I wasn't so sure about this book, honestly, until about halfway through. I loved Before I Fall, so I knew I had to give Oliver's 2nd book a chance. She dazzled me again, I'm happy to say!
Her writing is so beautiful and moving. I feel like I made the transition with Lena from ignorance to knowing. In Lena's world, love is a disease that humans have learned to eradicate with a procedure administered on a person's 18th birthday. Lena has been raised by her aunt and uncle because her mother had the disease and killed herself when Lena was just 8. Lena's cousin also was taken away (she was a "resistor"), so her children Grace and Jenny also live in the same house. Everyone views Lean's family as tainted.
In the beginning, Lena counts down to her procedure, but that all changes once her evaluation is messed up because of a protest. Good thing too, because she was actually giving real responses that the evaluators weren't liking. That's also the moment she first sees Alex.
For awhile, not much changes. But then she goes to find her friend Hana at an illegal party and hears music that isn't "allowed". It changes her, and of course, she find Alex there as well. Later, she tries to save Hana and Alex during a raid night, and though she ends up injured, she also begins to fall in love. Love, the forbidden word in a world where Romeo and Juliet is a cautionary tale instead of a tragic love story.
During the brief weeks that Alex and Lena steal time to be together, my heart broke for them. You just know that something horrible will prevent them escaping. When they finally do make their plans to escape to the Wilds, where Alex comes from (only after Lena learns something horrific about her mother), they are caught. The ending leaves you wondering what happened to one character, while another makes it over the fence. Such a compelling read once it got going!
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