Title: Struck
Author: Jennifer Bosworth
Publisher: Farrar, Stratus and Giroux
Release Date: May 8th 2012
Source: ARC for review ( Thanks Macmillan)
Summary:
Mia Price is a lightning addict. She's survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.
Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.
Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn't who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.
Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.
Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn't who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.
Review:
Unfortunately there are only a few things that I can say that I actually liked about Struck. I liked the overall idea of a girl being addicted to being struck by lightening, the world that Struck takes place in, and the cover, the detailing on Mia's body is pretty cool in person. Everything else about the book was just bleh for me.
I really thought that I was going to really enjoy Struck, and I was for a very short while. For a moment I thought I was hooked on the book but then everything went downhill and I struggled to finish the book. The worst part of the book for me is the religion, I am in no way religious and try to stay as far away from it as possible. There is a lot of "God is good"going on and it was gruelling for someone with my views to read. Besides that I never connected to any of the characters on a deep level and had no feelings towards them, I neither liked them or disliked them.
For the most part there is no romance between Mia and Jeremy throughout the book, until the last 50 pages or so.. Then it was the author realised that she didn't incorporate any and decided to randomly add some. One moment they were friends and the next they were in love, the gushy gross type too. Personally I think the book would have been a smidge better if there were no romantic moves in the first book and were saved for the sequel where it might have seemed a bit more natural.
I don't know if I will be picking up the rest of the books in the series just yet. I wouldn't recommend this book to those who don't enjoy religious aspects or if you would have the same problems I did if you were to read Struck. I will say the writing was pretty well done, and I think if Jennifer were to write another more thoughtout book/series I would enjoy it.
