Tarnished by Kate Jarvik Birch (Perfected 2)

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...

Rating: 3/5 Stars

I was kindly provided with an ARC of this book via Netgalley in Exchange for an honest review.

I can definitely say that Tarnished was much better than its predecessor, Perfected, in both character development and pacing.

No more parading around in dresses and admiring the beautiful place around her for Ella. No insta-love (although I still don’t see why these two kids love is so epic) either. Instead we find ourselves in a more action packed story, with enemies at every corner and with the stakes being so much higher, considering how now many pet girls are being found dead.

Tarnished picks up were Perfected ended, with Ella being kept in a safe house in Canada with other pets. Desperate to escape and save her boyfriend from his father’s claws, she will team up with an old “friend” to get back to the United States and help the other pets kept as slaves around the world.

It was an entertaining read, although it didn’t bring much into the plot or the world building. Ella did grew as a character, something that was missing in the first instalment, but it still felt forced; the change wasn’t smooth or natural but rather she became this freedom fighter overnight. It wasn’t very believable.

I still have problems connecting with the characters and the story, their feelings are just not in here and that makes it hard for me to be invested in them.

I won’t say much else because Tarnished will be published in December and I want to avoid spoilers, but I’m sure that fans of the first book will absolutely love this sequel.