Reboot by Amy Tintera (review)

Shot down at the age of twelve, Wren Connolly was dead for exactly 178 minutes before she returned to life as a stronger, faster, emotionally cold Reboot. For the last five years, she has been the ideal operative for HARC, the Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation that now runs what is left of the U.S. after a devastating plague. The best at tracking down traitors and killing them if orders decree it, Wren claims to feel nothing, but all that changes when Callum, whose twenty-two-minute death prior to Rebooting makes him more in touch with his human side, is assigned to Wren as her new trainee. When it becomes clear that HARC is experimenting on the Reboots and that Callum's life is in danger, Wren decides to spring Callum from HARC's labs and escape—and finds herself in the middle of a full-scale rebellion. A dystopian world with a flinty heroine who becomes the reluctant catalyst of a revolution isn't anything new in YA, but it's a story arc that's nonetheless well done here, and Wren is an exceedingly likable protagonist. Her narration clues readers into the fact that Wren is not nearly as devoid of emotion as she claims early on, and the bonds she forms with both her roommate and then Callum are affectionately and tenderly portrayed. Her internal struggles characterize much of the book's first half, but the action really gets going once she escapes with Callum, and the tension remains high as they deal not only with the HARC operatives pursuing them but also Callum's possible death and/or monstrous transformation as a result of HARC's experiments. The combination of wicked chase scenes, a sweet romance, and a dystopian world make this a welcome recommendation to readers awaiting the final installment to Roth's Divergent (BCCB 5/11) or the next Hunger Games movie.