Book Review: Losing Lila by Sarah Alderson

Title: Losing Lila

Author: Sarah Alderson
Series: Lila, #2
Pages: 322
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's
Date of Publication: 2nd August 2012
Source: Publisher*
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Alex and Lila are on the run, desperately trying to stay one step ahead of the Unit, which is somehow tracking their every move. While Alex is determined to keep Lila safe and her ability secret at any cost, Lila's only thought is of finding a way back to California so she can rescue her brother and mother from the military base where they're being held. Struggling to control both her growing power and her deepening feelings for Alex, Lila decides the time has finally come to stop running and start fighting. Together with Alex, Demos, and the others she's come to think of as family, Lila plans not only to save her brother and mum, but also to completely destroy the Unit and everything it stands for. But the plan requires Lila to return to California alone, and to make friends with the enemy - and in doing so, she risks losing everything: Alex, her family… even her life.

My Thoughts:
As soon as I finished Hunting Lila, I knew I needed to read this one as soon as I could. Being the idiot that I am and leaving it at home while I read Hunting Lila on holiday, so I was super excited to get started reading it, and read the first half all in one sitting. I tried to savour the last half, seeing as I can find no mention of a third book anywhere, but I ended up reading it on the train, much quicker than I thought I would be able to. It was just that good!

I still really liked Lila in this book. I've heard a couple of people say she gets a bit annoying in her impulsive ways and stubbornness, but I really liked that about her. If she were real and I was trying to convince her not to do something she wanted to do, she'd probably annoy the heck out of me, but as I never have to do that, I liked her a lot. It also shows her humanity and I liked that this proved the Unit wrong about all the psygens (people with powers) being evil and malevolent. Yeah. I had double English today...

Anyway, the rest of the characters, old and new, were also awesome. There was more Alex, and fewer clothes... I don't think I need to say anything more on the subject (apart from that it's still definitely YA ;P). The new characters were great, and finding out about new powers that I'd never thought of before was also really cool. It was nice to find out more about Lila's world and the people in it, and trying to understand why the Unit could ever think they were evil, was hard... They're twisted and horrid and I hate them. The Unit, I mean, not the psygens ;P

The plot was, as ever, fast-paced and exciting and was full of twists, turns, and a few things that genuinely shocked me. I won't go into detail, and maybe I should have seen them coming, but I had no idea... Anyway, the action is non-stop - this book has everything from Mafia drug-lords to blowing up military buildings. I was kept on the edge of my seat the whole way through and I found it difficult to find suitable breathing places where I could collect my thoughts and actually put the book down and do something else that (sadly) needed doing.

At the end of the book, there's a little story from Alex's point of view, and it's so adorable. If you read my Hunting Lila review, you'll know I got all mushy while talking about Alex and Lila, and while reading the Alex POV story at the end was the cutest. *more mushiness*

Anyway, enough with the Alex talk ;P Losing Lila is most definitely a worthy sequel to the brilliant Hunting Lila, and I really hope there will be another one some time in the future! Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to reading anything else that Sarah Alderson writes, and I would definitely recommend her books to all young adult fans! They're so readable, exciting, and fun and I really, really love them.

*Huge thanks to Simon & Schuster for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review! In no way has this affected my opinion of the book.