Poison Study, by Maria V. Snyder

There are some books which even if you think you know what you're getting into, you don't know a thing. Of course, Poison Study is an example of that-otherwise I wouldn't be writing it in this post. My idea of what it would be like was a lot happier and way less intelligent than it was. But it was more dismal and much smarter (another redundancy).
The story follows a girl who is about to be killed for murder when the commander/dictator dude's poison taster dies. As per law, the next person who is set to be executed becomes the poison taster, so Yelena isn't killed-yay!! Instead she has to live every day knowing that she can die that day, but if not then, she can always die the day after-not so yay. Then she has adventures. If I tell you more it will spoil the story but I'll tell you this-it is definitely worth reading.

Having a poison tester is the number one sign that you've reached the top. If you're paranoid enough to think someone is going to poison your food and you can afford to pay someone to do it you must be at the top. I wonder if the president has a poison taster. Yelena's job is really cool though. Terrifying, but cool. She has to know all these different poisons by taste and smell and she gets to eat yummy food. But she can die. That's a downside I suppose.

5 stars. Read it read it read it read it read it read it read it read it