Review: Altered by Jennifer Rush

Title: Altered (Altered #1) 
Author: Jennifer Rush 
Genre: Science Fiction 
Source: Library 
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: January 1st 2013
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Summary: 

Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who has stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them. Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities. Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

Review:  

First off, lets talk about the cover. I like shirtless guys. I like tattoos. I especially like shirtless guys who have tattoos. This cover model, I want a full face view of him. I am pretty sure he is someone I would drool over. Alright, enough about the cover. I will talk about them more in future reviews. This is my second time reading Altered, and damn. I forgot how much I loved it! There are so many twists and turns that I never even remembered happened. It was pretty much like reading this for the first time all over again. 

Since the time Anna was a young girl there has always been four boys living in her basement. Her Dad is a scientist, part of The Branch who are trying to make "the perfect solider" by biologically altering these boys. For five years Anna has sneaked to visit the boys, until she is caught and then eventually given permission to work beside her father. During the day Anna draws blood, files chart, and bring the boys treats. At night she sneaks down to visit them with out being monitored. When The Branch comes to Anna's ranch and declares the boys ready she isn't ready to let go and neither is her father. After a gun fight Anna and the four boys are off to learn the secrets about their past lives and not fall back into the hands of The Branch. A long the way though Anna learns who she really is, and maybe not everything she has been told is true. 

I loved the set of characters in this book. Besides Anna you have Sam, Cas, Trev and Nick all who have lived in Anna's basement ever since their memories were wiped by The Branch years before. Cas is funny, flirty and constantly hungry, Trev is the book worm who has the mind of an older man, Nick is just plain angry and hates the sight of Anna and Sam is the leader, and he has also stolen Anna's heart. I am not going any deeper into the characters since there is a lot of them and I will just end up rambling about them. But I loved how determined Anna was, and how she actually thought things out and didn't get herself captured or killed in the process. 

The plot was constantly moving and there were very little slow moments. Jennifer dropped enough information in at certain moments so the reader wouldn't feel overwhelmed but mostly because they would begin to read faster wanting to know what was going to happen next. If they weren't focused on figuring out their pasts, then Anna was focusing on her feelings for Sam and if it wasn't the feelings she was trying to figure out who she really was. The plot moved steadily keeping me engrossed through it all. I enjoy books about genetic engineering and secret companies who are being paid off by the government. This book was my cup of tea. 

I loved the romance. It started off as one of those unrequited and slowly built from there. There were several moments in the book were I was pretty much screaming in my head for Sam to just kiss her. The romance ins't simple though, and Anna and Sam are entwined in other ways then their growing feelings for each other. 

Overall, I really liked Altered. Luckily my library had all three books in and I purchased the novellas on my kindle so I will probably finish this series out in the next week or two. I am going to recommend this one to anyone who likes action thrillers and science fiction. I am apologizing in advance for who ever I am going to be pushing it on next. 

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