2. Remember they are always searching.
3. Don’t get involved.
4. Keep your head down.
5. Don’t fall in love.
Five simple rules. Ariane Tucker has followed them since the night she escaped from the genetics lab where she was created, the result of combining human and extraterrestrial DNA. Ariane’s survival—and that of her adoptive father—depends on her ability to blend in among the full-blooded humans in a small Wisconsin town, to hide in plain sight at her high school from those who seek to recover their lost (and expensive) “project.”
But when a cruel prank at school goes awry, it puts her in the path of Zane Bradshaw, the police chief’s son and someone who sees too much. Someone who really sees her. After years of trying to be invisible, Ariane finds the attention frightening—and utterly intoxicating. Suddenly, nothing is simple anymore, especially not the rules…
More science fiction (seriously, I’m loving this stuff)! I completely zipped through this book, its character and its way with being light and intense at the same time just pulled me from one page to the next. I was quickly invested in Ariane’s life and I was kind of surprised at the way I connected with her. She took me into her world and showed me what it was like to have to hide who you really are. Her world and everything that’s at stake make an intense background, but there are times when it’s so light and happy. Because it all comes down to the fact that Ariane is just trying to be a teenager.
Ariane knows what makes her different and she knows she has power inside of her, so rather than trying to figure out who she is, she’s trying to hide herself and rediscover herself at the same time. She starts out pretty meek and invisible, but with so much room for growth, she really steps up to that challenge. She also doesn’t completely understand social cues, so it was fun to watch her try to figure out some nuances of human behavior. She’s just such a rounded character that I know her quirks and her habits without ever remembering learning them.
I also really adored that it took place in small town Wisconsin, because small-town Midwest is where I come from. And Stacey Kade pretty much hit that whole atmosphere right on the head. I liked, too, that it had the added mystery and intrigue of one really large company that pretty much ran things – even though no one really knew what it did. That company is, of course, the same one that Ariane is hiding from so you always have that great threat looming.
Everything about this book is really great. It’s well balanced, it’s enticing and entertaining. I can’t really point out anything that deterred me from it. However, there’s just something about it that’s keeping it from being really epic. Still, it’s a great book that kept me fully engrossed. I am looking forward to book two, because the beginning is definitely a solid foundation for a great series.
