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Monday, January 27, 2014

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe (ARC)(Giveaway)

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant (The V Trilogy, #1)
Joanna Wiebe
Pub: January 14, 2014

The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant (V, #1)So many secrets for such a small island. From the moment Anne Merchant arrives at Cania Christy, a boarding school for the world’s wealthiest teens, the hushed truths of this strange, unfamiliar land begin calling to her—sometimes as lulling drumbeats in the night, sometimes as piercing shrieks.

One by one, unanswered questions rise. No one will tell her why a line is painted across the island or why she is forbidden to cross it. Her every move—even her performance at the school dance—is graded as part of a competition to become valedictorian, a title that brings rewards no one will talk about. And Anne discovers that the parents of her peers surrender million-dollar possessions to enroll their kids in Cania Christy, leaving her to wonder what her lowly funeral director father could have paid to get her in… and why.

As a beautiful senior struggles to help Anne make sense of this cloak-and-dagger world without breaking the rules that bind him, she must summon the courage to face the impossible truth—and change it—before she and everyone she loves is destroyed by it.


Sixth Sense meets Pretty Little Liars

Anne Merchant suddenly finds herself enrolled at one of the most hush-hush schools in the world, where everyone is vying to become the next valedictorian. Though a little weary of how her mortician father managed to pay for such a school, Anne feels obligated to fight to the be winner too, because it would ensure her a scholarship to Brown University and get her life headed a direction that didn't involve dead bodies on a daily basis. But the island is filled with mysteries that Anne just can't seem to wrap her head around. Like why she's forbidden to talk to the locals beyond the ridiculous red line, and for the love of God, why the valedictorian won't be chosen by good grades, but by her own ability to follow a personal mantra given to her by the letter.
 
Seriously, Anne was given a guardian when she first arrived at school, and it was his job to determine what her greatest strength was. Apparently, this creepy guy who knew nothing about her thought her sexuality was her best way to become valedictorian. I'm sure you can guess why he wanted her to become a slut since it was her duty to convince him to fight for her come judgement day. Eew. She basically tells him to go screw himself and to give her a new one. The next one seems even worse, which is to look more closely at things, which Anne took as constantly snooping and eavesdropping on everything and everyone. But it's because of this new purpose that Anne becomes to understand the island and what's truly at stake for not only the winner, but for all the losers.
 
I'm not going to lie. When I first began this novel, it took a while to really get into it. Everything seemed kind of silly, and I couldn't understand why Anne took this whole 'valedictorian' thing at face value, when the race was clearly about something entirely different. But as the story began to unfold and secrets finally unearthed, everything began to make sense. So all I can tell you is to not give up on this if you feel it's a bit too cheesy or weird for you in the beginning. I thought those things too, but now that I'm finished, I'm actually really curious to read the next installment. :)

ARC provided by BenBella Books for honest review.

If you'd like to win a copy of The Unseemly Education of Anne Merchant by Joanna Wiebe, just fill out the rafflecopter below!


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