I made the mistake of reading this right after Gayle Forman's I Was Here (also about suicide) and The Lovely Reckless (about a girl who witnesses a homicide). Three heavy books all at once is not my finest moment.

I became interested in the series after seeing Suzanne talk about her latest release (The Epidemic). The concept is intriguing, a society where suicide in teens is an epidemic and parents/society are so desperate to keep their kids safe that they send them to essentially be re-programmed. Sloane and her boyfriend, James, are two of those kids, after having experienced the death by suicide of a close friend/Sloane's brother. At the core of the story is the nature vs nurture argument. Are you the same person minus your memories and experiences? There's also a bit of fate/destiny present. There's exploration about how we medicate kids and try to remove their emotions currently.

I see people talking about how this is a dystopian novel. It is not. This is much more scifi than dystopian.

The book could have been much shorter or added more content. There was a lot of explaining and depth for things that really didn't need a lot. A lot was drawn out.

I'll likely continue the series, as I am interested in the prequels a lot more than the actual story!