Thanks to NetGalley for the free e-ARC.

Without giving much away since this the final book in the series. I will say that I could have had a little more character development and felt some parts just didn't hit the mark. Overall I still really enjoyed these books more than I thought I would. I will say it is exactly like the tag lines say Mad Max meets Romeo & Juliet.

Huge thank you to Knopf Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for providing me with this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

Jay Kristoff has done it again. I seriously don't know how he does it, but Kristoff consistently puts out absolute bangers. He is one of my favorite authors. One of the things that I like best about Kristoff's books is that he includes a quick recap of the previous books in the beginning. This is so helpful when it's been a long time since reading the previous books. He did this again with TRUEL1F3 and I loved it!

TRUEL1F3 picks up immediately after the events of DEV1AT3. The action starts immediately and does not let up. The entire book is non-stop! And I mean literally NON! STOP! Our rag tag group of characters are constantly getting themselves into all sorts of dangerous situations. TRUEL1F3 is a super exciting, fast-paced read that is jam packed full of fun.

I was so happy to be back with this incredible cast of characters . . . Cricket, the freaks, and my girl LEMON FRESH! Spank my spankables! Lemon is one of my favorite characters ever and she was once again she is totally *brilliful*! Lemon is fierce, sassy, independent, and so much fun. Her point of view chapters are always my favorite. I'm keeping this review spoiler free, but Lemon goes through a horrible trauma in TRUEL1F3. Kristoff did a great job of showing Lemon dealing with the physical and emotional tolls of this. It made Lemon Fresh even more fierce and powerful!

Besides Lemon Fresh, my favorite part of this series is the freaks . . . Diesel and Grimm. The team of freaks grows in TRUEL1F3 and I couldn't be happier! I would definitely want to be a part of the team.

Of course I have to mention that it's a Kristoff book . . . so that means I was an emotional wreck multiple times.

One character that I did not like at all . . . Eve. She has been the worst since the second book. I understand she is dealing with an identity crisis and incredible emotional stress, but Eve's decisions and actions are horrible. One of the overarching themes of TRUEL1F3 is that your actions are what defines the type of person you are. So basically Eve is awful. The ONLY reason I deducted 1/2 star from my review is Eve's arc/ending. It was too easy and seemed way off base for her story. To keep this spoiler free, I will include what I think would have been a more appropriate ending at the end of my review.

The LIFEL1K3 trilogy is an exciting, fast-paced, and action-packed series. Jay Kristoff creates the most thrilling worlds and captivating characters. TRUEL1F3 is no exception. I flew threw this book and I could not get enough of this incredible story.

TRUEL1F3 will be released June 30th by Knopf Books for Young Readers!

SPOILERS BELOW . . .











I think that Eve suddenly switching to the good side was totally off base and inconsistent with literally every single decision she's made. I think it would have been more appropriate for Eve to sacrifice herself in order to save Lemon and Ezekiel. The fact that she just becomes good, kills the enemy, and then it's all sunshine and roses for her just doesn't seem right to me. This was my only issue with this book and series.

Mind blown by anything by mister Kristoff I just can’t get enough of this writting in literally at the edge of my seat with all this books

Great ending to a great series! Kristoff has created great characters. Although it wrapped up well, it did seem at bit rushed at the end. I will miss these characters!

A great third book! Like any of Kristoff's books, it'll make you feel all the feelings and keep you caught up in the action, so before you know it, you've devoured the book in one sitting.

This trilogy kept getting better with each book. This final installment is full of high octane energy and rollercoaster emotions.

Our beloved characters are tested to the limits of their endurance. Loyalty and love, friendship and self growth, everyone has to reach for the peak and stretch to the breaking point. To do anything less will mean the end of humankind.

If you want to meet unique, snarky, strong characters, this is the story for you. If you want to see how humankind perseveres against all odds, read this trilogy. It's a post apocalyptic world on the brink of extinction, it's a fight for their lives and a test of their humanity.

*The series must be read in order.

This was an epic conclusion to this series, true cert! It was a non-stop ride from beginning to end with all sorts of twists and turns and edge of your seat action. There were times when I truly did not want to put this book down.

All of the characters that we have come to love over the course of this series are back. Lemon Fresh pretty much dominates the storyline again in this one, and perhaps shows the most growth. I loved how her relationship with Grimm grew through out this book. Grimm was also awesome, and what he does with his power is amazing. Eve, unfortunately, was lost in Lemon’s shadow once again, but we do see more of her and her struggles in this book. All of the characters continue to change and grow, and switch their loyalties throughout the book so you are never sure what is going to happen next.

The thing I really enjoyed about this book is that we finally get to the heart of BioMaas and Daedalus’s views of the world. I was initially intrigued by BioMaas in the first two books, but when we finally got to City Hive and saw exactly what was going on, I found that quite terrifying. Daedalus was just as scary, in the way that they view world as well. I don’t think I would like to live in either place.

The world building and the plot are really the stars of this series. I really appreciate it when authors take the time to develop a world fully with original slang and swears. Some of the slang was inspiring, true cert. The desolation of the YouSay was so depressing, but totally foreseeable. But the will of humans to survive and adapt to that world was inspiring.

The themes and the overall plot of this book was also outstanding. There are some great themes here, of family, friendship, trust and loyalty, identity and what it means to be human. I was glad that we got to see parts of the story from Cricket’s and Solomon point of view, as their take on the state of the world was always different from the LifeL1k3s and the humans. The plot was fast paced, and you were not given many chances to catch your breath, just like the characters. The ending seemed a little rushed, and the final conflict between the LifeL1k3s was perhaps the weakest part of the story, but it still worked.

If you have read and enjoyed the first two books, you are in for quite a treat with this final book.

5/5 Stars

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the early e-galley!

Absolutely Brilliful.
This book was just as beautiful and brilliant as Ms Fresh. This story over the trilogy had so many twists and turns that caught me totally off guard. Our main characters separate and converge, rinse and repeat. Side characters become more important, main characters become less important. Important characters die. I was honestly expecting more characters to die though so that was definitely a surprise.

I have received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

TRUEL1F3 was an okay-ish book. I was honestly really excited to dive into this but the ending just felt like such a cop out. I mean, I went through an emotional ride of liking and disliking Eve throughout the entire book. Yes, she made some pretty awful and dumb decisions but I could see that she was upset and hurt as well.

Yet, towards the end she just easily switched sides and everyone was like - YAY! Meanwhile I'm just like.. uh what? You can't seriously just welcome her back and think everything is all good again right? Of course she was trying to do something nice towards the end so maybe that's her only redeeming factor?

Besides not being the biggest fan of Eve this time around, there's Ezekiel. Yikes, his character was confusing as well. He's with Eve (sort of) but really only cares about Ana. Which definitely leaves to a super bittersweet moment but then the ending kind of gives me hope again?

Other than that, the beginning kind of hurt my head. It was just chaotic with all the switching of POV's and I was just trying to follow the story the best way I could. Definitely had to take some small breaks just to think things through and understand it all.

In the end, I just kind of wanted a different ending.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

TRUEL1F3 is the third book of the LIFEL1K3 series and it's a wonderful and intense conclusion! Jay Kristoff never disappoints!

In the final chapter of this action packed saga everything is different and changes. From friends to enemies, from lovers to strangers, from Eve and Lemon, whose friendship was changed by the reality about themselves and one other. With the danger of a new world war, though, everything will be different and complex again. There will be betrayals, unusual alliances, a lot of plot twist in this epic final book.

Having read other books written by Jay Kristoff, it's not a surprise I love this one too! The author has the wonderful ability to capture the reader's attention until the very end. I laughed, I was scared, I cried, I felt so involved in the story, living it with these extraordinary and brilliant character, above all Lemon, with her sarcasm and attitude.
This book is filled with love, friendship, loyalty, hope and I really loved it. It deals with what it means to be human and this book series will be with me for a very long time.

I recommend it to everyone eager to have his/her breath taken away by a rollercoaster of emotions and action packed plot twists!

The challenge with joining a series late in the game is having the story stand on its own. The summaries at the beginning seem to be a bit long and numerous and we were clearly so deep into the story that it was hard to connect to the characters. To truly appreciate this book, it likely is necessary to read its predecessors.

“Grinding across the YouSAy at a reckless speed with only a granule of hope and a whispered prayer for survival. This final conclusion of the LIFEL1K3 series will have you an emotional wreck, but in a good way.” Cecelia Beckman, Sheaf & Ink

My Thoughts

Jay Kristoff knows how to write an ending. TRUEL1F3 is a powerful conclusion to the LIFEL1K3 series.
Filled with all the fireworks and more action than the second novel, Kristoff throws every type of capital T at these characters. We continue into the bleak dystopia of the YouSAy, traveling at rapid speed from one major disaster to the next. With barely a moment to breath, these characters are thrown into the maw of chaos and only their strength, iron clad will, and their powers are going to save them (and they look good doing it).
It’s a harrowing ending with major threads of modern day topics weaved through the novel, particularly when it comes to humanities impact on a global scale. In fiction, authors are able to reshape the world we currently live in.

They can pour dark shades of radioactive sludge onto the canvas portraying an Earth that could potentially be our own future if we as a society continue down a destructive path. And even though Kristoff’s novel is a work of fiction he still poses poignant questions. These questions are not only for his characters , but also ourselves. Where we, like the characters, choose something better and be accountable for our actions.

TRUEL1F3 is not only about the choices we make, but also who we love, the friends we keep regardless of their mistakes, and the sacrifices made for a better outcome.

This novel was pure Kristoff filled with everything fans of the author come to the table to feast upon: snarky, bold, and clever dialogue, characters that you'll root for until the very end, villains who aren’t easily put down, friendships that are found and cherished, and all the action to fill your belly keeping you completely satisfied.

So go pre-order this book and get ready to buckle up (if a seat-belt is even available) hold tight (this is highly recommended) and brace yourself for impact. Because I hope your emotions can handle everything Kristoff hurls at you via these characters and the ending of this epic story.

Happy Reading ̴Cece

This was such a great conclusion to this trilogy! I laughed and cried throughout this whole book.
I definitely recommend this one.
I adore Lemon Fresh and think she's such a great written female character.

We all know Jay Kristoff does story extremely well. He writes well, he writes characters well but what I've noticed recently is he ends his story WELL. (can I say well one more time?)

The character development and world building were exceptional. I loved the aesthetic that Kristoff created for this world. It was such a unique blend of futuristic, dystopian, western, gladiator battles, bio development, and junkyard. Retellings are my jam and I loved the hat tip to the Anastasia/Romanovs tale.

As with most of Kristoff's books, this is long and action-packed with some incredibly cool scenes that just beg for a movie treatment as did the previous two in the series. In some places that characters act a little bit too juvenile, but then again, the situations that they're being placed in are so ridiculous as to justify it.

you have to get on this series if you are in for one hell of a roller coaster filled with witty hilarious dialogues, bizarre robotics, powerful characters, crazy slangs, sick action and some serious serious plot twists. Luckily this ending is satisfying and I can only hope for some type of companion series because I'd like to see these characters again.

Great way to end the series. My students have enjoyed the first 2 books, and won't be disappointed with this one!

These books have been so much fun to read! I love the world building and I wish I could know the characters in real life. I'm sad it's over, but I'm also happy to see how it all ends.
Lemon Fresh is by far my favorite character and she plays a big role in this book. She's so strong and fierce, but also vulnerable and just wants someone to love her back. Her character development has been awesome and I enjoyed seeing her come into her own.
On the other hand, Eve just got worse as a character and as this went on I began to hate her. I just couldn't understand her rage at humanity and how she could flip on her friends like that. I wish she had more redemption and her ending didn't feel realistic to me.

The plot moves quickly and I loved all the action parts and bits of humor infused. Grimm especially cracked me up with his odd sayings "I'm Robin Hood" haha. Abraham is a cutie and I'm glad we saw more of him standing up for himself. A couple parts were pretty sad and one in particular felt glossed over. I think it deserved a more attention and bummed me out.

A good ending for a great series, I was totally engrossed in this and it flew by. I can't wait for it to be released to the world!

It's been a few days since I've read TRUEL1F3 and I've spent this time thinking about this novel and how this series ended. Initially I loved it and was content, but the more I thought about it the more and more that I realized that it was kind of rushed and though it wrapped up well, I feel like it could have been better. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate TRUEL1F3. I think fans of this series are going to enjoy it and love it as much as the other novels in this series.

After the quite explosive conclusion to DEV1AT3 we learn all sorts of things and in TRUEL1F3 we learn the cost of the decisions. Eve and Gabriel have been captured by the mega corporation Daedalus, one of the two corporations that are trying to gain control of what is left of the US. Lemonfresh has willingly gone with Hunter to City Hive to learn why she is deemed "important" to them. Abraham, Cricket, Solomon, Ezekiel, Grimm and Diesel barley escaped Bethlehem after a missile from the military bunker that houses Grimm and Diesel's rebellion was headed straight towards them. Let's just say that a lot had happened and it's not all good.

My biggest issue with this book is that I feel like Eve isn't given enough on page time in this story to continue to understand her motivations and the thoughts throughout it. She has more page time in this novel then she did in DEV1AT3 but it isn't enough. There are drastic decisions made that I felt blind sided by, which I guess it the point of being shocked. But this revelations were very oddly placed or very random. I liked seeing her struggle with trying to find who she is. Is she Eve or is she Ana? Who she is suppose to be and her role in the grand scheme of things. But other then that I am a little dissapointed in this aspect of the story.

I feel like there is two stories going on at once since it change point of views so frequently. We have a showdown between Daedalus and BioMaas in Lemonfresh and Ezekiel's point of view and then we have Eve's point of view where they are trying to escape Daedalus and return to Gnosis to finish what they started. To me, it felt like there was so much going on at once and it was hard to keep track at times.

Ezekiel's character has left me conflicted, I've seen so much growth from him through out the series and I am happy to see that but I feel like with how the story wrapped up and everything that unfolded he still only cared about one thing: Ana. Its complicated to talk about this further with out spoiling anything so I am going to leave it at that.

Overall I did expect a lot more from TRUEL1F3. I feel like some parts that were rushed and not explained fully. But with that being said, I did enjoy TRUEL1F3 and I am glad I got to read the conclusion. I want people to take my review with a grain of salt though, you might not find to have problems with this issues that I did and might think that this is the best one in the series. I don't want my review to deter anyone from not finishing this series. So read it and learn how this story ends for these characters.

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review

Jay Kristoff never disappoints. This book was just as amazing as the other 2 and he is definitely a one click author for me!

I was given an ARC for an honest review. Thank you to Netgalley and Random House for the ARC.

I took some time to let this book really marinate within me. I have this volatile love/hate relationship with Jay Kristoff. He has this ability to really upset me as a writer in one minute then make me cry and want to hug everyone in the other. He's a great writer. He draws you in with the worlds he builds, the characters he creates, and the question of what is good and what is evil. His characters are never black and white. They always, always usually flounder in the middle, in the grey area. Even if you hate this character one minute, you will find yourself going, "Well, she's right about that," the next. I found myself going back and forth like that with TRUEL1F3.

This book had the potential of being 5 stars. From the beginning, I already liked it well above Dev1at3. This was going to be the epic conclusion to the last two books. We were finally going to see the showdown between Lemon Fresh and Eve. It was going to be a bloody massacre, and I steeled myself against the inevitable; someone was going to die and my heart was going to be ripped out of my chest.

Oh, this book is bloody. This book is rough to read at a time. There is torture and physical abuse all through out this book. We have crazy cults, crazy megalomaniacs, a bounty hunter that just won't die, and pants-on-head crazy lifelikes who want to essentially rule the world. This is what this series has boiled down to: all these people want to rule the Yousay, and someone is going to end up being screwed because of it.

Yet, there was something missing with this book. Every time I expected something to happen, something to really bring it home that none of these characters are safe, something would happen to save them and for a few more pages, they were safe. It almost felt abusive, this sense of false security. I kept waiting for the inevitable, but it never happened. I was so on edge half the time, that by the time the book ended, I was actually mad that spent about the last 200 pages with my breath held for nothing. Don't get me wrong, there are deaths. Some you will cheer about and some that will make you angry. But I expected to be devastated while reading this book, and I found that... I wasn't.

I'm not sure what demographic Jay was trying to write to with this book. It didn't feel Young Adult despite that it's marketed as young adult. There is a lot of cursing in this book. Now, I usually don't care. However, when a book is marketed towards a younger demographic, as a writer, you should be mindful of the language you use. I don't remember the language being as vulgar in the last two, but this book felt as if he got tired writing for a younger audience and quit censoring his words. If you are a parent wanting to buy this for your teen, just be mindful of the language. I don't think anyone under the age of 17 should actually read this for the language alone.

As far as the characters go, I really did adore everyone for the most part. Eve and her lifelike kin annoyed the ever living hell out of me, and I found myself not caring about them at all. That's not a good sign when your main character isn't worth a care, but she became a broken record halfway through Deviate, and she was no different here. She...grows in a sense towards the end of the book, but at that point it's much too late for me to genuinely feel for her.

Lemon Fresh and Cricket continued to remain the very best characters, and I will die on that hill. Preacher remains a waste of writing, and I really don't understand Jay's obsession with that character. He was a beaten dead horse since the last book, and he just started to rot and stink up the pages by the time he showed up in this one. Every time the chapters turn to his POV, I had to refrain from screaming profanities.

The story itself was a bit lacking, and I felt there were plot holes that never got filled or questions that never got answered. Where did deviates come from? How did their powers generate? It couldn't be just a mutation or an evolutionary response to the way the Yousay was. I wanted more of that, but perhaps that was answered in Deviate, and I didn't bother to pay attention because I honestly hate read that book for a good 75% of it. The wrap up of the overall storyline was too neat. I never thought I'd say this, but it was entirely too neat the way the conflict wrapped up. I don't want to get into details and spoil it, but as someone who loved, and I do mean LOVED, the friendship between Eve and Lemon, I found the ending to be a bit unrealistic.

All in all, this was a great series and this was a great end to that series. There were things I wanted more of, and there were things I wanted less of (*coughPREACHERcough*), but I knew going in that this wasn't going to be perfect. I still sobbed at the end, and for me, that was a win.

I should preface this by saying that I’m an absolute nerd for Jay Kristoff’s books so that means this was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020 and it...kinda let me down? I know, you see the 4 star rating and go ‘Whu?!’ but for me this wasn’t Jay’s greatest work.

As the third and final book in the LIFEL1K3 series, I expected this book to be JAM PACKED with action, explosions, twists, turns, and general Jay fuckery, which it was, but at the same time it just felt like too much to me. We had multiple POV’s, which I could have done without, and when the action hit, IT HIT! Over...and over....and over...and over, to the point that it felt very redundant and just boring after awhile. I get that our crew had to fight two major corps before even getting to the lifelikes but good god, it just felt like a lot.

Character wise we had a LOT of characters, which, thinking back on the first book, I wasn’t really expecting there to be this many in the final book. I loved all of them (except Preacher because screw him and Eve because screw her too) but I really feel like Lemon Fresh shined the most. In the first book, she’s the silly sidekick with a secret. In the second we get more of her backstory and she comes more to the forefront of this story. In this book, she just took the spotlight and SHONE in my opinion. If there’s one thing that Jay can do, it’s write a kickass female character.

If there’s one thing Jay can also do, it’s write a really hateful villain and that’s Preacher. To be honest, I shouldn’t be surprised that he lasted as long as he did because hello, it’s Jay Kristoff, but good god, was it just a tad bit annoying to see him keep popping up! I didn’t loathe him as I’ve loathed other Kristoff villains but he was just like an itch that wouldn’t go away! The other villains (hello, Jay again) didn’t feel as fleshed out as this guy. Gabriel was just wanting revenge for killing his love, and the other two leaders of the corps just, surprise surprise, wanted to take over the world. Nothing overtly original but again, twisted enough by Jay’s evil mind to really make you hate them.
Storywise, again, Lemon Fresh had the most growth and the best storyline out of the whole bunch. I think Jay may have gotten sidetracked between the first book and this one by how loud Lem’s voice was because Eve, our original protagonist, just seemed kind of shoved to the wayside when it came to story arc. By this book, I honestly didn’t care about her because she just became annoying and triffling because wah, people lied to me! She would not let go of the fact that Lem hid her deviate-ness (out of fear of persecution and death, mind you) and so all of humanity should suffer! Give me a break! Even the ending couldn’t save Eve’s character for me because I just...didn’t care anymore.

Speaking of endings, this is not Jay’s best work. I hate to say it because I absolutely worship his work and think he’s a brilliful writer but considering how long it took to get to the climax, it just happened...and very quickly. I kept expecting the big fight at the end to take a good chunk of time and it didn’t, and I was very unsatisfied. I felt as if the showdown with Gabriel was rushed and not done as well as it could have been. It felt like an afterthought, tbh.

All in all, I love the trilogy. I think Jay is a mastermind at coming up with his own worlds and vernacular for his worlds. He writes truly engaging characters and this story is definitely a great way to showcase that. It’s not his best work but I enjoyed it for what it was and will definitely recommend this trilogy to anyone looking for original YA Sci-Fi.

Review to be posted via Goodreads and my blog on June 16th, 2020!