Quick Pick: Firstlife, by Gena Showalter (Everlife #1)

• Opening lines: If you failed to read my dossier, Nanne, I'm happy to bring you up to date on my highlights. I'm a well-trained and vastly decorated Laborer. What I'm not: a babysitter. Watching Tenley Lockwood is a waste of my many talents.
  
  Oh, AND DID I FORGET TO MENTION SHE'S IN A WHACK SHACK??
• Reason I picked up the book: Another blogger had recommended it, and I saw it was listed on NetGalley. I love dystopian books and this sounded very unique. 
• And what's this book about?
ONE CHOICE.
TWO REALMS.
NO SECOND CHANCE.

Tenley “Ten” Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl…who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she’ll live—after she dies.

There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.

In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the two realms who will do anything to win the right to her soul. Who can she trust? And what if the realm she’s drawn to isn’t home to the boy she’s falling for? She just has to stay alive long enough to make a decision…

• Favorite paragraph:
I've been told history is written by survivors, but I know that isn't always true. 
My name is Tenley Lockwood and very soon, I'll be dead. This is my story - but my end is only the beginning.
• Recommended for: Anyone who likes dystopian books ... this book was like a mixture of The Hunger Games, minus the actual games, and the Divergent series.
• Something to know: This is the first book in the Everlife series - the second book, Lifeblood, is already listed on Goodreads, with an expected pub date of 2017.
• What I would have changed: Another reviewer on Goodreads said something like "we literally just dive in to this world with minimal explanations" and I'd agree with that. Sometimes it got confusing trying to figure out who was who and what exactly was going on. That being said, the world that the author has created was very interesting.
• Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
• Where can I find this book? Click here to order on Amazon.

*Disclosure: I received an e-copy of this book from NetGalley for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.