Ensnared by Rita Stradling

   The only positive thing about being stuck at home with the flu has been the ability to read a lot. My latest conquest is Ensnared by Rita Stradling. I received my ARC from NetGalley.  This is the cover that my digital copy had, but Ms. Stradling also has another cover option on her webpage. I REALLY like this one though. It immediately caught my attention on NetGalley and when I read that Ensnared was a modern telling of Beauty and the Beast, it appealed to me more.  Since we're doing Beauty and the Beast, Jr. for our school musical,I my interest was piqued and I requested it.

 

Ensnared is about a woman named Alainn Murphy whose father, Connor Murphy, has been commissioned to create a robot for the rich recluse, Lorccan Garbhan. Connor's robot, Rose, has been designed to be as human as possible but it seems like there are still a few issues that need to be worked out before his deadline to Lorccan. After asking for an extension of time, and being denied, Alainn agrees to temporarily switch places with Rose (who was designed to look like Alainn) until repairs could be completed. Unfortunately, she is unsure what Rose's purpose is at the Garbhan household. 

    Although it was pretty different than what I originally expected, I thought that the concept was pretty interesting. Alainn discovers that she is the only human in the house other than Lorccan, but there are plenty of other robots. The book brought up some ethical questions about AI and human interaction with automatons.Be forewarned- there are a few "steamy" sections in this book. I thought about recommending this book to some of my students and then realized that that wouldn't be the best idea.. lol. There are a few characters/questions I would've liked to have seen developed more, but overall, it was a quick read that I enjoyed. I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads. 

Goodreads Challenge- 8/50