I had high expectations for Rush. I mean... aliens... a game... wow. The synopsis sucked me right in from the beginning. I craved it. Not to mention the cover is gorgeous. I wanted this book, and I wanted it bad. 
 But something was wrong as I read. Something wasn't clicking for me with the characters and the story seemed OFF. The first thirty pages or so, I was glued right in. I liked how it began with the action right from the get-go, but once the "otherworld" and the romance started to come into the picture, everything seemed to go downhill for me as the reader. Love triangles can be a make or break thing for me sometimes--and this one was a total break it. It was just awful and not well-done. The BFF-turned-Mean-Girl later on really irked me. I found it unrealistic to how an actual teen girl would react to a situation with her best friend. A bit melodramatic. Seriously? And in that case, I would've hoped more reaction from Miki. It was absolutely ridiculous. What I really wish was that the romance hadn't been so heavily focused on in this book. I may have even liked it a bit more then. But I couldn't because one of my largest problems was the romance. The awful love-triangle that is prevalent from the beginning. The so-called love-hate relationship you can clearly see isn't. And Miki is a strong character. She'd have been much stronger and much more likable if her head hadn't been in the clouds every page about which boy was thinking of her most. 
 There was a lot of confusion going on too. Not just for Miki, but for me. I felt like there were just too many unanswered questions and it was annoying. She kept asking questions, only to get cryptic answers. And shit... Jackson. *facepalm* I got tired of this back-and-forth between them. 
 "Tell me." 
 "No." 
 "Tell me." 
 "Okay." 
 Proceeds to tell a few things, but not enough really. 
 (Of course that's out of context, but you get the idea?) 
 Actual quote: 
 "Who's on the Committee?" 
 "Committee Members." 
 Oh, come on! Really? I couldn't take that seriously at all. And whenever I did get more information finally, it was a big info-dump that I didn't care about anymore. And I still didn't feel satisfied. Like I said, a lot of unanswered questions. There was an interesting premise here and it all just fell flat for me. I'd wanted to like this book so much. 
 I also saw the "unexpected twist" coming long before it happened because of a lot of foreshadowing. I hate when that happens. I do guess the twists a lot though in many of my reads, so that could've just been me...but this had been an easy spot. 
 Surprisingly enough, despite all of this, I read through Rush quickly. I can see the entertainment value. 
 The idea is unique and fresh. 
 I just wish it'd had a better execution. I can see myself truly continuing onto the next installment in the future just to see where it goes out of sheer curiosity. 
 <3 
 Pixie