Review: Firstlife by Gena Showalter

Firstlife
My Rating: 5 Stars
Date Read: February 2016

Publication Date: February 23, 2016
Hardcover, 480 pages


Summary From Goodreads:


ONE CHOICE.
TWO REALMS.
NO SECOND CHANCE.

Tenley “Ten” Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl…who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she’ll live—after she dies.

There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.

In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the two realms who will do anything to win the right to her soul. Who can she trust? And what if the realm she’s drawn to isn’t home to the boy she’s falling for? She just has to stay alive long enough to make a decision…

My Review: 

I freaking love Gena Showalter, you guys. I'd been in sort of a Reader's Block for a few weeks when this book landed in my hands, and I was super excited because Gena is one of the handful of authors who is guaranteed to pull me out of not being able to read anything at all, or getting bored with the book a few pages in. This book definitely followed along with that trend. It was absolutely fan-freaking-tastic.

It kind of reminded me of a mix of Divergent, meets Shatter Me, but at the same time it managed to be its own unique story. Does that make sense? No, probably not... Oh well. Once I picked it up, it was impossible for me to put it down.

First let's start with the guys. Oh. My. Gosh. The guys. Archer and Killian Gena gets extra points for naming one of them Killian *SWOONS* I mean, I love that name anyways, and the whole time I was reading it, I just kept picturing a younger version of this:

 

He had the whole sexy Irish accent going on for him, too! I don't know who this character was modeled after-if anyone-but daaaaaaaang, I love him. Archer was pretty Ace, too. 

This book had a love triangle that wasn't {which, I know, doesn't make any kind of sense}...Or at least, that's how I saw it. Sure, there were two super sexylicious guys that were both vying for her attention. But in my mind, there was only one guy she had any sort of romantical {yes, romantical} feelings for. 

The one thing I didn't like about the guys was the fact that they were like "oh you're so special" and then in the very next breath it was "you should join Troika/Myriad" so that was annoying and frustrating, and if I were Ten, I would have lost my temper with them...

Speaking of Ten, I loved her! She was this tough as nails character and she refused to be broken no matter how many times she got hurt. She was completely loyal to the people that she loved, and sometimes that ended badly for her. She refused to let Archer or Killian be the deciding factor in who she chose to pledge her allegiance to. Troika would be my place of choice. They both have their downsides, but I think the positives for Troika outweigh the negatives. Less violence, more light, more value placed on Firstlife.

I will say there was a twist that I didn't see coming when *SPOILER REMOVED* tried to *SPOILER REMOVED* that about broke my heart, it was so sad. AND SPEAKING OF SAD! That ending! SHEESH! I was so brokenhearted at the ending of the book. And now I'm waiting very impatiently for the next book to come out, so I can see what happens to Ten and the rest of the gang. I have my theories, and I am curious to see if I'm right.