The Girl in a Cafe

First things first - COVER LOVE. I adore this cover. While it's not exactly the perfect representation of the book, the idea of Manhattan's skyline immersed in water and looking as if it is falling off into a waterfall is damn impressive. And even the watery shadows in the title font as well are so pleasing, this cover immediately jumped out as something awesome.Aside from the amazing cover, I thoroughly enjoyed this Dystopian read. A unique and fresh outtake on a trend that can at times, become quite boring, The Ward kept me interested for most of the way through.While I enjoyed it, this wasn't a book I overly loved. The book jumps right into the action, which is a big tick from me, and the plot moved quick enough to keep me entertained. However, what was a big letdown for me was that there wasn't enough world-building to begin with. I can only assume that we'll be given more in the next book, but it would have been even better to have more of a development into what actually happened for this new world to be created. I find that generally, most Dystopian books lack this type of information, and it would be nice to see that gap. The Ward was definitely more about the characters than the plot itself. I loved the range that we got, from Ren herself, to the friends that were introduced. I did feel like that the minor characters were rather left to themselves, and could have been brought out of their shells a bit more, but that's what its keeping me interested in reading the sequel. Ren is a girl with passion and fire. She's incredibly loyal, and we see how much her family and friends mean to her throughout the course of the book.I loved the romance too; albeit was a little underdeveloped and again, could have used a bit more attention. Derek was a guy that you instantly fell for, despite knowing he had a bit of a shadyness about him. But I was totally cool with that. The book is a little rocky, but there are all the signs of a great series in the making here. And with such a thrilling premise, then this is one series that I will definitely keep reading.