I gave this book 3 stars because by the end Mahi had in fact convinced me that I do want to know what happens next.

Spoilers

What makes me so upset about this book is the sheer potential it has for a great story and great writing and how terribly it fails at both. The x-men/dystopia crossover, while not incredibly original, could have been at least interesting. I just cannot believe that an editor read this novel the way it is now and agreed to have it published. The most stand out issues to me were the lack of plot, character development, and the COMPLETE overindulgence of the romantic storyline. I was confused pretty much straight away that these 2 people were confessing their love for each other after less than 5 conversations simply based on their childhood and the fact that they can touch. I love me some good steamy romance but god even I was getting uncomfortable with the highly descriptive puberty driven make out sessions occurring every other chapter. There was very little concrete foundation for any character in this story, there was practically NOTHING given to us about the world they are living in...everything was just grotesquely lacking! I hate being cruel in a review because I certainly don't want to pretend I could write a better story but come on, I could certainly edit better! The reason this book has such high ratings is that it is being read by very young girls who love all of the romance. But if you look deeper, this book is really just a romance novel disguised as a modern dystopian story.
I'm trying to find the right way to describe how this book is written. It focuses so much on the love story that frankly has little to no foundation or sense to it that it neglects any kind of significant plot or theme. All of these dystopian YA novels are great because they thrive on telling a really good story with an exciting plot. This book was just introspect, kissing, thinking, kissing, teensy bit of excitement, kissing, oh wait was that character development nope just more kissing. Juliette had all of these great character traits that were just mentioned and dropped. She loves to write it's the only thing that makes sense oh wait she lost her notebook to Warren and never even tries to get it back even though it was the only thing that mattered to her for almost a year. She's so helpless oh wait she can punch through concrete but can't punch Warren in the face when he attacks her.
I keep trying to think of other redeeming qualities about this female protagonist and there are just none and it's not her fault. I'm just really disappointed in Mahi and this book as a whole. And in the publisher/editor for not trying to make it better because it could be so much better.
Will read book 2 with crossed fingers hoping for better writing because the last 3rd of the book (and basically any part where Juliette wasn't around Adam) got very interesting. I do want to know answers to some of the questions I have. We'll see. Right now I just want to forget about it and read something really really good.