That is so Mesh...

"What? Mesh? Heather, what are you talking about?"
I'm talking about Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn, my currant favorite book!  But wait, this is only book one of the Mindjack series.  There are two more!  "What is this book all about?" you ask.  Good thing I'm reading it so I can tell you!

In world (our world but in the future) where mind reading is the norm, Kira is a Zero. She can't read minds at all, until she meets the super hot, super sexy, super strange, Simon. He tells her she's a Mindjacker.  Kira can hack into other people's minds and make them do whatever she wants.  Cool right? Not so much.  While Simon uses his mindjacking to make other Readers (those who read minds) believe he's one of them, Kira finds it overwhelming and isn't comfortable with all the lying involved.

I don't want to give any more away, but you must read this book. Simon isn't all he's cracked up to be and betrayal looms.  Raf, Kira's super hot, super sexy, Portuguese soccer playing stud of a BFF loved her even when she was a Zero and will do everything to save/help her.

In the midst of all that, we learn about this future world we live in.  Everything is mind controlled, from cars, to phones, even the fridge! They use words like mesh (cool), scrit (text), and they live in Chicago New Metro which takes up half of Illinois and house have to be a certain distance apart so you are out of "range" of your neighbors thoughts.

It's been difficult for me to read Paranormal YA for a long time.  Too much vampire drama for me and nothing seemed original.  I loved Melissa Pearl's Time Spirit Trilogy-original content and very entertaining and well written.  I'm anxiously awaiting the second book in Erica Cope's Lark series (I know you've been busy!).  And I'm loving Open Minds so far and I hope it won't disappoint in the next two books.

Ok, that's all for now!!!
Love!

Iron Butterfly By Chanda Hahn

Iron Butterfly by Chandra Hahn. 

Firstly, this is the first book in a trilogy.  Book 2 is Steele Wolf and the third book is yet to be released, so I will review only Iron Butterfly and not the entire story.

Brief Summary

Thalia, was held in a torture prison, where the evil Septori performed medieval style torture on her.  It is unclear why or for how long until she escapes with the help of Kael, a worrier who fight the Septori guards and directs her to safety.  With no memories, Thalia is found by two Denai travelers on their way to the Denai capitol city of Haven where the younger of the two, Joss, is to be a student at the Denai School called the Citadel.
Thalia is brought before the Denai high council and found to be harmless and I put to work at the school.  A series of events leads her to become a student at the school and because of attacks against her from an unknown source, she begins combat training with the schools professors and eventually learns of her heritage. 

So many questions were raised in this book that were left unanswered.  Who are the Septori? Who are the Denai? Where and in what time does this story take place? Why was Thalia taken? Why is she so special? Who is Kael and why does she have this pull to him and why does he want her to hate him?
I understand that this is part one in a series, but as an author, you can’t leave so many questions unanswered and then open more in the last chapter-why does her family suddenly show up? Why do the Denai just let them take her? Why does her family clan hate the Denai so much? 
I was confused most of the book because I felt like I was already supposed to know the people who lived in this (unnamed) land.  I have no idea what everyone looks like and how Thalia is different from them physically (because it’s mentioned more than once that there are physical differences between Denai and other races). 

I felt that there wasn’t good flow throughout the story.  The author just told me what was happening instead of taking the time to create a story, setting the scene and showing me what was happening.  It was choppy and storylines seemed to be introduced out of convenience instead of necessity.  For example, Thalia had apparently been spending time in the stables with horses, but no mention was made of it until she had to meet Faraway the horse.  And then Faraway ends up being her guardian that she called upon, but then it’s not explained what a guardian is or why he was summoned, only that Thalia is the first person to call upon one in hundreds maybe thousands of years. 

This story is also written in the first person, but when new characters are introduced Thalia seems to know their names and who they are and what they do.  She also knows the names of buildings and places even though she has no memories and has never been to Haven before. 

Even with all the confusingness, I’m still drawn into this story.  I’m invested in Thalia and finding out who she really is and where she comes from, and what makes her so special.  I want to find out her relationship with Kael and Joss. 

I will continue to read the series and hopefully find out the answers to all the questions. 

Over all, it was well written, the ideas needed to be fleshed out a little, but the story is very intriguing and I can’t wait to continue with it.  

Thanks for reading!

Heather