Rachel Reviews Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
After years of drought, famine and war the United States has collapsed and Panem has risen. Panem controls every aspect of life for the citizens in its twelve districts, from food to entertainment. As part of their “entertainment” and as a reminder that the government is in absolute control, each year they hold a competition known as the Hunger Games. Each district must provide a boy and a girl to compete in a televised game where the winner is the last one standing.

When 16-year-old Katniss volunteers to take her little sister’s place in the games she is trust into an arena and forced to fight for her life. She and Peeta, the boy from District Twelve, must face brutal terrain, deadly weather conditions, and other contestants who have trained their whole lives for the chance to win the Hunger Games. Complicating matters, Peeta confesses his love for Katniss, knowing that only one of them can make it out alive.

Do they have what it takes to defeat their opponents? Is Peeta’s confession a trick meant to deceive Katniss in some way? Can either of them truly win if the other must die to make it happen?