Hidden Gems: Review of Ascent (The Party Series, Book One)

The growing popularity of electronic reading devices has resulted in an abundance of ebooks that are cheap and some that are even free! I mean who doesn’t love a free book? Hidden Gems are reveiws for these rarely talked about books. These are the books that may not get a lot of press but we have found them to be pretty great.
The first Hidden Gem is Ascent (The Party Series, Book One) and the best news is that it is free!!!!

Ascent (The Party Series, Book One)
ebook by Amy Kinzer
www.smashwords.com


Description from Smashwords:


For three teens, returning to the past is the only way to save the future.



After years of recession a new political party is ascending to power. To control the United States they must offer leaders people will vote for. The Party has chosen a select group of teens to attend the Institute for Youth Development (IYD) for training to become the nation’s next leaders. But no one has a perfect past and in a world where every moment is captured on film it has become increasingly difficult to find future politicians. Everyone has something from their past they wish they could change.


Matt wants to go back and change the night he drove drunk and ended the life of his girlfriend and best friend; Farrah-Kate, the daughter of America’s most tragic actress, wants to save her movie star mother; and Rick is ordered to go back and change the night he hacked the governments computers.


Marvin Winn, a casino billionaire and Party founder has funded a device that will take the chosen back in time to alter their past. But not everyone is attending the Institute because they want to join The Party. And while everyone returns to their past, one person will choose not to come back, putting everything The Party seeks to achieve at risk.



Review:

The best news about this book is that it is FREE!!!!  On http://www.smashwords.com/  you download this book for free in a number of formats including for your Kindle! I am always searching the internet and my Kindle for free or extremely cheap books.  Once in a while I come across a hidden gem of a book.  Mostly I never finish these free books that I get most just aren’t for me. When I find one that is actually good I tend to get quite excited.

 Ascent kept me hooked. Set in an alternate world where the United States is now a one party state and the Party is quite content to control everything.  The book centers around 3 teens sharing their stories in alternate POVs. Farrah-Kate, Matt, and Rick are among a number of teens to receive the elusive golden envelope to join the Party’s summer program.  After graduation they will become a member of the Party from which there is no going back. The characters were well developed but I found the world in which the story is set to be lacking.  I needed more information to understand exactly what was going on. Basically the Party chose these candidates because they are flawed but they have the capability to allow the students to go back in time and change the one event in their past that makes them flawed. When they return from their time travel essentially the idea is that they will have fixed the flaw in their records making them the ideal Party candidate. 

I admit I usually stay away from time traveling books because I often find them confusing.  The simplicity in the story kept me hooked.  Matt and Farrah-Kate have extremely personal reasons for returning to the past, they both wish to prevent the death of someone very close to them.  Rick on the other hand is a total conspirator nut who wished to gain entry into the Party, but I am not exactly sure if he just wants conformation of the conspiracies or if he wants to bring the Party down, either way he is an entertaining character.  I really liked Farrah-Kate and Matt they were both hurting so much and willing to give up everything to change the past, I really felt for them. There is not much romance in the story but there are some tender moments between Farrah-Kate and Matt. 

I don’t want to give away too much of the story but it is a quick fun read that has me wishing book 2 is coming out soon. I tried to research it but didn’t have much luck. I would definitely recommend this story for anyone who loves dystopia type novels.  What have you got to lose its FREE!!!!!!!!!!!