So somehow the blurb on this gave me low expectations coming in, and the first chapters were iffy for me. Knowing before Juneau that her whole life was a lie made me impatient to get to where she figured it out and moved forward. Once she entered the world, though, I actually found her adjustment to normal life compelling and believable. I have some friends who were raised in a commune, sheltered from the world, and Juneau's struggles, while more extreme than theirs (since they knew there WAS an outside world), had some poignant similarities. 
 The magic/Gaia aspect had me a bit befuddled and weirded out. Assumed at first that it was just part of the cult, then realized it wasn't just that. Couldn't always figure what exactly was going on, though I did get some answers in the second book. I wasn't expecting this to be fantasy, so my mind had to adjust once I realized some genre-bending was happening. 
 I've read several iterations of the "girl and boy get together and she has awesome abilities and leaves him in her dust" motif recently, and I guess it's supposed to be all feminist and girl-power and we should all love it, but I frankly struggle with the huge power imbalance in such relationships. I really disliked it when gender roles were reversed in Twilight, too, so it's not just that I always want a heroine to be rescued by the brave knight. I like feisty heroines, and I really enjoyed Juneau's crazy survival skills, but I didn't like how inferior Miles felt. I mean, he was a spoiled boy who needed a comeuppance, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if he'd had more to contribute to the partnership. I like my romances a la Pride and Prejudice, where Lizzy and Darcy both learn from each other and bring out the best in each other. 
 I did check out the sequel and kept reading right away, so it's definitely compelling.