Damaged Goods (Blank Slate) Paperback – January 17, 2017

The follow-up to Bardsley's excellent debut, GENESIS GIRL, this novel finds narrator Blanca trying to gain control of her life after repudiating the limits placed upon her by the Vestal order. As a person who's been cloistered her entire life, the challenges of maintaining her privacy while at the same time forging a public role are daunting; and these problems aren't helped when the FBI starts digging into her knowledge of the inner workings of the Tabula Rasa institute. Those who seek to protect her, including her boyfriend Seth and her adoptive father Cal, want her to undergo therapy, but Blanca recoils from the intimate disclosures of the therapeutic process. And while all this is going on in Blanca's personal life, a shadowy group known as the Guardians, Chinese rivals of the Vestals, pull her into a game of intrigue made all the more complex by her past relationship with one of their members.One of the things I loved about this book--beyond the social satire, which remains as sharp here as in GENESIS GIRL--is the development of Blanca's character. In the first book of the series, she was just emerging from the stifling cloak of the Vestal order; here, she's begun to develop an identity and a voice of her own. This makes her a more active, assertive, and even defiant character, traits that pulled me in and made me root for her from page 1. Watching Blanca act against a backdrop of espionage and shifting loyalties was made all the more fun because of her lack of knowledge and experience; she's in the dark as much as we are as readers, and that creates great tension and suspense that moves the book forward. It appears from the ending that a third book is on its way, and it'll be great to see how all the plot complications are resolved, not to mention to watch Blanca continue to evolve as a character.Bottom line: if you like YA science fiction with twisty plots and a bit of romance, this series is for you.

Reading DAMAGED GOODS feels like climbing on the back of nineteen year old Blanca's motorcycle and riding into an oncoming storm of shifting alliances and broken bonds! A terrific read!Blanca, no longer a Vestal, falls in love with Seth, a tattooed viral blogger. The lovers come from two different worlds. Blanca is from a childhood sheltered from social media. One in which confined children grow up playing games and reading books. Worldly and tech addicted Seth will do anything for a good story, including breaking the law. Around them swirl old lovers, new deceptions, and Blanca's core need to discover all she can about her birth mother.DAMAGED GOODS is a wonderful page-turner, but with a unique element. Everybody knows people who share too much on social media versus those who choose to keep their lives private. DAMAGED GOODS explores the future of these two extremes and how they can be exploited. After loving this exhilarating ride, the contrast of how much to make public will linger with me. Where do you fall on the social media spectrum? Read and enjoy!

Just finished the Blank Slate book #2, Damaged Goods. This picks up where the first book, Genesis Girl, left off. The situations that Blanca gets into and creates are gripping and unexpected. Her transition from her old Vestal life and identity to her new freedom, was extremely fascinating. Could she truly change into an independent free-thinking person without losing herself? How does that even work? Amidst all the turmoil and anarchic chaos that ensues, the author never loses sight of that inner battle going on. A very engaging read and another triumph for Ms. Bardsley!

What a fun read. An absolute page turner. Jennifer Bardsley writes such an exciting climax I simultaneously couldn't wait to read it and didn't want it to end.

Jennifer Bardsley has written a solid follow-up to "Genesis Girl". Blanca continues to grow as a character as she figures out her place in the world now that she has freed herself from the blind obedience of being a Vestal. "Damaged Goods" delves into some interesting world-building such as how the "Rejects" who were not selected for Harvest and the fame & fortune as Vestals cope with their disappointment, and geopolitics of the Chinese rival to the Vestals, the "Guardians". The story is fast-paced and entertaining. The cliff-hanger ending left me hoping that book 3 is in the works.Parents should be aware that this book contains more sexual content than "Genesis Girl". It's not particularly graphic but while I would be okay with my 12 y.o. reading book 1, I would wait on giving this particular book. Some examples: "[his] hands move down the bare skin of my ass, his thumbs grazing under my panty line" and "there were no token affections, no words of endearment. Just a hot mad rush of stripping off my black spandex suit. Of [character's name] tracing the curves of my sixteen-year-old frame. Of our two bodies entwined for quick thrusts of pleasure." I personally prefer sex in YA novels to be more implied and less spelled out than this.