Altered

Altered by Jennifer Rush- 4.5 STARS 

Synopsis When you can’t trust yourself, who can you believe?
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’s 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.
Overall
I absolutely without a shadow of doubt LOVED this book. I REALLY cannot tell you how much I fell in love with this book and its characters. It is now one of my favorite books of all time. This book has it all, mystery, action, adventure, romance, twists and turns, surprises.This was a well written science fiction romance story.

The story starts off a little slow, introducing us to the different characters, and their relationship with one another, as well as the underlying plot of the book. Its easy to tell that something is "off" about this story, (I mean who doesnt think its weird to keep 4 young men locked in glass cages?!) but its easy to get sucked into this story too. Anna's narrative was beautifully written, Its not only her story, but her thoughts, which feel so natural and genuine. It was easy to see why she loves Sam too. He is protective of those he cares about, loyal, and understanding. His connection with Anna and the boys in intriguing and the more pieces that I learned the more I had to keep reading, to find out the truth, the ending, the purpose.


The overall plot was really woven together quite nicely. The minute details that the author leaves as clues throughout the book were done with such care, and yet inexplicably they fall together perfectly, if one werent paying close attention you may not notice those so important details. The author captured the science fiction, mystery adventure and romance genre- in the young adult field, beautifully and perfectly in my opinion.
I simply could not wait to delve in to the next book.


This  story seems simple, but the pieces of the mystery that we have to unfold, bit by bit are so intriguing, that I was sucked in completely. I couldnt stop reading until I knew the truth. I was consumed and fascinated with this story.

Britt Robertson as Anna

Im amazed at Jennifer Rush's ability to construct such a beautiful story with so many pieces, and twists throughout, without losing your character or your reader along the way.

Anna is a quite the protagonist. She is shy, yet strong, and above all else, she believes that her perseverance and her love for Sam will prevail in the end. She is thrown into an unbelievable situation (on many levels) yet her character is easy to relate to, and through the course of her journey with these four boys, its clear that her character develops. Not only does Anna generate relationships with these boys, but she comes to understand them and relate to them on a level all of her own.

I loved the different boys, Sam, Cas, Nick and Trev, all for different reasons. Jennifer Rush managed to create individual personalities for each of them without losing their voice or confusing them (or the reader) the were each individuals and yet a group which was really interesting to watch unfold. The way the group worked together, was the most intriguing. The whole time I felt like this could be such a great TV series or movie.

Cas- Chris Zylka

Henry Cavill

Sean O'Pry

Trev- Chase Crawford 

I docked this book 1/2 a star mainly because there were a few loose ends that I felt were not wrapped up, or were strange. Specifically, what stands out the most is the betrayal, which should have been explicitly clear when the last clue was figured out, and yet somehow it was missed completely until the moment it was upon them. Their ignorance at this and a few other betrayal clues, which seemed obvious by this last one, were out of character for Anna and the group, and I think the story could have continued without it occurring later, and would have been better with figuring it out at the time I did. However, I think the fact that the author managed to capture so many small plot points, clues and different personality and characters into such a fantastic novel is an amazing feat all itself.

This one is DEFINITELY RECOMMENDED!!!