Imposter: Book two of the Live Once Trilogy

Live Once Trilogy #2

by Chanda Stafford

Mira was supposed to die so that Socrates, a powerful First, could continue his immortality. But against all odds, she survived. More than that, she took Socrates's identity. Now, she must face the government, the rebels, and the young man she loves in the fight to forge a better future for her people. Will was supposed to save her, but he watched her die instead. He doesn't know Mira's alive, or that she carries the identity of Socrates, the man he's sworn to protect with his life. Too bad some secrets refuse to stay hidden.

222 pages, Paperback

First published April 10, 2015

About the author

Chanda Stafford teaches middle and high school English. She loves traveling and currently lives in Michigan with her husband and a menagerie of rescued dogs and cats.

When she’s not reading or writing, Chanda enjoys old zombie movies, authentic Italian food, and comic books.

Reviews

[Donita · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I’m pretty sure we’re all monsters, every last one of us, and the key is figuring out who is worse.”

I would like to start by saying that Imposter was so much better than First, the first book in the Lived Once Trilogy. After that cliffhanger ending of First, I thought that the sequel was going to be promising and exciting. It was predictable if I must say, but if the reason of the cliffhanger ending was to make the readers rave for the next book, then it worked, atleast for me.

“The war for freedom is never over. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or how many speeches you’ve given, or how many fights you’ve fought, there’s always a new star to reach for, and some new horizon to sail toward.”

Looking back, I realized that First mainly focused on introducing complex and promising world building and character development that nothing exciting and kick-ass happened. First was told on a dual POV, Socrates, the first's of the first and Mira, the second he picked on one of the Texas farm. Imposter is still told on a dual POV, since Socrates is now unavailable, his place was taken over by Will, Mira's supposed to be love interest.

In Imposter, Mira is now living as a First and deceiving people around her. First are a selected group of people who get to leave for as long as they wanted so that their talents and knowledge wouldn't die when they do.

“Our purpose is to help mold the future while remembering the past so we don't repeat our mistakes.”

Immortality with purpose.

Now, Mira's responsibility is to see the "Free America Bill" to pass, this bill will release Texans for being a slave for a very very long time. How will she do it? By delivering heart felt speech that will moved First's and civilian alike enough to make them vote for Yes to pass this bill.

Texas was enslaved for crimes that their forefathers had committed 200 years ago. That's where all seconds came from. Seriously, I don't know how I'll be able to summarize the concept of this book, without giving away too much information that may spoil First. I'll have to settle with saying that Live Once trilogy has great, complex and interesting premise.

You might be wondering why, after all my praises for this book, I gave it a 3 star rating. Well it was because of the couple of issues I had with this book:

*Incredibly slow pacing that almost bored me to death. It started really good, so I didn't see the dragged story coming in the middle. If it wasn't because of the intriguing plot, I've probably DNF it.

*Mira. This was also one of my issues with the first book. I wasn't really fond of her in the first book, and I'm certainly still not a fan of her now. I thought that with the new responsibility on her shoulder, she should've have atleast show even a slightest development, but no, all I get to here on her POV is whining! How she can't do this without Socrates, how she's only a simple Mira who knows nothing about politics blah blah blah, and heading head first on an obviously dangerous rebels. She's selfish, not in a realistic way, so, sorry but she's a big No, No for me. Will's no good here too, I liked him better on First, why ruin it?

*Ridiculous logic. I can't convince myself why keeping Mira's "real" identity to Will a secret, necessary. I mean, they were supposed to be on the same side right? I understand it on Eliot's point of view, but I can't understand why the doctor has to keep it a secret. There's no point really, it just resulted with the unnecessary drama.

I love Imposter cover a hundred more times than the First's cover. It gave a kick-ass vibe. Actually, I love this previous cover of First:



It also match the feels of this second book, I wonder why they changed it?

Regardless of all the issues I had with Imposter, I'm still looking forward into reading the last book in this trilogy, and to see if Mira's going to finally redeem herself. **crossing fingers**

[Caitlin V · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better than the first book :) Full review is at www.thebooksbeyond.blogspot.com

[Juli White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book

Another wonderful book!!!!! I can’t wait to read the next one and see what happens...the suspense is killing me...love reading books from this author, she always keeps you wondering what is next!!!!!

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome second book about Mira. She was supposed to die but she didn’t her young man watched her die, or so it was supposed to be. Another book to read until I finished as quickly as I could.

[derrvy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review. THANK YOU!

This sequel was so much better than I had expected. I find it hard to express myself right now because the ending, the climax, everything had such great impact on my damn feelings. I was moved, reading the story and all.

We finally get answers about things that the first book did not answer. I was really glad about that. I have to say that the main protagonist improved quite a bit and that made the whole plot more intriguing.

We find out so much more about other characters. Even new ones are introduced in this one and I'll be super happy if the next installment lets us learn more about them.

To be honest, I was really crushed when finding out about Will and Evie's relationship, how they were connected. It was simple, yet, that made such a big impact on the whole "Will and Mira" shipment I had in the first book. I hated Will at one point, learning about their connection. I find it weird that I started shipping Mira and Dr.James Scoffield together. Haha! OH WELL.

Throughout this book, since I can't really tell you how I feel, I'll show it to you. I mean, at one point in the story, I was so heartbroken.




I really really liked this one. As you can tell, I finished this one in about two days. I hope the next installment will be even better. I'm totally looking forward to it!