Tarnished

by Kate Jarvik Birch

Overview

Freedom comes at a cost...

Ella was genetically engineered to be the perfect pet-graceful, demure...and kept. In a daring move, she escaped her captivity and took refuge in Canada. But while she can think and act as she pleases, the life of a liberated pet is just as confining as the Congressman's gilded cage. Her escape triggered a backlash, and now no one's safe, least of all the other pets. But she's trapped, unable to get back to Penn-the boy she loves-or help the girls who need her.

Back in the United States, pets are turning up dead. With help from a very unexpected source, Ella slips deep into the dangerous black market, posing as a tarnished pet available to buy or sell. If she's lucky, she'll be able to rescue Penn and expose the truth about the breeding program. If she fails, Ella will pay not only with her life, but the lives of everyone she's tried to save...

The Perfected series is best enjoyed in order.
Reading Order:
Book #1 Perfected
Book #2 Tarnished
Book #3 Unraveled

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781633755628
Publisher:	Entangled Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	12/29/2015
Series:	Perfected , #2
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	254,446
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	12 Years

About the Author

Kate Jarvik Birch is a visual artist, author, playwright, daydreamer, and professional procrastinator. As a child, she wanted to grow up to be either a unicorn or mermaid. Luckily, being a writer turned out to be just as magical. Her essays and short stories have been published in literary journals including Indiana Review and Saint Ann's Review. She lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with her husband and three kids. To learn more visit www.katejarvikbirch.com

Editorial Reviews

2015-12-09
In this thriller, a genetically modified girl known as a pet realizes that she and others like her won't truly be free until they topple the company that created them. Sixteen-year-old Ella was born in a lab, part of NuPet, a company that sells female companions that aren't even considered human. Ella is free from former owner Congressman John Kimble but remains confined with other pets at a Canadian refugee center. She escapes the center to reunite with her love, Penn—the congressman's son—and gets help from fellow liberated pet Missy. On their way to Connecticut, the girls stop by black markets, where free agent pets can find jobs. It's there that Ella sees the horrible things pets have to do for men. She still wants to return to Penn but now plans to find damaging evidence against NuPet. She and Missy, however, are not prepared for what awaits them at one of the company's kennels. The novel impressively builds momentum, constantly advancing the story with a number of anticipatory sequences. Readers, for example, won't know what to expect once the girls reach the black market in Buffalo or when Ella climbs a trellis for access to a bedroom window at Kimble's home. The kennel that Ella and Missy eventually infiltrate is also appropriately disturbing, filled with atrocities and an ominous "red door" where the worst, presumably, happens. Distrust becomes an ever present concern, from Seth, apparently accommodating but still a black market employee, to Missy, whose reason for coming to Ella's aid isn't exactly clear. The notion of men objectifying women remains unambiguous, but Birch (Perfected, 2015, etc.) touches upon other themes with subtlety and without partisanship, issues such as artificial insemination and abortion. Though Ella's yearning to see Penn again is sentimental, the author fills her pages with spirited details from the girl's memory: Penn "was the taste of chocolate on my lips. He was sweetness. He was heat." The novel, the second in a series, sets up another sequel while managing to wrap up everything satisfactorily—but not before a few surprises. Rousing and romantic; a fast-paced dystopian sequel with a distinctive heroine.

Kirkus Reviews