ACID

Pros: quick paced, interesting protagonist, several plot twists, minor romantic elements

Cons: elements of the ending were problematic

For Parents: kissing, violence, nothing graphic

Seventeen year old Jenna Strong has spent the last 2 years in prison for the murder of her parents, agents of ACID (Agency for Crime Investigation and Defense), because she didn't like the boy they'd picked to be her LifePartner. Sprung by a mysterious organization for reasons she doesn't understand, her life outside quickly goes downhill.

Jenna's an interesting character in that she's sympathetic for readers, but apparently quite prickly to people around her in the book. She's standoffish and quickly alienates several of the people trying to help her, though in her defense, she's given little reason to trust the people helping her. She's pretty street smart, though she does make some decisions that cause her serious problems.

While I saw a few plot twists coming the book goes in a lot of directions I did not anticipate, making it a fun book to read.

There are minor romantic elements that enhance what's happening with Jenna without becoming the focus of the story. And while there is some kissing, there's no other sexual content.

There's a variety of violence in the book (which involves some prison scenes, an interrogation, bombing and more) nothing is graphically described.

Part of the ending required Jenna to be an angry teen who doesn't care that the adults around her know more about what's happening than she does and are better prepared than she is, just that they're not doing what she wants, which was kind of annoying. It also depended on an adult making some very stupid decisions, which I questioned while I was reading. Having said that, I did like the ultimate resolution.

It's a quick paced book with some very tense moments.

What started out as a strong premise with lots of potential soon devolved into mediocre, stereotypical YA mess. Jenna was a strong, take no prisoners, tell you to go to hell female main character. She had a brain, thought for herself, and didn't make excuses or spend hours crying into her hoodie. Yay! A character I could love. And then...then a sweet fluffy puppy boy was introduced. Yeah, sure the boy had his own angsty issues, but really he was there for one reason and one reason only. To allow Jenna to descend into a gooey puddle of I must save the boy emotion. Literally everything she thought and did became all about Max, the boy she's known for all of 5 minutes. When they're on the run from ACID and Max is suffering with whatever illness/withdrawal, all she thinks about is finding something to help him. When she's being handcuffed and led back to prison all she wonders about is how Max is doing, how he's being treated. I was almost thankful that ACID wiped her memories away again because it meant I didn't have to listen to Jenna whimper about Max for a few pages. Of course then she gets her memories back and it starts all over again. When she finds out that her mother wasn't her biological mother and in the process meets her bio mom? Jenna is all oh, ok that may take some getting used too but what if Max is being tortured in prison?

So with all of this naturally Jenna decides she must be a part of the final, “climatic” mission by the resistance. Right? I mean of course she has to be. Because not only must she save the boy (again), but she is the only one who could possible figure out ACID's plan and warn everyone and bring down the General. How the resistance movement ever survived without her is a wonder.

The ending is a pretty much a series of cute little tied bows. Big Bad ACID is brought to its knees. The leaders are imprisoned. Life is slowly getting better. And of course Jenna got her boy and lived happily ever after.

So much wasted potential.