A modern-day young adult retelling of Romeo and Juliet, with a supernatural twist that will appeal to fans of Ally Condie’s Matched and Kiera Cass’ The Selection Julia Jaynes has the perfect life. The perfect family. The perfect destiny. The daughter of a billionaire investor in Austin, Texas, it looks like Julia has it all. But there’s something rotten beneath the surface—dangerous secrets her … something rotten beneath the surface—dangerous secrets her father is keeping; abilities she was never meant to have; and an elite society of highly evolved people who care nothing for the rest of humanity. So when Julia accidentally jeopardizes the delicate anonymity of her people, she’s banished to the one place meant to make her feel inferior: public high school.
Julia’s goal is to lay low and blend in. Then she meets him—John Ford. He’s popular, quiet, intense, and strangely compelling. Then Julia discovers she can read his mind and her world expands. Their forbidden love is powerful enough to break the conditioning that has kept Julia in the cold grip of her manipulative father. For the first time, Julia develops a sense of self and questions her restrictive upbringing and her family prejudices. She must decide how she will define herself—and whom she will betray.
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I loved this more than I thought I would.
I wished for this on NetGalley because the blurb seemed promising but I was not expecting that my wish would be granted.
Before starting the book, I went on Goodreads and was disheartened by the disappointed reviews and the three or lower star ratings. I know it is prejudice on my part but whether you like it or not, reviews have the power to influence readers and that’s why reviewers exist.
So imagine my surprise when I absolutely loved a book I was already prepared not to like.
I admit that at first, I did not like it. We were thrust into the story blind, without so much of an explanation and it confused me. But after a few chapters, I started to enjoy it and I couldn’t put it down. I read it on public transport, read when I came home, read almost the whole book until morning. I wouldn’t have stopped if I wasn’t so sleepy. And to my amazement, it was my first thought when I woke up!
I can’t even pinpoint why I liked this so much. I firmly believe that books and their readers are like puzzle pieces. Not everyone is a perfect fit but all it takes is the right one and you’re complete. This had all the things I was looking for.
Full review: https://kookbookery.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/review-select/
We have Julia Jaynes who only wants to solidify that she the spot in the ranks of it’ exclusive families. You might be saying you shouldn’t have to solidify your spot in your family and that true but this is not your typical family. They are elite, they excel at everything and anything. Well, when word starts to spread and the FBI have been trying to locate you and match the ties to an ancient tribe from Peru, Novak (Julia’s Father) decided to train a few teens while the others training is put on hold. Wierd right? But times are tough and he is trying to find a way to keep his family growing and safe. Julia’s “unfortunately” draws the short end off the stick and is with the “Lost kids” ( the kids not receiving training) and apparently if you don’t receive training or expel your magical self in some form you break out with this weird rash (Gross) , but it also gives you the feeling that they all seem to give off this goth vibe. I find it a little odd. Anywho… Julia gets stuck in the middle of an incident and for some reason ( revealed at the very end of the book) she is exiled so to speak to live amongst the people of the world.
Reading her trials in which she has faced pretty much on her own since she is not to communicate with anyone in their exclusive bloodline. She is essentially thrown to the wolves to fend on her own. This is where it gets interesting. Did you ever want something you can have… Like most people when told no don’t do that it just makes you want to more. Julia was told not to use her powers to blend it but she can’t control them. They are magnifying on their own.
Julia is faced with problem after problem, ranging from dealing with her family, the loss of her sister who had since been the golden child, her childhood crush, and struggling to find who she herself is in a world in which she was told would use them as lab rats if ever exposed. So naturally, like any good book, she meets John, John Ford… And guess what he notices her too…..They remind me of Romeo and Juliet, meant to be but forced to stay apart. The growth of their relationship is very hot & cold, really hot and cut off ( one thing I didn’t like ).
By the end of the book, Julia must choose, Life without repercussion in a place described as Eden or a life of aloofness while following her heart.
This book is interesting and I would have rated it 5 stars but the drag of the relationship and triangles ( yes multiple) became redundant. Another reason was that even if you removed the fantasy aspect of this book it would still stand on its own. That’s not a good thing in my eyes. If your world that you created revolves around how special a person or group of people are and that can be removed and you’re still standing with a decent book something was missing because I can extract a chunk of a storyline.
And for this while, I haven’t read anything about this being a series I do believe that it may be and you have Victoria ( the stepmother ) to thank for that…. And I surely would read a book 2 because frankly no matter what side Julia chose there is more to this story.
1/2 Stars
Select was such a delightful read. I was so happy to have wished for this on NetGalley and to have that wish granted was fabulous.
So Select is the first book in a new Young Adult paranormal series.
It revolves around Julia Jaynes who Comes from a race of highly-evolved humans,
This group hide in plain sight amongst the general populace who they refer to as outsiders.
Julia seems to have it all, The perfect family and lifestyle at least this is what it appears outwardly to others.
After an incident that gets this elite family group noticed Jayne is made an example of and sent to the local public high school with the outsiders and ordered to lie low, suppress and also tamp down her emerging extraordinary abilities.
Here she re-meets John Ford and the two overtime become friendly.
Now there is a lot more to this Young Adult debut novel than meets the eye, you need to look deeper beneath the layers and unravel the perfect illusion that is Julia’s life.
Most of the characters that claim to care for our young Julia are toxic to her.
Her father Novak is a big old douche, manipulative, cold and cruel but with a strange ability that compels others to gravitate towards him, giving him their faith and trust, in fact, It seems to have at times an almost cultish element to some of the family’s interactions.
Victoria her step-mother is a first class bitch, despite practically raising Julia from the age of Two she treats her like a second-class citizen, putting her own daughter Liv over Julia in everything.
Then there’s the younger sister Liv herself, self-centred, over-entitled, little princess, I really don’t like her and really wish Julia would stop making excuses for the spoilt little madam.
The bestie Angus, well I was divided in my opinion of him I’m going to see how he behaves in future as I’m pretty sure we haven’t seen the last of him.
I have my eye on you boyo.
Oh, and Angus and the Lost Boys dropped poor Julia like a bad disease when she was on the out and these are meant to be her friends.
So where was I, Oh yes Julia and Ford, well these two start a fledgeling relationship filled with the usual teenage angst.
I will also say that I wasn’t overly fond of the methods employed by Julia initially of reading John’s mind, but gave her a temporary free pass because she’s young and still learning.
In herself, Julia was a show of extremes so grown up in some ways and then so irritatingly naive and selfish in others, I myself think her privileged upbringing played a big part in shaping Julia.
And am hoping she will evolve so much more going forward.
As for John himself well he seems a very solid lad, A touch rebellious but he definitely seems to have his head screwed on right, he comes across as more grounded than Julia and more adult also.
As you can imagine this tale is not plain sailing and when its time to get out of dodge, things around Julia start to collapse like a pack of cards, decisions need making and secrets are finally revealed and on this note, I will leave it.
Select leaves us with more questions than answers.
it sets itself up for the next in this series nicely, which I will definitely be reading as I now feel so invested in this story and its many diverse characters.
This may be a Young Adult Novel but I would definitely recommend to all ages it kept my attention and I’m forty-four.
It’s well written and a definite page turner, pulling the reader in.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with a free arc of Select by Marit Wiesenberg, it was lovely of you to grant my wish.
This is my own personal unbiased opinion.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
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