Rating: 4/5



Genre: YA Fantasy



Recommended Age: 14+ (language, a mature sexual scene, trigger warnings for death and suicide-like behavior)



I received a copy of the e-book version of this book for free from NetGalley as provided by the publisher and then I won a free copy of the print arc in a giveaway. Neither of these events changed my opinion of the book.



Coming from a race of highly-evolved humans, Julia Jaynes has the perfect life. The perfect family. The perfect destiny. But there’s something rotten beneath the surface–dangerous secrets her father is keeping; abilities she was never meant to have; and an elite society of people determined to keep their talents hidden and who care nothing for the rest of humanity. So when Julia accidentally disrupts the Jaynes’ delicate anonymity, she’s banished to the one place meant to make her feel inferior: public high school.

Julia’s goal is to lay low and blend in. Then she meets him–John Ford, tennis prodigy, all-around good guy. When Julia discovers a knack for reading his mind, and also manipulating his life, school suddenly becomes a temporary escape from the cold grip of her manipulative father. But as Julia’s powers over John grow, so do her feelings. For the first time in her life, Julia begins to develop a sense of self, to question her restrictive upbringing and her family prejudices. She must decide: can a perfect love be worth more than a perfect life? – Amazon.com



Ever thought that you were different? Julia sure has and she’s already in a selective group of people! She’s a part of this culture of people who have extraordinary abilities and no we’re not talking about X-Men although it’s clear she should join them. Regardless of my stance on that topic, I believed this book will be the underdog to look out for come October. It’s a decent Halloween-type book and a good book for any YA lover. The character development is amazingly written as we learn about two characters simultaneously through Julia’s inner connection to John and all of the main and important side characters have a distinct personality. The plot is also very well done. The writer does not spend time on minute details about the mundane activities of public high school and the reader becomes involved in the core topic of the book fairly early on. The book is also very well written and it’s proving to be a very easy read. While the book is 350+ pages, I flew through the book faster than any other book I’ve ever read this year not counting Illuminae.



However, I did find some very prominent issues in the book. For starters, the whole identity of Julia and her people are not explained until very late in the book and even then there are small questions the reader is left with that are never really fully explored. The book is also paced a bit weird. The book jumps forward in time quite a bit and without warning, so the reader must remain alert throughout the book in order to avoid confusion. And there is a bit of a quasi-love triangle/square, so fair warning if you absolutely hate those.



Verdict: Overall, I thought this was an incredible book. This was definitely one of my favorite reads of 2017 and I was hooked from the get-go. I think that the book was incredibly inspirational for anyone who’s ever felt different or unwanted or has been ostracized for one reason or another. As someone who has felt that way before and still struggles with it I felt empowered by Julia and I cheered for her every difficult step of the way. I hope you feel the same towards her because I strongly urge anyone who likes YA Fantasy to take a few days to read this book.

Julia Jaynes is a member of a very powerful family with supernatural abilities. The oldest daughter of Novak, the leader of their group, Julia is faced with the struggle of figuring out what her father’s plan is. Are his intentions truly for their greatest good or is he hiding something threatening them all?

Following an incident with her younger sister, Novak punished Julia for her alleged irresponsibility by sending her to a public school where no one knows about her powers. There Julia has no choice, but to finally see herself as an individual for the first time.

Select poses the question of identity and the emotional attachment to one’s roots in the background of the supernatural. Do we choose who we are or do we let others define us? Julia has been defined by her family her whole life, she sees herself through their lens and never stopped even for a minute to think of an alternative path. The path has already been determined for her. She is so caught up into her family’s seclusive world that she’s never realized that there is more to life and inevitably, there is more to her. The emphasis on her personal growth is smoothly delivered. I was worried that the author might gloss over it, but Marit Weisenberg did not disappoint.

The novel is well-written, all the characters (including the supporting) are multi-faceted and offer a variety of nuances to their personalities, which makes the story unable to put down once you get deep into their world. As a first installment of series, the pace of the plot development was great. It gives you just enough to want more.

I have kindly received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and Charlesbridge in exchange of a fair review.

An interesting concept, a group of humans a bit higher on the evolutionary scale trying to keep from being specimens to be studied for what's different or better about them. Julia is a half breed, an experiment her father tried to expand their species. You know what they say about best laid plans...

Imagine there was a isolated tribe living somewhere in South America. And upon being discovered, it was also discovered that because of their isolation their DNA changed. Not a lot, but enough. Longer life span, better athletic abilities, their bodies being more durable, and in some, telepathy. So the people who discovered the tribe, procided to exterminate them. But they didn't get them all....

So for generations the tribe lived by hiding in plain sight. And controlling their abilities by not using them in public. They hid among "outsiders" as they called them, untill they got discovered and then they would simply relocate. But there's a catch. The groups leader decides who is "fit" for relocation and who gets left behind. And on top of all that the group has suffered for the last two generations by being sterile, that is not being able to reproduce. But the groups leader has a plan. He intends to find "outsiders" with dormant genes like theirs that he can awake and relocate with them, and that way they would be able to reproduce again

And that is where we start the story. In Austin TX, and the group a year or so away from relocation. And the main heroine (Julia) and group of 6 other kids being separated from the rest of the group in order for their power not to develop. But the kids practice their abilities when no one's looking and after an incident occurred, in public, Julia gets the blame and as punishment has to spend the rest of the time before relocation proving that she can stiffen and control her powers

And that is where fantasy meets YA. Where cute boy enters the picture, where FBI tries to make a case against Julia's father (who happens to be the groups leader), and the media tries to figure out what's up with this strange group, and where breath is released even though one wasn't aware they were holding it. You know, the usual YA stuff

But I would dare to say that the story is unique and different. And unexpected. While you might figure out where it's going at times, especially when it comes to romance, it will leave you surprised the rest of it. The characters developed as much as the story does. And someone you might not be fond of in the begging will grow on you the more you read. Full of twists and turns, great plot, and some bitchy characters this is one book you should definitely pick up and read

I loved this. I'm not going to sugar coat this at all. The book stuck to the blurb. There were never any dull moments in this story. There is some internal conflicts going on with Julia. But don't we all have those moments where we rethink things we've done or said. Wondered what other outcome might have happened?

This is a great debut YA novel. The story is unique from what is going around right now. This isn't some woe is me female lead. I LOVE that! This is a girl discovering what she wants in life and how she will either take charge of her life. Or let her family suppress her and her abilities

The premise sounded so interesting, but I feel it was poorly executed. I didn't form a connection with the main character and found her and her decisions... just frustrating. The romance felt somewhat forced to me, and while it wasn't really my cup of tea, I hope it's someone else's.

Thank you to NetGalley for my ARC.

Here's another book I picked up on NetGalley on a whim due to a beautiful cover!
Usually I would share the book description at this point, but sometimes I really enjoy going in blind, and this is one of those instances where I feel like the book summary can give you just a bit too much info. So instead, a few bullet points about this one:
It's YA speculative fiction (closer to sci-fi than fantasy), with a cult-ish twist and a pretty good romance.
I found the community situation/setting for the book quite mysterious (what is going on with this family? IS this a cult?), and I really enjoyed this ambiguity.
I also liked the way this book looked at the struggle of figuring out where you fit in - which is one of my favourite themes in YA. There was some great family loyalty vs 'outsiders' stuff in here.
I understand that this is the first book in a series, but I thought it also worked pretty well as a standalone.
I gave this 3.5 stars.

Really great book very unique which is very hard to find now I liked the strong female character and her to me felt like a pull of being good vs being bad feel. I liked reading bout all the guy characters she goes to school with and how they practice and discover their powers you feel for her though in her frustration of being basically the black sheep of the family she wants to be apart of them but she just cant and they wont let her. if you like a easy fast unique and exciting book I defiantly recommend this one and I thank the author for granting me this wish! by the way love the beautiful cover!

I liked the story about Julia and John and I will definitely read the next book, when it comes out. That said, there were some things slowing down my reading progress. I didn't like Julia's "people". They felt like a cult and reading about them felt a little creepy. Then, it took me some time to get into the story and it felt like a long time before something happened. I recommend this book to every one reading paranormal fantasy novels, not only YA readers. 'cause even if this is shelved as YA it's suitable for all ages. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Charlesbridge!

Julia watched her family on tv- Novak- her father, Dr. Victoria Jaynes- her stepmother and Liv her sister. Novak was an inventor with pretarnational abilities. Julia knew the total this was taking on Liv to keep the public from penetrating the imaginary glass wall their father had taught them all to erect. Angus had called to Julia and watched tv with her and then said “ come on”. Julia hadn’t been invited to the football game. Everyone knew that. But Angus seemed to be the only one more interested in her then in them. Julia was always aware of how she stood out. Julia and Angus went outside and Julia was aware of how she was the only girl and then Julia said she should go. Julia had grown up with the seven boys and noone would hurt hrt. Julia could move or even break an object if she concentrated her energies on the object. Julia and the others in her group were the first of their kind ever to be kept in the dark about themselves and what they could do. Julia had always exceeded expectation even for her parents but she was never praised for it. Liv was determined to go with Julia to the pool.Julia knew Liv had a crush on Angus and even though Julia wanted him Liv didn’t care What was Julia’s Liv took if she wanted it. The first time Julia seen him, he was wearing a battered baseball hat and Ray-bans. Julia didn’t know why was immediately drawn to him. Julia felt his eyes on her. And they didn’t dart by to liv. He made Julia self aware when usually she was the master of blocking people out. Then Liv and Julia got inside the gate to the pool. The Lost Boys were there- Julia’s name for group of seven boys she was usually with. It was jarring to see them all together in public as usually they were careful to go out in small groups. Then the boy that had been watching her sat down behind Julia and Liv. then the boys phone rang and .Julia knew it was his brother. Julia knew information about him this had never happened before. Julia wondered how a regular person had gotten through the barrier Julia was so good at maintaining between her and outsiders. Julia wondered why him? All of them had better senses than outsiders. Just like they were faster, stronger, and smarter than regular people. Also healthier and live longer. They were also more perspective. Their contacts with outsiders were normally brief and minimal. They knew when a stranger hadn’t slept, was distracted, angry , in love. When Julia saw Angus and Liv look at each other she knew they would end up together. Then Julia knew the rash was going to appear and she made a move to get up but Angus’s voice suddenly gentled and he grabbed Julia’s wrist to pull her back and told her to breath, Angus knew. He was the only person who understood what Julia was feeling and that she needed a release. Then Liv went in the water and Angus went with the Lost boys in the rougher water. Then the boy told Julia his name was John. But then Julia knew liv was gone and ran to found her. Liv was stuck in agrate and Angus got her free but John pulled Liv out of the water. But once on the lawn Liv set up and expelled the water from her lungs that had drowned her. When she got home Julia was told she was being separated from everyone and pulled out of St. Philip’s private school and put into a public school. Julia was the one being punished when all she did was save her sister. She was to become the total outcast. Julia was to ignore all her natural instincts. Julia knew she had to blend in the best she could while not breaking out with the rash. John was in Julia’s first class - English. Not one of Julia’s friends contacted her. Liv avoided her as much as she avoided Liv. Julia seen very little of Victoria and none of her father,
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a whole different type of fantasy book I guess you would call it with a bit of paranormal. I loved the final decision Julia made at the end of the book. I loved John and Julia together and how they didn’t move on even though they tried. I didn’t particularly care for Novak or Victoria or even liv most of the time for the way julia was treated through no fault of her own. I loved the person Julia was even after the was she had been coldly treated all her life. This did drag for me at times. But I pushed on as I wanted to see what happened to everyone especially Julia and John I was way to interested to give up on the story because it had dragged at times. I loved how Julia told her teacher Mrs. Berkley to have her baby checked by a doctor for his heart and the teacher did and the baby should now be okay. I loved the plt and i loved the person John was also. I loved the characters and the twists and turns of this book and I recommend. I wish I could rate this 4.5.

Julia Jaynes is part of a group of highly-evolved humans living in Austin, Texas. Rich, beautiful, and powerful, they keep to themselves and try not to draw more attention to their media-popular circle. Then Julia saves her sister from drowning, and the media attention she causes makes her powerful father punish her by sending her to public high school.

There Julia meets John, a tennis prodigy and a nice, regular guy. When Julie discovers she can read his mind—sometimes—she uses the power to encourage John, and her feelings start to grow. Living with the regular humans isn’t as bad as she thought, but Julie is desperate to get back in her controlling father’s good graces, before their circle disappears from society for good.

So…the cover of this book is what caught my eye first, and the premise is fantastic. I read all of it, but Julia was a bit too erratic for me. Does she hate her father? Does she love him? Does she want to stay with the super humans? Does a life of freedom with the regular humans sound more appealing? What is really going on with the evolved humans and Julia’s powerful father? And why did he separate the younger members and try to destroy the more powerful ones’ talents?

I don’t actually know the answers to any of these questions, and that bothers me. Julia can’t make up her mind, and a first-person narrative should have some insight into the character, but it doesn’t. (I saw several comparisons to Twilight in other reviews, and that is sadly accurate.) I loved the premise of this book, but the execution and character development was lacking.

(Galley provided by Charlesbridge Teen via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

3.5 Stars
An interesting mix of supernatural teens split into different groups and how one interacts with regular high school kids. A good concept, some original ideas, and an intriguing plot, but some characters and the flow need a little more work. If you like YA Sci-fi and/or dystopias, then give this one a chance. The novel is decent enough that I am interested to know what happens next.

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Coming from a race of highly-evolved humans, Julia Jaynes has the perfect life. The perfect family. The perfect destiny. But there’s something rotten beneath the surface—dangerous secrets her father is keeping; abilities she was never meant to have; and an elite society of people determined to keep their talents hidden and who care nothing for the rest of humanity. So when Julia accidentally disrupts the Jaynes’ delicate anonymity, she’s banished to the one place meant to make her feel inferior: public high school.
Julia’s goal is to lay low and blend in. Then she meets him—John Ford, tennis prodigy, all-around good guy. When Julia discovers a knack for reading his mind, and also manipulating his life, school suddenly becomes a temporary escape from the cold grip of her manipulative father. But as Julia’s powers over John grow, so do her feelings. For the first time in her life, Julia begins to develop a sense of self, to question her restrictive upbringing and her family prejudices. She must decide: can a perfect love be worth more than a perfect life?
Select was such a delightful read, I was so happy to have wished for this on NetGalley and to have that wish granted was fabulous.
So Select is the first book in a new Young Adult paranormal series.
It revolves around Julia Jaynes who Comes from a race of highly-evolved humans,
This group hide in plain sight amongst the general populace who they refer to as outsiders.
Julia seems to have it all, The perfect family and lifestyle at least this is what it appears outwardly to others.
After an incident that gets this elite family group noticed Jayne is made an example of and sent to the local public high school with the outsiders and ordered to lie low, suppress and also tamp down her emerging extraordinary abilities.
Here she re-meets John Ford and the two overtime become friendly.
Now there is a lot more to this Young Adult debut novel than meets the eye, you need to look deeper beneath the layers and unravel the perfect illusion that is Julia's life.
Most of the characters that claim to care for our young Julia are toxic to her.
Her father Novak is a big old douche, manipulative, cold and cruel but with a strange ability that compels others to gravitate towards him, giving him their faith and trust, in fact, It seems to have at times an almost cultish element to some of the family's interactions.
Victoria her step-mother is a first class bitch, despite practically raising Julia from the age of Two she treats her like a second-class citizen, putting her own daughter Liv over Julia in everything.
Then there's the younger sister Liv herself, self-centred, over-entitled, little princess, I really don't like her and really wish Julia would stop making excuses for the spoilt little madam.
The bestie Angus, well I was divided in my opinion of him I'm going to see how he behaves in future as I'm pretty sure we haven't seen the last of him.
I have my eye on you boyo.
Oh, and Angus and the Lost Boys dropped poor Julia like a bad disease when she was on the out and these are meant to be her friends.
So where was I, Oh yes Julia and Ford, well these two start a fledgeling relationship filled with the usual teenage angst.
I will also say that I wasn't overly fond of the methods employed by Julia initially of reading John's mind, but gave her a temporary free pass because she's young and still learning.
In herself, Julia was a show of extremes so grown up in some ways and then so irritatingly naive and selfish in others, I myself think her privileged upbringing played a big part in shaping Julia.
And am hoping she will evolve so much more going forward.
As for John himself well he seems a very solid lad, A touch rebellious but he definitely seems to have his head screwed on right, he comes across as more grounded than Julia and more adult also.
As you can imagine this tale is not plain sailing and when its time to get out of dodge, things around Julia start to collapse like a pack of cards, decisions need making and secrets are finally revealed and on this note, I will leave it.
Select leaves us with more questions than answers.
it sets itself up for the next in this series nicely, which I will definitely be reading as I now feel so invested in this story and its many diverse characters.
This may be a Young Adult Novel but I would definitely recommend to all ages it kept my attention and I'm forty-four.
It's well written and a definite page turner, pulling the reader in.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with a free arc of Select by Marit Wiesenberg, it was lovely of you to grant my wish.
This is my own personal unbiased opinion.
Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm

To begin with I couldn't quite figure out who or what Julia and her friends were. I was intrigued by their actions but also confused - why were they split into groups? What secrets were being kept from Julia? What kind of society were they living in? Then there was John. How would he fit into the storyline?

So many questions.

As I progressed through the storyline and witnessed Julia's life changing quite dramatically I found myself completely engrossed. I just couldn't get enough as I tried to figure out exactly what the big secret was.

Julia was mostly a likeable character, she was quite feisty so I sometimes felt a little frustrated by her acceptance of the situation she was in - I thought she'd instantly fight against it. Angus was the kind of character who you dislike on one page and love on the next so I couldn't make my mind up about him. John was super intriguing, I wanted to know more about him and the reason he seemed to connect to Julia so easily.

The whole group thing certainly felt like a cult type setting, the secret meetings between Julia's dad and other members were a big source of interest for me as I wanted to know what was really going on. They were obviously holding a lot back.

As things began to unravel I fell deeper into the storyline and I deliberately slowed my reading speed because I absolutely wasn't ready for the book to end and to part ways with the characters. I knew I would want more once I reached the final pages.

Select was an incredible read that captured my imagination and played on my mind long after I'd finished!

Select follows Julia, a teenage girl part of a cultish super human people as they try to work to live among humans in modern-day America.

While the idea sounds promising, it quickly starts adding up every YA novel trope it can find. The love triangle, special main character who's so different, and the beautiful people trope being the most annoying and most present. Honestly, if the book hadn't been burdened by so many descriptions of how beautiful the love interest thought the main character was, or how different she was, this might have been a halfway decent book.

Also, something that bothered me, was how little was explained about her people. She basically just says that due to "inbreeding" they've been able to become super powerful. Which is fine, if not a little weird, but no one comes from perfect families and whatnot so if the main character was a little ashamed maybe it wouldn't have seemed that bad. But she calls her father, Novak, by his first name 99% of the time, says he's handsome, and then at one point makes a comparison about how he looks to her at-the-time love interest. I don't know. I just thought at this day and age, inbreeding wouldn't be cast in such a positive light.

The ending finally starts moving and wasn't half bad, but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered.

** I received this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was completely blown away by this book - it's about finding your place in the world. I'm looking foward to reading book 2!

I really like Wiesenberg’s writing style – the punchy first person point of view drew me in and kept the pages turning as we see this mysterious mega-rich family from Julia’s perspective. I especially enjoyed the fact that as in the better first person narratives, Julia is busy telling us one thing, while something quite different is unfolding in front of our eyes. She tells us that those with the greatest abilities are especially valued in their community – and then we realise that she and a group of highly talented boys have been sidelined and more or less forbidden to use their prodigious skills. Julie emphasises and indeed, tries to carry out the firm instruction not to draw attention to herself. But we also learn that her father has achieved celebrity status by dint of having accrued huge wealth, having film-star looks and refusing to give any interviews to the press. As the charismatic leader of their community, he is very much about ‘do as I say, not as I do’.

I loved the incident at the swimming pool, which beautifully illustrated the tension between what Julia tries to do and the sheer impossibility of those instructions. Rich, beautiful and very entitled, Julia is nonetheless a highly sympathetic protagonist, who I cared about especially when it became obvious she is being set up to fail. While I wasn’t particularly invested in the romance, it felt convincing and I enjoyed the game-changing scene near the end that provided the final reveal. And the very final page has one more twist that leaves an interesting plot point dangling and ready for the next book.

Overall, this is a fast, enjoyable read with plenty of tension and an appealing protagonist. Recommended for fans of school-based stories with a strong romance. While I obtained the arc of Select from the publisher via NetGalley, this has in no way influenced my unbiased review.
8/10

So what drew me to this book in the first place was the science fiction element. Of course, from the blurb, I knew there was a fair bit of romance. What I wasn't expecting was that 90% of this novel would be romance and only 10% would be actual science fiction. That part was a big disappointment because I thought there would be more to her powers than what the author had in mind. I think if the author had spent more time developing the science fiction aspect of the story, there would have been more depth to the story. However .... I still really enjoyed the book. I usually don't like romance novels; they make me cringe with the clichéd phrases. But for some reason, this one worked. Now, I'm not saying that the romance between Josh and Julia was spot-on; there were some definite holes in the way things worked and developed between the two. But it also reminded me of my own high school experiences, the friendships that blossom into something more, and the sweetness of first love. It was cute and sweet and simple and I liked it. I also liked that the author showed how Julia was affected by the actions and thoughts of other characters. While this made the story more of a realistic fiction than science fiction, it was an aspect that was still well done. Now, if you were looking for a good science fiction novel, then this is not the one for you. I mean, it seriously has nothing to offer in terms of that genre. If you like sweet romance mixed with family drama, then you would probably enjoy this story. Because that's pretty much what it's all about. Because the science fiction part was misleading but I actually enjoyed the romance part of this story, I'm giving this a 3.5/5 stars.

I wanted to enjoy this book, but the read ended up being hampered by YA story tropes, superficial characters and a plot that a lot of holes.

The MC, Julia, is a hard MC to get behind. Her feelings feel forced, and there would be constant jumps in thought or emotion and it was hard to keep up. Also, I was expecting this read to be a bit more like Scott Westerfield's Uglies series (but in this case, everyone is beautiful), but it read more like The Thousandth Floor with petty drama. Julia is sent to *gasp* public school. The HORROR. It was just really hard to get into the story, and I just didn't care for it.

This book is all about finding your place in life, about the choices we make and their consequences and how much we are willing to risk for the people we love .

Julia Jaynes and her family are part of a race of super-evolved humans who have to suppress their abilities from outsiders in order to keep from being discovered.

Julia Jaynes is the daughter of leader Novak, but he is more than a father; he is leader of a group of people called the Puras who have extraordinary powers, and he and his leadership team are trying to keep everyone safe from the rest of the world. They are a highly evolved race of human beings. Julia, her family, and a small group of others live amongst ordinary normal humans. They stick together keeping their talents hidden from the humans while living in plain view.

One day while out in public, Julia accidentally exposes a little too much of her abilities. In punishment for saving her younger sister from drowning she is relegated from a select Prep School to public Austin high school with strict instructions to blend in and make sure she appears as a normal high school kid until further notice!

It’s was hard enough at their super elite private school where their father’s money means something, so public school proves a challenge.

Julia realises she can read the mind of a boy named John and before they both realise it, they are developing feelings for each other, becoming friends and then lovers. Now she must decide if John is worth the risk of permanent banishment.

There are some interesting twists and sub-plots, especially at the end and the many twists help bring that realization that your actions can really change the way you and others perceive the world around you.

This is definitely a book for Twilight and Fallen fans.