The Reader Review

***I received a copy of this book via netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 3 stars!!! I suppose my opinion is going to be quite unpopular for this book. Since, I see that it has received mostly 5 stars. The story starts off with 18 year old Ann Baker who wakes up on a shore with no memory of who she is. She then meets two guys Devon and Archer who take her to this secret compound where she meets a race of newly evolved humans who can read minds. Thus the name "The Reader". We also find find out that there is a war which is on-going between the "readers" and the "jacks" (who have the ability to hijack someone's body) with Ann possibly being the solution they have been waiting for. The worldbuilding and concept was quite unique. I liked the idea of genetically evolved humans with special abilities. But, somehow I felt the story was a bit rushed. Ann was a great character. I liked her sarcasm and her fierceness. She is also quite selfless. But this didn't help with the broader arc of the story. We don't see much character development. Situations arise and are resolved quite quickly. I wouldn't say there were plot holes but I feel this book would have benefited from being part of a series. We would have a got a greater understanding of how this new world that the author has built works as well as a deeper sense of the characters and the roles they each play. This book also has a whole lot of romance. But I found it lacked depth. There was like a weird love geometry going on which didn't make a whole of sense. I won't most spoilers here because it involves quite a bit of the plot. But it didn't give me any feels. The plots and twists were interesting enough but as I said the rushed pacing hurt the story in this regard. The ending especially was quite poorly constructed. I guess since the author wanted this to be a standalone, they tried to wrap up things quite quickly. But I was left dissatisfied. The ending was just meh (to be expected). Anyway, besides this, the story was okay for a quick read. If you are looking for something to pass your day, you can pick this one up. It might not blow you out of the water, but it's a pleasant read.

#youngadult #paranormal #romance #MKHarkins #specialabilities