Review: Feuds by Avery Hastings

Feuds (Feuds #1) by Avery Hastings

 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

 Source: Hardcover

Goodreads link: (click here)

What's it about?

Davis Morrow's life is perfect. She is perfect. Davis is a Prior, a member of the upper class that has been genetically modified to be stronger, smarter, faster, physically flawless and immune to illnesses that once affected ordinary humans. Since she is basically made to be better, she's expected to strive for greatness. Her friends and family are just like her. They live lives of privelage, never worried about anything except how good they look. Her father is a powerful man and is running for city prime minister, so her life is especially privileged. Davis is a ballerina training rigorously to qualify for the Olympiads. She loves to dance, but more than anything she does it to honor her mother's memory. Her mother was a famous ballerina who died giving birth to her. So, that is her life. Dance, party with friends, worry about nothing and look pretty. At least, until the night she meets Cole Everett.

Cole Everett's life is not perfect. He is not perfect. Cole is a Geneserian, a Gen, but the Priors would call him an Imp, for Imperfect. He lives outside of the city in relative poverty with the rest of the non-modified humans. The Imps are looked down upon and even feared by the Priors, but the truth is, they are just people doing whatever they can to survive. Because of Cole's size and strength, his way to get by and his only hope of making a better life for his family is to enter the FEUDS, an underground cage fighting ring run by corrupt Priors. He doesn't enjoy beating the crap out of people for money, but he's good at it, and it's money that he desperately needs. When he's approached by the current city prime minister, who is also an influential figure in the FEUDS, about helping him to bring down his political rival, he has no choice but to agree to do it. All he has to do is enter the world of the Priors and get an incriminating picture of himself and the prime minister's rival's daughter, Davis Morrow, and return to his miserable life to fight another day. Little does he know that he's one kiss away from his life changing forever.

The night that Davis and Cole meet at a rooftop party and their worlds collide, nothing will ever be the same again. The moment their lips touch, there is no going back. Cole never expected to fall for anyone, let alone a prissy, self-centered Prior, but he sees that Davis isn't like the rest of them. She doesn't know who he really is and if anyone finds out they will both be in trouble. As their star-crossed romance blossoms, the world around them begins to crumble. A deadly virus called Narxis is killing off Priors, and it is spreading fast. The Priors refuse to acknowledge it's existence because they see themselves as too perfect to be vulnerable. Tensions between Priors and Imps are rising, political corruption is running rampant, people are dying and Cole and Davis are stuck in the middle of it all. All they have is each other, but is their love strong enough to overcome the impossible obstacles trying to tear them apart? 

My Thoughts

Yes! Yes! I loved this book! A ballerina and a cage fighter get involved in a star-crossed romance while a deadly virus sweeps through a dark, dystopian future world where genetics separate the classes... um...awesome! Not only is it a cool and interesting story, but I truly enjoyed reading it. Avery Hastings' vividly descriptive writing does an amazing job bringing the story to life in my head. This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and it did not disappoint. I was originally drawn to it by the idea of a ballerina and a cage fighter, which, in itself is awesome, but when you throw in a dark, dystopian setting, political corruption, a breathtaking romance and a race against time to stop a virus, I was hooked. The only thing I DON'T like, is that I have to wait until next June for the sequel. That's kind of a bummer. But, at least there is a short eNovella prequel releasing in December (Rivals). It's not part of this story, but it's about Davis before any of this took place. I'll happily revisit this world again.


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<3 Michelle