Review: Replica (Replica #1) by Jenna Black

Book: Replica (Replica #1)

Author: Jenna Black

Published: July 16th, 2013

Publisher: Tor Teen

Genre: YA/Dystopian/SciFi/Murder Mystery

Series: Book 1

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository

Synopsis:

Sixteen year old Nadia Lake's marriage has been arranged since she was a child.Her betrothed was born in a family with the highest power in the corporate states.Nadia lives a very privileged life but that comes with paparazzi scrutinizing her every move,using every detail of her personal life as gossip fodder.Her future is assured as long as she can keep up with her flawless image.That is not easy when her betrothed is a notorious playboy.

Nathaniel Hayes is heir to the company that begin the process of human replication.Yet Nathaniel is more interested in staying in what is now the underbelly of the state that used to be New York.He'd rather be there than courting his bride-to-be. Especially when she is not really his type.

When Nathaniel turns up dead,all bets are off.

When the new Nathaniel wakes up in the replication room,he has no memory of how he ended up here. He has no idea who would end his life and he is terrified to think that the person he loves most of all,may have had a hand in it.Now Nathaniel and Nadia must find out the truth without spilling the secrets of those in their life.

Disclaimer: I got this ARC as a gift from Christina at A Reader of Fictions. Thanks Christina!

Review:

I wasn't expecting anything from my blogger friends so when I got this in the mail I was both thrilled and shocked at the same time. This had come in a package along with Extremities:Stories of Death,Murder & Revenge.Once I read the back of this book,I just knew that this was going to be an awesome book. I waited until the next day to start it,in an attempt to finish another book first.The next day,when I finally curled up to read it,I devoured it.

I know when most people think dystopian,they think The Hunger Games trilogy or the Divergent Trilogy but this was totally different and in an AWESOME way.First of all it was set in what used to be New York so there's some familiarity there. It wasn't some random place that was obviously made up.

The arranged marriage thing is something that people in India still do so that wasn't totally weird. I've often joked with my family that they should do an arranged marriage for me. Then again, I'm 27,way too old for the arranged marriage stuff.I think if either Nadia or Nathaniel had been lousy characters,I would have had an issue with the whole arranged marriage thing.

Nathaniel is supposedly a playboy but I never got that feeling about him. Maybe because I realized who he really was,whereas the people living there had no idea who Nathaniel Hayes was. I also knew that he was nothing like his father,which ended up being a massive relief.

Nadia was a teenager who didn't realize what she was really capeable of. Yes she along with Nathaniel made rash decisions but that's part of being a teenager. Most teenagers make rash decisions. But along with that,we got to see her bravery. How she handled herself during her first round of questioning and her second and so on. Especially when it came to Dirk Mosely.

Almost instantly we are thrown into a world that seems to thrive on half truths & secrets. None as damming as the one that Nathaniel has from his family. Only Kurt Bishop & Nadia know the true Nathaniel.When Nathaniel is found dead only hours after Nadia is seen having a disagreement with him,questions surface. Was Nadia tired of keeping her future husband's secrets,was Nathaniel caught "going outside the arrangement?" The answer to those questions end up somewhere in the middle.

Dirk Mosely gave me the creeps from the beginning. I knew fairly early on that he could and would make life difficult for Nadia if she did not do as he told her to. His threats against her family,particularly her niece and nephew would likely be enough for her to give in. From the time Nadia was small,it was instilled into her how important it was to keep her family safe at all costs.

Dante may have been Nadia's butler but he turned out to be a heck of a lot more interesting than I had ever even guessed. His connection to Kurt and to the Basement was fascinating.He was sort of living a double,even triple life.He was quite a brave guy.

I adored this book so much. It didn't follow the typical dystopian format which was awesome. There wasn't really a romance element although towards the end there were flickers of one between Nadia & Dante.It kept me wanting more and more.I couldn't put down this book from about halfway to the end. The pacing was fast and totally engaging which I was thrilled about. I hate it so much when the pace is slow.That's one of the things that make me ranty.

I cannot wait for the next book in the series. Especially the way the epilogue left it. It's clear that this is far from over. Five stars to Book One of this awesome new series.