That Bookish Girl: Review: XX by K.H. LeMoyne

Today is my tour stop for K.H. LeMoyne's XX! This tour was put together and hosted by Book Lovin Bitches. Be sure to enter in the tour scavenger hunt (the final tour stop) by collecting all of the words and putting together the key phrase.

Today is the 11th stop and the word to collect here is: Onyx!

Book: XX by L.H. LeMoyne
Series: Phoenix #1
Genre: Science Fiction / Dystopian / Romance
Buy A Copy: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Smashwords
Available Formats:Ebook
Publication Date: April 2nd, 2011
First Sentence: "Analena shrank back against the wall and tried not to breathe."
Description: 2178AD - From the ashes of destruction rises the new rule of the Regents, leaders of mankind's new evolution. And a reminder of man's darkest instincts.

CODE NAME: PIPER.
Analena Maresco's cyber-enhanced arm gives her an edge, a weapon to rescue children held as organ replacements for the governing Regent's personal use. Supported by the renegade network and augmented by her unique skills, Analena straddles the line between rebellion and anarchy. To save the children, she risks both. With an extraction too difficult to handle, Piper needs more than remote assistance. She needs the presence of the shadow entity at her back.

CODE NAME: ONYX.
Trace Boden, a former Regent surgeon, hides in the city ruins beneath the New Delphi Capital super structure. Providing medical advice, instruction and supplies via the Down Below renegade cyber network, he operates in anonymity, slowly paying back the debt for his part in the Regent's atrocities. Yet, Piper's call is one Trace can't refuse. Exposed to save a child, he risks everything in a confrontation with Analena Maresco, the woman who can destroy his life forever.

Nowhere to hide, will the secrets Analena and Trace share forge a bond to combat the Regents reign of terror or cripple them both?

XX is the start of a new series that is an interesting combination of science fiction, dystopian and romance. It’s a futuristic tale complete with cool gadgets and a cut-throat society.

Analena is an intriguing character and I was incredibly interested to get into the nitty-gritty details that make her who she is. Unfortunately, I felt like we never really got there with her character. I think that everything was so focused on the development of the storyline and the relationship between the two main characters, that the development of Analena was put on the back burner.

The relationship between Analena and Trace was incredibly rushed. I felt like, as readers, we are cheated out of the fun part of the relationship – the wooing. I feel like the chemistry between these two is almost there and the story would have really benefited from a little more build up. Honestly, their first intimate scene together came out of left field; I thought for sure that one of them was dreaming. I kept expecting someone to snap out of it and wake up.

I think that plotline had a lot of potential, but at times things were rather jumbled. I had a difficult time figuring out the backbone of the story; why exactly these children were being abused in such terrible ways. You see, Analena spends her life rescuing children from these crazy corporations/government facilities(?) that perform basically mutilate the kids in the name of science. Honestly, I am still rather sketchy on the details. Whatever the exact case, it’s easy to get behind Analena and her story; I mean everybody hates people who mutilate children.

In certain parts of the story, when the characters are communicating through text, everything is written in short hand. I thought this interrupted the flow of the book and made it come off as choppy. I had to constantly reread these passages to try and piece together what was being conveyed. I will admit that I am not up on text-speak – I generally type of complete words. That being said, I honestly had a difficult time understanding these particular sections. For me, it definitely took away from the book.

XX certainly has a lot of potential and could be the basis for a really incredible series. That being said, there were a few aspects of the story that fell short for me. The character development and relationship progression was definitely off and the details were sketchy at times. However, once you are able to get a hold on the story, it is certainly interesting. It was rather quick read, in which the author did a great deal of world building. So, hopefully some of the kinks will be worked out in the sequel.