2.5*
I received a free copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This is the sequel to Rite of Rejection, and thus the second book in a YA dystopian series about a world where young people are being introduced into society at a huge ball that also sorts them with their partners they are supposed to marry. We follow the protagonist, sixteen-year-old Rebecca, who is looking forward to being a proper member of society, but the machine that is supposed to choose a partner for her rejects her, and she is being transported away as a criminal. She forms an alliance with other prisoners about a risky escape plan, and thus things unfold.
I remember the first book as being a refreshing read, a really good dystopian, despite the similarities this world has to other big dystopian series such as the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie. Now when I saw book two up on NetGalley I had to request it because I had been looking forward to this book, but I must say I was honestly disappointed.
Everything that had been refreshing about the first book, the heist-like plans the group made, the loveable characters, the engaging writing, wasn't really there for me in this book. Okay, the writing was still mostly engaging, but there were several parts that really dragged for me, and the characters were more annoying than anything else. I just think that the author took a really generic road with this book, and I am sad about it. Typically, we have a heavy focus on the romance where it should not be at all, because there are much bigger things going on, and the romance would not be a priority for the people involved as much as it is. Also, several decisions the characters make are just crazy and I can't understand why they were made. All in all, it was a rather disappointing sequel for me here.
If you're into dystopian romance though, I would still suggest you give this series a try as long as you haven't read that much YA dystopian - because for me, one of the annoying things was how generic the story was because I'm sad that one of my favourite genres is so repetitive lately.