Waiting on Wednesday: Unwanted, by Alivia Anders

 Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill from Breaking The Spine to showcase books we're eagerly anticipating.

My pick this week, somewhat belated today because I was at an Amanda Palmer gig last night:

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Expected release: July 30, 2013
Publisher: Red Alice Press
Format: Paperback, 280 pages

She would be his freedom.
He would be her price.

In a world overrun with people and narrowing resources, the basis of life has turned to do or die. No longer does the balance of wealth and power apply. A strict split between the rich and poor has made the lines clear- the more money you have, the more power you control.

For seventeen year old Emily Beucant, life is an equal gift and curse. Having grown up pre- Unwanted society, she can still remember the days it was okay to play with children from the other side of the concrete wall, back when her father was still alive, and back when the Unwanted program was used to Mark and hunt criminals, not sign away the lives of ungrateful children or spouses with high insurance collections over their heads.

But since her father's creation of the program, the government has taken control and made it into a lucrative monster. And as Emily is days away from her eighteenth birthday, and handsome inheritance, she will soon see just how badly it is to be Marked.

When her soulless aunt places Emily up to be Marked an Unwanted, she is forced to go on the run from all she has ever known. No where is safe for her, and no one will protect her, least they wish to have the same fate as her. It isn't until she forms a tense, explosive alliance with a former doctor, Ben, that it looks like the tables may turn in her favor. Together they race against those searching for her, desperate to find a way to free her from an early death. But is it too late?

No one is safe.
No one is free.

This sounds like an intriguing, insidious dystopian society.  The problem of too many people and not enough resources is a very real one and I consider the marking of certain people as inferior to 'save' goods a real, terrible possibility. I can't wait to read about how Emily makes her way through this society. The contrast between her life of wealth an her life as an outcast must be huge, and I'm curious to see how she tackles it. And of course I want to meet that former doctor ;)

 What do you think of my pick? Have you heard of it before? And what are you waiting for this Wednesday?