Breaking Point (Article 5 #2)

Author: Kristen Simmons
Goodreads Rating: 4.10
Pages: 400
Format: ARC from YA Book Exchange

The second installment in Kristen Simmons's fast-paced, gripping YA dystopian series.
After faking their deaths to escape from prison, Ember Miller and Chase Jennings have only one goal: to lay low until the Federal Bureau of Reformation forgets they ever existed.
Near-celebrities now for the increasingly sensationalized tales of their struggles with the government, Ember and Chase are recognized and taken in by the Resistance—an underground organization working to systematically take down the government. At headquarters, all eyes are on the sniper, an anonymous assassin taking out FBR soldiers one by one. Rumors are flying about the sniper’s true identity, and Ember and Chase welcome the diversion….
Until the government posts its most-wanted list, and their number one suspect is Ember herself.
Orders are shoot to kill, and soldiers are cleared to fire on suspicion alone. Suddenly Ember can’t even step onto the street without fear of being recognized, and “laying low” is a joke. Even members of the Resistance are starting to look at her sideways.
With Chase urging her to run, Ember must decide: Go into hiding…or fight back?

Oh my god. What a stellar second book. Simmons did not suffer from what people call the sophomore slump. She came back in this book with Ember and Chase and she kicked some ass.  I loved the plot of this book even more than I loved the first book. I found myself less annoyed with Ember because she grew up in this book, she took her experiences and grew on them rather than stay the same stubborn person that she was, and could have remained. I loved seeing so much growth in all of the characters.

I loved that Ember and Chase’s relationship was still a major part of this book, but didn’t overshadow the central plot which was being part of the resistance. There was plenty of love between them (although I did want some more lovin) and I felt that all of their interactions were real. When they started towards having sex, it wasn’t magical and flawless, it was clumsy and awkward the way that it works in the real world. I think what I loved best was the little details that Simmons include like the way that he held her leg after she knee’d his side while lying down, it all felt like real actions that someone would do when they loved someone.

I think the reason that I like Chase so much is because he reminds me of my boyfriend and how fierce his love is for Ember and how he would do anything to protect her. We see plenty of that in a lot of YA books, but I can really feel Chase as he wants to protect her as he wants to do whatever he can to ease her suffering. He would go to the ends of the world to save her and that was what made me love them so much together. In my review of Article 5, I didn’t think that Ember was worthy of his love because she was so naïve and just rejected him constantly, but I think that she really proved it this time.

I did find it a little strange that all of the sudden the government decided to put so much into Ember. There really was no plausible reason that I could foresee them taking Embers name and adding her to the list of snipers. What did she really do? She escaped from them, I get that, it sucks, but she really didn’t do anything else, she was a nobody, so why pin the sniper things on her, especially when she was presumed dead. It didn’t really make sense to me. Maybe in the next book we will find out exactly what is going on and why she went from being a no body to being so important.

There were a ton of surprises in this book that no one could have really seen coming. I loved the group effort for finding Rebecca. At first I wasn’t so sure why Ember was so invested in saving her besides the guilt that it was her fault that she was there, but then I remembered that they had bonded after Ember had caught her and Sean together. I have to say, I also really adored her friendship with Sean and how they grew close and had one anothers backs. I also loved that even if Chase couldn’t protect Ember, Sean was there to cover the slack. There are a few more things I I would love to talk about, but you’re going to have to read the book to see about those!

The Courts Decision: