Save the Enemy ARC

Title: Save the Enemy

Author: Arin Greenwood

Genre: YA/Mystery

Release Date: November 12, 2013

Source: I won Save the Enemy in a Goodreads First Reads contest

My Rating:
♥♥♥

Everything has been downhill since Zoey Trask’s mother was murdered in a random mugging.  Her younger brother, Ben, is on the autistic spectrum and needs constant supervision. I t’s senior year, and she’s the new girl at a weird private school in Old Town Alexandria, VA, full of kids who seem too nice to be true—including a very cute boy named Pete.  Aside from half-forgotten martial arts and survivalist skills that her widowed father insisted on teaching her (because that is excellent for her social life), Zoey has nothing to offer Pete or anyone else. 

 Then Dad is kidnapped.  Zoey suddenly finds herself sole caretaker of a younger brother she barely understands.  Worse, Ben seems to hold the key to their father’s disappearance in his Dream Diary, a bizarre journal of names and places Ben claims that their mother shares from beyond the grave.  And as if Zoey doesn’t have enough on her plate, there’s Pete, who stubbornly refuses to leave her side. 

 Relying on the skills she never wanted to learn—Dad might have had his reasons after all—Zoey is plunged into a lethal battle to rescue her father, protect her brother, and determine the identity of her family’s true enemy.

~ Goodreads

Oh goodness.... I have such mixed emotions towards this book.

Zoey Trask lived a seemingly unconventional life up until her mother was murdered in a random mugging in Washington.  Since that night, her father has been pulling farther and farther away from Zoey and her autistic brother Ben.  When her father is kidnapped without a warning, Zoey's life is turned upside down.  Her family is not who she thought they were.  She's no longer living a normal life as she attempts to hunt down her father's kidnapper and discovers her family's secrets, coloring them in a different and strange light.

What I Liked:
Save the Enemy had some very humorous parts!  It's more like the 'weirdo humor' than actual joke humor.  But, nonetheless, I was laughing pretty hard when it came to Zoey's witty and awkward narration.
The narration was actually - despite its flaws - entertaining.  I feel like Zoey was a good protagonist who held her ground throughout the story.

What I Didn't Like:
When you read a YA book, you expect to not have any overtly political and/or religious themes running through it, right?  Wrong.  Totally wrong.  Zoey went on a couple political tirades, making it crystal clear which political party the author belongs to.  It made me very uncomfortable because, frankly, I don't care what political party you belong to because it's none of my business!  I just want to read!  Oh, and don't even get me started on the religious bashing!  Really, I don't care if you believe in God or not, and I don't want to hear your completely secular rant on why there is no God.  Just...ugh.
The plot had a lot of potential, but the story didn't live up to it.  I felt like Save the Enemy lacked in some crucial points, like explaining what the hell was going on.  Seriously, when I finished the book I was still so confused because there were so many holes that were not patched up throughout the story, like why Zoey's mother had the secret occupation that she had had, and what exactly Pete was doing for his mother.  If the author had just explained these points, I would have enjoyed Save the Enemy much, much more.
There was absolutely no chemistry between Zoey and Pete.  It was just "I want to have babies with him."  Ummm, sweetie, you just met him.  Yeah, awkward is an understatement.  There was hand holding and hand rubbing, but sparks were essentially nonexistant.
Zoey was a bit of an idiot in some parts of the book.  If your dad was kidnapped, would you go to a party because it's your senior year and you want to potentially get wasted?  I'd hope the answer is no, but in Zoey's super special case, the answer is "Sure!  Why not?"  What the hell....

Overall, I'm giving Save the Enemy a 3/5 because the plot was interesting, but the story did not cut it, and the author left some integral parts of the story unexplained.