ONCE (second book in the “Eve” series) by Anna Carey, 2012

When you're being hunted, who can you trust? For the first time since she escaped from her school many months ago, Eve can sleep soundly. But her safety came at a price: She was forced to abandon Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. When Eve gets word that Caleb is in trouble, she sets out into the wild again to rescue him, only to be captured and brought to the City of Sand, the capital of The New America. Trapped inside the City walls, Eve uncovers a shocking secret about her past--and is forced to confront the harsh reality of her future. When she discovers Caleb is alive, Eve attempts to flee her prison so they can be together--but the consequences could be deadly. She must make a desperate choice to save the ones she loves . . . or risk losing Caleb forever. (Goodreads)

Reviewed by Renee C.—College Student

In this second installment of the Eve trilogy, Eve may have been taken out of the wild, but the City of Sand is a wild of its own. A classic situation of the rich getting richer and greedily developing their own worlds while ignoring the poor in the Outlands has the city split. Nothing is being done about the girls locked in the schools or the boys locked in the labor camps. And Eve doesn't know who she can trust. There are people everywhere, people who admire her, hate her, want her. But Caleb is the only one she wants, and they have just as many challenges facing them within the city as outside, probably more.

This book is just as fast paced and action packed as the first novel, yet possibly even more disturbing. In this book we see that not everyone lives like they do in the wild, that there are people who live in comfort and they just don't care about the others; and the things they are willing to sacrifice to achieve this comfort, to cover up the fact that not everyone lives this way, is chilling. The undertones of rebellion in conjunction with Eve's difficult situation of figuring out how to keep the ones she loves safe, keep these pages turning. There are twists and turns and the ending is shocking. Anna Carey leaves the reader craving the next and final book, where everything rests on the shoulders of Eve and the few rebels inside the city, when everything is against them.

Will they be able to stop the King from furthering the gap between the rich and the poor? Be able to save her friends from the schools? And what will she be willing to sacrifice when she has next to nothing left? If you couldn't tell, I am dying for the third book. And we only have to wait until April 2nd. If you're a fan of books including a post virus/apocalyptic society with reproductivity issues (almost a mix between Blood Red Road and Bumped) then this is the book for you. This series really is amazing. I think you'll love it.

Market: Young Adult

Language: None, Mild (can't really remember, but nothing is sticking out in my memory as being terrible...)

Sensuality: Mild

Violence: Mild

Mature Themes: Death, Abuse (not seen, but implied)

Book formats
Paperback
e-book