Review: The Farm by Emily McKay

Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the undead monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other…

And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible.

Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help…

Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race... (From Goodreads)

Best Bits: The twists! The suspense! The fact that this book kept me up until the wee hours of the morning on a work night... I really enjoyed the premise of The Farm. It's a mix between a zombie apocalypse and a vampire story, and it felt really fresh. It doesn't romanticize vampirism (which YA tends to do), and it's full of surprises. I think it takes a lot of skill to write a YA without falling prey to the some of the most common tropes and of the genre (tropes are really common plot points/character situations. They're not bad in general, but when it comes to vampires there are a lot of things that I can't read anymore). McKay avoided that. There's no tired love triangle, no insta-love because the characters new each other before the Ticks came into existence, and the danger is real. I wasn't prepared for the paranormal aspect of the book (beyond the ticks), and I can't give away what that is for fear of spoiling you, but let me just say that I was pleasantly surprised. I also really enjoyed the characters. With the exception of a couple of Lily's actions, I was rooting for her and Mel to get the heck off of the Farm. 

Nit Picks: I only have one for The Farm, and it is related to the relationship between Lily and Carter. It's not the relationship itself that I have a problem with. In fact, I actually enjoyed the way that played out in the story (it wasn't insta-love). My issue is that Lily tended to put everyone in danger when Carter wasn't safe. During the first half of the book she's so focused on the safety of her sister that I was surprised that she would risk the lives of the group waiting for Carter. 

The Farm
By Emily McKay
Published by Berkley Trade
420 Pages
Rating: B

Teaser Tuesday (December 11)

What is teaser tuesday?
It's a meme hosted by Should Be Reading and here are the rules: Grab your current read...
Open to a random page
Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on the page
Don't include spoilers.

"Some days, you just want to let the bad guys win. My mom, the pro bono lawyer, used to say that to me sometimes, back in the Before."
-The Farm, Page 1, by Emily McKay

Stacking the Shelves (December 9)

Stacking the Shelves is a meme hosted by Tynga at Tynga's Reviews! It's a way to highlight the books that everyone got throughout the week.

For Review: 

The Farm by Emily McKay

Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the undead monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other…

And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible.

Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help…

Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race...

Thanks to Caitlin at Penguin!

Won from the fabulous gals at WinterHaven Books:  

Swag! There are lots of doubles and triples of signed bookmarks, and other goodies. Expect those to feature in a future giveaway. 

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

On the precipice of her sixteenth birthday, the last thing lone wolf Cat Crawford wants is an extravagant gala thrown by her bubbly stepmother-to-be and well-meaning father. So even though Cat knows the family’s trip to Florence, Italy, is a peace offering, she embraces the magical city and all it offers. But when her curiosity leads her to an unusual gypsy tent, she exits . . . right into Renaissance Firenze. 

Thrust into the sixteenth century armed with only a backpack full of contraband future items, Cat joins up with her ancestors, the sweet Alessandra and protective Cipriano, and soon falls for the gorgeous aspiring artist Lorenzo. But when the much-older Niccolo starts sniffing around, Cat realizes that an unwanted birthday party is nothing compared to an unwanted suitor full of creeptastic amore. 

Can she find her way back to modern times before her Italian adventure turns into an Italian forever?

The Farm Blog Tour and Giveaway

I'm pleased to be a part of the blog tour for The Farm, and to celebrate the release today! Read below for some exclusive content from author Emily McKay, and a contest for a copy of the book and a vampire survival guide (awesome, and necessary)!

Life was different in the Before: before vampires began devouring humans in a swarm across America; before the surviving young people were rounded up and quarantined. These days, we know what those quarantines are—holding pens where human blood is turned into more food for the undead monsters, known as Ticks. Surrounded by electrical fences, most kids try to survive the Farms by turning on each other…

And when trust is a thing of the past, escape is nearly impossible.

Lily and her twin sister Mel have a plan. Though Mel can barely communicate, her autism helps her notice things no one else notices—like the portion of electrical fence that gets turned off every night. Getting across won’t be easy, but as Lily gathers what they need to escape, a familiar face appears out of nowhere, offering to help…

Carter was a schoolmate of Lily’s in the Before. Managing to evade capture until now, he has valuable knowledge of the outside world. But like everyone on the Farm, Carter has his own agenda, and he knows that behind the Ticks is an even more dangerous threat to the human race...

Check out more about The Farm:

Emily McKay's Website

Goodreads

Facebook

Twitter

You can learn more about The Farm and look for some giveaways on the book website: 

http://www.escapethefarm.com/

Exclusive Content from Emily McKay: 

Dear Reader letter from Lily:

I have one goal on the Farm: keep my sister Mel alive. She’s autistic and can’t stand up for herself. It’s my job to protect her. She and I are two of the millions of teenagers who were rounded up and quarantined for “our own protection.” On the Farm, every move we make is monitored: where we go, when we eat, how much blood we donate to feed the Ticks that prowl just outside the Farm’s electric fences. Any Green who steps out of line is punished by the Collabs—all guys who used to be bullies in the Before. Yeah, big surprise. All the jerks who picked on geeks like me and Mel are now betraying the human race. But Mel and I have one advantage over all the other Greens. We know a way out. We’re going to escape, before we turn eighteen. Before it’s too late.

That’s the good news. The bad news is we have no idea what’s on the outside the Farm. Are there still towns? Cities? Civilization? Are the Ticks everywhere? What happened to all of our families after we were brought here? Is there anyone out there? At all?

If you’re reading this letter, then you’re still on the outside. You know things about the world beyond these fences. If you know what we’ll need to survive on the outside, please find a way to get us the information. Because Mel and I are gathering our supplies. Soon, we’re going to make our escape. Help us if you can.

The next stop on the tour: The Reading Geek

The previous stop on the tour: Wasterpaper Prose

This contest is US only (it's being shipped from the publisher). 

a Rafflecopter giveaway