Review: Starters by Liisa Price

Starters
(Starters and Enders #1)

Author: Lissa Price

Expected Publication Date: March 13, 2012

Publisher: Delacorte Books

Thank You NetGalley for the Review Copy

Genre: Dystopia

---

Synopsis:

HER WORLD IS CHANGED FOREVER
Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie's only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.
He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie's head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator's grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations' plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined. . . .

My Thoughts:Amazingly creepy! I absolutely looooved this book! It was so hard to put down to go to sleep, my husband had to turn off the light on me. If you like dystopians that have a sci fi edge to them, you will love this book! The cover is creepy looking, and that combined with the blurb just made me want to read it. I'm not disappointed.

I felt a connection with Callie almost immediately, and it was hard not to feel anything but sympathy for her. She has a hard life and is doing the best she can to take care of her 7 year old brother, Tyler, who is also sick and needs medication. They need money, and since it's against the law for minors to work, all Callie can do is go to Prime Destinations and sign up to be a donor. She doesn't want to, but she really needs the money. After signing up, Callie is given a make over to remove any blemishes and clean her up after a year of living on the streets, Enders, the senior citizens nearing the end of their lives, aren't going to want to rent a Starter, the children and teens, that has imperfections.

Callie just needs to do three rentals to earn her payment, the first two are issue free, she falls asleep, dreams, and then wakes up. During her third rental, Callie suddenly finds herself in a teen nightclub, and she can hear the voice of her renter, Helena Winterhill, telling her not to go back to Prime Destinations because it's not safe.  Callie never trusted them to begin with, but how could she trust this Ender who would rent out her body? When Callie figures out what Helena is up to, she trys to do everything in her power to stop her, but should she be trying to prevent it? How about after she finds out  Prime's plans?

Then there is Blake, the senator's grandson, who Callie is developing a thing for. He's cute, kind, and really seems to like her back. Maybe she can confide in him? Prime is supposed to be top secret though, so maybe not.. 

There are so many twists and turns in this book, which made it so hard to put down. You don't know who's trustworthy. Since Callie is an unclaimed minor, she is supposed to be institutionalized, all the minors who are caught are sent to the various institutions, not nice places. So who can she talk to without being caught and sent away? 

One of the things I didn't understand was why the Enders, most of them anyways, don't care about the children. Children are the future.. Yeah, they have medicine and ways to make the average person live twice as long, but they are still going to die eventually. Still, they are not very nice to the youth. It still creeps me out that they even dreamed up and created a way to live in a teens body, and then found a market for it.. but without that, there would be no story, but it's so creepy!

Liisa Price did an amazing job of breathing life into this world. I'm definitely excited to read the next installment! If you haven't added this to your TBR list yet, and you love a good dystopian, then you should add it, it's a great read!