A review by emilywoodal
Branded by Abi Ketner, Missy Kalicicki
5.0
This actually surprised me. I was kinda hesitant at first when I read the synopsis but I’m glad I took the plunge and read it. This was,for sure, a different kind of story. The protagonist, Lexi, lives in a complete totalitarian world where if you break any of the 7 deadly sins, you are branded and sent to the Hole....where everyone lives, fights, prostitutes, and dies; from murder to hunger to bomb explosions. You name it, you can die from it.
So anyway, Lexi is picked up for allegedly committing lust. Apparently her mom accused her because her stepfather gave her more attention and mom was jealous. First of all, wtf!!! As a mother, this just fucking appalled me. So Lexi goes into the hole, is branded with a blue collar around her neck, and assigned a guard...Cole. And for the record, Lexi is innocent.
So, Lexi is assigned to the hospital to work and generally feels like her life will be her starving or killed by other people in the hole. But!!!!....of course, you guessed it, her and Cole start falling for each other. And in this totalitarian shit hole, this sort of thing is frowned upon and the two are brutally killed, so of course they have to be careful. So yada, yada, a bunch of other stuff happens and we come to find out that it might not have been accidental that Lexi was assigned to Cole, the hospital and in the hole itself!!
Like every other world, of course there’s a revolt group where Lexi eventually finds herself after escape. I won’t go into details and give anything away but I will say holy shit!!! The last 15% of the book was cray cray. I’d seriously recommend this book to EVERYONE!! It was action packed and something always happened which made me want to stay up late to read. I can’t wait to read the next book and see what happens next
So anyway, Lexi is picked up for allegedly committing lust. Apparently her mom accused her because her stepfather gave her more attention and mom was jealous. First of all, wtf!!! As a mother, this just fucking appalled me. So Lexi goes into the hole, is branded with a blue collar around her neck, and assigned a guard...Cole. And for the record, Lexi is innocent.
So, Lexi is assigned to the hospital to work and generally feels like her life will be her starving or killed by other people in the hole. But!!!!....of course, you guessed it, her and Cole start falling for each other. And in this totalitarian shit hole, this sort of thing is frowned upon and the two are brutally killed, so of course they have to be careful. So yada, yada, a bunch of other stuff happens and we come to find out that it might not have been accidental that Lexi was assigned to Cole, the hospital and in the hole itself!!
Like every other world, of course there’s a revolt group where Lexi eventually finds herself after escape. I won’t go into details and give anything away but I will say holy shit!!! The last 15% of the book was cray cray. I’d seriously recommend this book to EVERYONE!! It was action packed and something always happened which made me want to stay up late to read. I can’t wait to read the next book and see what happens next