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    Once
    Once
    Once
    Audiobook7 hours

    Once

    Written by Anna Carey

    Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    When you're being hunted, who can you trust?

    For the first time since she escaped from her school many months ago, Eve can sleep soundly. She's living in Califia, a haven for women, protected from the terrifying fate that awaits orphaned girls in The New America.

    But her safety came at a price: She was forced to abandon Caleb, the boy she loves, wounded and alone at the city gates. When Eve gets word that Caleb is in trouble, she sets out into the wild again to rescue him, only to be captured and brought to the City of Sand, the capital of The New America.

    Trapped inside the City walls, Eve uncovers a shocking secret about her past—and is forced to confront the harsh reality of her future. When she discovers Caleb is alive, Eve attempts to flee her prison so they can be together—but the consequences could be deadly. She must make a desperate choice to save the ones she loves . . . or risk losing Caleb forever.

    In this breathless sequel to Eve, Anna Carey returns to her tale of romance, adventure, and sacrifice in a world that is both wonderfully strange and chillingly familiar.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateJul 3, 2012
    ISBN9780062212603
    Author

    Anna Carey

    Anna Carey graduated from New York University and has an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College. She lives in Los Angeles.

    Related to Once

    Titles in the series (3)

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    • Eve
      Eve

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      Eve

      Anna Carey
      3/5
    • Once
      Once

      Audiobook

      Once

      Anna Carey
      4/5
    • Rise
      Rise

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      Rise

      Anna Carey
      4/5
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    Reviews for Once

    4/5

    61 ratings27 reviews

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    • 5/5
      To me this book is the best in the trilogy. I read it in one sitting, I literally could not put the book down. Once again Anna Carey did a great job and has wrote a book which leaves you wondering what might happen next.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      After being somewhat disappointed with the first book, this second book gets better. The characters get more established and the story line comes together. Eve takes on a stronger character and becomes a leader to her fellow girls. She even becomes a better person because of Caleb, her new love. On to the next read!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      Extremly frustrating way to end it.
    • 4/5
      Really good.
    • 2/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: With an unexpected plot twist, Once is guaranteed to go in a direction you aren’t expecting–but if you didn’t love Eve, this installment doesn’t have a lot to offer you. Opening Sentence: I started over the rocks, clutching a knife in one hand. The Review: I looked forward to reading Once after the almost-cliffhanger at the end of Eve where we left Eve in Califia. Picking up a few months later, we notice right away it’s obvious that Eve is miserable in the safe haven, missing Arden and Caleb. And this is where any sort of plot description becomes tricky, because about 20% into Once there’s a huge twist. When Eve leaves Califia to find Caleb she ends up captured and carted off to the City of Sand. Where we come to the plot twist that made me groan aloud — though to be fair, I didn’t see it coming. The best part about Once, in my opinion, was the fact that I could actually like Eve this time around. She worries about the friends she left behind and attempts to help them, while last time she left them with hardly any second thoughts. However, most of the secondary characters that I was hoping would be fleshed out in the sequel were completely absent. Caleb, who was our paragon of hotness and survival skills, seemed to lose all his common sense in this book. It felt like the characters were making intentionally bad decisions just to move the plot along in the direction Carey needed it to go. So while Eve redeemed herself a bit in Once, Caleb’s character turned stupid. For most of the novel Eve’s thinking about Caleb, and while they manage a lot of making out for two prisoners, I needed more to their relationship. Most of their bonding happened while on the run, so I can understand the fact they grew together quickly, but I really wanted their story to develop beyond the physical. It was important to me that Caleb keep caring about the rebellion — which is barely mentioned — and the kids he left behind with Lief. For the most part, he just shrugs off the danger to himself when he meets with Eve, and I had to wonder where the great survival instincts from the first book went. City of Sand is not the glowing beacon of hope for New America Eve was raised to believe. Carey’s descriptions do a brilliant job of conjuring up the different spots in the city — think, restored Las Vegas. It’s not her writing that causes issues for me, but the way she uses her characters. It feels as if she has no regard for the groundwork she laid in book one, because it conflicts with how she needs them to act in Once. Caleb felt, in many ways, like a totally different guy. If you loved Eve, then Once will have some great aspects for you to dig into while you wait for Rise to come out. If you didn’t, then Once doesn’t have a lot to offer you. Notable Scene: We need help, I’d said, as I took a few tentative steps into the living room. Then I saw his remains on the couch. His skin was gray, his face partially sunken in from decay. “You left us,” I said, unable to hide the anger in my voice. “She was alone, she died alone in that house, and you could have helped her. I was waiting for someone to save us.” He covered my hand with his own, but I pulled away. “I would’ve, Genevieve–” “That’s not my name,” I snapped. I clutched the picture to my chest. “You can’t just call me that.”FTC Advisory: HarperTeen provided me with a copy of Once. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
    • 4/5
      Eve has settled into Califia, the all women settlement in the San Francisco area of the post-plague US when Arden, who was injured when they were escaping a trafficker of women in the last book, finally arrives in tact. Naturally, given that this is the second book in a trilogy, she can't just stay there, and she is tricked into finding Caleb, the young man she loves (who is actually there), is captured & taken to see The King, where she learns why he wanted her captured alive & why he was going to her graduation in the first place, but to reveal what is too much of a spoiler.

      While in The City of Sands, Eve has to decide whether or not to accept the role being forced upon her or to help the underground rebellion, and not everything is predictable, even though we know it has to end at a point that leaves us on a cliffhanger for the theird book in the trilogy, thus no resolution. I have to say that I'm looking forward to the third book.

      This is a quick read, not stellar but good enough to get a 4 & a promising start for a new author.
    • 3/5
      The sequel to "Eve" continues with Eve living in Califia, a compound for women, Caleb is not allowed to stay, but insists that Eve stay. Caleb leaves wounded from an encounter with the New America guards. Eve gets a note from Caleb that he needs help, Eve is captured by the guards taken to the palace where she finds that she is the princess that everyone has been searching for.
    • 4/5
      "Once" is the middle book of a series, and as such suffered a bit. It lacked some of the intensity that "Eve" had, but I still enjoyed it and it had a killer last sentence, so am off to read the last book.
    • 1/5
      When I pick up a sequel, I expect an improvement over the writing in the first book. That usually is not the case in YA literature, I've noticed. I feel like the author (and the characters) should have learned from the mistakes made in the previous novel. Again, that more often than not, is not the case. Once is one of the many books that falls into the "didn't learn squat" category. This novel picks up a few months after Eve ended. In my opinion, if you loved Eve, then you'll love Once. The books aren't that different as far as what is good versus what is bad. The world-building is still fantastic, and the post-apocalyptic, dystopian world, is extremely dystopian. Also, there was actually one surprise that I did not see coming. The rest of the plot twists were pretty easy to predict, but the one at the beginning actually shocked me. There is a lot going on, plot-wise, in Once, and apparently that leaves no room for character development. Also, the pacing was off, and the plot felt forced at times. Overall, I wasn't blown away by this sequel. Didn't mind the fact that Eve was selfish and gullible in the first book? Well, then, you'll like her just fine in this one. She has not grown one bit, and she doesn't grow over the course of this novel either. She still trusts everyone, even though anyone should know by now not to. Also, she still cares more about herself than anyone else. I figured she'd grow out of that in this book, and that's why I gave the series another chance. However, she did not. Therefore, even though Once ended with ANOTHER cliffhanger (I'll go into my irritation with the author's plot devices a bit later), I more than likely won't read the finale of this trilogy. It's hard for me to care what's happening when I want to bash the main character's face in. Additionally, Caleb apparently grew stupid since Eve. He throws caution to the wind in this novel, and I wanted to smack him. The King was about the only interesting character, and he, at least, did not make me want to resort to violence. The pacing of this book felt rushed. Not enough time was spent on any one thing for the reader to fully grasp and feel what was happening. Also, a lot of what the characters did made no sense, leading me to believe that Carey had written herself into a bit of a corner and had to use her characters as plot devices. Oh, and speaking of plot devices, Carey uses the biggest one of all... AGAIN... this book ALSO ends on a cliffhanger. I despise cliffhangers. There are ways of resolving some issues and leaving others open that do not anger me, but when nothing is answered at the end of the book, I feel like I wasted hours of my life that I'll never get back. I know, that's a bit dramatic considering it's just a book, but that's how I feel, nonetheless. Now, onto the good stuff. I like to put the good stuff at the end so that people remember it better. It makes sense in my mind. Anyway, as I stated, the world-building is fantastic. I could literally picture City of Sand. Every time Eve moved locations, I could see the location in my mind as if I were there. That is good writing, in my opinion. Also, the first plot twist is a doozy. It's rare that an author shocks me, but Carey managed to. So for that, I applaud her. Overall, this book was completely different than I expected in some ways, and exactly what I expected in others. As I said earlier in the review, if you loved Eve, then you'll adore Once because it's a bit better than the first installment. If you didn't like Eve, then I'd skip this one because it's similar enough that you won't like it either. If you haven't tried Eve yet, I recommend checking it out from your library. This world is a bit different than the other dystopian worlds out there, and people who love dystopian more than anything are likely to fall in love with the world Carey has created.
    • 4/5
      Oh how to write this review without giving away spoilers....ONCE starts up with Eve being in Califia and finding out that she wasn't as safe or as welcome as she was lead to believe. There are a lot of twists and turns thrown into ONCE. Eve is deceived and on edge at every turn. I was completely shocked by most of the events that happened and I can honestly say that I in no way saw them coming. In EVE there were some times where I felt that the plot was stagnant but the plot in ONCE progresses at a great rate and I was able to stay in the story for the whole book without getting bored. The story is full of great reunions and heartbreaking separation's. I'm excited for the direction that the story as a whole is going in and I loved how ONCE ended and I cant wait to jump back in with RISE.
    • 5/5
      Eve is living in the safe zone of Califia with out women but yearns to be with her love, Caleb who she last saw wounded. Overhearing that the leaders of Califia will use her as a bargain with the King she leaves quickly only to be captured by the King's soldiers. While trying to escape she finds out that she has been wanted because she is the King's daughter. She gets taken to the City (formerly Las Vegas) where she sees the reality of the post-plague lifestyle that now exists. This book had lots of action and I loved that we got to see Caleb in and out of the book. I enjoyed the 2nd book of the trilogy and it held my interest so that I immediately started the third book as soon as I was finished.
    • 3/5
      Extremly frustrating way to end it.
    • 3/5
      Eve is back, and finally settling into a comfortable routine. Califia is finally becoming her new home. That is, until she figures out their true motivation for letting her stay. Anna Carey quickly reacquaints her readers who the world that she built in the first book. Eve's world is one that holds both beauty and danger. From the beginning I was able to slide right back in with the story line, and I have to say that I really loved the descriptive writing in this book! Carey shows her prowess at writing vivid scenery that just bleeds off the page. Califia and the City were in my head the entire read, and it was easy for me to see what Eve saw. That, above anything else, is what I really loved about this book.

      However, sadly, that's really where my love for this book stayed most of the time. Eve herself drove me crazy. In the first book I was willing to forgive her a lot, especially because of her upbringing. In Once we see a new Eve. One that is more of an individual and actually a lot stronger. When she first came into the story I was impressed. Then, as time wore on, she kept making mistakes that were selfish and frustrating. It drove me mad. I am certain there will be others that disagree with me, and that's okay. It's just that I personally couldn't stand her the majority of the book.

      On top of that Caleb, my favorite character, really doesn't get much face time in this installment. The boys that he left behind aren't really mentioned at all either. In fact, Caleb seemed really washed out to me. Story wise, his whole existence revolves around seeing and being with Eve. No matter what the consequences. I know this can be sweet. I know that it works well in a lot of other stories. For me though, this felt forced. I missed Caleb from the first book. A lot.

      The twist that Once brings to the table definitely does make this worth a read though. Especially if you were a fan of Eve. Again, I won't go too into detail so that way I don't spoil it for you. Still, it was a great addition to the story! I have to give credit where credit is due. It was this new development that kept me reading on to see what would happen next.

      At the end of the day I have to admit that Once wasn't my favorite read, but I do see a lot of potential. Eve can be a strong character when she tries. Caleb is adorable and swoon worthy. Best of all, it is the world itself that will really draw you in. Fans of Eve, as well as fans of dystopian fiction, really need to give this story a shot.
    • 1/5
      This Audiobook edition jumps all over the place and isn’t coherent to listen to. It doesn’t make sense.
    • 2/5
      Everything from the first book voided in the sequel. Eve still helpless. Booo ??
    • 3/5
      Sequel to Eve. Eve has been living in Califia but is captured and brought to the City of Sand where truths are revealed about her origin and she finds Caleb again.
    • 5/5
      After reading Eve in one sitting, I simply had to go to then ext one. Once did not fail me. Instead is brought on a whole new obstacle that held me to the last page.What I enjoyed most about this book is the great plot. It is so exciting. Sometimes, I dislike sequels. They can sometimes lack in the characters or plot. Not this one. Once fulfills the reader with new obstacles, love interest, as well as...dun. dun. dunnnnnnn gasping secrets!!The character of the book, Eve has been through quite a bit. After learning an alarming secret, Eve escapes and is in the wild. The wild has sharpen Eve like a knife. Where once she was dull, now is razor sharp. She is no longer naive but still knows where she came from. She doesn't ever forget. Not even after learning secrets of her past.The love interest is right where I expect it to be. And there is a new guy in the mix. I expected that too. Still, the love and peace it brings to Eve in her time of need is wonderful.Once is an awesome sequel. Filled with much action, love, and on-the-run moments. Once is thrilling and engaging that leaves the reader breathless. Check it out!
    • 5/5
      This book was just as good and engaging as the first book had been. I highly recommend it. A great series.
    • 5/5
      I really liked Eve, so I was surprised when Once surpassed my expectations. I think that Once is even more fast-paced and exciting than the first novel. I'm anxiously awaiting the final book in this trilogy!
    • 4/5
      This one was much better than the first, which is unusual in my experience for a second book. Eve and Caleb's story was fun and exciting. This story was filled with mystery and betrayal. I am looking forward to the third and final story.
    • 4/5
      So, I wasn't ever completely sold by Eve. It's hard to explain, but I always thought that Eve had a somewhat weak concept, but some decent ideas that had potential, but it was just never realized. Yet, I thought I should to give Anna Carey and the Eve trilogy another try since I had the opportunity (or maybe I was just in a good mood that day, so I requested it). Now that she's no longer in the oppressive anti-male school, Eve has fled into the wilds and taken up residence at a haven for women -but having to leave her beloved Caleb behind. That's when she stumbles into the fabled City of Sand and meets the King of this wild new world -who just happens to be her father. As Eve tries to deal with her new responsibilities -and restrictions -she finds that being a Princess isn't all it's cracked up to be, and the secrets of her past threaten to clash with her future. Can I just say wow? Maybe not "wow" as in this is the best YA dystopian novel I've ever read, but "wow" as in, "wow, this is so much better than the last book." I really don't know what happened, but it seemed liked author Anna Carey got a much clearer sense of where she was going and what she wanted to do with her world. Now, it did seem like the plot here had little connection with the first one. Yet even though it went off into a completely difference place (for the most part), it was great. Readers got a much stronger sense of the world and the issues at stake -I especially enjoyed learning more about Eve's past. Great stuff. Once is a significant improvement from Eve, so if you even thought about reading it -or if you were on the fence about Eve -read Once. It's an enjoyable dystopian with just enough romance and conflict to keep readers completely engaged. But beware the cliffhanger ending -it'll make you crazy.
    • 1/5
      This book is a first rate piece of garbage. It concludes by killing off the male lead and forcing the female lead into a future life of total unhappiness. In other words everyone lives unhappily ever after. A complete waist of 7 hours it took to listen to it!
    • 3/5
      Originally reviewed on A Reader of Fictions.This review is for the audiobook.Eve was a book that I was mostly meh about. I try to read all of the dystopias, or at least the first book in each series. Obviously, I liked it enough to want to continue with the series. I read Eve around the same time as I read Wither, which I thought was better. With the sequels, though, I think I like Carey's series better, at least for consistency's sake.The basic society seen in Once is interesting enough. I am always horrified by dystopias about women being demoted in society again after some cataclysmic event. Let's be honest: I can imagine women being forced to breed if that's what the people in power thought was necessary. The divide in the society, between the wealthy and the poor also seems a fitting theme. Once added this by showing that as part of the whole rebuilding effort, the King is trying to rebuild a theme park, instead of trying to help the poor. Much as I love roller coasters, I'm going to have to go with bad plan.I wish more had been done with Califia, but we really don't get much of a feel for this haven for women. Anyway, she's quickly captured and taken to the city, where she learns 'a shocking secret' as the description says. That certainly was surprise to me as a reader, but my reaction was mostly 'of course she is.'The main thing that kept throwing me out of the story was the romance. I do not ship Caleb and Eve at all. Though I remember that they were not instalove, it sure reads like it. Eve is so freaking sappy and she thinks about him CONSTANTLY. Caleb this, Caleb that. I mean, at the beginning, her friend shows up bleeding and Eve wants to know what happened. The girl tells this terrifying story about what happened to her on the run. Eve listens and then responds with "CRY FOR ME BECAUSE I HAD TO SEPARATE FROM CALEB!" Girl, hold up for a moment, okay. What an awful friend. I would like them better as a couple if I didn't have to hear about how much she loves him all of the time. SHOW your love for him; don't just moan about it all the time.Also, Caleb and Eve are so stupid together. She does all sorts of dumb stuff to see him. Their situation is made so much worse, because of how they behave. Admittedly, they have big problems, but if they weren't so rash about everything, they could have managed. For example, I chose this song because of this scene where she sneaks out to see him and THEY ACCIDENTALLY FALL ASLEEP for too long despite the fact that this will, of course, get them caught. When your life is on the line, you set an alarm. *headdesk*The saving grace of the book was that Anna Carey is willing to make some of the tougher decisions. The ending definitely kept my attention and guaranteed that I'll be reading the next book.Narration:Tavia Gilbert's voice worked really well for the character of Eve. She has a voice that really sounds like it could belong to a teenager, especially a naive, innocent one like Eve. Gilbert did a fantastic job of conveying emotion with her voice and pacing.However, her attempts at doing voices for the other characters were made of fail. She does a horrible impression of a man's voice. Seriously, I laughed every time. I could not take these supposedly-intimidating characters, like the King, seriously, because they sounded so absurd. Ditto Caleb's romantic lines. The audiobook would have been much stronger had she not tried to do voices.Since I read Eve and listened to the audiobook, I wanted to compare which worked better for me. All things considered, I think it came out about the same. I think the audiobook made a nice change. I do love when people tell me a story.
    • 4/5
      Note: This is Book Two of the “Eve” Series. Book Two has a Big Reveal but I'm not going to spoil it! On the other hand, my review will necessarily have spoilers for Book One, so skip to the Evaluation Section if you have not read Eve. In Book One we meet Eve, one of many children left orphaned by the plague that killed 98% of the population. Eve attends an all-female orphan school, where the girls are taught that upon graduation, they will take up exciting careers to help rebuild the planet. But the night before the ceremony, Eve finds out that instead of moving on to career training, all graduates are transferred to a hospital in which they become brood mares to populate New America. She and another girl from school, Arden, escape.Quickly Eve and Arden run into trouble, but they are rescued by a male orphan, Caleb, who takes them to the relative safety of a hidden camp. Before long, Eve and Caleb fall in love.All is not well in paradise, however, because Eve is being pursued by troops of the “king” of New America. She assumes it is because she was the top student at the orphanage. Although the camp is underground and should be safe, Eve and Arden are betrayed by one of the boys who is jealous that Eve likes Caleb instead of him. Eve and Arden are taken away by a bounty hunter but escape, meet up with Caleb again, and make their way to Califia, a refuge in San Francisco. Califia is for girls only though, so Eve and Caleb have to part, vowing to find each other again.As Once begins, Eve has been in Califia for three months. The women of Califia don’t want her there though, because her presence endangers them since Eve is still being sought by the king’s troops. (Now she is convinced she is wanted so she can be the king's personal brood mare.) Once again Eve is betrayed, and she and Arden are taken away. Arden is left at the breeding hospital, and Eve is brought to the City of Sand, home of the king. The tension ratchets way up as we wonder why Eve has been brought to the City of Sand, what will befall Arden, and what ever happened to Caleb.Discussion: I re-read Eve before starting Once, and was glad I did; I actually liked the first book much better the second time. That is often the case for me, however; the first time through in a book, I race through to find out what happens, and can overlook a lot. In my more considered reading of Eve, I discovered that quite a bit of the story is devoted to the problems all the orphans have in understanding what “love” is. First Eve comes to think that love is "…bearing witness. That it was the act of watching someone’s life, of simply being there to say: your life is worth seeing.”Then she learns a bit more about it and explains to a little boy: "‘Love is just…’ I searched for the right words. ‘…caring about someone very deeply. Feeling like that person matters to you, like your whole world would be sadder without them in it.’”Later, she learns a harsher lesson about love: "I began to weep, finally knowing the truth: love was death’s only adversary, the only thing powerful enough to combat its clawing, desperate grasp.”These insights are more fully developed in Once, as Eve gets more meaningful opportunities to find out about different types of love, friendship, and loyalty, and what they mean to her life.Evaluation: Once manages to avoid the trilogy middle-child syndrome and ramps up the quotient of both suspense and sweetness.Thus, I’m happy to say I liked this one even more than Eve; Once has more depth, and shows a more developed skill by the author, in my opinion. I can’t wait to see what happens in the third book!
    • 3/5
      Plot: 3 stars
      Characters: 3 stars
      Style: 2 1/2 stars
      Pace: 3 stars

      It's not a bad book, even as it's rather predictable at points. There's little to say about this book without spoilering it, but if you liked the first one of the series, you'll likely like this. I'll probably read the third just to find out if it happens the way I think it's going to. If you didn't like the first one, you definitely won't like this one.
    • 4/5
      So there were surprises here, and I was always kind of surprised by how many risks Eve and Caleb were willing to take. It's kind of interesting to envision how the story would have gone if Eve had never seen what Arden was up to in the first book, but I think Eve wouldn't have been completely taken in by the City of Sand regardless. I was very upset by the ending, but I held on to suspicions that carried me through the end of the trilogy.
    • 3/5
      This review is posted on Reading with AngelaRenea

      Part two in a pretty typical YA dystopian series. I enjoyed this book marginally more than Eve but it still did not really wow me. I expected something more, although like book one, I'm not sure what that was.

      It was a pretty typical second book, like I said. I still enjoyed the unique setup for the first book of schools where girls are groomed to be breeding stock, but that's where the uniqueness is pretty well over. Even the fact that in book one Eve was pretty useless in the wild and it was not one of the unbelievable stories where the girl is all of a sudden able to do all manner of things, doesn't follow through to this book. The straight forward love interest morphs into a love monster (that's what I'm calling it. I do not apologize. It's not exactly a love triangle but it's something where everyone inter connects).

      That's not to say that I didn't enjoy this book. It was OK. The back story was pretty interesting, and it was, like book one, a quick read. The change of setting was nice, and I liked seeing the City of Sand.

      To be honest that's about it. I did like it, and will finish the series, but It didn't wow me. I think it would appeal to someone new to YA, who hasn't over read these plot lines.