Sooo unfortunately it has an amazing cover, great premise but the writing was just hard for me to read. I like being shown and not told. It didnt transport me into the world. But I hope others enjoy this dystopian.

#NorthtoNara #NetGalley


publisher synopsis:



Behind the beauty is heartache... unless their love can save them.



Neve Hall has always admired the good works of the civil servants who brought prosperity back to the Nation. She especially respects the Sufferers—empaths who, with the help of technology, anonymously bear others’ troubles for them. But when her assigned empath is abruptly retired, she uncovers certain secrets. Like the identity of her new Sufferer, Micah Ward... and the fact that behind his kind smile is a life filled with loneliness and pain.



The closer Neve grows to Micah, the more desperate she becomes to protect him from a cruel and gruesome fate. But in a world where only a few are allowed the luxury of love, saving Micah comes with a price: Neve must choose between her loyalty to the Nation or her heart—a decision that will take them both on a race for their freedom, and their lives.

What an intense book!! You wanted to root for the main characters, but their lives together was spent in the shadows waiting to be discovered, and not for the good. It was doomed from the beginning but like a moth was drawn to a flame. And what a beautiful flame.

I would recommend this book as it is a great story with believable characters and well written. The novel does contain sex, not explicit though.

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

DNF at 30 %
I'm sorry for not being able to finish this book, especially as the ideas were good and the writing was thorough.
I really liked the theme of empathy, and the risks to be overwhelmed by it - in a SF way in the book, but which also reflects the real risks in real live.
But sadly after an interesting beginning I lost interest. I wasn't attached to the characters which weren't caricatural, which is great in the YA genre, but too weak for my taste, never getting trimensional. The whole story appeared rather flat and dull and I decided to stop reading, as the third of a book is the maximum I read in these case: if I'm not convinced after the first third of a story it's useless to keep reading...
But if you're feeling interested, you absolutely should try this book which wasn't to my taste, but without any objective flaw.

I don't remember how I originally ran across North to Nara, but I remember seeing the beautiful cover and liking the dystopian description so I added it to my tbr where it sat for awhile. I would look at my tbr randomly, see it, look it up on Amazon, contemplate buying it for awhile, and then repeating the process. Now, I'm upset it took me so long to read it. It's really good.
Amanda Marin's writing is beautiful. You can easily imagine the world and characters. The closest thing I can compare the plot of North to Nara to is probably Delirium by Lauren Oliver. It definitely stands on it's own as a story, though. I eagerly await more. My only complaints are that the book is too short and I wish it had a map. Dystopia is alive and well, thank you. 💚💖

A kind of okay YA dystopia.

This book follows the time old tropes inherent in every ya dystopia novel - massive restricting of personal freedom, a harsh and oppressive government, ecological changes and the divide between the patriots and the rebels.
It places a young girl who falls in love with her 'Sufferer', a boy who signed his life to the civil service and now feels pain on behalf of others so they can lead merry productive patriotic lives.

There's nothing wrong with this novel, apart from the fact it's all been done before, and the lead characters are only mildly convincing.
It's standard fare, and if you have a particular penchant for this trope, you'll get something out of it. I'd recommend it to young teens, but perhaps steer them towards Atwood for example after reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

I was pretty wary of this book. It had a nice cover but the blurb didn't really interest me. Then I saw it got good reviews and decided to give it a chance. I guess I have to be that asshole who says something negative.

Keep in mind I only read about 20% of the book before I gave up, so maybe it gets better, but what I read was not that good or original. It reminded me very strongly of Delirium and The Giver. It commits the sin of telling rather than showing, and the interaction between Neve and Micah feels really rushed. At 20% they were already at the "I can't lose you" stage of their relationship.

The premise sounds interesting but its execution makes no sense. There are empaths that take on the suffering of others, but everyone else still has emotions and compassion, I guess. So why would they be okay with other people taking on their suffering? Neve certainly was okay with it until she knew the person doing it was a cute boy. Did she never see a Sufferer in public before then? It didn't seem like they were hidden away or anything, so it just comes off as weird. Also, the security in that facility was terrible if it was so easy for her to see a former Sufferer having a breakdown.

I guess the writing's not bad but the execution of the premise is really weak and makes no sense for what I think the author was trying to do. Like I said, maybe it does get better but I wasn't sold on what little I read, so I didn't really feel like continuing.