Prepped

PREPPED is an intense book that stuck with me long after I turned the last page. Thank you to Books Forward PR and Simon & Schuster for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

If you're looking for a fast-paced contemporary YA book that has you on the edge of your seat, I'd highly recommend this. It's also a satisfying and unexpected book with moral dilemmas within.

Our main character Becca Aldridge has grown up in a doomsday prepper community. She attends your average suburban high school, but by night (and by weekend) she has to do drills and ensure her family's bunker is ready for anything. On top of it all, she's already betrothed to neighbor Roy Kang and expected to marry upon graduating. Little does he - or anyone else - know that she's plotting her grand escape to the outside world. And then something unimaginable happens that rocks Becca and her family in every way.

PREPPED had me flying through the pages and gasping at times. I loved how emotionally vulnerable Becca was in her decision-making, even despite the odds.

It was incredibly refreshing to see the casual Korean American rep, and it's so great to see fellow adoptees like Mangle writing books that aren't necessarily about adoption.

A side note: when I first received this book in the mail and shared it to my Instagram Stories, I had a few people mention that they didn't know this was by a Korean American author, which points to the complex nature of erasure mixed with assimilation that adoptees experience. Also the privilege, though it doesn't often feel like it, of “neutral” (aka white) names