Housewife Blues and Chihuahua Stories

Book Info
Kindle Edition, 304 pages
Published November 26th 2013 by Harlequin Teen
original title Pawn
ASIN B00DPAN5E0
series The Blackcoat Rebellion #1
other editions (6)
Source:Netgalley EARC

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BOOK SYNOPSIS

YOU CAN BE A VII IF YOU GIVE EVERYTHING.

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.

If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked - surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister's niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.

There's only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered, the same one that got her killed, and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that's not her own, she must decide which path to choose and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she's only beginning to understand.

My Thoughts

Living at poverty level along with a group of other “Extras” that share her low rank in society Kitty Doe resents the fact that most American citizens are treated as lesser by the Elitist ruling society. Having failed to make a good showing on the mandatory “ranking exam” that everyone undergoes at age 17, given a III instead of scoring high and being given a IV or above, Kitty decides that life in sewer maintenance and being shipped off to live in Denver Colorado is not something that she will accept as she holds out hope that her boyfriend 16 year-old Benjy will score a V or a VI when he turns 17 in a little over a month so they can marry and be together.

Kitty has a sort of friend by the name of Tab who makes a living as a prostitute, the two plan to get Kitty a job working the streets also so that she can stay in DC until Benjy takes his ranking test. Having made the decision Kitty sets things up with Tab, against Benjy’s wishes, as she sees no other way to stay close and make a living.

Kitty finds her plans changing when she is offered an alternative by the Prime Minister, being Masked to look like Lila Hart and given the designation of a VII sounds like something that could possibly lead to the life that Kitty thought she would never experience. However as with all things that sound too good to be true Kitty soon finds herself caught up in a power play that could cost her everyone and everything she holds dear.

Kitty Doe is not as strong of a character as had hoped for but faced with the reality of her situation she begins to understand that she still has the ability to be more than a game piece that has no say in what she does or does not do, especially when she unearths the very astonishing truth that the Matriarch of the Hart family has managed to hide from almost everyone.

This is a new twist on revenge being served cold, it proves that sometimes what we wish for is not exactly what we get and most of all it shows that even when things look quite bleak we can perhaps find a way to turn circumstances to our advantage.

I honestly feel that in the ranks of the Dystopian Genre this book and series will find a niche and a following however for me even though know it has much more to offer in future stories am not planning on pursuing it further.

[EArc from Netgalley in exchange for honest review]