Tuesday, May 6, 2014

A Girl Called Fearless by Catherine Linka



Publication: May 6, 2014

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin



Avie Reveare has the normal life of a privileged teen growing up in L.A., at least as normal as any girl’s life is these days. After a synthetic hormone in beef killed fifty million American women ten years ago, only young girls, old women, men, and boys are left to pick up the pieces. The death threat is past, but fathers still fear for their daughters’ safety, and the Paternalist Movement, begun to "protect" young women, is taking over the choices they make. Like all her friends, Avie still mourns the loss of her mother, but she’s also dreaming about college and love and what she’ll make of her life. When her dad "contracts" her to marry a rich, older man to raise money to save his struggling company, her life suddenly narrows to two choices: Be trapped in a marriage with a controlling politician, or run. Her lifelong friend, student revolutionary Yates, urges her to run to freedom across the border to Canada. As their friendship turns to passion, the decision to leave becomes harder and harder. Running away is incredibly dangerous, and it’s possible Avie will never see Yates again. But staying could mean death. From Catherine Linka comes this romantic, thought-provoking, and frighteningly real story, A Girl Called Fearless, about fighting for the most important things in life—freedom and love.


Taking place years from now in the future in Los Angeles, Avie Reveare  finds herself living in world where the voice of women, and their ability to make their own choices in life have been harshly taken away. It almost felt like the women were living in the 1950’s. Learning how to needle-point in high school, baking, and all the fun stuff that is supposed to make sure that when your father sells you off to your potential husband at the highest price they can, you will be an excellent mindless doormat wife. That seems like what these men are looking for, young women who will do whatever they are told and who can produce children for them.

Why would the world be okay with stripping women of their choices and making them objects instead of equals to men? I think if something like this were to really happen, an event this huge killing millions and millions of women, people would want to take drastic action in order to try and correct the problem. And this is pretty drastic. It doesn’t make complete sense, but in the world that Avie lives in, it’s her way of life.

Avie didn’t strike me as the strong heroine type during the beginning of the story. I wasn’t even sure if she had the guts to do anything.  But once her father sells her two someone in his 30’s when she isn’t even 18 yet, Avie really starts to contemplate her life and wonder if there is something she can do to escape. This is where the book began to take off for me.  When Avie started to stand up for herself and take matters into her own hands. There was more to this story than it appeared to be. There are secret politics brewing, lies, hidden truths, action, and even a little romance. I enjoyed it much more once the story picked up.

A Girl Called Fearless is one of those stories that pretty much never lets up. There is always some plot twist…something happening to keep the momentum of the story going. I wasn’t sold on everything that happened in the book, but I enjoyed enough of it to keep reading, and I am happy that I did.


RATING: 3½ out of 5.


**I received this book on behalf of the Publisher in exchange for nothing but my honest opinion. Thank you**



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1 comment:

  1. This is one of the weirdest summaries I've read so far. The topic is really interesting though, but I'm not sure if I would LIKE reading it just because it would bring up so many feelings of hate. Do you think this book was trying to tell us something about our society today or no?

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