Perfected (Perfected, #1)

by Kate Jarvik Birch

[Berls]

This review appeared first at Fantasy is More Fun.

**I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.**

When I finished Perfected, the first thing I did was look for some sign that it wasn't a stand alone, even though I was pretty sure it was. And from all I can tell, it is :( I want more - even just two more chapters!

See, Perfected has one of those semi-open endings. Things could go really well or really badly, a lot is going to depend on people and decisions. And there's all kinds of possibilities. I'm mostly satisfied, though, because I have written out in my mind exactly what happens and it's all happy. But I really would have liked to see it happen for reals.

But my like / discomfort with the ending is par for the course. That's how I felt pretty much all through Perfected. Its a really creepy concept - humans bred as pets, not a far cry from slavery and yet, made to look different because they're pampered rather than laborers. I loved the creepiness of the concept at times and at others the creepiness was done so well I just felt creepy for even enjoying the book, if that makes sense. And it was worse because the entitlement of the top 1% in this country makes me think this isn't a huge stretch. *chills*

The characters were written so well, from Ella (the pet) who's been bred to not understand so much that she's almost incapable of caring for herself to the Congresman (her primary owner) who I thought might be a nice guy at first but felt oogyier and oogier about as Perfected progressed. And Fynn *sigh* he's YA book boyfriend material from start to finish. He and Ruby (his sister) were equally lovable for their own reasons, but mainly because they didn't fit the cookie-cutter mold their Congressman father wanted them to.

Its a somewhat slow build - I was interested from the get-go, but as Ella grows more aware and tastes possibilities the tension and anxiety grows to a really exciting conclusion. The last few chapters I couldn't put down.

And Tavia Gilbert's narration was a slam dunk, as usual. It's been a while since I listened to anything read by Tavia, but I love her voices - from women to kids to men there's variety and personality that males listening a joy.

If you like books that kind of mess with you because they put what's wrong with the world in an uncomfortable but entertaining way, I think you'll enjoy Perfected. Its a quick read and I definitely recommend going with the audio.