Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

I added Fire & Flood to my library queue after Lisa's post about it. While I struggled with parts of it, I definitely loved it by the end and am anxious for the next book.

Tella Holloway and her family moved the middle of nowhere for her brother's health. Tella's brother, Cody, has a mysterious illness. Tella's parents think that fresh air will help. Tella wants her brother to get better so they can move back to Boston. One day, a mysterious package arrives for Tella. It's an earpiece that plays a recorded message. Tella's parents confiscate the earpiece but Tella realizes that this is her chance to help her brother.

Fire & Flood follows a familiar story line. A lot like The Hunger Games but Tella is no Katniss. In fact this was my biggest gripe about Fire & Flood. After receiving the earpiece, Tella enters a Hunger Games style competition win The Cure for Cody. But whereas Katniss knew about survival and wasn't terribly girly, Tella spends a lot of time complaining about her hair and lack of makeup. In short, Tella annoyed the crap out of me. But Guy made up for a lot of my problems with Tella. During the competition, Tella mets Guy, a fellow competitor, who is a lot better at survival than her. Guy was swoon worthy. And Tella's attraction to Guy made me like her a whole lot more. Plus she stopped complaining about not having moisturizer and how she needed a pedicure. By the last half of book, I was sucked in. Scott's vivid writing of the world these competitors find themselves in was amazing. I really enjoyed reading about the competition course. Scott did a great job of thinking up a complex course with interesting twists.

I just read how Scott wanted Tella to be both girly and able to survive. I thought Tella was amazing sometimes surviving some horrendous situations. It was her constant complaining especially at the beginning of the book that annoyed me. She did sound a lot like a teen girl and probably me if I was tossed in the jungle with nothing more than a tiny fox (who was adorable).

I'm glad I stuck with Fire & Flood. It turned out to be a great sci-fi/dystopian read. I look forward to the next book. Others who shared their thoughts on Fire & Flood: My Thousand Lives, Teen Librarian Toolbox, Books For Birds, Parajunkee, and Fluttering Butterflies.