Flawed

Celestine tries to be the perfect girl in the perfect life.  She, like most other people in their society, looks down on the flawed.  These are people who have not committed a crime but who have transgressed social mores.  The punishment for these ethical transgressions is a brand to the temple, the tongue, the hand...the location that best represents the flaw.

The flawed are untouchable; it's against the rules to help a flawed person.  But one day Celestine is on the bus with her friends when she sees a situation she can't ignore.  There are two unflawed women sitting in the flawed seats ignoring a flawed man who is obviously in distress.

Celestine knows she shouldn't get involved, but something compels her to step forward.  That decision changes the course of her life.  Will she be imprisoned, flawed, branded?

Now Celestine is re-examining her perfect life and the perfect society in which she lives.

Cecelia Ahern's series starter begins like a generic dystopia, and Celestine's change of heart is a little abrupt.  I wasn't sure this one was going to do anything for me in the beginning, but once I got past the setup chapters, I really got engaged in the story and questions of morality and integrity.  Recommended for 8th grade and up for some language and scenes of violence.