Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Ghost in the Machine (The Spheres Cycle Book 1) by Kayla Hoyet

Ghost in the Machine (The Spheres Cycle Book 1) by [Hoyet, Kayla]

Synopsis via Amazon: 
Eighteen-year-old Tyler Gaines has always followed the rules--in part because it's too much trouble to break them, but mostly because her father's bedtime stories about the Sphere's elite red-coat Enforcers scared her senseless as a child. She does what she's told, just like everyone else, so when she goes to see the Broker--a woman whose sole purpose is to assign a match to everyone in the Sphere--and gets paired with a red-coat Enforcer named Aidan, she tries her best to put her father's stories to rest and adapt to her new family. When Tyler's best friend is killed and both fingers and technology point to Tyler as the main suspect, Tyler begins to think that her nightmares are coming to life. 

Aidan knows Tyler is innocent, but there's one big problem: Proving Tyler's innocence rests on proving that the government's high-tech system, the system on which the entire population depends, has a problem the likes of which it has never had before. Aidan doesn't have a lot of time to make his case. If he can't figure out what's wrong with the system soon, Tyler may end up paying the ultimate price for a crime she didn't commit.

I enjoyed reading this book. It is fresh and new, not the standard sci-fi story. Most people think that sci-fi equates to space, but Miss Hoyet is instrumental in throwing that equation out the door.
She introduces us to a government controlled state where the population is told who they will partner with, what their jobs would be, where they could and could not travel to, and where they live. Anyone who doesn't follow the rules went to the basement of the administration building and never came back.
Aidan and Tyler are matched by their sphere's broker. But soon after they are matched, Tyler is accused of murdering her best friend.
Tyler is likeable in a childlike innocent way. She has been raised in a society that doesn't let you date or have romantic relationships because they choose your life partner. She was removed from her mother and placed in her given profession at the age of 11.
Aidan is also a likeable character. He is kind, understanding, and caring. He is totally different in reality than the stories she was told about red-coat enforcers.
Miss Hoyet is a great story teller. She is clear, concise and articulate in building a world that is very different than our own. She combines conflict, angst, respect, family, and budding romance in a story that will make you thankful to live in the world we live in.
While this is the first book in a series, the ending does not leave you hanging to find out what happens. It winds up the story but, at the same time, leaves the storyline open to continue with Tyler and Aidan's story.
If you like sci-fi or YA, this is a book for you. I will definitely be looking for book 2.

Happy reading!!

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