*ARC* Countdown - Review

Countdown 

By: Michelle Rowen

Published: September 24, 2013 by Harlequin Teen

304 pages

Source: Netgalley ARC, given by publisher for review (Thanks!)

(Goodreads / Amazon)

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Summary:

3 seconds left to live.

Once the countdown starts, it cannot be stopped.

2 pawns thrown into a brutal underground reality game.

Kira Jordan survived her family's murder and months on plague-devastated city streets with hard-won savvy and a low-level psi ability. She figures she can handle anything. Until she wakes up in a barren room, chained next to the notorious Rogan Ellis.

1 reason Kira will never, ever trust Rogan. Even though both their lives depend on it.

Their every move is controlled and televised for a vicious exclusive audience. And as Kira's psi skill unexpectedly grows and Rogan's secrets prove ever more deadly, Kira's only chance of survival is to risk trusting him as much as her instincts. Even if that means running head-on into the one trap she can't escape.

GAME OVER

MY REVIEW:
I found this story to be an extremely unique book and very enjoyable!  I read it in less than two days and was fully engrossed with every word!

The world is not quite the same since the Great Plague twenty-five years ago that wiped out sixty percent of human life in a matter of weeks.  But life didn't stop.  Those left behind went on living their lives in the most normal way they could.  Some remained in cities fighting to live in a place where gangs were rampant, while others abandoned the big empty cities for country living, going back to living off the land as generations before had done.  As if surviving isn't hard enough, Kira lost her family in a brutal home robbery at the age of fourteen.  She alone survived, by luck, or timing or both.  For two years she's been living on the city streets, pick pocketing her way through every day just to survive.  She is determined to one day find a way to live in the Colony - the only safe, thriving city left, completely enclosed in a dome.  Only the rich and the lucky and those with connections seem to be able to make it there though.

Luck doesn't seem to be on Kira's side when she wakes up in a dark room, handcuffed to the wall with no idea how she got there....only to realize she isn't alone as lights come on and she sees a very dirty, bleeding yet gorgeous looking guy sitting across from her, also chained to the wall.  In a matter of minutes it becomes clear she is in the midst of some crazy reality game.  A game that involves completing tasks to make it to the next level.  A game that involves trusting this complete stranger who is well known for a mass murder he was currently serving time for.  Complete the tasks given to reach the next level or be exterminated.

Fans of The Hunger Games are sure to enjoy this one!  Aside from the similarity of a real life game, of a fight to the death, Countdown is very original in it's story line!

Favorite Quotes:
He wasn't only doing this to be my knight in shining armor.  I was the one with the antivirus disc hidden in my bra.

Final Rating - 4.5 stars!

This post is part of the ARC Thursday feature on Words Fueled by Love.