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A review by lunelis
The Plan by Ruby Vincent
4.0
Before we begin, I wouldn't consider this book #1. This is book #2. [b:Orientation Week|48511152|Orientation Week (Breakbattle Academy #0.5)|Ruby Vincent|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1571558844l/48511152._SY75_.jpg|73826318] makes itself pretty relevant to the story, since this book doesn't adequately introduce what was learned in Orientation Week. Instead, it behaves as if you read that book.
So, keep that in mind: Amazon has the order right, GoodReads does not. You have to read Orientation Week or you'll probably be a bit lost and have missed out on a lot of events.
Also, I went into this series not having read [b:Marked|46146866|Marked (Evergreen Academy #1)|Ruby Vincent|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559674708l/46146866._SY75_.jpg|71096387]. So far it seems that outside of same universe connections and the therapist, Miss Val, being the heroine from the other series, there's nothing to suggest that the other series is needed to read and enjoy this one.
Anyway, as for this book, it was a pretty good read.
I like that Zela isn't just mindlessly horny towards everyone, she has meaningful relationships outside of the guys who will end up in her harem, and there's a plot that's way more focused on than the romance, which is nice, since it's allowing the relationships to unfold out of more than teenage lust.
The author is still dancing around why it is that Zela's at the school, so I feel like there's a chunk of motivation that's really left dangling because the author not telling us why Dereck is important doesn't really give us much to go on in terms of understanding why Zela is determined to stay at the school, why she's willing to go to such lengths to fight the bullies. We already know that her mom's book about the system being sexist and terrible and what not was just an in for Zela to get to the academy, even if she doesn't agree with the system, she's not passionate about changing it on her own and it is an incidental thing, not a major motivator: as she herself said, she's there for Dereck.
I think perhaps the idea that Zela is there for an education might be a secondary motivator, but, she doesn't seem to be especially invested in fighting to get into higher math classes. You'd think she would be constantly issuing challenges and working her way up from F class to D and so on until she could properly challenge the Elites. Most of what she does seems to be in favor of staying in the school and keeping close to Dereck, which feels paltry because we have no concept, beyond Zela hearing voices, of why that's important.
It also gives me a bad feeling because I'm sure the reason for Zela getting close to Dereck is something inane or irrational--like, it's gonna come out and make me groan, I can just... sense it. I'm hoping I'm wrong but, I just feel like it'll be something like "Two summers ago there was an accident and Dereck was there and he did something relevant therefore I need to get close to him" and I'll just groan because it's a stupid reason for the whole scheme.
The majority of the plot is focused on Cameron wanting to make Zela's life miserable for not falling in line with the Elites and their secret organization, the Network, and Zela fighting back, though from what I can tell, the story will really get started in the next book, since that seems to be where the more typical bully harem romance stuff will start.
I am happy to report that the bullying, right until that final incident, weren't anything especially horrific. Zela loses her belongings in battles and the Elite members bombard her with challenges and the system keeps working more in their favor than in hers, but a lot of the bullying tropes you see in other books of this nature aren't used. I'm not sure if it's because the author is just not interested in those same tired tropes or if because Zela is masquerading as a boy she didn't think the same types of harassment would apply.
The final act is a bit more intense; Zela is ganged up on by several of the Elites she knows--Michael, Cole, Zach, and Landon--as well as a few others, who beat her up in anger after thinking the acts of terror committed against them throughout the year were her doing. Zach, who is the victim of revenge porn, then rips off Zela's wetsuit, revealing her gender. She is panicking and crying and upset and is whisked away by Dereck before anything else happens, and the guys who attacked Zela are super shocked and seem to even realize they went too far by ganging up, but since this is the most intense part of the book, I wanted to mention it.
I liked that we see Adam, who now knows, comforting Zela and confirming that they're still friends. It's nice that Adam doesn't turn on her, but I hope we get some interaction between them and that the author doesn't just, ignore the revelation and act as if Adam wouldn't bat an eye at it.
I also liked that, while we do get a kiss in this book somewhat suddenly, that the author is still treating these things like crushes and not going full speed ahead into insta-love. I just wish I had more reason to feel like Zela should have something with Landon; all the guys who will become Zela's harem don't get a whole lot of time. It's more that Zela was just especially infatuated with Landon over the others, rather than because she's built up more of a relationship with him, so that's why he got in a kiss scene.
I'll be looking into the next book, since I'm interested enough to see where things are headed with it. So far, it's not just another rehashing of the same story, but a different execution of it that I hope allows for some new and interesting things to unfold.
So, keep that in mind: Amazon has the order right, GoodReads does not. You have to read Orientation Week or you'll probably be a bit lost and have missed out on a lot of events.
Also, I went into this series not having read [b:Marked|46146866|Marked (Evergreen Academy #1)|Ruby Vincent|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559674708l/46146866._SY75_.jpg|71096387]. So far it seems that outside of same universe connections and the therapist, Miss Val, being the heroine from the other series, there's nothing to suggest that the other series is needed to read and enjoy this one.
Anyway, as for this book, it was a pretty good read.
I like that Zela isn't just mindlessly horny towards everyone, she has meaningful relationships outside of the guys who will end up in her harem, and there's a plot that's way more focused on than the romance, which is nice, since it's allowing the relationships to unfold out of more than teenage lust.
The author is still dancing around why it is that Zela's at the school, so I feel like there's a chunk of motivation that's really left dangling because the author not telling us why Dereck is important doesn't really give us much to go on in terms of understanding why Zela is determined to stay at the school, why she's willing to go to such lengths to fight the bullies. We already know that her mom's book about the system being sexist and terrible and what not was just an in for Zela to get to the academy, even if she doesn't agree with the system, she's not passionate about changing it on her own and it is an incidental thing, not a major motivator: as she herself said, she's there for Dereck.
I think perhaps the idea that Zela is there for an education might be a secondary motivator, but, she doesn't seem to be especially invested in fighting to get into higher math classes. You'd think she would be constantly issuing challenges and working her way up from F class to D and so on until she could properly challenge the Elites. Most of what she does seems to be in favor of staying in the school and keeping close to Dereck, which feels paltry because we have no concept, beyond Zela hearing voices, of why that's important.
It also gives me a bad feeling because I'm sure the reason for Zela getting close to Dereck is something inane or irrational--like, it's gonna come out and make me groan, I can just... sense it. I'm hoping I'm wrong but, I just feel like it'll be something like "Two summers ago there was an accident and Dereck was there and he did something relevant therefore I need to get close to him" and I'll just groan because it's a stupid reason for the whole scheme.
The majority of the plot is focused on Cameron wanting to make Zela's life miserable for not falling in line with the Elites and their secret organization, the Network, and Zela fighting back, though from what I can tell, the story will really get started in the next book, since that seems to be where the more typical bully harem romance stuff will start.
I am happy to report that the bullying, right until that final incident, weren't anything especially horrific. Zela loses her belongings in battles and the Elite members bombard her with challenges and the system keeps working more in their favor than in hers, but a lot of the bullying tropes you see in other books of this nature aren't used. I'm not sure if it's because the author is just not interested in those same tired tropes or if because Zela is masquerading as a boy she didn't think the same types of harassment would apply.
The final act is a bit more intense; Zela is ganged up on by several of the Elites she knows--Michael, Cole, Zach, and Landon--as well as a few others, who beat her up in anger after thinking the acts of terror committed against them throughout the year were her doing. Zach, who is the victim of revenge porn, then rips off Zela's wetsuit, revealing her gender. She is panicking and crying and upset and is whisked away by Dereck before anything else happens, and the guys who attacked Zela are super shocked and seem to even realize they went too far by ganging up, but since this is the most intense part of the book, I wanted to mention it.
I liked that we see Adam, who now knows, comforting Zela and confirming that they're still friends. It's nice that Adam doesn't turn on her, but I hope we get some interaction between them and that the author doesn't just, ignore the revelation and act as if Adam wouldn't bat an eye at it.
I also liked that, while we do get a kiss in this book somewhat suddenly, that the author is still treating these things like crushes and not going full speed ahead into insta-love. I just wish I had more reason to feel like Zela should have something with Landon; all the guys who will become Zela's harem don't get a whole lot of time. It's more that Zela was just especially infatuated with Landon over the others, rather than because she's built up more of a relationship with him, so that's why he got in a kiss scene.
I'll be looking into the next book, since I'm interested enough to see where things are headed with it. So far, it's not just another rehashing of the same story, but a different execution of it that I hope allows for some new and interesting things to unfold.