Book Review - DIVERGENT

After multiple recommendations, I picked up a copy of DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth.  I started reading it Friday night and had it finished by Saturday night.  When I find a book that I really enjoy, I have a hard time putting it down.  I read for hours yesterday.  It was that good.  I repeat.  It.  Was.  That.  Good. 

DIVERGENT takes places in a future version of Chicago.  The world is a very different place and the population is broken up into 5 factions - based on qualities and traits that each faction holds dear.  Beatrice comes from a selfless society.  She doesn't live for the frivolous things in life.  At age 16, all children complete an aptitude test and based on their own feelings and the results of their test, they choose to stay in their born faction or move to another.  Beatrice, later called only Tris, is divergent which means that she doesn't fit into just any category.  And ultimately, she cannot be controlled.

Like I said - it was that good.  From beginning to end, you are intrigued by their culture and then you begin an emotional journey with Tris. 

So my review - 5 out of 5 stars.  I was entertained and intrigued.  And I couldn't put it down. 

Of course when it was over, I was desperate for more.  Thankfully, there are two more in this series - Insurgent and Allegiant.

Getting My Read On

Reading is one of my favorite activities.  I love to cuddle up with a book and escape the world and journey to someplace new.  This month, I'm working on two books.

I am joining the February Book Club over at Peanut Butter Fingers.  I'm excited.  Here's what Amazon.com says about the book:

In 2011, Sarah Jio burst onto the fiction scene with two sensational novels--The Violets of March and The Bungalow. With Blackberry Winter--taking its title from a late-season, cold-weather phenomenon--Jio continues her rich exploration of the ways personal connections can transcend the boundaries of time.

Seattle, 1933. Single mother Vera Ray kisses her three-year-old son, Daniel, goodnight and departs to work the night-shift at a local hotel. She emerges to discover that a May-Day snow has blanketed the city, and that her son has vanished. Outside, she finds his beloved teddy bear lying face-down on an icy street, the snow covering up any trace of his tracks, or the perpetrator's.

Seattle, 2010. Seattle Herald reporter Claire Aldridge, assigned to cover the May 1 "blackberry winter" storm and its twin, learns of the unsolved abduction and vows to unearth the truth. In the process, she finds that she and Vera may be linked in unexpected ways...

And then up is Terra by Gretchen Powell.  I LOVE Gretchen's weight loss blog and then I learned that she wrote a book!  Check it out here!

A broken and desolate Earth. A young girl struggling to survive. A lost boy with a powerful secret.

A discovery that will change everything.

In the distant wake of a plague that has decimated the Earth's population, humanity is split in two: The rich and powerful live in skycities that float overhead, while those who remain on the ground have gathered in settlements strewn across a dying planet. Eighteen-year-old Terra Rhodon is a terrestrial--a denizen of the barren groundworld--who makes her living as a scav. Long abandoned by her father, her caregivers gone, Terra supports herself and her younger brother, Mica, by scouring the earth for discarded scraps and metals to recycle for profit. One day, while on a routine scavenging run, she discovers something that shocks her home settlement of Genesis X-16. When the value of her discovery is revealed, Terra's world is turned upside down.

I'm excited to read them both!  I'll blog reviews when I'm finished!