GIVEAWAY and REVIEW: The Letting by Cathrine Goldstein

December 19, 2014 Julie Blog Tour, Reviews 7 ★★★★

The Letting

Catherine Goldstein

Published on 12/15/14

Genres: Dystopia, Romance, Young Adult

What if the Devil doesn’t know he’s the Devil? This is the question Veronica “Ronnie” Billings poses to Phoenix, her sworn enemy, the leader of the Peaceful Revolution, and the one she loves.

Kidnapped by Phoenix’s rebels, Ronnie learns how wrong she has been. She had no idea that her patriotism was wasted on a corrupt government. Ronnie was proud to be a Leader; taking hundreds of harvested girls to the Letting facility. After all, she was saving them from future Couplings and bringing them to the safety of the New World. Or so she thought… Confused, Ronnie realizes the only way to discover the truth is to trust her heart. Together, Phoenix and Ronnie devise a plan to stop their corrupt government and preempt the dangerous rebel coup which is approaching. But when their plan goes awry, will Ronnie be strong enough to save Phoenix, her country, and herself?

REVIEW
The Letting was a very original dystopian world where young girls are “grown” and harvested in order to supply some sort of youth serum to a population in a “Utopian” city.

It’s a good premise that was captivating and interesting.

Veronica billings, or Veronica Killings—as the “rebellion” calls her—is responsible for more deaths than any other Leader in history. The problem is, she doesn’t realize she’s a killer because everything she’s ever been told has been a lie.

I thought that was probably the most intriguing thing about this novel. I really liked the fact that no one side was altogether good or evil. There was a lot of moral ambiguity in here.

Veronica has a blood type that is rare and which the leader of her government requires to keep him alive – he’s not a vampire! He’s a hemophiliac. So this sets up the conflict. Veronica is wanted, alive for blood by her government—and dead by the rebellion.

But along the way she falls in love with Phoenix, the rebellious leader.

I really liked Phoenix, but this was a little to insta love for me. I was never quite sure why Veronica latched on to him, other than he was handsome. But I did see Phoenix’s draw to Veronica once I got farther into the book. It was just a little too far, too fast for my tastes.

I liked this book but it had some believability issues for me. It just seemed like all these people running this government were idiots. No one noticed when one little girl goes missing to help fight with the rebellion, even though she’s got type O blood, and there are only four people left, in all this world, with that type of blood. The blood the leader requires to stay alive. Then there was the camp leader, Margaret. She was so very, very clueless. I like when the bad guys are an equal match for my heroes, and these bad guys were constantly befuddled in my mind.

It was a good read that captured my attention and made me want to keep turning pages, but I would have enjoyed this story more if the characters actions were a little more reality based. Four stars.

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Kristy Petree

December 19th, 2014

This books sounds pretty good. I love dystopians, plus I’m always on the lookout for standalones (which this appears to be). Thanks for the chance! PS: Sorry I can’t follow Catherine on Twitter; I’ve reached my max.