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Sweet #0.5

Expelled

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"She has lost sixty pounds in just over six weeks! With no side effects."
Li Jing knows that her research, the weight-loss compound she's developed, will change millions and millions of lives. Any risk is worth it to succeed.

Unfortunately, the school board doesn't agree, and Li Jing has been expelled with a permanent black mark on her record that will keep her from ever getting a PhD... Apparently conducting unauthorized trials on human subjects is frowned upon-no matter how willing the subject was or how well the compound worked.

Author Emmy Laybourne shares the chilling story behind the miracle weight-loss drug, SOLU, in this prequel story to her new novel SWEET.

29 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 5, 2015

5 people are currently reading
372 people want to read

About the author

Emmy Laybourne

30 books1,221 followers
EMMY LAYBOURNE is a Young Adult novelist best known for her Monument 14 series, an internationally best-selling trilogy that has been translated into 9 languages. Her standalone book Sweet won a Junior Library Guild Award, was a YALSA Quick Pick and got a Perfect Ten rating from VOYA. Her latest books, Berserker, and Ransacker tell the story of a family of Norwegian teens with ancient Viking powers and are currently being adapted for television.

Emmy is a former character actress, and is occasionally recognized from her role as Mary Katherine Gallagher’s best friend in the movie “Superstar.” She lives outside New York with her husband, two kids, faithful dog and a flock of seven nifty chickens. Visit her online at www.EmmyLaybourne.com.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
www.facebook.com/EmmyLaybourne
www.twitter.com/EmmyLaybourne
www.instagram.com/EmmyLaybourne

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for Rustic Red Reads.
485 reviews38 followers
July 26, 2015


Expelled passed and is almost at the 4th star. Rating: 3.5 stars

Reading the prequel to Sweet gives a background information about the character of - Elise. Plus you will get to know, somehow, the story how the Solu is made.

You could read it before or after Sweet, but I recommend it reading it after, since you could be mildly spoiled of the side effects of Solu.
Profile Image for Vicki.
2,721 reviews113 followers
August 4, 2015
A great prequel to get someone interested in the book Sweet. I'm curious to find out what happens to Li Jing and if her father changes his opinions and ways. And I want to see what happens to Carolann. Lots to find out! I definitely can commiserate with her, but I wouldn't have taken the steps she did.

And what about elise? Will she and Li Jing be very different? Hmmm...

Recommendation: Yes!
Profile Image for Trisha.
5,937 reviews231 followers
September 6, 2018
A quick read, over too soon. I would love more story and information. Sure, we get more information about Elise, but I don't think this added much to the original story. I loved the first full book and I'm glad I read this after reading it - I don't know that I would have given Sweet a chance if I'd just read this.
215 reviews
June 28, 2015
Well, it was interesting, but short.

WAY too short.


I realize it's a prequel, but it should have been 50 pages, not 15. It took me less than 15 minutes to read this!

I honestly think it should have been a teaser for Sweet, because this was NOT worth 2.99 on my eReader.
1,519 reviews28 followers
March 6, 2019
Kratucka poviedka o tom, kto, ako a preco vymysleli Solu. Skoda, mohli to trosku viac rozviest, bolo to prikratke na moj vkus.
Profile Image for Mehsi.
15.1k reviews455 followers
November 20, 2024
I have been excited for the book named Sweet as soon as I heard it was coming (so around last year), and now, with only a few days to go before the release date I found this precious gem of a novella. And I can say, it does it job, it really grabbed me and made me want to read Sweet even more than I already wanted to read it. I am now super excited!

This novella tells us the story of Li Jing, the creator of the sweetener that will cause havoc in the Sweet book. I really loved her personality, she is driven, ambitious, but she also has something creepy over her. Like she is truly willing to do anything, no matter what, to get where she wants to go. If that means testing on human subjects? If that means testing on people who could die? She would, she will. I was a bit disturbed with her, especially the latter parts of this short novella. She really shows her dark side there, but then, maybe that deal with the devil (as I will call the man) does that to a person, maybe it does bring out the evil that was residing in her.

Carolann was interesting, and it also clearly shows we are in for a treat when the real book pops in. If this is what might happen to people with a product that is badly tested and done with sloppy research, what will the real deal bring?

Penny, urgh. I don't like her type. I can understand why she did what she did, I might have done the same, but I still think how she did it, and the fact she lied about things are just bad.

Li Jing's father... Dear Lord, bad parenting much?

All in all, this was a short novella, but it will give you the creeps and it will make you hungry for the real deal, for the real Sweet deal that is coming soon.

I would really recommend this one to everyone who is planning to read Sweet, or those who are interested Emmy Laybourne's book but aren't sure yet.

Review first posted at http://twirlingbookprincess.com/
Profile Image for Amber.
503 reviews59 followers
July 11, 2015
The full review can be found at The Book Bratz

Here is my biggest issue now, in Sweet I thought they never knew that the addiction and then turning into a zombie (I am kidding....well, sorta) side effect was part of Solu. Now is Expelled, it is shown that is ALWAYS has been. How did they not fix this!? Maybe it was a marketing thing but they saw how horrible the results were on Carolann! Especially with how Sweet ended, the world is pretty much over after this!

I don't know why I was under the impression that Li Jing was an older woman in Sweet, she was still in college in the novella, having just been expelled because of her experiments. In Sweet there wasn't much about Li Jing, so we never got to fully understand how Solu really came to be and how she ended up working for the owner of the biggest soda company in the world. I liked how Emmy included Li Jing's father into the mix, implying he is an abusive alcoholic and some sketchy things done to get Li Jing into this college in the first place.

Sadly, there isn't enough writing for me to actually reviewed Expelled properly, but I figured since I never reviewed Sweet I can feel some what accomplished with these book. But, Expelled is a really good prequel to an amazingly creepy, realistic story about weight loss.
Profile Image for Nic.
1,749 reviews75 followers
December 18, 2015
3.5 stars, ish. I liked it fine, and was interested to learn the backstory for one of the villains of Sweet.
Profile Image for Suzy Kennedy.
516 reviews10 followers
December 1, 2017
a very superfluous novella. I wish we got a bit more into the start of the creation of Sweet. Maybe her last semester, learing more about the first test subject etc. I just didn't feel like this really added to the main book
Profile Image for Kellie.
1,342 reviews30 followers
June 23, 2019
A prequel to Sweet, this introduces us to Li Jing and the creation that becomes the sweetener, Solu. Slightly spoilerish. Overall, I found this more interesting than the full novel. Li Jing was a much more captivating character than anyone on The Extravagance.
Profile Image for Jenn.
893 reviews32 followers
July 3, 2016
A good little glimpse into the world of Sweet. I can't wait to read it!
Profile Image for Louisa.
8,843 reviews99 followers
November 2, 2015
Man, such a great story! So creepy, and so awesome, and just makes me want to read Sweet all the more!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews

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