Firstlife by Gena Showalter

Title: Firstlife

Author: Gena Showalter

Series: Everlife #1

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Publication Date: February 23, 2016

Source: Irish Banana Blog Tours

Can you imagine knowing that you will have a second life?  That after your first life is over, you will still continue to live?

That is how life is in Firstlife for Ten and all the rest.  They know that once their initial life is over, that they will get to continue on in another life.  Then, eventually, they will get to experience the final rest.

However, it is not that easy.  Each person is supposed to choose a side during their firstlife that they will be a part of in their second.  Myriad or Troika.  Dark or light.  And if they don't choose by the time they reach the end up their first life they end up in a different place.  A place that no one really knows anything about...

In Firstlife, our main character is Ten.  Her parents are trying to get her to sign to Myriad.  There are multiple reasons as to why, and Ten isn't even quite sure what all of them are.  However, Ten doesn't know if she wants to sign with Myriad.  She also doesn't know if she wants to sign with Troika.  All she knows is that she wants to make the right choice and that she doesn't want an outside influence to help her make her decision.

As a way to help persuade her to sign Myriad, Ten's parents send her off to an institution whose whole point is to help them choose...  It isn't a very nice place.  Not at all.  It is a "by what ever means necessary" kind of place.

Then to top it off, it seems that both sides really really really want her and she has no idea why.  They want her enough to kill her so the other side can't have her if that is what it takes.

Oh and there are boys.  Hot boys.  Yay!

Firstlife really got to me while I was reading it.  It really made me think about life and what happens after it.  So while it was a fantasy type story, it was still really hard hitting.  So hard hitting that I still find myself thinking about the whole thing MONTHS after I initially read it.

I mean, it affected me so much that it took me months to finally bring myself to write my review for it.  I keep thinking and feeling on what I read.  I am still not over this book and it has been 4 months since I finished reading it, and I am only now telling you my thoughts and feelings about it.  That should say a lot about how this book got to me.

I also had to read something much lighter after this book.  I was about to read another hard hitting book that was going to punch me in the emotional gut, but I couldn't.  It was going to get to me too much mentally.  I just couldn't do it.

I liked that it got to me though.  It can make it harder to get through when it keeps making you think about life and your own existence and what not, but I think that is important.  While sometimes I like a good fluffy read, other times I really love an emotional gut punch.

And Firstlife will do just that to you.  It will punch you so hard in the emotional gut that you will still be recovering from it months after you finish reading it.

This review is based on an ARC provided by the publisher via Irish Banana Blog Tours in exchange for a fair and honest review.

My Rating

4 Stars

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