This novel's kind of a Monet: when you take a step back its really beautiful but if you lean in, its a hot mess. When I got to the end, I was like, "Oh, that was really clever," but I was never really engaged by the story. The execution keeps falling over itself trying to get out of the way and so it all seems awkward and stilted. The first few chapters really shouldn't be there at all; the cover art shows the scene where the novel should have begun (and the cover art should have been a collage of multiple scenes, imo). Most irritatingly, there are these intermittent descriptions of inane events (such as showering or getting dressed or eating) that serve no purpose other than to disrupt enjoyment of the narrative flow. (Knowing that our narrator dried herself with a towel that was fluffy and white in no way improves the story for me. She's clean, I get it! Let's move on with the story that I was almost engrossed in!) ( )

Vicarious reads like a toned down, not-quite-so-violent Kill Bill meets Strange Days.

Book Title: Vicarious
Author: Paula Stokes
Series: Vicarious #1 (of 2)
Genre: Older YA, Thriller
Source: Kindle E-Book (Library)

OVERALL RATING: 4.8/5 STARS

Find my full review with video included for book song at Leah's Bookish Obsession

♪♫MY PICK FOR BOOK THEME SONG♫♪
♫Let it Die by Starset --The less I say about that, the better… ♫

⇝Ratings Breakdown⇜

Plot: 5/5
Characters: 4.8/5
The Feels: 4.5/5
Addictiveness: 5/5
Theme: 4.2/5
Flow: 4.5/5
Backdrop (World Building): 4/5
Originality: 5/5
Book Cover: 5/5
Ending: 4.7/5 Cliffhanger: uhhh...yeah

Will I continue this series? For sure!!!

⇝My Thoughts⇜

A fascinating and super intense story, that's not without its flaws, but they're miniscule in comparison to the overall entertainment value. Twisting, turning non-stop action is what you'll get with Vicarious. I never got bored reading this. The second book Ferocious is expected to come out August of 2017. I love that this is a duology…I, personally, love them so much more than a trilogy.

The complex characters set this apart from other books. They are diverse, flawed and intriguing. The Tech involved is effortlessly explained. I'm so looking forward to next book, I've read it takes place in LA and Seoul Korea, sounds enticing.
⇝Sex Factor⇜ More or less, but not explicit, not really…sorry, that was rather vague. You should just read it…I would classify this as Older YA, mostly for it's darker themes. ( )

I liked this book but not nearly as much as I had hoped I would. I live in the St. Louis area, so when I saw the cover of this book, I just had to read it. I put all of my other books aside when I picked this one up from my library and starting reading it right away. It turned out to be an okay read for me. I am glad that I read it but I wasn't blown away by it.

One of the reasons that I read this book was the setting and I do have to say that I was a bit disappointed by the parts of St. Louis that made its way into the book. There is talk of some St. Louis clubs and to be honest I have no idea if they are real or not since my days of hitting the club are long over. There are a few other things mentioned but with a few changes this book could have really taken place anywhere. That's probably actually a good thing for most readers but I wanted more of St. Louis.

I never felt invested in any of the characters. Winter Kim just didn't feel real to me and that made it hard for me to relate to her on any level. I should have been feeling her pain since she has been through a lot of terrible things that she is still having to deal with but I just didn't feel it. Jesse was probably the character that I liked the most in the story but I still can't understand how he could be as perfect as he seemed to be.

The mystery was pretty good. There was a lot of stuff going on in the story so there were not any boring moments. I did guess the big twist pretty early on in the story even though I had hoped that something else would happen to prove me wrong. Books are really just more fun when you are not able to guess how everything will end.

There were a lot of things that worked well for me in the book and there were a few things that didn't work as well. I was entertained by the book but I found it pretty easy to set aside. I do realize that I am not the target audience for this one and I am sure that my teenage daughter would probably like it a bit more than I did. I am not sure at this point if I will pick up the next book in the series or not. ( )