The Elysium Chronicles: RENEGADE (Book 1)

I wasn't planning on buying this book at all considering I only had $20 in my pocket (okay that wasn't an intentional pun to Thrift Shop...but...). During the Miami International Book Fair last year, 2012, I stumbled upon thousands of books, and so... I passed by the booth where Jessica was at.

Yes, I also met Jessica, the author of The Elysium Chronicles: Renegade. I was caught by the very haunting book cover. It was really awks because I am very terrible when it comes to meeting people for the first time. But... she signed my book!!! :D


Now, onto the book:



SUMMARY:


“MY LIFE IS JUST ABOUT PERFECT.”

Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.
But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie. Her memories have been altered. Her mind and body aren’t under her own control. And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb… and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.


From reading the first sentence of the summary, it's already foreshadowing everything. Well, you'll realize this after you've read the book. Truthfully, it was the first time I've read something being the setting underwater, and it was really interesting. The people in Elysium have thought of the place as utopia, but while I was reading it, I've always thought it was too perfect, something has to be going on in the background.

The secrets that Mother has been hiding were really shocking. Yes, I wasn't expecting ANY of those!

By the way... I am absolutely infatuated with the book cover. Obviously, it's Evelyn. And look how haunting her background is.

This book's genre are romance, thriller, and quite a mystery. It's really interesting. And so, I am giving it a 5 out of 5. Also because quite a read for a first novel. I am hoping to read the next book by the end of this year! Don't forget to support the author!