Nirvana-J.R Stewart

A teen\YA book offered by Netgalley.

It seemed so simple in a world before extinction. Boy meets girl, they fall in love and boy and girl get married. However life is never as smooth. Larissa is a student who plays in a band, and Andrew a physics major who believes he has met the girl of his dreams. Fast forward and the couple are married and living at the barracks where Andrew works. The world has changed. The rich elite live in the Bubble while others are at the Farm and desperately trying to supply the world with food. Hexagon was the corporation who tried to save the crops but the bees, amongst others, are gone. Life is a struggle. And then it happens. Andrew dies. Without proof or a body, Larissa listens to her heart and refuses to sign the death certification or believe the explanation that the corporation insists she does. Able to retreat into a virtual world to see Andrew, Larissa becomes more and more dependent on this virtual reality to keep her hope alive. With the threat of being expelled from the base hanging over her head, the sightings of Andrew seem more and more common. Is this just in her mind and is her need for him so intense that she is somehow deluding herself that he really is out there? Where are the physical signs that he is still alive coming from? Can she trust those around her to help her? Can she trust herself?

As a YA story I can understand the concentration on the love and death relationship. To have found your soulmate and having him ripped away without closure is a very deep seated fear. The introduction of possible world crises is also great for planting the seed of inquiry as to how much we should actually be trusting what lies the big corporations  are feeding us. The story ends with a good lead into the next one. What I didn't enjoy about the book was the formatting-the kindle edition I received had headers and footers, page numbers, the title and authors name running through the middle of pages. Also silly mistakes like using check instead of cheek cropped up. I found the language used in her journal strange-why would she be so formal when writing? Certain dialogues also seemed too explanatory between people. While I found Larissa's lamenting a little slow (but I guess for a good reason), the plot twist is pretty easy to work out. The premise is not really realised-she does not take on the government in this one. I would recommend this book as an average read and hope that the sub plots are explored in later books, and that the characters are developed a lot more.

The book has subsequently been rewritten, with the faults addressed. A much better effort and a book I would now definitely recommend.