I am rather drawn to books with attractive aliens in them. I absolutely loved [book:Under Different Stars|19504931] and was hoping Saven Deception might bring me back to that same sort of niche.

Well, there's some good and some bad.

Let's get what I didn't like out of the way:
• This book can't decide if it wants to slut shame or be okay with the idea of casual dating and sex. It constantly flip flops.
• There's a mention of having kids being a "right" and I disagree horribly. No one is OWED kids; they're individual people with free-will and thoughts and they deserve to be loved and treated well and not every adult is capable of being a good parent. Just saying.
• The book utilizes a kind of "soul mate" principle, so while the insta-love isn't the worst I've seen, the characters interact for quite a while before they admit they love on another and it's generally just general interest and attraction, but it's still there.
• Some of the language is... odd like "cray-cray tree" and references to Will Smith films (like citing After Earth which is one of his worst performances; idk if the book is trying to be meta but I rolled my eyes.
• The book uses that "paranormal guy doesn't tell girl anything for her own safety thus causing lots of misunderstandings, fits of anger, and problems" thing that's common in a lot of YA fiction.
•It's casually tossed in that the heroine has a "photographic memory" even though that's not a real thing and it has no bearing on the story in this book. There are lots of other instances where this happens as well.

Warnings! Spoilers and triggers:
<spoiler> So, the book has a part where Logan admits "okay so, my race needs to have sex with humans in order to steal their conscience so we stop killing each other and my dad the king and what not initially had male aliens of my species rape human women and that didn't work, we didn't get the conscience and also the women just died, so now we just date humans, have consensual sex, and effectively sap their free will from them so we have a conscience." and the earth government is chill with it because they get fuel in exchange and they're doing experiments and stuff and I'm... what???? Like the whole basis for why the aliens need people is kind of stupid to me. A conscience is just a person generally knowing right from wrong and develops from having a highly developed emotional center to the brain and being part of a society that teaches you rules, so like... it's stupid to be like "we take it through sex" when realistically to get a conscience you'd have to like... physically alter the brain and be learning a set of rules on what is viewed as right and wrong by everyone... Anyway, there's that so please be aware. </spoiler>

Anyway if you didn't read the spoiler, the whole reason the aliens are on earth interacting with people is well beyond a tangible cause because it doesn't actually make sense and the author must have just figured it sounded good. So you do kind of have to suspend your belief a lot in the book, more so than beyond just "dystopian world where aliens infiltrate." It kind of soured things for me since it's a major conflict we'll keep coming back to.

But I was rather engaged by the book--not gripped, but generally interested enough to finish it all in 1 sitting. I found the writing pretty good, albeit sprinkled with some cringe-worthy phrases that date it, and I was interested in the reveal of things. Sadie isn't a bad character, but she didn't stick out as anything special, nor did Logan. This is more of just a pretty typical YA book that was overall enjoyable and entertaining, but nothing phenomenal. I will say that I found all the romance really sweet and sticky so it did satisfy a bit of an itch for me. I like seeing couples kiss and cuddle and have dates and spend time together like that. I won't say this is a bad book, but there were enough times I rolled my eyes or sighed that I can't rate it too highly. I didn't mind it for what it was and still am a little miffed at a few of the details I found in the story, but I can't say if I'll be looking into the next three books because I'm not so interested in them. I borrowed the box set on my Kindle and I've been skimming and it looks like things get a lot more complex, but I might have to come back to this series in the future. I'm just not really feeling it right now.

Overall 3 stars. I got through it, it was generally a nice read, had some problems, not sure if I'll continue with it.

*A free digital copy was provided to me via NetGalley, and I also own a copy of the book I got for 0.00 on Amazon and I also borrowed the box set via Kindle Owners Lending Library, so none of the freeness of this affects my opinion in any way*

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book, so much that I'm going to continue the series! The author has created this dystopian society that manages to be unique, a great sci-fi element and some romance. Now, don't get me wrong. This book is not perfect and I found myself cringing at some of the cheesier lines, but the story makes up for it (and I've definitely read cringier romance--I'm well aware that's not a real word).

A couple issues I took from this book: 1) I get that Sadie doesn't have a great relationship with her family... except her sister, but she never attempts to make contact with her sister, she's just kind of forgetter other than a couple brief mentions, and 2) I don't want to give away spoilers, but I'll just say the rebels sure trusted Sadie quickly, despite her questionable alliances. I mean, as a reader you know she isn't gonna betray them, but how do they know that?

Anyway, I did really enjoy the book as I mentioned. I don't know what else to write without giving away spoilers. Can't wait to get started on the next one!

I very much enjoyed Sadie’s character – she has clearly had a rough time at home with a hostile, unloving mother and siblings who took their cue from her. It doesn’t help that the family are poverty-stricken with no opportunity of escaping dead-end, draining jobs, forcing them to take desperate measures. It is one of the reasons why Sadie applies for Thalassic City. Davis tucks in snippets regarding Sadie’s backstory in the first person (I) pov giving us a ringside seat to her thoughts and emotions – a staple in YA fiction.

There is an interesting cast of supporting characters – I particularly liked Jenna, the girl who rooms with Sadie and gets involved with Dante. I also like Jared. As for Logan, the handsome boy who Sadie falls for in the classic eyes-meeting-across-a-crowded-room way, he is clearly difficult to trust given his background which is gradually revealed as the story progresses. I liked the way Davis fed us a continuous stream of information as the story progresses, so that our perceptions are continually changing throughout. As for the courtship dance between them, that isn’t an aspect of the book that I found particularly interesting other than the way it contributes to the overall story arc of the Saven and their interest in humanity and what bargain they strike with a government fast running out of sufficient resources. However, I don’t have a particular problem with the insta-love – it’s the way I fell for my ex-husband… hook, line and sinker with the solid belief that we were intended to be together forever.

The scene-setting and worldbuilding also works very well. I found the underwater city believable as they journeyed down to it and again, while the setting seems well developed and convincing, it unfolds alongside the action. So given there is a lot of building tension throughout, when the climactic finale arrives, it needs to provide plenty of thrills and action – and it certainly does. I couldn’t break away during this section of the book, as I was desperate to know what happens next. I’ll warn you – while plenty of the issues that run throughout the book are addressed, it does finish on a cliffhanger, however that isn’t too much of a problem as Saven Disclosure, the next book in the series, is available.

While I obtained the arc of Saven Deception from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
8/10

Aliens meat Divergent!!

Saven Deception was a great read! It was definitely weird, but that was what made it different and kept my interest. It was defiantly not a cookie cutter book.

This book was so interesting that I finished it in a day!! And thats saying something. I was reading it at 4 o'clock this morning!!

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

I loved it. Great premise with very engaging charaters. Thanks

Interstellar Red Queen what?
Sadie Owens is a red lower (star) class citizen. Her family life sucks and she works a loathsome factory job. She puts her name in to participate in “the experimento”, an underwater city where she hopes her dreams of being something more in live will come true. Her hopes come to fruition but never in a way she imagined possible.



The moment she gets there, she feels an instant electric connection with handsome blue eyed Logan. Who is he? Why does everyone keep telling her to stay away from him? Why does he act so hot and cold to her? (refer to image above, in case the answer to these questions wasn’t obvious.)
Eventually after all the hot and cold bullshit, this happens…



HAZZAH the plot FINALLY gets a move on to the real shit going down.
Okay, I’ll get serious now.

Davis introduces us to a wide cast of characters all with their own individual quirks. Of course there’s broody adorable Prince Cal Logan and Special snowflake Mare Sadie, but there’s also Jenna, Sadie’s best friend, Maven Dante the evil sadistic asshole, Hayden, Logan and Sadie’s fierce and loyal protector, sweet, open-minded Fern, protective light of guidance Farley Vin, and last but not least- mysterious hacker 007 Kilorn Jarod.

I loved how all the characters fought and had trust issues, but overall knew that they had each other’s back in their new home. The status of being silvers or reds bullions, coins, and stars didn’t matter to them.

Really, the plot was fabulous, the setting unique and world, decently built, albeit very Red Queeny based. So, the reason I downgraded my rating so heavily to 3 stars is because of two things. The lack of understanding I feel in why Logan and Sadie instantly fell in love. I’m no stranger to insta-love books, the YA world is (unfortunately) full of them. But Sadie insists, despite spending barely any time with him, that he completely understands her on a whole another level.

“That’s the thing with Logan- maybe it’s the Eterno connection, or shared understanding, or he’s observed me more closely than I realized these last few months, but whatever it is- he gets me. His soul speaks to mine on an innate and spiritual level”

…What? GIRL. Get yourself together. You guys have never had a proper conversation for Pete’s sake. All you do is get angry at each other and then make out, a lot. Sadie repeats that he understands her OVER AND OVER again, along with how his blue eyes always pull her in. NEWS FLASH!! IF I WANTED TWILIGHT LIKE WRITING I’D READ TWILIGHT. No, I take it back. Even Bella and Edward had more conversations than Sadie and Logan do. PLEASE TALK. HANG OUT. ANYTHING.

Now, the plot well makes up for the insta-love and less than brilliant Twilightly romance, but seeing as the book was 75% of this…I have to bring my rating down to 3 stars.
With that said, I legit just got my hands on the next book Saven Disclosure and will promptly start reading it on the bus home from work.

If you enjoyed this review, do me a favor and check it out on my blog here along with a lot of my other reviews!! They're all first in series!