I'm in nursing school myself.I say, bye bye Lexi, you weak willed little girl! No need to ignore your patients because your boyfriend is gone away working for a bit. And this is while she is a nurse in a hospital. GIRL IS IN LOOOOOVE!!!!! After being with Cole for a couple of weeks, Lexi falls so desperately in love with him that she is destitute when he has to be gone for a few days.literally cannot function without him. He's just there, and he's hot, and he doesn't try to rape Lexi. There is no background info on him, no explanation of why he has chosen to hold to his morals. Not only did not understand what he saw in Lexi, but I couldn't understand what she saw in him, either.

Who IS Lexi? Is she the lonely, desperate girl, the competent nurse, the stupid, helpless bimbo, or the badass fighter?Ĭole also remained much a mystery throughout the story. I know I went on a bit here, but I'm just trying to get my point across. But.wait for it.by the end of the book, Lexi is a badass fighter girl who has only trained for a week but somehow becomes some kind of tactical expert. Cole steps in as her guard/love interest, and good grief does he ever have his work cut out for him! Even so, Lexi proceeds to become a competent worker, then back to a helpless damsel in distress, running up the stairs alone when she should be staying put, openly defying her protectors and doing things she is forbidden to do, etc.She started becoming the idiot girl in a B movie, going into the dark stairway with nothing but a flashlight and her boobs to protect her. Now on her way to the Hole, she hardens herself and wants to maintain her dignity.these evil people will NOT get her down! And yet she proceeds to whine and simper and swoon and shake and cower and cringe at nearly everything that happens to her. This is explained later as a will to be able to CHOOSE how she goes out, not to be forced into it. Instead of completing her goal, she gets the urge to live and runs away.to no avail, of course.

That's when the bad guys come to drag her off to the Hole to be branded with the brand of the sin of lust.

Lexi enters page one trying to hang herself.literally has a rope wrapped around her neck, ready to jump. One big problem was the characterization of both Lexi and Cole. WHAT AM I NOT GETTING? This book started off strong and exciting but the appeal quickly turned to confusion and boredom for me. But I feel like once I missed something that everyone else seemed to get. So I was really excited to get this from Net Galley, especially after all of the raving reviews. The premise is awesome, and no matter how many YA dystopian I read, I love them all.

Branded missy kalicicki