PODs (PODs #1) by Michelle Pickett Review

Book: PODs (PODs #1)
Author: Michelle Pickett
Pages: 313
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Received an ARC for an honest review
Rating: 5* 

Ever since I read the blurb of PODs by Michelle Pickett last year I was really excited to read it, and thanks to the wonderful people at Spencer Hill Press I received an ARC for review.

PODS didn't disappoint, I absolutely loved it, and can't wait for the sequel, The Infected, released fall 2014!

I love dystopian books where humanity is in peril due to some natural disaster or a mysterious virus. In PODs we have a virus wiping out humanity. Once you are infected the virus kills you within a few days. The virus is incurable, scientists have no idea how to cure it. The only option- to protect humanity at all cost. The solution- the PODs, underground bunkers where a limited number of humans can live for a year safely to wait the virus out. Who gets a place in the PODs? A lottery decides!

So much happens in PODs. It spans over a year starting with just as the virus is killing people, the year in the PODs, and after everyone emerges from the PODs. I thought initially because it spanned such a long time there wasn't going to be enough and it was going to be rushed but the pacing was perfect.

The story is told though seventeen year old protagonist Ava who gets chosen as one of the Seventy Thousand picked for the POD's. Michelle Pickett depicted perfectly though the eyes of Ava the emotions of having to leave your family knowing they where going to die from the virus, to be saved and put into a bunker with strangers and to continue to live your life knowing millions of people where dieing.

There is some great secondary characters in POD's. We have Tiffany who is in her early twenties and pregnant and we see her go though the birth of her baby in the POD's. There is Katie who is the youngest in Ava's POD and the emotions she goes though really made it feel real, that a virus was killing everyone you loved and cared about. And then there is David, my new book boyfriend. David is Ava's love interest and I absolutely loved him! David and Ava are perfect together and I loved seeing their relationship growing thought out POD's. Ava's personality of trying to be funny in the most dire situation went well with the serious side of David. David thought about the consequences of doing something where as Ava's did what she thought was right even if it meant putting herself in danger. The genuine love they had for each other was lovely. It wasn't an insta love which I liked and felt like a real relationship, that develops over time where two people grow to truly love and care about each other.

POD's was a fantastic book! It had great characters, a genuine romance and was fast paced with twists and turns, what else could you want from a book, oh yeah, how about though some Zombies in there!  (When the inhabitants leave the POD's they realise that some of the humans have survived the virus and are now Zombie like creatures ready to kill anyone in their path)! I can't wait to read more from Michell Pickett!