Off to Never-Never land...
Lena is on a mission. She isn't sure exactly what it is, where she's going, or what's waiting there. She also isn't exactly sure who she is, either. Waking up 4 most ago in alley with no ID, her memory gone, has left her floundering. So, she followed the pull in her mind and hitchhiked her way cross country. Luckily, she has a sort of early warning system built in them allows her to see if her rides are safe or not. Her last ride was headed in the direction of a ranch before she jumped out to walk to the city nearby. But in her haste she left her backpack in the truck so she has to get to this ranch before she can go on. The SUV that finds her walking that way, though, that's where the fun begins. Because, just as she's been looking for whatever was pulling her to the city, they've been waiting on her.
Spoilers ahead:
It's like a mashup of Maze Runner, the YA James Patterson series, Twilight, Sailor Moon, and a bunch of other fairly popular books. It's a slow building storyline. A very, very slow building storyline. Lena is described as friendly but comes off as more fragile and reserved. In four months she's learned to stick out her thumb but can't figure out how to work under the table for cash to live? Flint is a brute. He goes from ignoring her to telling her who she can and can't talk to. All the others woke up in condos, with IDs and cash. Lena woke up in an alley. The reason given is a little sad and was apparently a known issue that the mystery person who set everything up knew of. But didn't plan for? Hm. I would say this is geared more for YA with the weirdly done relationship drama (can we stop fixating on that for teens? There's more to life than who's dating who.) except for the bit about them making out. Not that they're making out. I know teens do that. It's the description used in the scene, more erotic leaning than YA friendly. So, even my liberal self would say 16+ for any readers looking at this. But, back to the summary, I probably won't be reading the next 2. It wasn't that the premise was bad. It was that the focus of it, when there are 8 unique individuals, seemed to be on just 2 and their will they/won't they relationship. For supposedly highly intelligent people they do bare minimum investigating, aren't really pushing to put what pieces they have gotten together, and seem more than willing to just float. There's no urgency, no real desire to know. If the characters themselves can't be bothered, at least until they literally fall over a clue, then it's really hard to get readers invested. Also, this is probably a major spoiler but a big pet peeve: the person that sent them put into the world knew, knew, they were still being hunted. Knowing this, he drugged them to wipe their memory, left them helpless, didn't change their appearance at all- or their names, just separated them and turned them loose, completely helpless. Instead of coaching them on how to blend in and hide when a few decided they wanted to see the world he basically just abandoned them. Oh, and they had a rule, everyone had to agree or it was a no go. Not everyone agreed but he still did it. So, yeah, I can continue to pick this apart but I won't. It may come across as more fascinating to some than others. It just didn't suck me in.