The Keep – Tenille Berezay (Review)

Title: The Keep (Converters #2)
Author: Tenille Berezay
Publisher: Line by Line, November 12, 2016
Genre: YA Science Fiction

**I received an ARC of this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review**

This review can be found on my Blog, TeacherofYA’s Tumblr, or my Goodreads page

My Review:

I read The Convergence awhile back from ebooksforreview.com, and I loved the book. Tenille got in contact with me, and we have been friends since. When she told me a sequel to The Convergence had been written, I was thrilled to be offered a chance to read it. And now that she’s just had a blog tour for the book’s release, I feel this is the BEST TIME to publish a review of The Keep!

Here’s the first book:

Here’s a little info on the first book:

Hiding unbelievable physical abilities, seventeen-year-old Desiree Morgan buries herself inside the realities of high school. But when Blake Thomas infiltrates her life, all of Desiree’s secrets begin to unravel. With answers come more questions and soon she is entangled in a world of secret societies, human experimentation, perilous power-struggles, and ultimate sacrifice. To escape, Desiree can’t be simply extraordinary…she must redefine the impossible. 

THE CONVERGENCE is a story of one girl’s search to understand herself and the realization of what makes her truly great. 

My review for The Convergence can be found here: The Convergence Review

But now we are on to book two, The Keep. So let me tell you a little about this book…and why I love Tenille so much!

Desiree Morgan has escaped The Convergence, but she had to leave Blake behind. She didn’t want to, but they need him. But Blake refuses to stay gone. He tells Desiree’s brother, Denny, that The Convergence is no longer after her…that she has been pardoned. She can now go home. And when she gets there, so does Blake.

He insists they have a future. That they can make it work. Dezi is skeptical since she knows The Convergence needs him, and he needs to lead them now that they have no one else. As Converters, both Blake and Dezi have the ability to take energy and do incredible things: they are stronger, faster, and tougher than anyone else. But no one can know about their abilities except other Converters. So as Dezi tries to push Blake away, Blake comes on stronger than ever.

He will win Desi back.

However, Doran is still a threat. As a man who cannot convert, he wants Desi’s abilities, and he’s already tortured her once to get them. He’s willing to do it again…and he’s escaped The Convergence. He’s come for Desi…but leaves after killing her father.

Now alone with only her brother and Blake, the three of them go to hide out at with a different group of Converters until Doran can be caught. Terrence Knightley, the head of a resort called The Keep, seems like a man who has ulterior motives…but Dezi can’t prove it. He runs a resort that has a separate area where the Converters live. Knightley knows that Dezi is special: she can externally convert, which means she can not only improve herself internally, but she can control objects externally as well.

Unfortunately, to be special among Converters is not always a good thing.

Sometimes it can get you killed.

Is It Classroom-Appropriate?

Of course! Tenille’s series is great! Just enough science fiction to make it interesting, but not too much to be overwhelming. I think the first book, The Comvergence, is (of course) a better choice, because that book explains everything.  Sequels aren’t the best books for the classroom. But, if read with the first, it would be helpful. But there’s also a third and final book in the works, so I’m thinking The Convergence would be good for the classroom, and The Keep and the unnamed final book would be good for those readers that want to continue the journey, and want more from the story. Get em sucked in and keep em hooked: that’s the best way to get readers to KEEP reading.

And what’s a better way to “keep” reading than reading “The Keep?” (I know, it’s a lame pun, but let me have it!)

Age Range:

I’m going to just copy exactly what I said for The Comvergence:

“Lexile.com does not have it available…this happens a lot with indie books. I would say you could go as young as 12 with this one. No sex, no swearing. It keeps interest for even those with roaming minds. I’d stick with 12 and up. It’s a nice, clean read.”

Look! My first graphic from Canva! I know it’s nothing special, but I’m working on it:

After living throughout the western U.S., Tenille now claims rural Northern Nevada as her home. If she’s not being consumed by a book—whether her own or another author’s—she’d like to be found horseback riding, backpacking with her high-school sweetheart/husband, or photographing their three beautiful children.

End Result:

Drumroll, please….

★★★★★! Tenille does it again! She’s an amazing writer. Her books are flawless and addicting. I’m pretty sure she could write a menu and I would be enthralled. She’s coming out with something non-Convergence related soon…I can’t say because I don’t know if I’m allowed, but the premise is so right up my alley, and I hope I get to read that one, too!

I’m going to leave you with a little teaser that just shows off Tenille’s writing chops. The woman is talented.

The black, quiet of the night turns my thoughts dark. Maybe death wouldn’t be the worst thing. I’m sure I’ve suffered worse. My eyes drift closed. Maybe when I wake I’ll be gone. All of this over. Denny safe, because—come on—how can you blackmail a dead person? Doren in the hands of Amplified Industries. Blake safe to save the world. The nightmare over, I’d be back with Mom and Dad. 

Yes, there are so many things worse than dying. 

My heart goes numb at the realization. 

I always thought I’d face death with more feeling. That maybe I’d go out in a blaze of fury. Or I would be relieved. Instead, I’m left waiting for it with an uncertainty of feeling that leaves me thinking I’ve already passed. That my soul is empty and just waiting for my body to catch up. The absence of emotion would frighten me if I could feel. Without emotion what do I have to fight with? 

I sink back into the cold rock. A light, summer rain falls around me, the damp seeping into me. I drift in my considerations as the night lengthens. The darkness outside matching the blankness inside, I’m left with nothing but time.

Happy Reading, everyone!

*And thank you again to Tenille Berezay for introducing me to Dezi, Denny, and my book boyfriend, Blake*