Guest Review from Erin: Plus One by Elizabeth Fama
Hi again! Plus One is a book that I was super excited for! I mean, check out that cover!! It's beautiful! So, I bought it a while ago and I'm so happy that I finally got to read it! Here's the review!
From Goodreads:
It takes guts to deliberately mutilate your hand while operating a blister-pack sealing machine, but all I had going for me was guts.
Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge—a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol deliberately injures herself in order to gain admission to a hospital, where she plans to kidnap her newborn niece—a Ray—in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. By violating the day-night curfew, Sol is committing a serious crime, and when the kidnap attempt goes awry it starts a chain of events that will put Sol in mortal danger, uncover a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population, and throw her together with D'Arcy Benoît, the Ray medical apprentice who first treats her, then helps her outrun the authorities—and with whom she is fated to fall impossibly and irrevocably in love.
Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day-night divide, Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights—and a compelling, rapid-fire romantic adventure story.
Erin's Thoughts:
OMG! I LOVED this book! Ugh, just everything about it was so wonderful! From reading the synopsis, I had thought that this would be a book set in a fantasy-type world (I don't know why, but this seems to happen to me a lot), but it's actually got a very contemporary voice/language. Plus One is set in an alternate-history world of ours where, it was determine that it would be best for people to separate into lives of night and day. I loved the premise as soon as I read it and the story, luckily, turned out to be so so gooood -- better than I had hoped for!
I know from the description, it can seem like a dystopia, but that is not the case. I love dystopias, but I think many are getting tired of reading them (me included). But while there are elements of dystopia in Plus One, know that it is not one. However, I probably should note that this is based on my own definition of what I think is a dystopia, and some other may argue that this is, in fact, a dystopian novel. But honestly, I think it's different enough that it shouldn't be a problem for most readers.
The story is also structured with two storylines -- one following present day Sol and the other following her past. And while a lot of books that do this can really bore me, I was very surprised -- and pleased, to find that I was just as interested in Sol's past memories as with her present-day experiences. And they are also weaved expertly so that they come together into this awesome awesome conclusion! Ah, so good!!! So well done!
I loved Sol's voice -- she is very tough and sarcastic and there were moments where I was laughing aloud. I expected her voice to be meek and quiet, but she wasn't, which surprised me in a good way. D'arcy is also amazing! First of all, I love the name, but more than that, he is a lovely character! He is a perfect foil for Sol! While they share similar characteristics, D'arcy has this kindness and compassion that Sol (and I) admires. And, in general, I am a huge fan of hate-to-love romances and this one is a perfect example of one that is done well!
Overall Rating:
I think that Plus One may be a standalone, but I am sincerely hoping we get a sequel/sequels! The ending was definitely open-ended enough to elicit another book, soooooo...Crossing my fingers!! Definitely one of my favorite reads this year and I know that I'll be reading this over and over again! Love so much!!! And I hope that if you do read this, you'll love it just as much!
Thanks for reading!
From Goodreads:
It takes guts to deliberately mutilate your hand while operating a blister-pack sealing machine, but all I had going for me was guts.
Sol Le Coeur is a Smudge—a night dweller in an America rigidly divided between people who wake, live, and work during the hours of darkness and those known as Rays who live and work during daylight. Impulsive, passionate, and brave, Sol deliberately injures herself in order to gain admission to a hospital, where she plans to kidnap her newborn niece—a Ray—in order to bring the baby to visit her dying grandfather. By violating the day-night curfew, Sol is committing a serious crime, and when the kidnap attempt goes awry it starts a chain of events that will put Sol in mortal danger, uncover a government conspiracy to manipulate the Smudge population, and throw her together with D'Arcy Benoît, the Ray medical apprentice who first treats her, then helps her outrun the authorities—and with whom she is fated to fall impossibly and irrevocably in love.
Set in a vivid alternate reality and peopled with complex, deeply human characters on both sides of the day-night divide, Plus One is a brilliantly imagined drama of individual liberty and civil rights—and a compelling, rapid-fire romantic adventure story.
Erin's Thoughts:
OMG! I LOVED this book! Ugh, just everything about it was so wonderful! From reading the synopsis, I had thought that this would be a book set in a fantasy-type world (I don't know why, but this seems to happen to me a lot), but it's actually got a very contemporary voice/language. Plus One is set in an alternate-history world of ours where, it was determine that it would be best for people to separate into lives of night and day. I loved the premise as soon as I read it and the story, luckily, turned out to be so so gooood -- better than I had hoped for!
I know from the description, it can seem like a dystopia, but that is not the case. I love dystopias, but I think many are getting tired of reading them (me included). But while there are elements of dystopia in Plus One, know that it is not one. However, I probably should note that this is based on my own definition of what I think is a dystopia, and some other may argue that this is, in fact, a dystopian novel. But honestly, I think it's different enough that it shouldn't be a problem for most readers.
The story is also structured with two storylines -- one following present day Sol and the other following her past. And while a lot of books that do this can really bore me, I was very surprised -- and pleased, to find that I was just as interested in Sol's past memories as with her present-day experiences. And they are also weaved expertly so that they come together into this awesome awesome conclusion! Ah, so good!!! So well done!
I loved Sol's voice -- she is very tough and sarcastic and there were moments where I was laughing aloud. I expected her voice to be meek and quiet, but she wasn't, which surprised me in a good way. D'arcy is also amazing! First of all, I love the name, but more than that, he is a lovely character! He is a perfect foil for Sol! While they share similar characteristics, D'arcy has this kindness and compassion that Sol (and I) admires. And, in general, I am a huge fan of hate-to-love romances and this one is a perfect example of one that is done well!
Overall Rating:
Thanks for reading!
Erin @The Romance Bookie :)
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