Release Date: March 13th, 2012
Genre:  Sci-fi, Romance, Dystopia
Publisher: Delacorte
Pages: 352
Rating:
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Summary:

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . .(

Blurb: Fast paced and unique, Starters is a great addition to the genre!

Review: Decided to jump Starters to the top of my TBR pile last month when I saw that the author was coming to my area! I'm so glad I did. Starters reminds me a lot of the TV show Dollhouse (which I loved and was cancelled WAY too soon!). It's fast paced, engaging, and relatively unique in this blossoming genre.

I wouldn't call it deep. I didn't get absorbed into the world, or even really believe it for a second (I have a hard time believing books that make people act so terribly that I can't imagine them every being that bad), but I had fun reading!

My only complaint (aside from the cover**) is that it all wrapped up WAY too quickly. Here we have this kick-butt heroine who isn't afraid to take her fate into her own hands, and the last 70-ish pages are her handing over all responsibility to others. She just kind of goes with the flow, and flow it does. It was essentially A leads to B leads to C leads to resolution, rapid-fire. I wish Lissa had taken a deep breath, and slowed down a little. She probably could have added another 100 pages and that would have been okay with me.

Something interesting in this book, it's part of a duet. We don't get those a lot anymore. The second (and final, in case you aren't sure what a duet is) book comes out later this year. It's called Enders. I'll definitely be picking it up!

Other Reviews:

• Once a Reader, Always a Reader (Loved it!)
• Book Strings (Liked it)
• Epic (Chocolate) Fantasy (Didn't like it)

*I am an amazon affiliate. If you purchase this book using my link, I will get a tiny fraction of the purchase, which goes toward contests.

**This cover weirds me out. Is it supposed to be the main character? She's described as being beautiful, not an alien. In real life the cover has some cool foil effects, but that model is just too strange. The way her hair covers her eye makes her look reptilian.