Prized by Caragh M. O'Brien

Title/Author: Prized (Birthmarked #2) by Caragh M. O'Brien
Publisher/Date published: Roaring Book Press, November 8th 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "Striking out into the wasteland with nothing but her baby sister, a handful of supplies, and a rumor to guide her, sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone survives only to be captured by the people of Sylum, a dystopian society where women rule the men who drastically outnumber them, and a kiss is a crime. In order to see her sister again, Gaia must submit to their strict social code, but how can she deny her sense of justice, her curiosity, and everything in her heart that makes her whole?"

**WARNING: spoilers for Birthmarked likely!**

You guys, I really liked the first book in this series and was so, SO glad that I already had this one waiting on me, because CLIFFHANGER! And I was dying to find out what would happen with the budding romance between Gaia and Leon, cause that boy totally had potential! So imagine my disappointment when it took ages for him to show up! Or maybe it just felt like ages cause I was pining for some Leon ;)

I like when it's explained why dystopian societies came to be that way and I could imagine this one forming, though I couldn't really see why they wouldn't have thought of looking for a cause for the men's infertility and the low number of girl babies being born. I mean, you're getting extinct, you could at least TRY to look interested. That said, I did get how the women were in charge and even how the Matrarc got that power. Even Gaia had trouble keeping her thoughts straight because of the Matrarc's persuasive powers. It did seem like Gaia went from a bad situation into an even worse one, because this society was just as oppressive.

And now comes one big thing I did not like:
*drumroll* the love QUADRANGLE.
Seriously.
I WTF-ed a LOT throughout all this happening. I mean, even Gaia herself said: 'I never thought I'd be part of a love quadrangle'. No shit.
I'm kinda confused how she went from no boys wanting her because of her scar and them all, except for Leon, thinking her ugly to having all the boys running after her like she's some supermodel. I found it really hard to believe. I mean, I get there weren't a lot of available girls and all that, but still. Really? I mean, REALLY? 4 guys lusting after her? REALLY? I found it hard to believe and very annoying.

Gaia herself really annoyed me for the first part of the book, as did Leon when he finally entered. Gaia seemed to be a shell of her former self and just not the strong girl I had gotten to know in the first book. I'm glad to say that she stepped up later on, but it's a real shock, especially just having finished Birthmarked. Leon seemed unreasonably mad and mean, but he finally returned to the boy I knew and liked.

So while I seriously considered throwing the book across the room for the first half, or maybe 3/4 of the book (well, not really, cause I don't want to break my e-reader), the ending turned out much better! Though I'm not sure if there's enough story left for another book, I'll be sure to pick it up when it get released!

My rating: 3 stars