3.5, erring on the side of sadness and hope, for one specific reason. This book is terribly written for the first 40% of itself, before it hits The Claiming and then becomes the most amazing, can't be put down, awesome for the next 60% of the book. I knew that going into it so I knew to hold out, to keep holding out when I felt like there was dirt in my teeth and annoyance coating my story.

Because it was worth it once you cross that line. And I could barely put it down then. When all the twists and turns start happeing, when the two main characters have the most amazing first "I love you's" ever, when they don't get alone, fight, and talk, and its proven by a YA book you can still do this. When all of the worst things happen.

I am literally dying for the next book, and I honestly think there's no way the sequel won't be a 4/5. This is the written proof of an author learning and growing, and getting better through the process. And I cannot wait to see where the author and all my characters are when Book Two comes out. Definitely a read I think any YA fan should make. ( )

it took me longer than expected to get into the book, but it was worth the wait. ( )

Lots of good dystopian elements, but I was irritated by the level of dramatic angst between the characters. Also, I like I strong female heroine -- but not when she consistently makes really dumb decisions. ( )

It should have been a 3 star rating. The premise is interesting, the plot is interesting, I like the plot twists. But what ruined this book for me was the short chapters with alternate POV. Sometimes, not very often, the shift in POVs is useful because the two main characters do different things but most of the time, it's just to continue the story. And the writing feels immature to me. so it's rather a 2.5 rating because I like the storyline. Without it, I would have given up on the rest of the series. ( )

I picked up this book because a couple bloggers I follow kept bringing it up. And one of those bloggers would always rave about the love story any time it was mentioned....meh. I've read a lot better romances in YA than this.

My hope is that the series really picks up in the next two books. ( )