YA Fanatic

Though I enjoyed this book there are too many issues and plot holes for me to give it any higher than a three star rating. While I recommended it take note that it's not the strongest young adult book out there.

New Vegas is the only living, working city in America. The world is frozen over and everyone is freezing trying survive off the bare minimum.

Nat lives in the heart of New Vegas, a black jack dealer trying to survive. She wants to leave and head out to the "Blue." There's something different about Nat though, she's marked. Making most people fear her.

Wes and his gang are runners. They don't stay in one place and travel by boat. Nat hitches a ride with them to escape New Vegas. They are taken full blown into a wild adventure filled with pirates, bears, and more.

The world over all is confusing. There isn't enough detail and explanation - parts of the plot confused me. Nat and Wes are interesting enough characters, but they're very back and forth with their development and characteristics. Supposed to be hardened by everything that's happened to them but half the time its hard to see where their hardships and "badassness" comes from. I thought they were pretty soft really.

The other thing that really bothered me was the grammar and writing technicalities. I think the chapters were supposed to be split between the two characters. But half the time I had trouble telling (even though the audio book used to different voices for Wes and Nat) whose side we were listening to because we'd hear what Wes was thinking while it was Nat's voice speaking, or the other way around. Talk about annoying.

Overall and enjoyable adventure story with interesting enough characters. Some "insta-love" involved as well but I, personally, found my self really enjoying the relationship. The ending is fairly predictable but I'm interested enough to see where the next book leads and am looking to read more by Melissa De La Cruz.

Audio Book: I think I would have enjoyed the audio book more if there weren't two people speaking for Wes and Nat. Nat is heard much more than Wes, making the male reader seem rather pointless, not to mention my complaint above about the writing technicalities.