A book that can be thoroughly enjoyed by both younger and older readers, unraveling the story of a teenage girl fighting with all her might to save her best friend from the clutches of a degenerative disease in a world where medicine has made amazing progress but the human spirit is as rich-avid and interest-driven as ever. She will come to discover that appearances can be deceiving, that placing your trust in people around you can prove tricky and she will learn that an extended hand might prove suspicious and perilous. She will face challenges and make discoveries, while forging new friendships and adding loved ones to her initially narrow circle.

The plot is faced paced and the writing is quite easy to follow in spite of the coined up terms or light medical jargon. The writer's style is pleasant and the overall positivity might be just what we need when optimism is scarce. The fictitious sections are just enough to keep the story line down to earth and the readers interested in the character development.

It is, however, a predictable book for a more or less experienced reader, with no radical or unexpected turns of events. I appreciated the fact that characters are complex and gradually exposed as such, but I found it unlikely that there is one supervillain while everyone else is an average deep-down well-meaning individual. The story stands as a typical coming of age novel, focused on the intricacies or family ties, genuine friendship and harsh reality confrontations, as well as a "love-conquers-all" and "good-shall-always-prevail" driven narrative.

Personally, I perceived the book as kindred in spirit with Lord of the Flies and The Hunger Games. It is a more subdued version of a similar fight for survival or first place, as well as a modern version with a (helix) twist. ( )

I enjoyed this book, I felt it was a nice YA adventure, Avy, was for me likeable even thou she was young and naive, she was a bit misguided during the book, because she put her trust in people she shouldn’t be trusting and refusing to listen to who she should listen, but hey, isn't that being a regular teenager for most of us? She has her heart in the right place, that we can feel from page one. I started reading this book, thinking it would be the first I a series, but was nicely surprised to learn that it definitely has a satisfactory ending.

Books that talk about what can or could a geneticist do, I mean in the world of this book, if you don’t like the colour of your hair, why recolour it? if you could easily splice your genetic to the colour of your choosing, as easy as having a glass of cold water, If the problem is health, well you could change your genes for not being sick anymore, the catch is that you need money to do it… and in the end that is what keep people really apart from each other… and of course I wont spoil the story, but I really think it is worth and attention grabbing, just grab a copy for yourself and see if you don’t agree with me.

Reading the first book of an author, can be a hit or a miss, but I can surely say, that this was a great debut, and without any doubt I will recommend this book for people looking for YA books with a nice character grow.

Thank you Librarything, for the free ARC, and this is my honest opinion. ( )