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Author: Stacey Kade
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Purchase: Amazon | B&N | TBD
Ariane Tucker has finally escaped GTX, the research facility that created her. While on the run, Zane Bradshaw is the only person she can trust. He knows who-and what-she is and still wants to be part of her life.
But accepting Zane's help means putting him in danger.
Dr. Jacobs, head of GTX, is not the only one hunting for Ariane. Two rival corporations have their sights set on taking down their competition. Permanently. To protect Zane and herself, Ariane needs allies. She needs the other hybrids. The hybrids who are way more alien and a lot less human. Can Ariane win them over before they turn on her? Or will she be forced to choose sides, to decide who lives and who dies?
“You know, it’s okay to accept help every once in a while.”
I loved Ariane in The Rules and the whole concept of being an alien hybrid in a modern contemporary setting, so reading this book was a no-brainer.
The story continued a few hours after their escape at GTX lab. I was told by a friend that this has more action, running and chasing, but I never expected them to run from start to finish. They were on the move from the GTX bad guys, but it’s not just them who's chasing Ariane. There are also two more scientists who don’t just want to control her but to kill her. The action and adrenaline started to pick up from the first chapter and though it had a few chill moments, there was still an underlying fear.
Here, we’d get to meet Ariane’s whole package—her vulnerable, human side and her badass alien side. Escaping with Zane was like putting a target on his back and Ariane doesn’t want him to get hurt. I had a few ‘I knew this was coming’ moments between these two and though it’s a classic move, it still gave the right emotions. She had this push-and-pull emotions between wanting to stay with Zane or standing up for herself and other hybrids against the three madmen. There were also some unpredictable twist and turns along the way that kept me on the edge.
Kade didn’t just focused on Ariane’s character, but also the others. In the first book, Ariane was the one who doesn’t belong and Zane helped her adjust. In here, Zane was out of his element and most of the time had to rely on Ariane’s abilities and tactical skills for their survival. I can feel the frustration of being useless leap of the page on his POV, but at the same time his love for her grounds him and makes him stay no matter what the consequences are.
Meeting the hybrids was intense and interesting. The similarity between them and Ariane was so striking, but at the same time they are also different. Scenes with them made me want to get inside their minds and know what they’re thinking. What I like best about them is the unity they have. It’s not just working together, but they seem to function together.
This definitely didn’t have that ‘sequel curse’ because this surpassed The Rules more than I expected. It had the right mix of action, adventure, emotion and also the right ending that will make you want to read the next book now. SERIOUSLY, I NEED THE BOOK NOW. That ending blew my mind with questions and theories that will bug me until I get my hands on the next book.
If you’re not sure about reading this because you think the first one was just okay (but in reality was totally amazeballs), I am telling you, READ THIS. I am officially book-pimping this to anyone who's reading this review.
As an award-winning corporate copywriter, Stacey Kade has written about everything from backhoe loaders to breast pumps. But she prefers to make things up instead.
She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband, Greg, and two retired racing greyhounds, Tall Walker (Walker) and SheWearsThePants (Pansy). When she’s not reading or writing, you’ll likely find her parked in front of the television catching up on her favorite shows (Scandal, The Vampire Diaries, Almost Human, The Walking Dead, and Sherlock, among others.)
Stacey is the author of the The Ghost and the Goth trilogy (THE GHOST AND THE GOTH, QUEEN OF THE DEAD, and BODY & SOUL) and The Project Paper Doll Series (THE RULES and THE HUNT).
