivia is wearing the Jeanne Pinstripe Dress.
Photos || Leslie Brown Photography
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Erinn
the skinny's closet 