Open Primary

<strong>Can't give five stars.</strong><br /><br />Really enjoyed this book, good political plot. But any book that has a start, should have a clear ending. Reader shouldn't be buying and reading the next book, or one after to find the ending. Being the very opinionated and political person, do relate the Mia character.

This exciting novel by A.C. Fuller, for me personally a new author, has been a surprisingly amazing reading experience.<br />Open Primary is also the 1st volume of a trilogy that is called "Ameritocracy".<br />Story-telling is of an absolute very good quality, the storyline is incredibly well structured, and the story produces real believable lifelike characters.<br />It's also a fast-paced novel which is divided into 3 parts, with a lot of great interaction between the characters, and the story certainly shows the reader its purpose, goal and destiny.<br />The story itself is about Mia Rhodes, who after the 2016 elections is devastated not only by the result but most of all about the whole hypocritical circus around it, that she starts a political program in an attempt to come up with an Independent candidate for the presidential election of 2020.<br />Once getting the backing and banking of Peter Colton, a billionaire and head of Colton Industries in Santa Clarissa, California, Mia sets up her website "Ameritocracy" in full, in an attempt to generate more real participants within her program to establish the search for the final Independent candidate to run for President.<br />What follows is an intriguing and thrilling story about the growth of "Ameritocracy", with all its dangers and delights that it will give to Founder Mia Rhodes, her best friend Steph as well as others involved directly or indirectly, and all these ingredients make this book such a joy to read, so much so that I for certain look forward to volumes 2 and 3.<br />Highly recommended, for this book is an interesting and exciting begin of hopefully a real developing and enthralling trilogy, and that's why in my opinion this story is: "An Astonishing Primary Encounter"!

As with all of A.C. Fuller’s books, Open Primary held my attention and kept me up well into the wee hours, reading it in a single sitting. Although I had my reservations about this book—could Fuller make modern politics, specifically American elections, interesting? Is such a thing even possible?—I have to say that it was nothing short of brilliant.<br /><br />Open Primary follows Mia Rhodes, a passionate, motivated employee of Alex Vane’s (who readers will recognise from the Alex Vane Media Thriller series) on a course to revolutionise American politics.<br /><br />Aside from wanting to read more about Mia, the idea behind the book fascinated me. Mia and I share a belief that politics, as it currently stands, is an ineffectual, broken system. So, what does she intend to do? She wants to open the way for an independent candidate, a member of the public, to stand in the 2020 election as a viable alternative.<br /><br />The question I found myself asking was why not? Yes, this is a strange and unusual approach, but sometimes that is exactly what is needed. Turning politics into an open, anyone-can-enter popularity contest is in many ways fairer than choosing between only a handful of candidates, all of whom are backed by political agendas and bankrolled by various corporations.<br /><br />Why not, indeed? In many ways, I hope that Open Primary is a glimmer of what is to come; an end to the two- or three-horse races which are elections, making way for the possibility that something different, something better, could rise up instead. If Open Primary is indeed a glimpse of what the future might hold, it could be exactly what is needed to really change the face of politics around the world.<br /><br />I’d like to thank A.C. Fuller for the ARC of this book; my review is voluntary and is entirely my own.<br /><br />I cannot wait to see where the story goes in book 2.

Bold, brash Mia Rhodes is a multi-tasking office manager at a Seattle online news magazine until she enters a contest to win a grant for her grass-roots system to choose and fund a presidential candidate via a website, Ameritocracy. Tricked at the final judging, she bounces right up on her toes and uses her talk-on-the-fly skills to become the CEO of her own invention, a platform to truly use transparent democracy to field a presidential candidate. <br />There’s lots of luxe here, tons of hard work, womanly tears, a best friend, and an unbending backbone. Fuller succeeds on all the character fronts as well as at the page-turner of a plotline. He writes a female protagonist in the first person. He creates a dozen contestants for presidential candidate who each stand out with a unique personality. And he makes it all believable. In addition, he wins my geeky heart with explanations of how a lot of social media (Twitter bots or recency bias, anyone?) and websites work—their innards, and their hacks laid out in clear language. Meanwhile, under it all, Mia harbors a hidden fact that eats at her. Secrets seeking the light make for satisfying reads, whether they are old personal skeletons or black-hat hacks. <br />I applaud the breath of hope this story gives and the energy it radiates. A fascinating, colorful read, leaving a lot of thoughtful nuggets behind. <br /> p.s. It’s got the best end-of-chapter cliffhanger I’ve ever read!<br /> Thanks to the author for an early review copy.

I have a new heroine to follow in A.C. Fuller's series, Open Primary (Ameritocracy Book 1). This is a new direction for Fuller with a well thought out and timely topic in politics. We first meet Mia Rhodes in Fuller's Alex Vane books, but I'm so glad he decided to launch a new series with her as the main protagonist. The book provides enough intrigue to keep you wanting more and enough detail to keep you interested, but he doesn't bog down his writing with unnecessary filler. AC Fuller's character development is excellent. I enjoyed reading about the friendship between Mia and Steph and the quirky computer techs. I cannot wait for the next installment(s) and to read more about the adventures of what is going to happen in the political arena. A great start to a new series.

A.C.Fuller just may have something here. With all the "political differences" we are now in, this could be a possibility.<br />Mia Rhodes creates a third party....Ameritocracy. She feels this could be the answer to at least her lifetime of political disillusionment.She wants to find the most popular candidate for President. She is using the vast internet to do so. People can cast their vote and the one with the most votes wins and get to go up against the Democrats and Republicans in the 2020 race. Things don't go so well until a very rich Pete Coltan gets involved with Mia's project. But is this really how Mia and the people want an election to go? Things get pretty hairy along with way, as you would guess anything political would happen. I would like to thank A.C. Fuller for an ARC of this book. My review is voluntarily done and of my own opinion.

So our author had an Idea regarding the use of the Internet in regard to Presidential election in USA. But that was not enough for a book. There is a limit of starching an idea into a worthwhile book. Got the Idea after 25%. No point of wasting more time/

This is an exceptional book that is based on an extraordinary premise. It begins with a truth - our political system is broken. It goes on to present a solution that offers hope to Americans who have lost all hope for a better future. The book starts a bit slow as the scenario is being set-up but it picks up speed like a runaway train. As the story unfolded, my heart was filled and by the end, my eyes were in tears. This approach to a better presidential election process may not be possible in our world, but it seems like it might be - and that possibility is what brings those tears. Mr. Fuller does a masterful job of marrying politics, technology and humanity to make this story believable. It would make a great movie or TV series - or both.

This is one of the most unusual stories I’ve read. Why? Simple. Many of you who read my reviews can figure out I’m a right-wing conservative and get a tad bit irate when I read and review a left-wing book. After reading the blurb and intro, I thought my head was going to explode! All the comments about the 2016 election being elected by a reality star with possible Russian interference almost had this going to the scrap heap. However, I calmed down and decided, if I’m going to blast this tale, I’m going to have to read it. <br />It was a bit tough getting through the first half because I wouldn’t let me biases take a back seat and let the story develop. The last half, I blew through and was pleasantly surprised. <br /><br />The story centers around Mia Rhodes and Peter Colton. Mia is an editor at “The Barker” in Seattle. Peter is one of the new-found techno billionaires who is hosting an event where he picks a winner and awards them with seed money for start-ups: think Shark Tank. <br /><br />Of course she wins, but instead of getting a measly 250K, Peter is throwing in five million. Why? He like the idea. What is the idea? Its Ameritocracy; a platform for average Americans to have a chance at running for President of the Untied States. What makes it different is, candidates cannot have run on the other two major tickets and they cannot receive money from PAC’s or money-laundering entities. The idea is solid. Perhaps a bit idealist and naïve, but it has merit. Plus, and this is the big plus, Mia and her team make it a neutral site in the sense they are only monitoring the candidates and making sure no one is trying slide in and steal the show or their site. So, no matter whether they agree or disagree with a candidate, they let the site and the candidates keep it honest. The current news agencies could learn from this. <br /><br />The real charm to the story is how well the author balances left and right issues. Just as you’re about to pull out your hair over issues you don’t agree with, he slides back to the middle or the right. Granted, despite this being a liberal read for the most part, too much saving the environment at times, it really is a good read. <br /><br />There are no grammatical issues at all. Maybe one, but that’s a huge advantage over the last six to ten books I’ve read. Nicely done. <br /><br />The only reasons I’m only giving this four stars is I just can’t get over the fact that Mia destroyed a piece of Detroit Muscle by turning it into an electric hybrid. The car is question is a 1964 Mustang! That, my dear and A.C., is nothing short of blasphemy! <br /><br />I’m thinking about continuing with the series but I’m not big on the $3.99 price for the second installment. <br /><br />Who will like this? Anyone with an open mind that would like to see a bon-a-fide third party system have a chance at knocking out the big two. <br /><br />Four Stars.<br />

This is a very timely read. This felt like I was reading something from an alternative present reality, with the divisive nature stemming from the previous election cycle to the uncertainty heading into the current one.<br /><br />Can't wait to see how the rest of the series turns out.