Review: Scored

Title: Scored

Author: Lauren McLaughlin

Rating: 3 stars

The Blurb:
Set in the future when teenagers are monitored via camera and their recorded actions and confessions plugged into a computer program that determines their ability to succeed. All kids given a "score" that determines their future potential. This score can get kids into colleges, grant scholarships, or destroy all hope for the above. Scored's reluctant heroine is Imani, a girl whose high score is brought down when her best friend's score plummets. Where do you draw the line between doing what feels morally right and what can mean your future? Friendship, romance, loyalty, family, human connection and human value: all are questioned in this fresh and compelling dystopian novel set in the scarily foreseeable future.

The Review:
This book has a really interesting premise. it's about a world where teenagers are monitored pretty much at all times. They are monitored by a computer program and the score they get by the end of their high school career will determine which college they go to or even if they go to college at all. In this world it is extremely easy for you to make a mistake and have your score drop but nearly impossible for you to get it to rise back up. One little mistake can determine your future and it might not even be a mistake that you made, just by associating with someone who doesn't follow the rules could cause your score to drop.

I liked this book it had a good premise and it seemed like it would be really interesting. The main character Imani is driven and ambitious which I like about her, she is also loyal to her friend Cady even though they both have different scores (Imani has a 92 and Cady is in the low 70s). The strangest things affect your score; whether it's speeding, questioning authority, being in an unsavory area, or just hanging out with someone with a lower score. Cady could cause Imani's score to drop. I like that she takes this risk for her best friend. Then something awful happens. Cady is caught dating an unscored boy which drops her score to 28. Just by being friends with her Imani's score drops to  the 70's and Imani didn't even know it was going on.

The romance in this book was really lacking. There was some banter between Imani and her love interest Diego but it wasn't the flirty sort of banter or even full on passionate fighting. It just felt a bit mundane. I liked both of the characters but they just didn't have any chemistry at all and I honestly didn't think there would be a romantic spark between them.

The ending of this book was really abrupt. It was like the author couldn't think of what else to write so she just decided to come up with an extremely anticlimactic ending that was not satisfying in the least.

If there was another book written in this series then I would consider reading simply because I really love the premise and I think this story could go somewhere really interesting.