Starters by Lissa Price

Goodreads Description:  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:  Oh MY Goodness!!  Let me start by saying that I breezed through this book in about 4 hours.  It would have been quicker, but I had to do laundry, take my kids places, and go to the store.  The whole time, I just wanted to sit and immerse myself back in this book!

The story just captivated me.  I will have to admit though, that there was a little bit of The Host (by Stephenie Meyer) which is my favorite book, in it, but not enough to put me off.

I really liked Callie.  She had a lot of courage, but still had a real vulnerable side to her.  She loves her little brother Tyler, and would do -almost- anything to help him.  I also really liked some of the Renters.  Other Renters, not so much.

The story moves along quickly, as there is a lot that goes on in a short amount of time.  It was really intriguing that there were no middle-aged people in the book - only the really young (Starters), and the really old (Enders).  There also didn't seem to be a "middle-class".  There was either the very poor, like Callie, Tyler, and Michael, or the very rich.

There were a couple of major "I really did not see that coming" moments towards the end.  I am still shaking my head.  I will definitely be reading the next in the series!

I really like the cover!  You can't really see it by the picture, but it is shiny and bumpy.  I received this ARC in a giveaway.  There are a couple of light kissing scenes in it, and I don't remember any language. 

Erebos by Ursula Poznanski, Judith Pattinson

Goodreads Description:

An intelligent computer game with a disturbing agenda.

When 16-year-old Nick receives a package containing the mysterious computer game Erebos, he wonders if it will explain the behavior of his classmates, who have been secretive lately. Players of the game must obey strict rules: always play alone, never talk about the game, and never tell anyone your nickname.

Curious, Nick joins the game and quickly becomes addicted. But Erebos knows a lot about the players and begins to manipulate their lives. When it sends Nick on a deadly assignment, he refuses and is banished from the game.

Now unable to play, Nick turns to a friend for help in finding out who controls the game. The two set off on a dangerous mission in which the border between reality and the virtual world begins to blur.

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this book!  It is over 400 pages on my Nook, but it didn't feel like a very long book.  It had so much going on that I kept reading it just to find out what was going to happen next!

The behavior of the teenagers involved was very realistic, and the game was just amazing.  One of the things about the game that was so creepy was that it was like the game knew who you were and everything about you.

  I really liked how the game really blurred the lines between fantasy and reality.  I've seen it so often with my teenage boys, how they're in the middle of a game and you ask them to do something, and they get so upset because they don't want to let their teammates down.  Hello, welcome to real life!  That is a video game!  I liked how one of the questions that the book brought up was what would you be willing to do, in real life, to win a video game?