Perfected

Genetically perfected humans are being sold as pets. With that we have: eugenics! We've entered eugenics from the very first scene. So in conclusion we have: Eugenics. And. Slavery.

And it's called "Perfected".

Oh, this is going to be a trip to put my feelings about this book into words. This is a great horror but this is a ROMANCE.

The hottest craze among the top 1% has been human pets, that's the book's premise.

So, basically we push past the eugenics and slavery. What is there past that? This book is targeting young teenagers and so it both has really graphic content, but described very vaguely. For example there is pedophilia, there is infant murder, and there are things like rape, and the general sex trafficking one can expect in this show more kind of book.

Well these things are very disturbing, the book kind of glosses over them. They're there, but they're not fixated upon. People are pets and that's just how it is. People rape their pets and that's just how it is. It doesn't really go deeper into that most of the time. It is what it is and that's all it is.

Now to contradict myself further by saying both it is very graphic content and it is very vague and nondescript, it is also as gross as possible while not describing it enough. This book is all over the place. My review sounds like I'm constantly saying yes but no. Basically these topics are really nasty, the book does not detail them properly, but the book includes them so we have people who are raped and people who have their babies killed, but it's glossed over and played as no big deal.

I saw a few people saying this is a young adult Handmaid's Tale, it's very much the off-brand bootleg diet soda version of that. Minus a real political statement.

Thank Cthulhu that Canada canonically made breeding for these people and having them illegal.

The book uses the word "bred" so much it's uncomfortable. Especially since these are UNDERAGED girls grown in a lab.

"They look like twelve-year-olds."
"They're sixteen, I can assure you they're fully grown."
I just dry heaved.

"Charming, maybe if you're trying to recreate the old South." So they're aware of history enough to know what they look like they're doing and why Eight shouldn't be calling her buyer Master. This is so many layers of wrong. It's fully aware of that too.

He also sneaks into her room to put a collar on her "so she'll remember where she belongs". Squick.

The imperfect pets are sent back and taken to the "Red Room" and put down. So they're all aware they'll be put down and killed and have anxiety. They're striving to be perfect for their owners with the knowledge they will be killed if they are not.

I left out they're sterilized as people want them to be. If their owners decide it, they get their reproductive organs taken. Which given they're all females, this is a very big painful thing to deal unto them.

The Canada part mentioned above is a big Underground Railroad thing. History is big oofs in this book. They know and they still do this. How can they be so aware and so nonchalant at the same time?

0 stars.

It's marketed towards children! Don't let your children read this! show less

Wow. Sometimes a single word can sum it up and "wow" does that. Perfected is chilling, emotionally horrifying, and the implications are disturbing. And I loved everything about it!

Ella has been genetically engineered to become the perfect showcase piece for the very wealthy. She has been trained her entire life for this moment, the moment that some member of the elite would choose her to be theirs. She is beautiful, trained in poise and grooming and subservience. Her special gifts have been highly developed so that she may please her owners. She is the perfect pet.

Perfected is set in a dystopian United States, although the the wealthy would argue that the world is their own utopia. The wealthy live on gorgeous estates, while the rest of show more the world lives in poverty. And this is where it gets scary. In this world, it is entirely legal to own human pets, girls that are genetically engineered and trained to live their lives as the pampered pets of the very elite.

The vocabulary used to describe the world of these girls is dehumanizing, using terms that we normally reserve for animals. The girls are raised in kennels all across the country. The best kennel, the most sought after, is the Greenich kennel... Ella's kennel. The pets are raised in the kennels, spending their lives in training centers learning to be perfect showpieces. They are raised to know that they are never going to be on the same level as their owners, nothing more than pretty pets whose only purpose is to please their owners. When the time comes, they are sold by lottery to the very wealthy. It is expected that their lives will be that of a pampered pet, sheltered and cared for... as long as they act as they should. And if they don't, there is always the red door at the kennel. Once a pet goes through that door, they are never seen again.

When Ella is purchased, she is swept away to live in the home of a prominent congressman, his wife, and his son and daughter. She is given a beautiful room and closet full of gowns. On the surface, it is a beautiful life, an easy life. But her life is not her own. She is at the beck and call of her owners, with no right to thoughts and expectations of her own. She is given a necklace with a beautiful diamond pendant and on the back was the engraved address and phone number of the congressman. A dog tag, albeit a beautiful one. At meals, she is never allowed at the same table, but at a table apart from the family. It is assumed that she is unintelligent and it is perfectly accceptable to talk about her and treat her as if she were not a sentient being.

Ella was purchased to be the pet of Ruby, the congressman's daughter who is a bit of an outcast, and it is fairly obvious that the congressman's wife and son are not thrilled about her presence. The two have different reasons for this, some of which have to do with a previous pet that apparently had something wrong with her and had been returned. But despite the fact that she is intended to be Ruby's, it is the congressman that has a creepy obsession with her. It is that obsession that makes her realize that being a pet is not all that it is cracked up to be, that she is trapped.

It was appalling to read about the world of Ella, the dehumanizing ways in which she was treated. It was horrifying to know that this was socially acceptable and legal. The complete lack of humanity that was attributed to these girls was scary. Even those that were against the practice didn't always seem to understand just how unequipped these girls were to live any other way. Every aspect of their lives had been about training to be the perfect pet. No life skills, not even the basics of education. I treat my dog Noelani with more respect than that which was afforded to these girls.

But there was beauty, too, in the romance between Penn (the son) and Ella. He was the only own that saw her as anything more than a beautiful pet. Even Ruby, who was sweet and kind, was young enough to not know any better and tended to see her only as a plaything. But Penn saw her as a person with her own thoughts and feelings and dreams. I have to wonder if Ella's character is modeled a bit after Cinderella.

This is a book that makes you think about what it means to be human. It makes you think about the line between morality and legality. Just because something was socially acceptable doesn't mean that it is right and that message is clear in this story. It is also a story that makes you step back and look at effect of materialism on morality. How important have material things become in this world that it is okay to create and own human beings as a measure of prestige?

Things to love...

--The use of animalesque vocabulary. It sets the tone for the appalling society that the story is set in.
--The romance. It was sweet and epic in that Penn would sacrifice anything to help Ella, even himself.
--The mystery. There are some interesting bits about the previous pets, intimated things that are not fully explained, but left you wondering.

Things I wanted more/less of...

--More explanation about how the world came to be as it is.
--More explanation about why all of the pets seem to be female.
--More Perfected!

My Recommendation: I am a sucker for good, creepy dystopia that is a believable possibility. This was one of those books and I thoroughly hope that there will be more to the story in the future! show less

This was a well executed book, but I ultimately couldn't buy premise.

I was wary about the idea of humans keeping other humans as pets, but curious, too. I wanted to hear the backstory. I wanted to hear how these pets were genetically engineered and what differences were made in their genetic code to make them pets. I wanted to know what society had defined being human as.

Alas, earwax. It seems to me like the only difference between Ella, a 'pet,' and an ordinary human was her appearance and her upbringing. I feel like any baby could eventually be turned into a pet given the right breeding.

But I continued, hoping I'd be proved wrong. Ella is initially very submissive, and very eager to do exactly as she's trained. I wanted to hear how show more she'd evolve, how she'd change, how she'd come to eventually want freedom. I figured she might read books, eavesdrop, and have intellectual conversations.

But instead, she just falls for a guy with a pretty face. And the romance in this book honestly kind of sickened me. As the blurb gives the romance away, I'll talk freely--Penn and Ella seem to have an instant physical attraction, and Penn's interest in Ella comes from her looks and her ability to play the piano with emotion. It seems like Penn's father's interest in Ella came from practically the same aspects, yet Penn despises his father. Where's the difference?

The romance happens incredibly fast. If it had built up steadily over a year or so, maybe I would have bought it. But it happens practically instantaneously. The weak, naive female protagonist needs to have a guy to show her what the world could be like. Lovely.

Throughout the book, since the premise hadn't really been explained, the idea of keeping people as pets just made me squirm. I thought I'd be okay with the premise because I thought it'd have much more explanation, but honestly I was in no way okay with the whole idea.

While this did have potential, I was pretty disappointed by this book. show less

If it wasn't for Penn I would have at least given the book three stars. But because of him it's only one. I know he ended up saving her and all but he acted hurt when she left him to go to Missy's house. I find it appalling that she is given the task to love the first person she meets and that's okay. She isn't an equal. The story was pretty disgusting giving parallels to slavery and how she is a human but treated like she is a pet. She wasn't given the tools to save herself. I was grossed out by situations that came up. I felt nauseous when they mentioned spading her. I commend the author for being able to give me this reaction but she's still rendered Ella weak by having her rely on Penn. Looking at the summary of the second book it show more feels the same as this one.... This made me think of the Shatter Me series. I know that Warner could be a confrontational love interest but she chose him. Juliette chose him after he stopped with his craziness. Yes, he loved her too much, too fast. But there is a difference between him and the other guy. He saw her as an equal. He built her up. Penn let her be captured like a dog for weeks, possibly months. And he knows, even if he doesn't want to admit it, what his father did to the other girl. While Warner would never let that happen. It's weird that I'm talking about Shatter Me I know... but I couldn't help think of what Juliette said - how she was seen as an equal to Warner. I don't like seeing girls like Ella anymore in YA or in any book for that matter. It's great to be in love but Penn knows how naive she is about the world... she's like a child. Their "relationship" was disgusting. show less

Perfected is recommended to fans of The Chemical Garden Trilogy by Lauren DeStefano, ad it definitely fits the bill.

Ella is a pet. She’s been told how to behave, and make her owners happy. She’s not supposed to have thoughts of her own. When she starts wanting things, she thinks something is wrong with her. I loved all of the characters, except for the congressman. He seriously creeped me out. He’s not necessarily mean, but he’s possessive and doesn’t want anything to happen to the family pet.

This world of pets is awful. It brings to light how awful it can be to be owned, and pretty much enslaved. The pets don’t get a voice in anything that happens to them, they are just sold off to the highest bidder. There were so many show more times that I would cringe when things were said about the pets.

Perfected makes you think about the price of perfection, and the morality of having pets in this world. show less

Perfected by Ms. Kate Jarvick is an alluring read. With a beautiful writing and inviting characters, Perfected will blow your mind and steal your heart.

Little summary:
Ella is a girl, but not a normal one, she is a pet. Ella was trained to be perfect, to always behave and to please her masters.
Ella’s life after the Greenwich Kennels, is supposed to be easy, after all, she has been preparing her whole life for that precise moment: be chosen by a wealthy family. But Ella wasn’t ready for what was waiting for her in the outside world: love and dangerous consequences.
When Ella met Penn, her master’s son, she was stunned at first, but then things started to grow, and suddenly that stunning became something else.
Now, Ella will have show more to choose: live under the roof of the Congressman and live a wealthy life, but not being able to be by Penn’s side or leave and face an unknown world.

My thoughts:
I really loved Perfected; I think that it could have been more tragic but I simply loved it the way it is. Yes, it could have destroyed my heart, but instead Perfected warmed it. I’m not saying that there weren’t any hard emotions, there were! And at the end my heart was aching but it didn’t leave me with a bitter taste.

There is nothing bad I can say about Perfected; I liked the concept of this book and that it wasn’t your typical dystopian book. There is no war, no apocalypse that leads to humans owning another human; it is our own system running its course. I liked it because even though it is a dystopian, it is not so dark.
When talking about owning a human being, you picture slavery, physical abuse (whipping), and worst things, but these girls are well maintained; their owners buy them the best things. I’m not saying that all was rainbows and butterflies. When a girl/pet “behaved badly”, there were methods to correct their conduct, some were denigrating and others were worst; if the owners didn’t like their pet, they would send her back, and what awaits them is far worse than denigrating punishments. And let’s not start with the “pet” thing (and the freedom)! I really enjoyed Perfected for its uniqueness and touching storyline.

Another important thing about books is the characters. If you couldn’t relate or feel something for the main character, it wouldn’t be a book you’d enjoy (or not so much). As for Perfected, I loved Ella, I loved Penn, I loved Ruby, and I hated the Congressman…
Ella was a fantastic character. I liked her because she was passionate and fragile, but deep down she had a fighting spirit. Sometimes she seemed stupid, but I call it naivety or lack of experience. She was bred to please her owners and to always put her master’s happiness before anything else, and that’s the life she’s always known.
“‘Things won’t change once you leave here,’ she went on. ‘Simply because you’ll be pampered and spoiled, your life’s mission won’t suddenly be any different. Remember that. Your sole purpose is to enrich the lives of your new owners’”

There’s thing she doesn’t know, like how to read or swim but doesn’t mean she was happy with that; she wanted to learn, to be more than just a pet, she has the desire to do so and that’s what I liked about her.

As for Penn, he was a realistic character. He is not your typical hero: all bad-boy, cocky and self-absorbed or totally nerdy but hot. He is good looking (DUH!) but not in a Greek-God kind of way. I totally see him as a boy I could meet someday (crossing fingers). At first, he was annoyed by Ella’s presence but then we see a change of heart and he started to have feelings for her. Some may say that his change of heart was abrupt, but let’s not forget that the books is told from Ella’s POV, so we don’t really know what’s going on inside Penn’s head. Actually I do! There’s a bonus content at the end of the book from Penn’s POV. Nevertheless, from Ella’s POV we deduce why he changed his mind, and from that point, there was no abruptness to what was coming.

Other character I’d like to highlight is the congressman. I really despised him. He was disgusting but in a very subtle way.
“He reached over and squeezed my leg just above the knee. ’You can’t imagine all the things I’m going to show you, all the wonders you ever even dreamed existed. There’s so much I’m going to give you, my pet’”

As for the end, it simply blew my mind. OMG!! The end was something I wasn’t expecting at all. I really hope there’s a sequel (and soon please!!) because you can’t leave me like that.

Overall, Perfected was perfect! The writing was exquisite and the characters were memorable. I’d recommend this to those who like dystopian but wouldn’t mind a light one (it is not a bad thing!).

Disclaimer: I have received Perfected in exchange for an honest review. This review hasn’t been affected by the author or any third party. show less

The premise of this book really intrigued me so I jumped on the opportunity to review it. There were many aspects that fascinated me (and a few that disturbed me.) However, even though the book touches on a topic that can be extremely controversial, I think it was very well written and as the reader, I didn't get caught up in the moral implications and just enjoyed the story for what it was. It's crazy to think that the government would allow human beings to be treated as pets and basically compare them to dogs, but I found myself so drawn to Ella and Penn, that I forgot about everything else.

Ella is naïve, innocent and pure and it's nearly impossible not to love her as the leading lady. Even though she's been trained to behave a show more certain way, she has this bold side to her that makes her push the boundaries. She becomes curious about things and it's very amusing to see her explore and discover this whole new world.

Penn is a typical rebellious teenaged son. When he finds out that they're getting a new "pet" he expects to hate her. But that's not what happens; the forbidden love between Penn and Ella is captivating to say the least.

The book kept me interested the whole time and I found it to be a delightful read. I don't know if this is meant to be the first book of a series, but hopefully it is, because I am in desperate need of a continuation.

*I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review* show less