Book Review- Altered

Early this morning I finished reading Altered by Jennifer Rush for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

A story that starts with a girl and a boy. A girl who loves a boy so much , she'll risk anything for him. And a boy who knows only one thing--- kill anyone who stands in his way.

When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them.

Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.

Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

I really enjoyed this book.  I was sucked in right away reading about Anna and the four boys--each one so different from each other but tied to each other in some way.  The book was so easy to read and flowed so well.  I pretty much devoured it.

There were some definite twists and turns in the book.  And there were surprises that I didn't see coming.  I so love it when that happens.  After reading about these surprises, it made me think back to earlier in the book and go "oooohhhh." 

There was definitely a lot of action (and gory action, at that) but a lot of it was character-driven too.  Which, as I've said before, is my favorite kind of story.  I liked Anna.  She seemed so normal and down-to-earth yet kick-butt when she needed to be.  And  I really liked Trev and Cas.  Trev just seemed like a sweetheart and Cas was the class clown.  For most of the book, I didn't really get Anna's attraction to Sam.  I mean he wasn't bad or anything, just not as great as Trev and Cas.  Although I did get it after one of the surprises came out.  And I couldn't stand Nick (although we're not supposed to).  So yeah, just great characters. 

So what do you get when you combine awesome character with a captivating plot?  A great debut by Jennifer Rush!  My only complaint--having to wait so long for the next book to come out!

I gave this book a rating of 4.5/5.

Altered will be released on January 2, 2013.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 77
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 64
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 67

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.