Review: Altered by Jennifer Rush

Altered by Jennifer Rush
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads summary:


Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them. 

Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.

Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.


My review:

There's something to be said about being laid out flat with a sinus infection. Not only do you get a lot of reading time, but family tends to steer clear of your sneezing moaning self so that reading time is largely uninterrupted. Bonus.

The only downside is, my brain doesn't appear to be as sharp as usual. So please to be excusing if I sound completely out there.

The story had a lot of the same elements as "Touch" - father involved with the super secret group, mother supposedly gone, a breakout from the Secret Government Agency, life on the run, etc.

To my mind, though, this one definitely had the tighter story. For one, there wasn't any insta-love between Anna and Sam. An attraction, sure. A connection, oh yeah. But it wasn't the automatic "omgwantyounow" I've seen before. Amazingly enough, that did nothing to pull away from the chemistry (and the inevitable heartache.)

Anna was lovely, Sam was a delightful hardass. Nick, Cas, Trevor, even Dad. The secondary characters were all fabulous and the story itself was very well written and tight. Just enough mystery to keep me interested, but enough progression so that I don't feel like I'm floundering in the dark. I loved the details with their tattoos, and the experiment. (And i have a very sneaky triangle suspicion I hope is wrong.

Already have the next one on my TBR list even though it doesn't have a title or cover image yet.

I know. Short review. My bad. The Kindlecave is a hospital ward today. I'll be better next time!