Review: Gravity

Title:  Gravity
Series:  The Taking #1
Author:  Melissa West
Publisher:  Entangled Teen
Pages:  284
Format:  eBook

In the future, only one rule will matter:

Don’t. Ever. Peek.

Seventeen-year-old Ari Alexander just broke that rule and saw the last person she expected hovering above her bed — arrogant Jackson Locke, the most popular boy in her school. She expects instant execution or some kind of freak alien punishment, but instead, Jackson issues a challenge: help him, or everyone on Earth will die.

Ari knows she should report him, but everything about Jackson makes her question what she’s been taught about his kind. And against her instincts, she’s falling for him. But Ari isn’t just any girl, and Jackson wants more than her attention. She’s a military legacy who’s been trained by her father and exposed to war strategies and societal information no one can know — especially an alien spy, like Jackson. Giving Jackson the information he needs will betray her father and her country, but keeping silent will start a war.

My Review:  When I had found this book while browsing goodreads, I was so excited.  It sounded right up my alley.  I could hardly wait to get to read it.  Unfortunately, I think that was a bit of a problem for me.  In those weeks after I began wanting this book, my expectations for it became pretty high.  I couldn't imagine not liking it.  When I began reading it, though, it was nothing like how I'd imagined it to be and that hurt my reading experience.  

The plot line was interesting and kept me engaged for the most part but there were a couple times when I felt that something just wasn't right or it just got a little slow.  There seemed to be an easy answer for everything that was going on and every single time Ari, our heroine, would find it.  She was challenged very little in this book.  Sure, she was put into challenging situations but she never seemed to break a sweat (save for one part near the end).  She always either found exactly what she needed without problem or somehow developed some talent which got her out of it.  That being said, I still felt like the plot was good.  There was a lot of action and adventure and I feel like if there hadn't been so many easy escapes, it would have been pushed to the next level.  

I had a lot of trouble connecting well with Ari.  One of the reasons is what I said above - she always found an easy way out.  This might not sound like a bad thing but to me I just never really got a feel for her on an emotional level because she was never forced to feel the things that make it easy to sympathize with a character.  Or if she did feel those emotions, they never stuck because five pages later it was all fixed up.  She did have some likable qualities though and I really enjoyed the fact that she was able to hold her own against her enemies.  Jackson . . . I'm not quite sure exactly what I feel about him.  He had his moments where I absolutely adored him but there wasn't enough of those as I would've liked.  Again, I feel like I didn't connect with him very well.  I didn't know enough about him when he and Ari jumped into their relationship to enjoy it much.  Ari was too trusting and blind when it came to him, especially with the sort of training that she had.  

I thought that the over all idea of the story was brilliant.  It was a new and refreshing idea that I thoroughly enjoyed.  There was a lot to explore about this alien race and I'm happy that we got a lot of information on them.  There was never any confusion when it came to what we were dealing with when it came to Jackson and the others.  I would like to learn even more about them in future books and I have a feeling we will get the chance to!  

While this book didn't quite meet my expectations, I feel like that was mostly my fault.  I set it a high standard and it couldn't reach it in all the ways I had hoped.  Still, I did enjoy this book for the most part and am excited for the next book to release!  

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