Chapter Three
They drive to John and Elise's house. It's boring. John and Elise sort of argue about Elise going out that evening. Wow. Usually it's the super busy congressman who can't be there for his kids, not his wife. Awks.
When they get home, John's daughter Ruby runs out of the house. I honestly don't remember if I mentioned this in the last chapter, but Ella was bought to be a playmate for Ruby, who's like 10. Okay, so... in this world where you can have talented, beautiful, slaves who are trained to not have a will of their own.... you buy one to play with your kid? It's pretty clear that these chicks aren't trained as Nannies, so... what's the point? Doesn't Ruby have other little congresschildren to be friends with?!
I guess John really does want to bone her.
Ella looks at Ruby and we get some creepy ass description.
I wanted to reach out a hand and draw my fingers across the bridge of her nose to see if her skin felt as velvety as it looked.
I swear to GOD I've read dozens of permutations of this sentence in romance novels between grown-ass adults.
Ruby is all intrigued because Ella is the same height as her, and Elise is like "Duh, they're bred to be small" and I'm wondering why? It just adds a WHOLE other layer of creepy with the line from the first chapter, the on about them looking 12, and with the old guy petting one of them. Is there any reason they're bred to be tiny? I'm 5' and thin. It makes buying jeans a pain in the ass because I'm short with hips. WILL I GET ANSWERS?
Speaking of being bred... this is still only Chapter 3 so I'm not nitpicking, but I'm wondering if it's going to be explained how these girls are genetically engineered. Are they actually clones and the scientists screwed around with genes? Were they discarded embryos? Were they created in a test tube?! Do the scientists have the ability to change pre-existing genes? If people can choose features for "pets" why don't they do it with their own children? Because based on some of Ruby's description (Ella says she looks "unfortunate"), it doesn't sound like people do it with their own children. C'mon. I've seen the movie Gattaca. You can't just drop this into the world and then make it exist in a single situation when rich people spend money on ANYTHING to make themselves look "designer". It's too early to criticize the book for these questions, but I will be VERY surprised if any of this is answered considering this is a YA book that seems more concerned with the romance, according to the blurb.
Enough chatter. Onward.
Ruby lets it slip that they had another "pet" before Ella. John says that she "came down" with something they couldn't treat so the kennel "insisted" they return her. It's very heavily implied that the previous girl did something that was unsatisfactory to the family, but the way it's worded is so gross. We still haven't gotten Ruby's actual age, but c'mon. Kids are smart. Also, SHE'S A HUMAN BEING WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE HER TO A DOCTOR? JESUS. EVEN DUMBASS PET OWNERS IN REAL LIFE TAKE THEIR DOGS TO THE VET.
Growing up, we'd feared that door more than anything; more than the dark, more than scary stories whispered at night. It remained locked, but somehow we all knew that it was the door that imperfect pets were sent through. and we all knew they never came back out.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised there's a euthanasia room in the kennels. Damn.
Ella sees the Designated Love Interest™.
[. . .] There he was, leaning up against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest, his deep brown eyes staring right at me. I froze, and for a second the world went fuzzy around the edges. The only clear thing was this boy standing in front of me.
Sure that's not migraine aura, fam? Oh right, this is a YA book.
Ella is all marveling because the only men she'd seen at the Kennels were old and fat. Because... of course none of them could be naturally thin or work out? Unless the Kennels purposefully hire ugly dudes so the girls wouldn't get any ideas? Also, now that I think about it, are there any security protocols in place so the girls aren't molested? I HAVE PUT MORE THOUGHT INTO THIS BOOK THAN THE AUTHOR HAS, CLEARLY.
Penn, the boy, is rude and doesn't want to show Ella around the house. There's TENSION between him and John. I don't care.
Ruby acts like a six year old and takes her on a tour of the house. It's fancy. Also, Ella is EXTREMELY sheltered considering they're supposed to be trained to interact with these people. Like, didn't they show them shit on TV? I guess they really are supposed to be lifeless dolls, shit.
Ruby tells her to close her eyes.
Before I could close them, the congressman stepped behind me, slipping his warm hand over my eyes.
This book is so freaking creepy.
The room is fancy and Ella is awed and uncomfortable.
The congressman chuckled, smiling down at both of us. He stroked my hair. The touch was gentle. Not at all like how the senator had knotted his fingers in Sixteen's hair. His hand lingered on my cheek.
CAN THIS BOOK STOP BEING CREEPY FOR FIVE SECONDS
Blah Blah, Ella feels she's too common to be treated so fancy even though she was specifically engineered and trained her entire life. Like. What the fuck. Of course we need to have a protag that teenagers can identify with! Who's still uber special! UGH.
Chapter Four
OH MY GOD SHE ISN'T ALLOWED TO SIT AT THE DINNER TABLE AND HAS TO SIT AT HER OWN TABLE OH MY GOD.
WTF is this an Amish Shunning or something? Jesus Christ.
Penn rubbed a hand over his face. "god, how many times are you going to ask? She's a pet. Get it?"
Oh my god, I'm going to light him on fire. The other girl they had used to sit at the table, but apparently they need to set "Better boundaries" now because... This entire book is a DUMPSTER FIRE. Like this is so straight up sociopathic. This is shit SERIAL KILLERS do to their VICTIMS BEFORE MURDERING THE HELL OUT OF THEM. And you mean to tell me this treatment of living breathing people is the norm? It's pretty obvious that the girls have free will. WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS UNIVERSE. Like it's not even dystopia because this book, so far, could literally be set RIGHT NOW with the only change of the ability to manipulate genetics.
So apparently the girls have 'special diets' which... Super doesn't make sense.
The kennel tested out dozens of food combinations on us while we were growing up, but they found that a rotation between five staple meal plans gave the best results.
Okay so these girls are abused by having their food extremely restricted to certain things so they have soft shiny hair and shit. Now, obviously they're feeding the girls foods that are healthy and nutritious, but still, only eating 5 different meals for years? That doesn't SEEM healthy.
Getting past that, they decide to give Ella her name. Apparently people give their girls names like "Princess" and "Lady" and Penn points out that people give those names to their dogs and this book is a runaway creep train.
I could feel Penn's gaze on me, pensive, studying. Why did it feel as if he were touching me.
God this book is determined to give me nightmares
Ella can't keep her shit together around pretty boys and has flutters in her little tummy.
Ruby suggests the name Strawberry because she has strawberry blonde hair.
HER NAME WAS STRAWBERRY
Is Penn named after William Penn? Because that'd be sweet.
They finally choose Ella, and Penn bitches about his own name.
What's wrong with being named after this badass dude?
After dinner they chill in the conservatory and John is super creepy and keeps looking up at Ella while reading. Ella is just... sitting instead of helping Ruby put together a puzzle. Ruby finally takes Ella to her room.
"Our last pet hardly ever came up. She was always in my dad's office."
OH MY GOD THIS BOOK REALLY IS DOING THE SEX THING. OH MY GOD. Ruby tells Ella that her mom made the office forbidden. Because that'll stop him from fucking the 16 year old housepet. Fuck on a cracker.
Ruby comes up with a secret knock, and it's kind of cute.
Miss Gellner's instructions to always keep myself in a lower, subservient position to my master nagged at the back of my mind. I hoped I wouldn't get in trouble if the congressman walked in?
What if he likes it if she's on top?
OH MY GOD I'M GOING TO HELL. I need to bleach my brain for even joking about that jesus.
Apparently their last girl (I think her name was Ravenna? The naming scene didn't make that clear) was good at art, so I guess they do have other talents? But not one of the 20 girls in the first two chapters did anything else besides music and dance. Okay.
Miss Gellner is also apparently a horrible instructor because she told the girls to call their new "owners" "Master and Mistress" and the family doesn't like it. So. If you're training people to be perfect "pets", why not impress upon them that their new owners might like different names? GOD I HATE THAT I AM EVEN THINKING ABOUT IT LIKE THIS SHIT.
I need a hobby. Or to actually do the ones I already have.
This makes Ella cry. Because she really does suck at this. But I guess it humanizes her? IDK it's just not consistent with the shit world building.
Ruby consoles her, and confirms that their last girl was named Ravenna. And that Ella is more beautiful than she was. But... weren't the all engineered to have the same face shape and shit? Unless Ravenna was from a different lab (I hate calling them kennels) and they have different standards.
Ruby thinks she's ugly because she has freckles, and reveals she has an older sister named Claire. Ella offers to style Ruby's hair, and it's a sweet little scene.
All our Conversation classes centered around the adult dialogue that we were supposed to be able to follow and comment on. If the kennel had known that we were going to be around children, why hadn't they taught us how to speak to them too?
YIKES. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Mmmmhmm. This book si going there. And I want to light myself on fire. Because every page kind of confirms that these girls are TOTALLY bred as sex slaves. Jesus. If it turns out this is the case, then the world building STILL sucks because why wouldn't they train them to... be sex slaves? NOT THAT I WANT THAT SHIT. It just doesn't make sense. It's still early. Maybe it'll make sense.
(I'm not holding out hope).
Ruby asks what her favorite book is, and Ella thinks about how most of the books they read were about etiquette and crap.
[Biographies about American Men] were never boring. They were filled with stories of powerful men like the ones who would someday be our masters.
Because..... they couldn't possibly be bought by gross ugly dudes....
But what about the lesbians? Don't they get their gal pal toys too? FOR THAT MATTER ARE BOYS GENETICALLY ENGINEERED? BECAUSE DUDE. GOLDMINE RIGHT THERE. Ever read the shit show that is the Captive Prince?
Ruby's favorite book is a Wrinkle in Time. Solid choice. Ella is confused about books because why would you have your sex toy companion be well read?
Ugh this book makes me feel squicked out.
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