Numbers Game by Rebecca Rode (Audiobook Review + Bonus Author Interview)
Treena is nervous for Rating Day. A single number will brand her forever - a valuable citizen, or a pathetic waste of space. Her top-Rated boyfriend is confident their scores will coincide so they can attend the academy together. But when the big day arrives, her true number shocks everyone. To get her life and boyfriend back, she must go undercover and expose a military spy. Doesn't sound too hard, except that someone wants her dead. And then there's Vance, the mysterious soldier with a haunted past and beautiful brown eyes.
Disclosure: Hovering over the cover and purchasing may give me a small commission (yippee, book $).
Quote - “If only her problems had stayed as simple as a boyfriend and best friend who didn’t get along.”
Heroine/Treena: She starts out as a typical popular, but not mean, girl. Her grit and determination allow her to become so much more. She goes hard after what she wants, but is forced to face some ugly truths. Every time she turns around her situation is worse, and yet she manages to find the strength to go on.
Hero/Vance: Conflicted. Burdened by the memory of his father. A honorable heart dragged down by dishonorable actions. From the beginning he desires to protect her, but circumstances make that difficult.
The Other Guy/Dresden: If there are any “Team Dresden” fans in the world, I’m sorry but what are you thinking? I can think of only three somewhat positive moments for him in the whole book. When he comforts her (with a kiss); when he is visibly shaken by an intensely horrific occurrence; and one more I won’t reveal to avoid spoilers. If he is going to be an actual participant in this love triangle, he is going to have step up his game in the next book, especially after his actions at the end.
We also have a great crew of side characters, with honorable mention going to Tali (Treena’s best friend) and Draymond & Neb (member’s of Vance’s team).
When the story starts, Treena has been dating Dresden for some time. She has a “meet cute” with Vance, but it’s mostly just physical attraction on her part to begin with. And he only finds her intriguing because she looked directly at him (when most other people don’t). Their relationship grows naturally from there as they spend time together.
I liked the fight training scenes, but feel that she was a little too competent for a week’s training. I think some more time spent on the training would have made the competence feel more natural, and given their relationship a stronger base as well.
The ending left everything unresolved with Treena, and even more so with Vance.
NARRATION: The narration was good. She doesn’t do a different voice for every character, but it is usually distinctive enough to know when the person speaking has changed. Male voices are acceptable. / Listened on 1.25 (my usual).
FAVORITE PART(S): Vance awkwardly comforting her by just holding her and letting her cry.
I WOULD HAVE LIKED MORE: Info on what kind of apocalypse there was. Clarity about when it happened. / Information on Vance’s mother & sisters. They are a huge part of his motivation, but we never formed any connection to them.
I COULD HAVE DONE WITHOUT: Love triangle (I’m never a fan)
OTHER WARNINGS: Contains some intense “fear of heights” scenes
MY RATINGS:
--Enjoyment: AVERAGE
--Re-readability: AVERAGE - I will probably skip to where Treena & Vance meet for the 2nd time and the action really starts.
--Narrator Impact: HIGH
I received this book free in return for an honest review, courtesy of Audiobook Blast dot com."
Numbers Game by Rebecca Rode; read by Stacey Glemboski; produced independently in 2015 / Length: 9 hrs 15 min (Unabr) / Available through Audible & Amazon plus iTunes
BONUS AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Where did you get the idea for Numbers Game?
I was taking out a loan at the bank for my husband's truck. I sat there, staring at my credit score. It was amazing to me that we all have these scores following us around, telling companies what we’re worth financially, and the algorithms are very complex. Then I thought, what if the numbers revealed everything about us—our appearance, our athleticism, our intelligence? And what if we had to wear those numbers around? What if someone got the wrong score? Thus, the world of NUMBERS GAME was born.
Tell us something about one of your lead characters that we don't already know.*
Treena almost had a little brother. Her mother became pregnant but her stepfather, Konnor Dowell, made her terminate the pregnancy. They've never told Treena, but she knows something happened because her mother shut down emotionally for a while.
*She revealed it here first!
Tell us something about yourself that we might not already know.
I love music. If you come to my house, there's always music playing somewhere. When I'm frustrated or stressed (which happens often, since I have four kids!), I sit down to the piano and start pounding away. It's a form of stress management, but also kind of an inspirational process for me. I get some of my best ideas when I disconnect and get lost in the music.
Audiobook / eBook / Paperbooks? Which is your favorite and why?
My favorite is paper books, but I rarely get the time. I usually sneak my reading sessions in on the kindle app on my phone. I get in a book or two each week that way. I also like audiobooks, but it's almost impossible to listen to something at my house. Every time I turn something on, the kids start trying to compete with the noise and I have to pause or start over. It's definitely fun to have a narrator bring it to life, though. That's something no other medium can do.
For more information, check out her website - www.authorrebeccarode.com
