Tuesday 17 April 2018

Teaser Tuesday: Firstlife by Gena Showalter

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by Ambrosia of The Purple Booker.
To play along just do the following:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Firstlife by Gena Showalter.

Firstlife – Harlequin TEEN

Fate is an excuse, a way to remove blame and therefore guilt for poor decision making. Free choice decides the outcome of your life, not fate.
— Chapter 2

But the thing I wonder most? Do I have a set fate, or can I change it? In other words … can I mess it up worse?
— Chapter 3




When you’re turning 18 you are on the threshold of deciding things that will influence the rest of your life. That can feel pretty frightening. Now imagine that at this point when you hopefully still have more than three quarters of your life ahead of you the decision you have to make will also dictate where and how you’ll spend whatever comes after the end of your life, possibly for eternity. Sounds utterly terrifying? Welcome to the Everlife series.
Heaven and Hell are such old concepts in terms of afterlife scenarios that it is well time for a new idea … or maybe not such a new one but rather an updated version of an old one? Possibly Greek- and Egyptian-influenced but minus the multitude of deities and plus an army of solicitors clamouring for you to sign over your soul to their afterlife party.
I immediately appreciated the protagonist’s struggle to decide between the two options as both have their pros and cons. One of them sounds awesome in the short term but could turn very badly at any point for any reason and the other sounds safe but also a little boring if not uninspired … and also on the losing end of a perpetual war.
The other thing I appreciated how there were two guys trying to win over the girl and yet it is not a love triangle. Even if I don’t actually see the appeal of the love interest but I’d also think it’d be boring if all of us liked maracuya cheesecake ice cream (even if it’s so delicious).
The story is additionally (ha!) riddled with number facts and puzzles which are fun to work along and observe yet they don’t diminish the reading experience if maths isn’t your thing. I’m looking forward to continuing this series. Especially after that ending but I suppose it could have been even more cliffhanger-y.

There is a third option for not choosing a side at all, which is arguably the worst of all deals. Would you go safe and equal but also without rewards or negotiate for an amazing deal with benefits which is not safe and always in danger of being rewritten by the other party? Share your thoughts and teasers in the comments!

0 comments:

Post a Comment