18 Thoughts I Had Whilst Reading 'Flawed' by Cecelia Ahern

Flawed by Cecelia Ahern
Publishing Date: April 5th, 2016
Rating:
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads | Book Depository
The Scarlet Letter meets Divergent in this thoughtful and thrilling novel by bestselling author Cecelia Ahern.

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She's a model daughter and sister, she's well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she's dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule. And now faces life-changing repercussions.

She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where obedience is paramount and rebellion is punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her-everything.

Before reading:
I haven't read anything by Cecelia Ahern before but this is her first foray into YA fiction and the synopsis sounds really intriguing! It likens the story to Divergent which I loved so I'm hoping to fall in love with this story too.

1. Interesting introduction to the world. A little bit of infodumping but not too bad and at least relevant and helpful information. I'm enjoying the dystopian elements so far and I'm intrigued to learn more about The Guild and its impact on society.
2. The setting is one that's easy to follow. Whilst it's a dystopian society, it's still very familiar and feels like a city we could be living in now.
3. Our main character is a firm believer in the rules and hasn't questioned them up until now. It's only now that The Guild has struck close to home that she is beginning to realise how not everything is black and white. She's coming across as a little naive. I hope she improves.
4. I don't get why she didn't think she would get in trouble for what she's done when she just spent so long telling us about the rules..
5. More infodumping... I really hope it doesn't start to get bogged down in too much detail. 
6. Is this the beginning of a love triangle that I sense?
7. This girl has been totally brainwashed and it's annoying. She's just going to follow every wrong path and follow every wrong piece of advice so she can then miraculously uncover something by herself.
8. Finally a good decision. I'm intrigued to see how she'll handle what's to come next and I hope to see her become stronger and more independent.
9. The snowglobe must have some kind of significance. (How ominous, I know!)
10. It's interesting to see how she is being ostracised from society and how she realises that this is how she treated the Flawed before she was one. A taste of her own medicine if you like.
11. I'm liking this new side to her where she's not acting like a naive and scared little girl.
12. Rolling my eyes at the party invitation. Surely she MUST be wondering if it's a set up? Come on. Why wouldn't you?
13. It's utterly horrible to see this side of human nature. As soon as someone is branded as being Flawed, everyone else behaves disgustingly towards them. They have no ounce of sympathy or decency and it's scary to think that humans can behave in this way.
14. Pia reminds me of Effie Trinkett from The Hunger Games. (I like her!)
15. Nice to know there's already a little resistance formed in this society and that they are fighting to take control away from Crevan and The Guild.
16. I like the mystery elements to this book. It's unraveling nicely and whilst some parts have been fairly obvious, I have a feeling there might just be something good still to happen. It's annoying how long it takes Celestine to catch up and work it out though. It's quite frustrating to know the answers when she doesn't.
17. A good ending! Fast pace, a few twists and we're left with a cliffhanger. I'm definitely intrigued to see where the story goes next.
18. The love triangle I thought was coming didn't happen but really there wasn't much romance at all. Her boyfriend Art is in hiding but Carrick is a very intriguing character and despite only speaking twice, I made more of a connection with him than with Art. I suspect a love triangle may still be to come. It's a little insta-lovey that she's so excited and infatuated by Carrick but there is something about him. 

To sum up:
Flawed has a lot of elements that are similar to other dystopian books (a main character who hasn't questioned the rules up until now, a villainous government figure, a resistance) but there are some twists which keep it interesting. There is a tendency for over-description and the main character, Celestine, takes a long time to figure things out sometimes. There isn't much romance, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but with a boyfriend already in place and another potential boy friend it was a little odd that they were barely in the story. I would love to see more of them in the next book. The writing was fast paced most of the time and I'm definitely interested in reading the sequel. Especially after that cliffhanger ending!

Do you like dystopian books? What are some of your favourites?
What do you think about a society that visibly brands someone as being flawed?

Follow me:

g