Author: Tara Brown
Series: Born #1
Publisher: Tara Brown Publishing
Original Publication Date: September 19, 2012
Format Read: kindle
Genre: YA Post-Apocalyptic, YA Zombies, New Adult
Purchase: Amazon
Find on Goodreads
Description from Goodreads:
"It's
us and them, Em. There are no regular people anymore."
Ten
years ago when the world ended she ran for her life.
Five
weeks ago the world she'd hidden from came knocking on the door of her secluded
cabin.
Ten
days ago she found salvation hiding amongst the dead.
Yesterday
she went back for the living.
Today
she wonders if she will live to see tomorrow.
What do
you do when the world you were born to is gone?
Where
do you hide when even your own body isn't safe?
Emma
ran when her daddy told her to. She hid like he said she should. He was the
first person she turned her back on. The first one she let die. Ten
years has gone by and she still lives by the simple rules he taught her when
she was nine years old.
"Don't
help anyone. Don't go where other people are unless you have to. Trust no one.
Always pull the trigger."
Until
one night she hears the worst sound in the world, a knock. A simple, timid
knock, on the door to her cabin. Only
the voice of the brave little girl, ready to die for her brother, persuades
Emma to open the door. As her
fingers turn the lock, she has a terrible feeling she will regret her decision. But
even as regret fills her world, so do love and companionship. Things she never
imagined she would ever have again.
Everything
comes at a cost, you decide what you'll pay.
Well, this is clearly a self-published book. Nothing wrong with that, but it could do with some polishing up, more drafts, some editing, etc...
This book definitely felt a little rough to me, especially in the beginning on of the book. The first few paragraphs didn't suck me in right away and I was a little confused about what the story was about. I should have some inkling within the first chapter, not everything, but a pretty good idea at least. I actually had to stop and go back and read the very long description of the book provided by the author. She could use a little help in that department too.
Anyways, below all of the roughness, I definitely see a good story here with lots of potential. The further I got into the book, especially past the half-way mark, the easier it was for me to gloss over any weird writing and get into the story. Now what is the story about?
When Em was growing up she always thought her father was a little weird with all of the prepping he always did. He was worried about a world-wide disaster that would set the world back years. He made sure his daughter was prepare with survival training, they practiced running to make sure everyone was fit, etc...
When Em was nine her father's fears came to light when a bio-engineered virus was released on the world. Millions of people died everywhere or were infected with a zombie-like disease. While escaping from the city Em's father died. She has survived the past ten years by following her father's rules, and remembering what he said, "It's us and them, Em. There are no regular people anymore. Don't help anyone. Don't go where other people are unless you have to. Trust no one. Always pull the trigger."
That comes to an end ten years after the world ended when Em hears a timid knock on her cabin door and a girl a little younger than herself, pleading for her help her brother. Em reluctantly agrees and our adventure and breaking of her father's rules go from there.
We have Em who is a survivalist bad-ass who is super good with a bow and arrow like some other big YA heroine we all know and love (ehem Katniss/Hunger Games). She also has a Timber Wolf companion, named Leo who helps her out (I liked Leo). And of course, two men who vie for her affections, two hottie brothers, no less.
So in all post-apocalyptic worlds we know not everyone is nice. In this world you have people who do bad things to girls and/or try to round them up for the breeding camps or to work as slaves on farms. You see the bad people who released the virus on world managed to survive it's destruction and are working on rebuilding it to their desires. Think Hitler and whole Aryan race he tried to create. They are working on breeding healthy people to make a better world.
Outside of the creepy people's place is everyone else trying to survive, whether you are a rebel, a loner, or someone trying to make it in a rundown crappy town.
Through the brother, Jake, and sister, Anna, she ends up meeting with the rebels and deciding that she needs to take down the breeder camps, as they are not what they seem.
A lot going on huh? The zombies seem to take more of backseat in this story. They are there, our characters come across them, but it's more about the rebels and a common man (or woman), against the big bad that ended the world.
An interesting concept. I would really like to see this book polished up. I can't imagine how good it would be if a really good editor got her hands on it.
So, FOUR stars for the story idea plus TWO to TWO and HALF stars for the execution, gets us to....
My Rating: 
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