Review: Mind Games by Kiersten White

Book: Mind Games
By: Kiersten White
Published: February 19, 2013
Published by: HarperTeen

Description: Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

My Thoughts: Mind games was a great read told through the two MC's POV in the format of a stream of consciousness and thought. It was a great fast paced book that told its readers that anything is possible, if you try hard enough.

We follow Fia and Annie. Fia has ridiculously flawless instincts and her sister, though blind, can see the future easily. At a young age, they get roped into joining a school, even though Fia's gut instinct tells her not to, and after that, life is difficult for them. Fia's instincts are never wrong, but she joins the school because her sister begs her too, and slowly but surely she realizes that the school isn't all it's sold to be. It's one that uses those with special powers for monetary gain, and Fia's one of a kind. She fights amazingly because her instincts are always right. The school won't let her go, and are willing to threaten her sister to keep her there. Soon, it becomes obvious that they need to get out, but how do you get out of a school that's comprised of people who can see your future and read your thoughts. They know what you're planning before you even have a solid plan together which means, the only way to plan escape, is to not plan at all. A feat easier said than done.

Because Fia knows of those people's abilities around her, her instincts force her mind to run through things quickly. She plans nothing, jumps from decision to decision following her instincts completely, causing the Seer's difficulty when trying to see her future, and forcing the readers to have headaches whenever they try to delve into her mind. For that reason, the reader feels right in the moment. We don't have time to think about what we're reading, we just read, and think later. It's a great change from traditional books.  Annie is less important in the book in my opinion, she's Fia's weakness, and she knows it, and all she wants is to find a way to make Fia happy, better, good. She has no idea how.

As for love interests, this book has two, though it's not a love triangle, more than just interest in two people and a quick and easy decision between the two. Adam is the good boy outside the school who Fia likes but isn't sure she can actually be with. James is the sexy bad boy inside who accepts what Fia has done, and wants her to help him rise to the top. The decision isn't as obvious as it seems, and at the end, you'll be super shocked with what happens.

This was a great book. I liked the characters, though Fia was often pretty psychotic I really liked her. It was random and great and interesting and I will definitely be reading the next book in the series. I give it 4.5 stars.

 

Review: Hope by Theresa M. Jones

Book: Hope
By: Theresa M. Jones
Published: April 29, 2013
Published By: Self Published

Description: Allison now understands who she is and where she comes from, but will it be enough to save the world? She went through a dangerous journey, dragging her young daughter along for the ride, in an attempt to stop the evil Rising Leader, Damien, from opening the Seven Seals and bringing about the Apocalypse.

But she hasn’t succeeded yet. The Rising still thrives and Lilith has made it her mission to open the remaining Seals so that she and her minions can rule the Earth.

David and Allison hope that love can conquer all, but in reality, love is never enough. Will they, along with the rest of the gang back at the Compound, be able to stop the Rising?

And where is The Descendant that is prophesied to save them all?

My Thoughts: This second book in the "Power" series was even better than the first. (To see the review of the first book, click here) Aptly titled Hope the entire story was about just that. It revolved around the power of hope (for the good and the bad), what to do when it is lost, and shows that without it, you have nothing.

This book picked up right where power left off. Allison and David are going strong and about to get married. Allison now knows who she is and how to finally control her power. She's happy for the most part, and ready to try to help make the world a better place as much as she possibly can. Unfortunately, the Rising is still thriving and its new leader, Lilith, is getting entirely too strong. They're working on a plan to rule the world (of course) and turn it to crap.

This was a quick and exciting read. It started off pretty happily and light with the wedding and all the love and I enjoyed reading about it, though that section did seem a little unnecessarily long. Nonetheless it was cute. The bad guys are still being bad and I was happy to see that this leader played the part well. Though she still didn't scare me due to the fact that her actions seemed to be caused by fear and she was too into her beauty to make me scared, she did annoy the crap out of me, and she did enjoy carnage quite a lot. The story was still a bit predictable, but much less so than the last one and I really enjoyed reading it.

There was one thing I really didn't like about the story and that was bits and pieces of the ending. Without giving it away, I'll just say some of the events were a little too convenient. Things seemed to happen right on time and all the tools necessary just so happened to be nearby, and if they weren't the characters could just use their power to do it for them. Speaking of tools, I've never encountered such a sharp letter opener in my life, just saying.

I must say though, that this book was a good read and certainly had me hooked. If things in this series progress the way they are, I know the next book is going to be outstanding. It seems this author takes her reader's opinions into consideration for all her next books because almost everything I felt bad about in the previous book was fixed. That certainly sits well with me. I would recommend this book series to people who like Fantasy books where the main character is an established adult, not a moody teenager, and stories about humans blessed by the gods to protect the world. I give this story 3.5 stars.