I really really enjoyed this book! I have seen it in the hands of friends and random people since early high school and to me it always seemed like one of those book fads. I finally gave in and read it due to the recommendation of Carrie Fletcher on YouTube who read it this week for her reading club. I listened to the audio during a long solo drive to and from San Antonio over the weekend.

SPOILERS BELOW.

I really liked Tally Youngblood and her transformation was sound and believable. What I found especially captivating was Westerfield's ability to make me root for Tally to become Pretty. I wanted her to go betray Shay (don't even know if I'm spelling it right because I only listened!) and I wanted her to get the empty but happy life that she initially wanted. While I knew this society wasn't ok, I always took Tally's side during any argument against becoming Pretty. And by the end, I also understood why Tally finally realized that being Pretty wouldn't be the life she had hoped for.

My favorite passage was Tally's solo journey to the Smoke - the descriptions were captivating and I loved all of her obstacles and clues.

Here were the few issues I took with the plot: I didn't really buy Tally and David's relationship. They fell for each other really quickly (he trusted her with really personal information after simply meeting her - despite how he later described his first impression of her) and she too quickly (for me) decided she had feelings for him in return. Even by the end, I just never felt the pull of their relationship like I have in other YA novels (distopian or non).

All in all though, a FANTASTIC read! Clearly I had my thoughts gathered for this review - I think it's my longest so far this year!