Tuesday #Review - Never Apart by Romily Bernard #YALit #Science Fiction @EntangledTeen

Series: Standalone
Format: Hardcover, 400 pages
Release Date: October 3, 2017
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Source: Publisher
Genre: Young Adult / Science Fiction

How many times would you die for love?

What if you had to relive the same five days over and over? And what if at the end of it, your boyfriend is killed… And you have to watch. Every time. You don’t know why you’re stuck in this nightmare. But you do know that these are the rules you now live by:
Wake Up.
Run.
Die.
Repeat.
Now, the only way to escape this loop is to attempt something crazy. Something dangerous. Something completely unexpected. This time…you’re not going to run.
Combining heart-pounding romance and a thrilling mystery Never Apart is a stunning story you won’t soon forget.

"You can be with someone for a year and feel nothing, but you can be with someone for a week and feel everything. Time is not an accurate measurement for love"

Author Romily Bernard's Never Apart is a young adult, dark contemporary, science fiction story with romance. It's a story about a girl named Grace Freeman who knows that every 5 days she is going to die. She knows this, because it has happened over 40 times already. She knows that she will once again wake up in the same inescapable nightmare without any hopes of finding a way out. She knows that Ander Hall and Finn Larkin will also join her in the next reality as well because it has always been the three of them from the beginning. 

She knows that no matter what her life is like, or where Ander is, she will always find him, and Finn will always find them, and the death dance will repeat itself over and over again in a never ending loop. But, the 42nd time is much, much different. Grace wakes to a reality where Ander doesn't remember who Grace is, & her brother Jem is back in the story for the first time since the beginning. This is the first time there has been any sort of variation to the continuing nightmare. But, the strangest part may be that Grace is perhaps the closest to who she was before she fell the first time.

Never Apart is a story that alternatives between now, and then. It is a discovery of what truly happened that has caused three people to be caught up in a never ending loop that has seen once good friends, become mortal enemies. But, in this new reality, Grace finds that something has definitely changed, and it might finally be time to uncover what really happened that send her and the boys into a never ending loop where tragedy always strikes after 5 days.

Grace is an intriguing character. She is smart, she has plans, and she genuinely cares what her family thinks without just running off in a tangent and doing anything she wants. The sad part of this story was Grace and Jem, and that's all I can say without delving into the story itself. If you want to get down to brass tacks, I really didn't much care for Ander. He had major issues, including jumping to conclusions without actually understanding the situation. Which, surprisingly, leaves Finn who is much, much, more than the synopsis gives him credit for. 

Never Apart has been compared to Groundhog Day with the idea of waking up over and over and over again unable to stop the merry-go-round from spinning. The story is both heartbreaking and twisted because you really have to allow yourself some patience for the author to lay out the puzzle pieces so that you aren't left totally confused by what happened to Grace and the others. I have avoided the spoilers so that you can read this book yourself and understand the author's intentions and where the book ends up going. I did like the present story much better than I did the before because there was a whole lot of stuff in the past that didn't actually help understand the stories dynamics.

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#Review - Trust Me by Romily Bernard (Young Adult, Thriller)

Series: Find Me # 3
Format: Hardcover, 336 pages
Release Date: March 22, 2016
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: Library
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller

“Trust me.”

Wick Tate’s never heard these words so much in her life. And with all her secrets, who can she really trust?

There’s Milo, her new hacker boyfriend, who’s keeping a dark secret of his own. Griff, the ex who’s always had her best interests at heart but who mostly wants to stay out of Wick’s mess. There’s Looking Glass, an organization that can supposedly offer Wick protection…and a future.

And then there’s her family. They should be easy to trust, right? Not if you’re Wick. Not when “family” means so many different things, including a criminal father who may not stay locked up for long.

Wick is used to relying on herself…and only herself. But she’s going to have to learn to trust someone if she’s going to finally escape her demons...

"Sometimes you make the choices, and sometimes the choices makes you."

Trust Me, by author Romily Bernard, is the third and final installment in the Find Me trilogy featuring hacker extraordinaire Wicket (Wick) Tate. Wick used to run a business tracking down cheaters for money, now she has to worry about keeping herself out of prison and staying alive. After Agent Hart gave Wick information on how her mother really died, Wick found herself tracking down her killer and making sure he got what was coming for him. Yet, she still doesn't really trust anyone and the way things have gone, nobody can really blame her.

"Once you prove yourself useful to the wrong kind of person you're never free."

Wick is getting used to being directly in the line of fire, and not trusting anyone, except perhaps her sister Lily. Wick was raised by a man who had his hands into everything. Her upbringing was far from what you would call ideal. In fact, I dare call it an abusive parental relationship that Wick and Lily somehow managed to survive. Even though he is now in prison, he still finds ways of making Wick's life unpleasant. On top of that, Wick was blackmailed into working for Detective Carson, and now finds that Hart is more than able to pull the strings that make Wick dance to a different beat other than her own. 

At the beginning of this story, Agent Hart offers Wick a job at a company called Looking Glass. The job is supposed to do several things. 1) Keep her safe. 2) She will be able to go to school and play on the computer all day long. 3) It is supposed to help her deal with her issues, her emotions, while also gaining experience, and enough experience for a resume that any one looking for a brilliant computer programmer will call on her. But, the old adage of things are too good to be true are just that. Her therapist seems to be in charge of the company. Her supposed boyfriend somehow manages to wander in suddenly, and Alex, her roommate who has her own secrets to keep that may end up catching Wick in the crosshairs. 

Looking Glass is a place where those who have been chosen, like Wick, have different specialties that the company is highly dependent on. They are skilled at hacking government encryption, use of malware to gain access to secure computers, and corporate espionage. The one thing you can definitely count on when it comes to Wick, is her curiosity. Sometimes curiosity can kill the cat. Sometimes curiosity will unlock details that are gut wrenching.

Can we please talk about the romance angle? Thank you. I am feeling nonchalant about Wick's relationship with Milo. There was just something about him that never once sat well with me. While he does somehow make up for his lacking, he's still not my favorite. I know she's had her issues with Griff, but they had similar backgrounds and experiences, and he did try his hardest to help her, especially in this book.

I can almost guess how a book is going to end these days. Thankfully, Bernard shocked me with how she wrapped up the series. The choices that where made by Wick, was really brave and extraordinary. I liked that this book is fast pace. It has action that will keep you focused on the story, and an ending that will twist you into several emotions. 

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