I was so impressed with the concept of Perfected. It really made me think about the concept of possessions and what truly belongs to us. Loved it.

Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch is the first book in the Perfected series and is (another) dystopian YA novel. This genre has become so oversaturated that it is rare to come across any new ideas. In many ways Perfected falls into this trap but it does grapple with some big issues which work in it's favour. Ella is a 'pet', she has been raised to provide a perfect companion to the rich and powerful. This is nothing we have not seen before but where Kate Jarvik Birch separate's herself from some of the other authors writing this kind of novel is in the way she doesn't shy away from the secondary characters treatment of Ella. They are awful to her which makes this book a hard read at time and gives the story some much needed depth. This depth is important because there are parts where this book is underdeveloped and drags. It is made harder for the reader to get a foot hold because Ella, given what she is, is hard to understand and root for. The ending however insures readers will pick up the second book in the series where I hope things will be fleshed out a little more.

I loved the premise of this book. I can't wait to read the sequels and find out more about these characters!

The story plot was great. The characters are quite likable but I hate the way they treat Ella. I was honestly annoyed but that does not mean I hate this book because, in fact, I was so invested with the stories. Although it was kinda slow but I won't put the book down because I need to know. Surprisingly, I enjoyed Perfected.


4 stars

When I first started reading this book, I have to say I was up in the air on whether or not I was going to like this book.

But honestly, I think that you would have to have that view with what this book is about: human pets. For one, this is definitely a new take on the whole YA spectrum. The story began with a slavery meets YA dystopia vibe. BUT I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised on how the story went.

I really liked the unique twist to how society sees this evolutional, genetic-engineering concept. Since this story is told through the viewpoint of one of the “pets,” we got to see the differences in how people reacted to seeing her out and about. I think the author did a great job in pulling in such a variety of standpoints to this rather political concept.

My ONLY drawback to the story was the dialogue. If you love the more cheesy moments in a YA dialogue, I recommend you take a look at this series. The relationships (and yes, there is romance within the story-line) felt a little overdone for me, but that is just because I am drawn into the more complex-type relationships. This book focused more on the new-love relationship dialogue that is usually seen in the YA genre.

Beside that, this was a really enjoyable story-line. It received 3/5 stars. This was a book where I had no clue how it was going to play out. As a reader, 75% of the time I can catch on pretty quickly to how a book may plan out, but Perfected was a constant surprise which I highly appreciated in a story. Without realizing it, four chapters would have gone by.

I can’t wait to read Book 2.

the world of perfected echoes the world of the handmaid's tale, where young women are kept subservient and are trained to do the bidding of others. in perfected the girls are bred to be pets. the more elite the family, the higher pedigree they want.

ella is raised to be a pet. to not question. to serve. but ella is something more. her humanity, her basic curiosity, her thirst for freedom is all there, beneath the surface. spending time with penn, the son of the family she's been adopted into awakens things in her she didn't know were possible.

but their relationship is forbidden. and the closer they get the more awakened ella is to her circumstances. to the injustice. to the fact that there is something sinister about all of this.

things will need to change, and ella will need to take a chance. and given that this is book one in a series, don't expect everything to work out.

**perfected published on july 1, 2014. i received a digital copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (entangled teen) in exchange for my honest review.

I’m literally stunned speechless with this series! Kate J. Birch blew me away with her artfully crated plot and amazingly well-developed characters. There is nothing I did not like about this book overall. This is the first installment of the Perfected series and believe me, you’re going to be taken on one wild ride.

“Remember. You’ll never be one of them.”

The world as we know it in Perfected is different yet astonishingly the same. The elite want the latest and greatest and what’s in are pets. No, not your typical dog or cat but genetically modified humans. Yes..you heard me correct….humans as pets. I loved how Birch showed the politics of it all as well as the fanatics who were against it and for it. To me, this helped make this world more plausible and I could actually see this play out vividly in my mind.

Ella is one of the pets, a Greenwich girl who has been genetically modified and trained in being everything the rich would want: petite, beautiful, articulate, and cultured. She’s stunning and has been trained to be exactly what you think you need. Though, if you look closer she’s more than she seems. She questions everything and has a mind of her own, which is something a Greenwich girl isn’t supposed to have. This character, though different in a YA Sci-fi sort of way, is very related and easily liked. She intrigued me from the very start. Ella finds out quickly that her training doesn’t cover everything…playing with children, reading people, and understanding all the different feelings that come with being a part of someone’s family. Perfected is Ella’s story, figuring out who and what she is and where she fits into the grand scheme of things.

Penn is a congressman’s son. His father is one of the leading voices in the pro-pet agenda and Ella is his family’s newest pet. Penn isn’t too pleased his family adopts another pet, especially after what happened to the last one, but once he meets Ella is quickly realizes she’s different; more human, more relatable, more everything.

Quickly the two form a bond that shouldn’t be formed, but also can’t be stopped. This storyline is intriguing and you can’t help but want to know more. The entire book is based on controversy on the political level and forbidden desires on the personal level. Birch pulled me into this fascinating world and I devoured every page of this book.

*Tarnished is the 2nd in the Perfected series with Unraveled releasing April 3rd.

For some reason I did not receive three separate books but the same book three different times with different covers. Was forced to give a star rating

tw: fat shaming, intones of pedophillia

Well. This book was interesting. I originally found it when I did a cover reveal for the last book, which you can find here. A week or so later, I was offered the whole series through Netgalley and Entangled Teen. I eagerly accepted, thinking this was right up my alley because it was a dystopian/utopian world. And it was. Kind of.

Ella is a pet. She was bred to be a companion for her master and the family. And yes, she's an actual girl. A human. The United States allowed the breeding of girls with near perfect genetics so they look breathtakingly beautiful and are incredibly healthy. They are allowed to eat only certain foods in order to maintain the health and the one objective for a pet is to make their masters happy. A pet's happiness in their masters happiness. They are treated slightly better than dogs. Most of them are anyway.

Using this concept in a book was certainly interesting and it's something I haven't really read about before. I understand why the author made this choice but it was just so unsettling to me. The congressman (Ella's owner) was talking about spaying her and at one point, chained her up. Like wtf mate? The family would talk about her like she wasn't there and take her for walks. Like the whole thing just got to be really unsettling. The fact that some people are completely okay with owning humans just floors me. Of course there were others who were not okay it and I think that gets explored more fully in the second book.

I think what my main problem with this book was I wanted to know more about the history of the breeding program. Ella didn't know anything about the program, besides her training at the kennel (this is so unsettling), the real reason why she was bred or anything like that. I think if I knew the history, it would have been easier to read. Having first person POV may not have been the best choice.

I also must discuss my trigger warnings. Don't worry. I will not go into detail so I don't upset or trigger you guys. But I got to discuss it. In this book, the pets of Ella's kennel are high end. They only go to those that pass rigorous background checks and have thousands to spend. But the congressman that buys Ella doesn't seem to have the best of intentions. He's very loving to Ella as a pet, at first, but he gets more and more creepy as the book progresses. One example of this is he always wants Ella to sit in his lap and he's really touchy feely about it. Ella is 16, I believe, and the congressman is in 40's at least. That is why I put the trigger warning of the intones of pedaphillia.

Overall, I'm intrigued enough to keep reading. The second book sounds promising and it sounds like I will be learning more about the breeding program and the seedy side of it. Which is always something I can be down for. As for the usual recommendation sentence at the end, I don't know, friends. This is a different story and I don't know how to sell this. I think I will read the next two books and give a better rec then.

ps: Isn't the cover just gorgeous? The entire series is just top notch pretty!

Perfected (Perfected #1)
by Kate Jarvik Birch

Review: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ❣

Perfected is the first book in a series. Book 3 is due out at the beginning of April.

The elite families want to own the latest in thing and when money comes easy anything is possible. Congressman passed the bill and now to show good faith he must have a show pet.

Human's are being genetically modified to perfection. Petite, articulate and beautiful. Greenwich takes the best girls from
the kennel and trains them to be prize pets. A must-have toy for every rich family.

Ella is chosen as the congressman's pet and is welcomed into their home. She is dressed like a doll and shown off at parties. Ella struggles to fit into her life. Her training didn't include how to play with children and Ruby (The congressman's daughter) is desperate for a friend. The family are difficult to read when you don't know what's the right thing to do. Perfected is Ella's story. She sees our strange world and try's to fit in as a good pet. Not everyone is happy with humans being kept as pets and Ella has to try to work out how to exist. She likes Ruby and wants to please her but it doesn't come naturally to Ella.

Penn is the Congressman's son and he makes Ella want things she shouldn't. Can she find a little slice of happiness in this cruel world?

I like controversial stories and forbidden romance. This was an interesting concept and Ella was a well thought out character. She behaves like someone who isn't world-wise and she struggles with her inner voice. 4.5 stars out of 5. This is a great start to a series.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I'm lucky enough to be reading the continuous series so stay tuned for more!



304 pages

Amazon u.k: Hardcover £7.99 or £4.49

Amazon US: Hardcover $11.30 or Kindle $6.24

Published July 1st 2014 by Entangled Teen

Fantastic read. Well written witha great plot and characters. I was engrossed from start to finish. Perfected is about human pets, first we meet number eight, a young female that has been genetically bred at a "kennel." These pets are bred to be the perfect companion for any family that can afford the hefty cost of one. Once eight gets bought, her masters decide to call her Ella. She’s been taught from birth not to read and write, how to sit quietly, how to pay attention when one of her masters speak, to be a living doll for their daughters, basically to do whatever her masters wish. Ella believed that pets were important, but little did she know that once at her new home of a distinguished congressman that she truly was little more than an actual pet. Ella's role in her new master’s home is starting to feel really wrong. The little touches of the congressman’s hand on her cheek and shoulder is starting to give her the worst feeling. The one feeling that does make her heart swell is her friendship with congressman’s son, Penn. He makes her skin tingle, her pulse kicks up in happiness, but it’s a short lived feeling as Ella realizes everything with her situation. In order to truly feel, she must first be free. I really enjoyed this read, I can't wait to read the next book. I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Netgalley.

Imagine a world where specially bred (genetically modified) humans could be kept as pets. "Perfected" features Ella who was bred and raised to be a pet- complete with catering to her master's whims, being fed special food, used for looks, wearing a collar, being implanted with a microchip, and under threat of being spayed. Ella is happy with her lot in life, because she has been raised to do just that. The wealthy are the ones who can afford the human pets, and even though there is a lot of ethical debates about it (some people refusing to buy them and an underground resistance to help them escape to Canada), it has been made legal in the United States to own these pets.

Ella, at 16 years of age, is a product of the system and a perfect pet- she is happy to be owned and seeks to please her masters- the Congressman who helped to get the laws to make it legal through and his wife and two children who are still at home- Penn, a college student, and Ruby, a young girl. Ella gets a feel for the landscape with this new family as well as begins to realize the more sinister aspects of being a pet. She notes how another purchased pet is touched strangely by the wealthy man who just purchased her and how the Congressman treats her (calling her "Love," kissing her uncomfortably, and touching her with ownership/placing her on his lap uncomfortably).

While a completely enthralling story that was impossible to put down, I am curious how the developed romance will evolve in future books. Ella is susceptible to sexual harassment/assault, even if she doesn't understand what it is. There is a huge power differential between the owning family and herself. Additionally, without freedom to make her own choices, the 'romance' that develops between her and the son, Penn, cannot be real, as she is never really free to choose/never on an equal playing field with him. Will Ella realize this as the series evolves? This is a big question which I am curious to see whether it will develop in earnest in future books. Penn's feelings might be real, but Ella's cannot be, due to the power dynamic and, to an extent, some form of Stockholm Syndrome. I will be curious to see how this plays out in future books. The relationship was uncomfortable, to say the least, to read about, as it mirrors unfortunate parts of the US history.

Although the overall tone seems somewhat light, it carries some very dark themes that make me think of The Lone City series. I would give it somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but I do want to see how this all develops in future books- what a ride!

Please note that I received an e-copy of this book from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Oh, to lose all faith in humanity. This book dives deep into the underworld of dehumanization in a fantasy world where people are bred to be pets. They are bred to entertain. We follow the main character as she is chosen by her new family, through love and danger. The author has done a wonderful job helping the reader feel empathy for the characters and hate the bad guys. The only thing I would have wanted more, was world building. The setting was vague and lacked that magical touch, but I'm not complaining. I enjoyed this read and will be picking up the next book in the series soon.

Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

4.5 stars - Excellent writing, captivating dystopian / science fiction novel.

Set in the present-day, the US government has approved of humans owning other humans. These genetically engineered 'pets' are bred like dogs in order to attain certain features, such as beauty and small stature. Ella is one such pet, bred at a kennel with 19 others and trained in posture, conversations with adults and composing one's features to always seem happy. Though pets are given etiquette and voice lessons and are trained to play at least one musical instrument, they are never taught how to read or swim or fend for themselves. They are bred and trained to be completely dependent upon their owners.

Ella is chosen by the congressman who made all of this come about; the one who introduced the legislation and pushed it through to approval. Naturally, it is only fitting that he and his family have one of these pets after he fought so hard. Each member of his family seems to have a different opinion regarding humans-as-pets; from the young daughter who likes to play dress-up and hairdos with Ella, to the congressman’s wife who is clearly annoyed that her husband brought a second pet into their home, after some unsavory events occurred with their first one.

Though we see Ella put on display for many of the congressman’s friends, donors, and political connections, other characters are introduced who view the practice of humans-as-pets to be the creepy slavery that it is. When Ella is exposed to other aspects of life, away from the rich and powerful, she questions whether being a pet is really all that bad, if it allows her this luxurious lifestyle.

It is the congressman’s teenage son who has the most powerful reaction to Ella, and sparks feelings and desires in Ella that she was never trained to understand or deal with. Being together would be wrong, according to everyone’s views, except that it feels so right.

Perfected is the first book in the series, and I loved it! It was riveting. Full of action and mystery! I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!

I voluntarily read and reviewed a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ok, so in this world, beautiful teenage girls are LITERALLY dogs. Family pets with tags and special diets and the whole nine.. they even get freaking SPAYED for their owners. SO gross, SO disturbing, SO soapy and silly and hard to put down!

Amazing plot, couldn't connect with the characters until the middle of the book but then I really got into it. 4 stars!