FFBC BOOK TOUR – BOOK REVIEW & GIVEAWAY : HALF LIFE BY LILLIAN CLARK

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the Half Life By Lillian Clark Blog Tour hosted by FFBC Book Tour. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

TITLE : Half Life

AUTHOR : Lillian Clark

GENRE : YA, Science Fiction

FR RATING : ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.5 Stars

FR REVIEW

DISCLAIMER : Thank you, Netgalley and Knopf Books for Young Readers for providing me with an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Half Life by Lillian Clark is a YA Sci-Fi novel that tells the story of Lucille, an overachieving teenager who joins an experimental clone-development program to help resolve her problems. After a constant stream of failures and disappointments in her life, she decides to have one more of her will help remove the issues she has. She can be the perfect daughter, perfect student, and the perfect friend and still find time for some fun.

The book was fast-paced, fun, and entertaining to read. Lucille was an interesting character to read. She is a perfectionist and an overachiever. Her tendencies to drown herself in studies has cost her friendships and any possibility of romantic relationships. She is a typical teen with aspirations and goals and her ultra-focus on her studies is often criticized by her friends. Her parents whom she believed to be the picture-perfect embodiment of love divorced. It shattered her ideas of love and family. She is taking it out on her friends and overall hiding the fact that she is suffering. What I found is that while I enjoyed her snark and hiding her emotions behind her wit she finds herself struggling to connect with her family and friends and even talk about it openly. She is not your typical perfect lead in a book. Her struggles and her problems make her more realistic. Her anxiety, insecurities, and lack of confidence all make it easy to connect with her character.

While I don’t understand what made her become the over-anxious student she is, it is clear she wants the validity and approval of the people around her. Her main problem is her lack of communication. She is often stuck inside her problems making her come off as a self-absorbed individual. She also has difficulties in expressing her emotions with her family. It was no wonder she succumbed to the ad from Life2 to help do more and be more.

The whole set up for the book with the experimental clone development was fascinating to read. The lab, the doctors, and everything surrounding the experiment was shrouded in mystery to keep the reader hooked to the plot. The cloning process and the company were weird and creepy and it helped keep the tension going strong in the story.

Lucy was lovely and she is my favorite in this book. I enjoyed her personality. She starts as a clone and a stand-in for Lucille. Even as a clone she questions her life, it’s importance, and her self-worth. Later on, she develops a personality and trait that’s unique to her. Lucy helps us understand the bioethical questions that arise in the cloning field. Through her readers get to question and learn about the problems that may arise when considering the humanity of the clones. I loved the stark differences and the undeniable similarities between Lucille and Lucy. The contrast of their behaviors and the additional perspective from Lucille’s memory helps Lucy to be attentive and aware of the concerns surrounding her behavior. She has more self-worth, self-confidence, and self-love than Lucille. It was interesting to see Lucy be more of a human than Lucille.

I loved the side characters and how well they brought the story together. The romantic interests in the book were great and also realistic. I loved how cute the romance was. The romantic relationships were realistically portrayed. The romance was enjoyable and was weaved into the story wonderfully.

The ethical issues that arise in cloning were addressed remarkably well. I loved the commentary on bioethics. I felt that it was done masterfully. The author left space for the readers to come to conclusions on their own on these topics. While the scenario offered was not easy or simple, to begin with, it was food for thought.

Overall Half Life was wonderful. It was fast-paced and a very quick read. I was completely engrossed in the story and couldn’t wait to see how the conflicts were going to be resolved. It talks about family, friendships, first-love, self-love, and a lot of important matters. I enjoyed it and gave the book 4.5 stars. I highly recommend checking it out.

SYNOPSIS

An overachiever enrolls in an experimental clone study to prove that two (of her own) heads are better than one in this fast-paced, near-future adventure that’s Black Mirror meets Becky Albertalli.

There aren’t enough hours in the day for Lucille–perfectionist, overachiever–to do everything she has to do, and there certainly aren’t enough hours to hang out with friends, fall in love, get in trouble–all the teenage things she knows she should want to be doing instead of preparing for a flawless future. So when she sees an ad for Life2: Do more. Be more, she’s intrigued.

The company is looking for beta testers to enroll in an experimental clone program, and in the aftermath of a series of disappointments, Lucille is feeling reckless enough to jump in. At first, it’s perfect: her clone, Lucy, is exactly what she needed to make her life manageable and have time for a social life. But it doesn’t take long for Lucy to become more Lucy and less Lucille, and Lucille is forced to stop looking at Lucy as a reflection and start seeing her as a window–a glimpse at someone else living her own life, but better. Lucy does what she really wants to, not what she thinks she should want to, and Lucille is left wondering how much she was even a part of the perfect life she’d constructed for herself. Lucille wanted Lucy to help her relationships with everyone else, but how can she do that without first rectifying her relationship with herself?

EXCERPT

http://insight.randomhouse.com/widget/v4/?width=600&height=860&isbn=9780525580508&shortCode=&author=Lillian%20Clark&title=Half%20Life&refererURL=www.penguinrandomhouse.com

BOOK LINKS

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51202862-half-life

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2RsFWrR

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/half-life-lillian-clark/1134237417?ean=9780525580508

iTunes: https://books.apple.com/gb/book/half-life/id1484298172

Bookdepository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Half-Life-Lillian-Clark/9780525580508?ref=grid-view&qid=1586088938081&sr=1-1

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/half-life-43

Google Play Books: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Lillian_Clark_Half_Life?id=euO3DwAAQBAJ&hl=en_US

AUTHOR BIO

Lillian Clark, a graduate of the University of Wyoming, grew up riding horses, climbing trees, and going on grand imaginary adventures in the small-town West. She’s worked as a lifeguard, a camp counselor, and a Zamboni driver, but found her eternal love working as a bookseller at an independent bookstore. Now living in Teton Valley, Idaho with her husband, son, and two giant dogs, she spends her time reading almost anything and writing books for teens.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17343003.Lillian_Clark

Website: https://lillianjclark.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lillianjclark

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lillianclarkauthor/

GIVEAWAY

Prize: Win a copy of HALF LIFE and IMMORAL CODE by Lillian Clark (US Only)

Starts: 9^th June 2020

Ends:  23^rd June 2020

TOUR SCHEDULE

https://fantasticflyingbookclub.blogspot.com/2020/04/tour-schedule-half-life-by-lillian-clark.html