Avie Reveare has the normal life of a privileged teen growing up in L.A., at least as normal as any girl's life is these days. After a synthetic hormone in beef killed fifty million American women ten years ago, only young girls, old women, men, and boys are left to pick up the pieces. The death threat is past, but fathers still fear for their daughters' safety, and the Paternalist Movement, begun to "protect" young women, is taking over the choices they make.
Like all her friends, Avie still mourns the loss of her mother, but she's also dreaming about college and love and what she'll make of her life. When her dad "contracts" her to marry a rich, older man to raise money to save his struggling company, her life suddenly narrows to two choices: Be trapped in a marriage with a controlling politician, or run. Her lifelong friend, student revolutionary Yates, urges her to run to freedom across the border to Canada. As their friendship turns to passion, the decision to leave becomes harder and harder. Running away is incredibly dangerous, and it's possible Avie will never see Yates again. But staying could mean death.
From Catherine Linka comes this romantic, thought-provoking, and frighteningly real story, A Girl Called Fearless, about fighting for the most important things in life―freedom and love.

So, a book with a very pretty cover showed up at my door unannounced. It shouted A Girl Undone at me from that cover, and enticed me to read it. Alas, what this book didn't tell me was that it was a sequel in disguise. So, of course, I dutifully went to the library and checked out the first book in this series, A Girl Called Fearless. I was intrigued. The story promised me a dystopian world rife with male power. A world where women were objects, instead of people. The feminist in me was overjoyed. The reader who has been burned by many a dystopia lately, was not. Now that I've actually finished this book, I'm sad to say that I'm still a fence-sitter. While this definitely wasn't exactly what I was hoping for it to be, it wasn't too bad of a story either. Settle in, and I'll explain.

I think the number one thing that first threw me off, was Avie. Our main character, Avie is a very privileged and sheltered young woman. This means, of course, that she truly believes that her life is the absolute worst, and that the world is hell bent on making her miserable. To be honest, I wasn't all that happy with her at the beginning of this story. I felt for her, to be sure. No woman wants to be owned, and especially by someone as cold and menacing as the man who wants her. However, the more that Avie prolonged her decision, the more that she whined and didn't act, the more I wanted to throw something at her. I just wanted her to choose. Good or bad, I just wanted her to choose.

Luckily, as the story went on, Avie and I understood one another more. The more of the outside world she was exposed to, the more her eyes were opened to the lives of others. When she finally started to realize how selfish she was being, and quit being so whiny, we got along loads better. If only, and you probably all knew this was coming, there hadn't been that pesky romance to get in the way of her growth.

See, A Girl Called Fearless pulls very heavily from the whole Romeo and Juliet trope. Two people who fate tries to keep apart, struggling mightily to be together. I'm not against romance. I welcome it, if it feeds the story line. In this case, Yates and Avie never felt real to me. Yates felt like an easy way to show that Avie had to give up so much to finally do something about her life. I'm sure she loved him, but it didn't show in the writing. Instead, it just fed the concept of her being selfish. So many times she made decisions that benefited her, and put others at risk. It drove me mad.

So what kept me reading on? Mainly, the fact that there is so much action pushing this book forward. The world itself really intrigued me as well. Catherine Linka leaves things on the precipice. Avie's who universe is on the brink of collapse. Who wouldn't want to know what happens next? Yes, I will be reading the next book. I only hope our lovely heroine maintains her character development, and gets to kicking some ass. ( )

Imagine what it would be like living in a society where you, as a woman, could be bought and sold. Imagine that your every move is monitored. Imagine that you couldn't go to school or drive or have friends who weren't approved by a male. This is the reality for countless women around the globe NOW. Linka has transported this reality to the US and it's scarily real. I like that this novel is set in the present, because our comfortable feminist conscience is challenged. The characters play second fiddle to the big questions that are asked of us. Sure, there are plot flaws and character flaws, but this novel asks us to think and maybe take action. It is wonderful. I really don't care if there is a sequel. The issues raised are enough for me. ( )

My goodness, this book was horrifying and scarily real, but it made you think. I found that the plot lagged a bit in the middle but the start was so compelling, I had to keep reading, and once Avie was on the run the action certainly picked up. This book will create some fabulous discussion and I look forward to the sequel. ( )