Genetically perfected humans are being sold as pets. With that we have: eugenics! We've entered eugenics from the very first scene. So in conclusion we have: Eugenics. And. Slavery.

And it's called "Perfected".

Oh, this is going to be a trip to put my feelings about this book into words. This is a great horror but this is a ROMANCE.

The hottest craze among the top 1% has been human pets, that's the book's premise.

So, basically we push past the eugenics and slavery. What is there past that? This book is targeting young teenagers and so it both has really graphic content, but described very vaguely. For example there is pedophilia, there is infant murder, and there are things like rape, and the general sex trafficking one can expect in this kind of book.

Well these things are very disturbing, the book kind of glosses over them. They're there, but they're not fixated upon. People are pets and that's just how it is. People rape their pets and that's just how it is. It doesn't really go deeper into that most of the time. It is what it is and that's all it is.

Now to contradict myself further by saying both it is very graphic content and it is very vague and nondescript, it is also as gross as possible while not describing it enough. This book is all over the place. My review sounds like I'm constantly saying yes but no. Basically these topics are really nasty, the book does not detail them properly, but the book includes them so we have people who are raped and people who have their babies killed, but it's glossed over and played as no big deal.

I saw a few people saying this is a young adult Handmaid's Tale, it's very much the off-brand bootleg diet soda version of that. Minus a real political statement.

Thank Cthulhu that Canada canonically made breeding for these people and having them illegal.

The book uses the word "bred" so much it's uncomfortable. Especially since these are UNDERAGED girls grown in a lab.

"They look like twelve-year-olds."
"They're sixteen, I can assure you they're fully grown."
I just dry heaved.

"Charming, maybe if you're trying to recreate the old South." So they're aware of history enough to know what they look like they're doing and why Eight shouldn't be calling her buyer Master. This is so many layers of wrong. It's fully aware of that too.

He also sneaks into her room to put a collar on her "so she'll remember where she belongs". Squick.

The imperfect pets are sent back and taken to the "Red Room" and put down. So they're all aware they'll be put down and killed and have anxiety. They're striving to be perfect for their owners with the knowledge they will be killed if they are not.

I left out they're sterilized as people want them to be. If their owners decide it, they get their reproductive organs taken. Which given they're all females, this is a very big painful thing to deal unto them.

The Canada part mentioned above is a big Underground Railroad thing. History is big oofs in this book. They know and they still do this. How can they be so aware and so nonchalant at the same time?

0 stars.

It's marketed towards children! Don't let your children read this! ( )

This was a well executed book, but I ultimately couldn't buy premise.

I was wary about the idea of humans keeping other humans as pets, but curious, too. I wanted to hear the backstory. I wanted to hear how these pets were genetically engineered and what differences were made in their genetic code to make them pets. I wanted to know what society had defined being human as.

Alas, earwax. It seems to me like the only difference between Ella, a 'pet,' and an ordinary human was her appearance and her upbringing. I feel like any baby could eventually be turned into a pet given the right breeding.

But I continued, hoping I'd be proved wrong. Ella is initially very submissive, and very eager to do exactly as she's trained. I wanted to hear how she'd evolve, how she'd change, how she'd come to eventually want freedom. I figured she might read books, eavesdrop, and have intellectual conversations.

But instead, she just falls for a guy with a pretty face. And the romance in this book honestly kind of sickened me. As the blurb gives the romance away, I'll talk freely--Penn and Ella seem to have an instant physical attraction, and Penn's interest in Ella comes from her looks and her ability to play the piano with emotion. It seems like Penn's father's interest in Ella came from practically the same aspects, yet Penn despises his father. Where's the difference?

The romance happens incredibly fast. If it had built up steadily over a year or so, maybe I would have bought it. But it happens practically instantaneously. The weak, naive female protagonist needs to have a guy to show her what the world could be like. Lovely.

Throughout the book, since the premise hadn't really been explained, the idea of keeping people as pets just made me squirm. I thought I'd be okay with the premise because I thought it'd have much more explanation, but honestly I was in no way okay with the whole idea.

While this did have potential, I was pretty disappointed by this book.
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Bizarre. I can't tell if I want to be offended that the author wrote such a believable character. And I REALLY wish that Ella would've wanted to leave for reasons other than falling in love. Could've been fleshed out a little more, as well. ( )

This is a YA dystopian book, I’ve been on a dystopian kick lately. This book was meh for me. I liked the story line but felt that it was more of an idea than a complete story. The USA has now made it legal for the population to own human pets. They are just to be pampered not intended for duties just for show. This is were I would have liked more info, who approved this law? And why? We are vaguely told it was intended for the elderly for companionship, would have like more detail on the use of human pets. The story seemed heavy in the front, detail about the pet, and lacking in the middle and ending of the story.
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If it wasn't for Penn I would have at least given the book three stars. But because of him it's only one. I know he ended up saving her and all but he acted hurt when she left him to go to Missy's house. I find it appalling that she is given the task to love the first person she meets and that's okay. She isn't an equal. The story was pretty disgusting giving parallels to slavery and how she is a human but treated like she is a pet. She wasn't given the tools to save herself. I was grossed out by situations that came up. I felt nauseous when they mentioned spading her. I commend the author for being able to give me this reaction but she's still rendered Ella weak by having her rely on Penn. Looking at the summary of the second book it feels the same as this one.... This made me think of the Shatter Me series. I know that Warner could be a confrontational love interest but she chose him. Juliette chose him after he stopped with his craziness. Yes, he loved her too much, too fast. But there is a difference between him and the other guy. He saw her as an equal. He built her up. Penn let her be captured like a dog for weeks, possibly months. And he knows, even if he doesn't want to admit it, what his father did to the other girl. While Warner would never let that happen. It's weird that I'm talking about Shatter Me I know... but I couldn't help think of what Juliette said - how she was seen as an equal to Warner. I don't like seeing girls like Ella anymore in YA or in any book for that matter. It's great to be in love but Penn knows how naive she is about the world... she's like a child. Their "relationship" was disgusting. ( )