Perfected Blog Tour [Review | Giveaway]

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch

Release: July 1, 2014

Publisher: Entangled Teen

Genres: Young Adult, Dystopian, Romance

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Perfection comes at a price.

As soon as the government passed legislation allowing humans to be genetically engineered and sold as pets, the rich and powerful rushed to own beautiful girls like Ella. Trained from birth to be graceful, demure, and above all, perfect, these “family companions” enter their masters’ homes prepared to live a life of idle luxury.

Ella is happy with her new role as playmate for a congressman’s bubbly young daughter, but she doesn’t expect Penn, the congressman’s handsome and rebellious son. He’s the only person who sees beyond the perfect exterior to the girl within. Falling for him goes against every rule she knows…and the freedom she finds with him is intoxicating.

But when Ella is kidnapped and thrust into the dark underworld lurking beneath her pampered life, she’s faced with an unthinkable choice. Because the only thing more dangerous than staying with Penn’s family is leaving…and if she’s unsuccessful, she’ll face a fate far worse than death.

For fans of Keira Cass’s Selection series and Lauren DeStefano’s Chemical Garden series, Perfected is a chilling look at what it means to be human, and a stunning celebration of the power of love to set us free, wrapped in a glamorous—and dangerous—bow.

 The Good

• Characters
• Plot
• Writing
• Romance

The Bad

• Lack of background information
• Cliffhanger

  I'm not going to lie. I adored Perfected. Once I got into the story, nothing could draw me away from it. I'm the last person in the world who hasn't read the Selection series, so I was fascinated with my first foray into this type of story. At times, I was truly horrified and disgusted at the way the "Pets" were treated. It may not have the hallmarks of other dystopians, but the view and treatment of "Pets", humans bred and trained to be pets for the highest echelons of society, definitely solidified its place in the genre for me. Sometimes it isn't violence that marks the decay of civilization; it's the treatment of one another.

I cracked the lid and stared down at the gold chain that glittered ever so softly
in the dim light. On the end of it was a round pendant. I lifted it back up and held
it to the light so I could see that the gold pendant was encircled with a ring of shining diamonds. Inside something was engraved in loopy script.
"It's your name," he said, reaching out to run his fingers over the letting. "And on the other side it has our address and phone number."

  I felt so badly for Ella. Really, I had sympathy for Ella's entire family except for the vile congressman. The characters are all so well developed. They each felt like their own person as I read Perfected. I cannot imagine how Ella felt. I really enjoyed watching her come into her own. She grew a lot over the course of this story, and Kate Jarvik Birch did a phenomenal job at writing that.

  Even though I enjoyed the pacing of the story and the premise, I felt like there was a lot missing. There were a lot of whys that built up at the beginning that were never resolved. Why did humans decide to keep others as pets? When did this take place? What about Ella's life at the kennel? And omg cliffhanger. The buildup was insane and fast paced. Then boom. That's it. If this book isn't going to be part of a series, that was brutal.

I'd never imagined a ceiling so high, or so grand. The golden gleam of it was lit below by the most enormous chandeliers. An elaborate velvet curtain almost
four stories high in front of the stage like the gown of some beautiful, monstrous woman. If it had lifted up, I wouldn't have been surprised to see two enormous feet perched on the stage.

  See, you guys. Kate Jarvik Birch is like a masterful wordsmith. Just reading her book was an exercise in decadence. It was such an easy read. And the way the story moves really captures your interest wholly. I hope to see more from the world of Ella and from Kate Jarvik Birch. I think I've just found my newest Young Adult obsession.

**I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review with no compensation.

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Kate Jarvik Birch is a visual artist, author, playwright, daydreamer, and professional procrastinator. As a child, she wanted to grow up to be either a unicorn or mermaid. Luckily, being a writer turned out to be just as magical. Her essays and short stories have been published in literary journals including Indiana Review and Saint Ann’s Review. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband and three kids.

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