Currently Reading│Book Beginning : Under My Skin (Immortality Strain #1) by Shawntelle Madison

Currently Reading #32

Name: Under My Skin (Immortality Strain #1)
Author: Shawntelle Madison
Number of Pages: 240 in eBook
Published: December 9th 2014
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia

“Everyone wants to either be a member of the Guild or work for them. Little does the populace know that the Guild hides sinister secrets… For Tate Sullivan, life in her small, coastal town is far from glamorous. The affluent lives of the Guild members and their servants isn’t something she has ever wanted. But all sixteen year-olds must take a simple test, and Tate’s result thrusts her into the Guild’s world, one where they hide horrible plans for those they select. Tate must fight the relentless General Dagon for control of her mind, body, and soul to keep the one precious thing she has always taken for granted: herself. Her only ally is the same handsome boy she is pitted against in General Dagon’s deadly game. Quinn desires nothing more than to end the life of General Dagon who has taken over Tate’s mind. While romance blooms between Tate and Quinn, General Dagon plots to eventually take over Tate’s body, and love might end before it even begins.

I’ve stumbled upon this on Goodreads and I’m intrigued by the book’s premise right away. Though I felt so skeptical in requesting an ARC from NetGalley, I did. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you would know why (wink). To my surprise, I received an email that it was approved (YES!) along with four other books. I am so glad! 😀 Since it will be published on the 9th of December, the following reviews came from ARCs too. Got a five star, a three star and a two star review (Didn’t find any one star reviews, that’s why):

THAT WAS SO DAMN REFRESHING. Hands down, best Dystopian SciFi I’ve read all year. Ignore that cover. Ignore that blurb. This book has like 4 pages of sweet Romance, the rest is just juicy awesomeness of body snatching, political intrigue, manipulation, warfare, power, friendship, and sacrifice.
— Kat of NotYetRead

I felt this novel had a very smooth feel to it, and did not linger too much on pointless detail. There is definitely much room for improvement with the resolution, due to giant gaps in what happened to others the reader would be curious about. This conundrum most definitely would leave the reader less then satisfied as they would finish the novel, as it did me. I give Under My Skin the rating of three and a half out of five stars.
— Hannah of TheNotSoPublicLibrary

This book has an awesome premise, and I’m a sucker for a gorgeous cover, what can I say? The plot was unique and I really did want to know what was going to happen. However, the writing was less than interesting, and the characters drove me nuts. Especially the main character.
— Ashley of WanderingThePages

I’ve already read a quarter of the book and I must say that it is engaging. Well anyway, I’ll just save my thoughts on my book review. Happy reading to me! Book review to follow! 😀

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader, where we share the first sentence (or so) of the books we are reading, along with initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Here’s the beginning:

“Today would end in failure, but at least it didn’t start out that way. “Tate, do you think Paul will pass the test today?” my cousin, Zoe, asked me with a grin. ”

Initial thoughts? Hmm. I’m not quite certain if that was optimism or the opposite, but definitely not what I’ll be thinking when a test was about to start. Unless I intend to really fail. 😀

What do you think of the book’s beginning? You could share book beginnings on your current read too. Comment the link of your own Book Beginnings on Fridays so I can check it out and have an idea of amazing books that I would want to read. Come on! Join us! 😀