***Independent Study is the second book in The Testing series. Please keep in mind that there may be spoilers for the first book in this review.

Cia successfully passed the testing, made it into university, and kept her memory after the testing officials tried to wipe them, thanks to her quick and clever thinking. What she now realizes is that the dangers don’t stop after the testing, they only get more and more treacherous. Her strange and untrusting behavior has earned suspicion from the teachers who think she might be siding with the rebellion, because of this, the teachers have disadvantaged Cia by giving her more courses than she can handle and a job with the president that is causing distrust amongst her peers and putting herself in danger. Cia knows she cannot complain because the consequences will surely lead to her death, but she knows that there are people at the university that want to put an end to the testing just as much as she does. Now all she needs to do is find them.

I love how the plot flows smoothly from the first book to the second just as much as I enjoyed reading about Cia and Thomas’s blossoming romance. I also found it incredibly interesting how Joelle Charbonneau was able to introduce new characters into the plot without making them seem unnecessary or out of place. I could definitely see this book appealing to all teens out there but more specifically dystopian book lovers as this e-book’s genre is very close to those of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Divergent by Veronica Roth, and The Maze Runner by James Dashner.