I really enjoy dystopian novels with a heavy science focus, so I had high hopes for Your One & Only. Unfortunately, while it had great potential it never reached it

THIS. BOOK. I can't get over how awesome this book was! I wish I could say it echoed pieces of A Brave New World, but I honestly don't know because I've never read that book (missed that part of the required curriculum in high school, my dudes).

I like how intricately plotted this book was! It was two parts world, two parts character, and 100% amazing. (Sorry for the cliche, but I can't help myself.) I loved the how the Homo Factus communed with each other and how they "perfected" the genes. It's interesting to see how they evolved over time and how Samuel-299 (aka Sam) was pushing for genetic diversity.

As you get further into the plot, you see how this lack of diversity is sucking the life out of their community. Many of the cultural elements of human life are lost with each passing generation of these clones. This is what makes Jack such an amazing character. He adds depth to the world. He reminds them what it's like to be human and not just carrying out what they have done for years upon years.

Carson-312 reminded me a little of Biff from Back to the Future. He was a big bully without much going on in the head, but Carson-312 was too smart for his own  good.

Living in a world where everyone is the same must be incredibly boring, but to be the one person who is different in a sea of clones has to be even more isolating. Such a unique concept!

I appreciated this book. Though a relatively slow start, it increasingly grew on me through its characters' introversion, the lovely writing style and atmosphere, and the emotional meandering. I am not the biggest fan of sci-fi, but the concepts explored here are smart and touching. Quite lovely despite how slow it is, but it reminded me of The House of the Scorpion, so it gets bonus points. :)

I love dystopian YA novels. Your One and Only hit the nail right on the head for me. I was a bit hesitant at first because I don’t like it when characters have numbers next to their names it can be a little confusing, but Finlay definitely made Althea-310 a human clone, stand out among the others. This book screams difference, individuality, and acceptance from all corners.
With two point of views, one from Althea-310 and the other from Jack (the last living human), the story is told exquisitely. Once the two are introduced, the goods and bads from both species are highlighted and your mind really gets to thinking. I love it when a book gets me to thinking like this one did. The fact that clones are a large possibility in our future and with all of the diseases spreading, a plague is never out of the question either, both really have an impact on you when you read this. Finlay made these clones real, almost as real as humans and so you don’t think of them as empty or robotic. They breathe and feel and think for themselves.
Jack is the outsider here, and though a bit aggressive, I love him for it, every second. I love his perspective of the clones and of Althea-310 in particular. While Althea-310 accepts Jack and Jack accepts Althea-310 and even a slight romance seems to begin, the story does not focus on romance. Sam’s role in the story could’ve been a little stronger. His affections towards Jack seemed kind of all of a sudden and not so built up from earlier in the story.

Though there is definitely great world building, the story is absolutely character driven and Finlay does a fantastic job of getting you to know her characters and wanting to meet them in real life. I felt the first quarter of the book was a bit too slow but the next 3 quarters totally made it up for it. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of YA Dystopian and Sci-Fi.

Sadly, this was one book that got the best of me. I just didn't really love it, or care to keep reading. I'm slightly saddened by it as it was something I really wanted to get into and finish strong, but it just didn't happen for me. There were several great elements to it, but mostly just fell flat for me in many ways.

Maybe it's the whole dystopian feel (not reading much of those as of lately), or the science fiction of it (which I love, so it's not because I'm not a fan of those reads), or the romance and neg trigger feels that were involved in this novel. I just couldn't get to really finding a pleasant enough connection to rate this any higher than I have.

It's not one book that will be staying with me and it seems that it might take me a long time before I ever come to reconsider even giving it another go, if it somehow comes back to mind. Maybe it is much of the fact that I've kept from dystopian reads as of lately, or could possibly be those instances that just got me thinking out loud "are you seriously just going to let that go??" that happened a few times. Either way, I've got to put this one in the almost never again pile.

***I received this copy from HMH Books for Young Readers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***

This book questions what it's like to be human. It starts off a bit slow but if you stick with it I think that it's enjoyable.

This was an interesting read, although I'm not sure I'm the target audience - it started off strong (I requested it having read the first chapter in BuzzBooks), but it seemed to tail off after that. I was also expecting a more satisfying ending. A fab read, but not for me!

YOUR ONE & ONLY by Adrianne Finlay has been chosen as the MARVELOUS DARETOPIAN NOVEL OF THE MONTH for the month of May by The Marvelous Site. The review below is a reviewaka based on an ancient Japanese poetry form:

Your One & Only
by Adrianne Finlay
c2018

cloned utopia
perfecting imperfections
one human remains

superb world-building provides
close look at humanity

MM

I have to say this book surprised me, in the best way! What I expected to be a fairly stereotypical romantic YA jaunt, truly expanded into a full blown sci-fi/fantasy. The characters were strong and definitely lead the book. The prominent romance managed to be obvious without following the usual tropes which definitely made it more enjoyable. Overall a fun and intruiging read.

Originally posted on Forever Young Adult on 2018 March 5

BOOK REPORT for Your One And Only by Adrianne Finlay

Cover Story: What Holiday Is This?
BFF Charm: Okay and Yay
Swoonworthy Scale: 4
Talky Talk: He Said, She Said
Bonus Factor: World Building
Relationship Status: Just Friends

Cover Story: What Holiday Is This?

I mean, I get what they're going for here, I think? Good idea in theory, guys, but the problem's in the execution. We've got some Christmas colors, some Valentine's Day imagery, some DNA because SCIENCE. And the actual title of the book seems like a total afterthought, slapped on at the last minute like they forgot to include it. Also this makes me crave hard candy?

The Deal:

It's been a few hundred years since the Slow Plague killed off what remained of humanity. Earth is now inhabited by hundreds of clones, generations of them spawned from the nine scientists who created them. They've perfected their genes in the lab, so they no longer get sick and are able to "commune" with one another, tapping into each others feelings. All of them, that is, except Jack, the lone human left on Earth. The adult clones have made a few attempts over the course of his life to introduce Jack into life with the clones his age, but the other clones hate that he's different from them and have made his life hell for it.

Althea-310 has always felt a little different from her sisters, and hates the way the clones have always treated Jack. When someone starts causing trouble in the village, setting fire to the labs and ruining the crops, Jack is the first suspect, and only Althea-310 believes that there's more to the story. When she and Jack join forces to prove his innocence, they uncover a secret about the origins of their society, and the terrible path it's headed down.

BFF Charm: IDK and Yay



I had a hard time deciding if I should give Althea a BFF Charm. Knowing that there were 9 other Altheas made me wonder how different our Althea was from the rest of them, how much of a clone's personality is nature vs. nurture, etc. I just never felt like I knew Althea-310 very well, and even if I did, were the other clones just like her? She was clearly willing to break from the group when it felt important to do so, which takes guts, but part of clone life is sort of stripping away anything that makes you different. That means clones don't have anything that isn't totally necessary, such as humor or strong opinions - even her inner turmoil fell a little flat. Because of this, Althea lacked the depth and complexity I usually like in a protagonist.



Jack was a bit easier to like. Being the only human in a world of clones, Jack was left to figure out so many aspects of life on his own. Clones don't understand music, so Jack taught himself to play guitar and didn't have anyone to share that with. His experience with sex is much more raw and emotional than the clones'. Having asthma meant that Jack understood the limitations of his own body, and lived with the constant fear of being caught in an attack without his inhaler. Basically: Jack was human, and this made him far more relatable than Althea.

Swoonworthy Scale: 4

For the same reasons I struggled with Althea's BFF Charm, I also struggled with the swoon between Althea and Jack. Jack has an unfortunate incident in the story when he confuses one clone for another, and it made me wonder if a similar situation could happen betwen him and Althea. Because I could never really separate Althea from her clones, I couldn't help but wonder what made her specifically so special to Jack, other than the fact that she'd always been nicer to him than the other clones. I need more than that for a high swoon score!

To add to this, the clones have monthly "pairing ceremonies" in which they pair off to have sex with a different clone for one evening each month. It's so weirdly ritualistic, especially since the clones don't reproduce anymore and all babies are created in a lab. Not exactly sexy, IMHO.

Talky Talk: He Said, She Said

For a book with an entire subplot about ritual sex, Your One And Only actually read pretty young. The prose felt more middle grade than YA. It was so straightforward and simple, there were times when I wondered if Finlay was attempting to mimic the monotony of a world inhabited by clones. I like there to be a significant change in tone/voice when a chapter switches points of view, and I didn't really feel that to be the case here.

Bonus Factor: World Building



For all my nit-picking, I have to give Finlay credit on her ability to create a world in the not so distant future that felt like a realistic portrayal of what could happen to humanity. And luckily, we got a great history through the OG Althea's scientific journals from back when the clone project was just starting. Coupled with the fact that the books takes place in the balmy jungles of Costa Rica, and it was really easy to picture exactly what life was life there.

Relationship Status: Just Friends

Book, you may be full of science, but you and I lacked chemistry. I didn't connect with your characters the way I'd hoped, but your unique premise and great world-building will certainly have lots of people waiting in line to take my place.

FTC Full Disclosure: I did not receive money or Girl Scout cookies of any kind (not even the lame cranberry ones) for writing this review. Your One And Only is available now.

I LOVED this book. It’s been awhile since I’ve read a YA fantasy, and this one was so good! It’s a unique story which always earns extra points and I didn’t want to put it down which earns even more.

This is a sci-fi dystopian set in a future where humans went extinct due to a plague. Earth is now populated by precise colonies of clones that ensure the population stays at predetermined levels…. and then there’s a love story.

I really loved this book and especially enjoyed the deeper questions woven throughout. What makes a mother? a father? a human? There were so many questions to ponder all set up in a really easy to digest book. I actually think this would be a great book for older teens to read for school because there is a lot to discuss. The only problem with that would be the sexual situations throughout. Seriously though, if you love YA Scifi/Dystopians with a bit of love thrown in then you should really check this book out.

This is a YA sci-fi book with romance. Your One & Only is a tad slow to get going but it becomes full of action further in. There is a lot of world building and that;s one reason why it is a bit slow however the world building is very good. Overall this is a good book with a meaningful take on what it means to be human.

Wow, I finally finished this book & was floored. Amazy story that is so different to everythink I have been reading lately . As a non sci-fi reader i was drawn to this book by its cover & I loved every moment reading it , especially when Joseph turns up .

I thoroughly enjoyed this book... but it took me a while to really get into it. I don't know what it was other than the start was very slow. Once it finally started moving, HOLY CROW it was amazing!

While this is a story about one human left alive, I still found parts to be a little confusing. When things like clone origins were first introduced, they were not explained right now. That left me puzzled as to what was going on or if I missed the explanation. I'm here to say that everything was explained in due time and it all clicked.

This is Finlay's debut and yet she writes as if she is a very seasoned writer. It was masterfully done. The only thing that kept me from giving a full five stars was the ending. While Finlay has a firm grasp of story telling, the ending did not really answer anything. WHAT HAPPENS?! It was certainly left open for a sequel but no story should be left that open ended. It almost felt as if there was no ending... that the story just stopped. Even an epilogue would have been nice but that didn't happen.

Do I recommend? YES, absolutely. What I will stress is that you give the story a chance. It does have a slow start but it does pick up and it does get damn good. Please add to your TBR if you not have done so already. Give this one a chance.

This book sounded like nothing I had really ever read before and I was really intrigued by it. For the most part, I liked it - but there were times when I wasn't sure why something was happening.

Thanks so much to Raincoast Books and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book for an honest review, as always, all opinions are my own.

This story follows Jack, the only human in a world full of clones. After the Slow Plague ravaged the planet, all Homo sapiens went extinct. Some of their genetic material was saved, but a new species, Homo factus, was created and genetically manipulated to avoid manifestations of the Slow Plague. Now, three hundred years after the Plague, Jack's clone 'mother' claims in her dying breath that he is the answer to the problems they will soon face. For now, Jack is treated as a social outcast - feared by the clones - and scapegoated for problems he didn't cause.

First of all, I think a large explanation for the few problems I have with this book is that there isn't really an answering of the "So what?" question. Throughout the book, and especially at the end, we are left wondering so many things, why Jack? Why now? Why Althea? I think this book might be missing a reason or purpose.

I will say that this book is very original - I don't think I've ever read one like it before. I found it had some very vague reminiscences of The Giver, but in the sense that there was one guy in a futuristic world who stood out from everyone else and could save the day. The rest, the clones, the reasoning for the Plague, all very unique to this story. I also thought that Finlay did a good job of explaining the world and how things had come to be this way, even if it was all fully explained a little bit later in the text.

The romance was a bit lacking for me, unfortunately. I felt like there was very little connection between Jack and Althea, at the most, I would say a good basis for a friendship. I didn't really feel any chemistry between them and don't really think the romance saved the day like the synopsis suggests it does. Their relationship definitely impacted things, but a platonic relationship would have worked just as well.

I actually didn't mind the alternating third-person POVs - I thought that they worked well for the story. Usually, I have a hard time getting on board, but Finlay makes it work well. The characters had very different lives in general, so there wasn't a lot of room for sounding too similar, but even when they were together, they had distinct voices.

My biggest issue is the ending. I felt like this was really where the "so what?" question really fell apart. I don't know if I just missed it or what but I kinda felt like there was a semi-dramatic scene, and then nothing. Just walking around, living a new life. Part of me feels like this leaves it open to a sequel, but the other part of me just feels like there'd be nothing really left to write about because there could have been a couple more chapters or even an epilogue and we would have called it a night.

Overall, I'm feeling a bit conflicted but based on originality alone, I would recommend this one!

The premise of this story is what made me interested in reading it. Clones creating a human was just too interesting to pass up. This book does make for an interesting read, but it was a little slow and I had a hard time relating to the characters.

The clones were very interesting. There are ten clones originally made from nine different humans. They are all named for their human originator, but have numbers after their names. They create new clones every ten years, and retire the oldest of the clones at that time, so that there are never more than 90 clones. They also have the ability to commune with each other, they can feel each others emotions and physical pain. They also at times can hear and see each others thoughts. This all makes for a very closed culture which on the surface appears to be perfect. But with all utopias once you start to scratch that surface you find many flaws.

Althea-310 is an interesting character. Even from the start of the book we know that she is slightly different from her sisters. But as the book progresses so do her differences. She has thoughts and feelings unlike her sisters, not only about Jack but also about the other male clones. She also starts to questions some of the actions of the elders and starts to wonder about why things are the way they are. I think I struggled to relate to her because she is a bit of a blank slate emotionally, at least to start with. As her character starts to pull away from her sisters and the other clones, I started to get her a bit more, but still not enough.

I liked Jack, but still struggled with relating to him. He was just so angry all of the time, and I totally got why he was, but that made it hard for me to like him. He was not treated at all well by most of the clones, who saw him as only slightly better than an animal. But I could feel for him in his wanting to belong. I was not totally sold on the romance aspect of the story between these two either.

The world building was nicely done. I had a lot of questions about how the clones came to be and why they created Jack. These are eventually answered, but I would have liked it a bit earlier. The pacing was also a bit slow, but the plot was well thought out and interesting. There is no indication that this will be a series, but the ending was left open enough that it could be.

Overall I really liked this story, but I did not love it. I found it an interesting look into a possible future and it did make me think about some of the moral issues with clones. IF you are looking for an interesting twist on clones this would be a good book to pick up.

I was so excited to read Your One and Only! I read the synopsis and was intrigued. I was not disappointed. The world building in the novel is fantastic and interesting. The pace is a little slow at the beginning but it picks up the pace quickly. I really liked the characters, Althea-310 and Jack. I enjoyed how we got to see them develop throughout the book. The romance between them is really cute and you can't help but ship them.
I also thought the whole idea of clones was a really unique idea, especially for a sci-fi, dystopian book. I have trouble with them being almost always the same plot. I don't have this problem with Your One and Only.
I really enjoyed this book. It was interesting and there was a lot of action with some romance mixed in. If you like sci-fi or dystopian you should read this book!

**4.5/5 stars**

Your One and Only by Adrianne Finlay is a sci-fi young adult novel about the world three hundred years after humanity died off from the Slow Plague. It is 2407 and all that are left are clones, Homo Factus. Nine sets of clones from nine different types of DNA are replicated every ten years. Over the centuries, the clones have perfected their genes and are less like the Original Nine homo sapiens, the scientists that created them, that they represent. However, due to replicating the same genes over and over they are realizing the DNA is degrading and they are losing something in the process. Something they think bringing back a human, homo sapien, will help them discover.

Jack is the one of the two main characters of the novel and is the only human in the community of Vispera. An outsider amongst clones, he does not fit in and does not fully understand his purpose for being there. He does not have many people on his side who want him there except for his surrogate father, Samuel-299, and eventually Althea-310.

Althea-310 is a clone, one of ten, and she is different from her sisters. She is starting to feel and think independently, and it confuses her. She is supposed to be the same as her sister Altheas. However, her feelings of being different keep her on edge and only grow as she begins to feel for Jack. As these two characters begin to spend more time together, learning more about what is going on, their relationship begins to grow. A slow-burn on the romance-side, but that is fine because the main focus of the book is the mystery and danger surrounding them within the community of Vispera.

Ms. Finlay's Your One and Only is a well-written novel with amazing world-building. Paced well, it is filled with details, characterization, an interesting cast of characters and plenty of mystery about the Originals and the clones. The plot and subplots were interesting especially anything that had to do with Jack. I really liked his character who was complex in contrast to some of the clones.

Overall, Your One and Only by Adrianne Finlay is a great sci-fi novel that will hook you from the start as it slowly builds to an exciting ending. I happily recommend and look forward to reading more from this author.

(I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book I received for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my open and honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.)

I have to say I was super excited to get a chance to read this book. I was intrigued from the moment I read the synopsis on Goodreads. I do have to admit that when I started reading the book it was taking a lot for me to become engrossed enough to move on to the next page. It was a slowwwwwww start. The premise of the story, there only be one Human left alive, is what made me continue to read, and boy am I glad I did.

While there were a lot of parts of this book that were confusing, like the clones origins and why they were created, the more you read the better you understood. It was the glimpse into one of the original 9 that made it a little easier to understand why the world was full of clones. I have to admit that throughout most of the book I felt bad for Jack, as he felt things that no one else understood. Until maybe someone did, maybe Althea did, but I do not want to spoil anything so I’ll leave this here.

The one thing I did not like, the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5…..the ending. To me there was not one. I’m not sure if this book is going to be part of a series or not, but I for one would like to find out what happened next. Shoot I’d have settled for an epilogue.