The Woodlands
by Lauren Nicolle
Taylor
Goodreads blurb:
When being unique puts you in danger and speaking your mind can be
punishable by death, you might find yourself fighting to survive.
Sixteen-year-old Rosa lives in one of the eight enclosed cities of The
Woodlands. Where the lone survivors of a devastating race war have settled in
the Russian wilderness because it’s the only scrap of land left habitable on
the planet. In these circular cities, everyone must abide by the law or face
harsh punishment. Rosa's inability to conform and obey the rules brands her a
leper and no one wants to be within two feet of her, until she meets Joseph.
He's blonde, fair-skinned, green-eyed, and the laid-back complete opposite of
Rosa. She's never met anyone quite like him, and she knows that spells danger.
But differences weren't always a bad thing. People used to think being unique was one of the most treasured of traits to have. Now, the Superiors, who ruthlessly control the concrete cities with an iron fist, are obsessed with creating a 'raceless' race. They are convinced this is the only way to avoid another war. Any anomalies must be destroyed.
The Superiors are unstoppable and can do anything they want. After all, they are considered superheroes by the general public. But not everyone sees them this way. When they continue to abuse their power by collecting young girls for use in their secret, high-tech breeding program, they have no idea that one of those girls has somehow managed to make friends even she didn't know she had. And one man will stop at nothing to save her.
But differences weren't always a bad thing. People used to think being unique was one of the most treasured of traits to have. Now, the Superiors, who ruthlessly control the concrete cities with an iron fist, are obsessed with creating a 'raceless' race. They are convinced this is the only way to avoid another war. Any anomalies must be destroyed.
The Superiors are unstoppable and can do anything they want. After all, they are considered superheroes by the general public. But not everyone sees them this way. When they continue to abuse their power by collecting young girls for use in their secret, high-tech breeding program, they have no idea that one of those girls has somehow managed to make friends even she didn't know she had. And one man will stop at nothing to save her.
About the Author:
Daughter of a Malaysian nuclear physicist father and an Australian
doctor mother, Lauren Nicolle Taylor was expected to follow the science career
path. For a while, that is exactly what she did, completing a Health Science
degree with Honors in obstetrics and gynecology. However, there was always a
niggling need to create, which led to many artistic adventures.
Lauren married her high school sweetheart at twenty-four. They had their first child the following year. The next six years of her life were taken up with caring for her three children. She found out early on that being a parent could be as devastating as it was wonderful. Her first two children developed life-threatening conditions. At four weeks, her son developed pyloric stenosis and two years later, at eight months of age, her daughter contracted meningococcal disease. Many surgeries and some very scary hospital stays later, Lauren’s third child was born and her parents cross their fingers and thank the gods that, so far, she hasn’t needed any life-saving surgery! Her son, eight, and two daughters, six and three, are now happy, mostly healthy, and extremely boisterous.
When Lauren hit her thirties and her children’s health problems began to settle, she started throwing herself into artistic endeavors, but was not entirely satisfied. The solution? Complete a massive renovation and sell their house so they could buy their dream block of land and build. After selling the house, buying the block, and getting the plans ready, the couple discovered they had been misled and the block was undevelopable. This left the family of five homeless.
Taken in by Lauren’s parents, with no home to renovate and faced with a stressful problem with no solution, Lauren found herself drawn to the computer. She sat down and poured all of her emotions and pent-up creative energy into writing The Woodlands.
Lauren married her high school sweetheart at twenty-four. They had their first child the following year. The next six years of her life were taken up with caring for her three children. She found out early on that being a parent could be as devastating as it was wonderful. Her first two children developed life-threatening conditions. At four weeks, her son developed pyloric stenosis and two years later, at eight months of age, her daughter contracted meningococcal disease. Many surgeries and some very scary hospital stays later, Lauren’s third child was born and her parents cross their fingers and thank the gods that, so far, she hasn’t needed any life-saving surgery! Her son, eight, and two daughters, six and three, are now happy, mostly healthy, and extremely boisterous.
When Lauren hit her thirties and her children’s health problems began to settle, she started throwing herself into artistic endeavors, but was not entirely satisfied. The solution? Complete a massive renovation and sell their house so they could buy their dream block of land and build. After selling the house, buying the block, and getting the plans ready, the couple discovered they had been misled and the block was undevelopable. This left the family of five homeless.
Taken in by Lauren’s parents, with no home to renovate and faced with a stressful problem with no solution, Lauren found herself drawn to the computer. She sat down and poured all of her emotions and pent-up creative energy into writing The Woodlands.
Family, a multicultural background, and a dab of medical intrigue are all strong themes in her writing. Lauren took the advice of ‘write what you know’ and twisted it into a romantic, dystopian adventure!
Connect with Lauren:
My Thoughts - 4 out of
5 unicorns - I really liked it!!
***Received ebook from
Clean Teen Publishing for an honest review, but I also added to my library
because it is free.
The
cover is breathtaking. I love how you
see the wooded railroad tracks through her face and see her beautiful blue eye. It is very intriguing and attracts you to the
book.
If
you couldn’t tell from the blurb, this story is set in a post-war era and is a dystopian
fantasy. This story is difficult for me
to put words to paper. I think part of
the reason is because it is just too real life for me. Everyday people deal with race issues,
pregnancy, and teen rebellion, and this story has it all. This story is not something I usually read
because it is way too real life, and I like to escape into my books and get
away from real life.
Rosa
feels so real when you read the story. I
was crying with her, saying don’t do it when she was rebelling, and telling her
to stop pushing people away when she was.
She is definitely stronger than I am because I don’t think I could have
handled half of what she had to.
Joseph
is sweet and adorable and the knight in shining armor. Most boys would not put up with half the
stuff he has from the drama, but he always sticks by Rosa.
Okay,
I was annoyed when the story ended because I have no idea what is going to
happen next which doesn’t happen very often, and I had so many questions that
weren’t answered. It was the appropriate
place to stop, but I still don’t like that it did.
Lauren
did a fantastic job with the story, and I will definitely continue this series
to see where Lauren takes it next :) I
will also be buying the paperback from my classroom because I have quite a few
students who like stories that are more real life and dystopia as well.
You
too can read this fantastic story because it is FREE!!!
Find for free at: Amazon, B&N,
& Smashwords
No comments:
Post a Comment