First I would like to thank Sue for sending me a copy of OPEN MINDS. Thank you so much for opening my mind to this fantasy that you have created. OPEN MINDS was hands down one of the best YA books that I have read. It arrived in the mail yesterday, but I got it around seven when I got home from the bookstore. I cracked it open immediately leaving my bookstore purchases untouched. Admittedly it took me 30 or so pages to get into it and I stumbled over the lingo a bit. Once I had it figured out, t More...

Originally published at my blog Chasing Empty Pavements

I could barely wait until today to post my review of this awesome book!!

The Good: Talk about mindjacking…I’m not entirely sure Susan Kaye Quinn didn’t jack into my mind herself to make me fall in love with this book! This book is full of awesome. Firstly, the concept was fresh and unique…we’ve all heard of “mind readers” but this is a new take on it with a twist. Quinn created a totally believable world where the norm is being able to read m More...

I rarely find a book that sucks me in this much. I was caught up and swept along for a really enjoyable ride. The science fiction elements and futuristic world-building were well done. I enjoyed the writing style and how the author phrased things. For instance the description of how mental laughter would sound in someone's mind. Also fun and apt were the invented slang such as "mesh" (cool) and "pravers" (degenerate/evil people). The things that I felt could be improved about this book were real More...

I could not put down this book! From the very beginning, Kira's adventures and the world of readers, jackers and zeroes is riveting. If you are a fan of the Hunger Games trilogy this should be your next read! You will get hooked! Eagerly waiting for the 2nd book in the Mindjack Trilogy! 

A fast-paced thriller set in a world where mind-reading is the norm, and Kira, the teen-age protagonist is a freak--a zero, who hasn't developed the ability to communicate by thought. But what really sets her apart and catapults her into danger is her newly-discovered ability to jack into other people's minds and control them.
When she realizes there is a subculture of jackers, who range from benign undercover citizens to vicious criminals and ruthless military agents, she faces choices she coul More...

I first encountered Open Minds (Mindjack, #1) when the blog Pixel of Ink made mention of it being a Kindle freebie. I snapped it up and, when I wanted something different from the series I have been reading of later, opened it eagerly.

This is a YA book. Not a YA-categorized-but-really-adults-will-have-as-much-fun-as-tweens-reading-it YA, but a real honest to goodness if-your-worst-problems-in-life-aren't-how-to-make-it-to-your-locker-and-the-bathroom-during-the-three-minute-passing-period-then-y More...

I have to say it right from the start - beginning with chapter one of Open Minds, Susan Kaye Quinn blew my mind wide-open! The very beginning, her main character, Kira, has a point of view rarely seen in YA Paranormal. She's the one without the power. Even her best friend, Rafael, went through the change and can read minds, except hers. Kira's narration takes you through the grueling experience of trying to get through a day in high school where everyone else can read minds. Imagine not having More...

To be fair, I have to say that I beta read this book last year. So my review is not unbiased :)

But really, Susan has created such a cool world with this book. Her main character, Kira, literally leaps off the page. When I sat down to read this again, the story grabbed my attention right from the beginning, just like the first time. Filled with intrigue, action and characters you care about, this paranormal novel should find a huge audience.

High concept + great writing x excellent pacing = 1 grea More...

Having just just panned an indie novel for leaving me hanging at the end of book one of an intended series, I feel it's important to start by saying this book does it right: there's actually a sense of completion at the end of the book — even though it's obvious that there's more to come (well, even without the ads for book II at the back...), this book stands on its own.

I presume this is aimed at young-adults, but it doesn't talk down and works well for adults too. There's a little mushy teenag More...

A very interesting concept of a future where mind read/speaking mind to mind is the standard. I liked that the government was characteristically shady and put whoever was considered "other" in camps and conducted experiments on them. Le sigh.

Anyhow, I liked heroine Kira - smart, stubborn, strong but scared, worried, lonely, and somewhat hormonal. Her family life is pretty good, and in many ways she's your typical teenager (meaning she's fairly reticent). I kind of wish there was more to her rela More...

I didn't think I was going to really like this book, and then I got about 50 pages in and I couldn't put it down and ended up staying awake till 4 in the morning to finish it, despite having university classes starting at 6 a.m. Thanks a lot, Ms. Quinn!

Very interesting story and I liked the concept. I liked the technology in the story and I thought the main character was excellently written. Pretty realistic and all that. Teen angst is heavily prevalent, but it's a teenage book, so it really wor More...

I have read over two hundred MG/YA books since reading The Hunger Games, a series that totally floored me. Out of those hundreds, Open Minds is the only one that glued my butt to my couch as The Hunger Games did. In fact, this review will be a little off-the-cuff, because I didn't slow down to take notes like I usually do.

Open Minds has a dystopian feel to it. Kira lives in Chicago in a world very different from ours. Because of a mutation linked to chemicals in the water supply, people have dev More...

An exciting, action-packed, YA, SF Thriller

Human beings have evolved into a telepathic race, and Kira stands out as abnormal because she cannot transmit or hear thoughts. Her best friend, kind and handsome Raf, wants very much to be more than a friend, but Kira cares too much for him to allow him to drag himself down by connecting himself to a social outcast like her. Then one day he attempts to kiss her, and her overwhelming desire to avoid his kiss, in order to prevent heartbreak for both of t More...

The book takes place in a future Chicago (area) where everyone, or anyone worthy, is a mind reader. Everything is controlled by the mind: opening doors, television, speaking, and school learning is all done through interaction in the mind. No one talks anymore. Except that Kira hasn't gotten her mind reading abilities and so she's considered a zero. Raf, her best friend and love interest, doesn't care. He's sympathetic and likeable as a character. A soccer player that other girls hang around, he More...

This was beautiful. That's it. Since I've made my point I can just click off now, but I want to explain why this book really stuck into my heart.
I love how this story is deep and meaningful even though it's fiction. What I pulled from this is that there are people who can read minds (regular), can't read minds (losers but still in the norm), and then there's the mind jackers... This is where the rest of the world seems to have a problem. Maybe I'm just reading too much into this, and maybe I sh More...

Open Minds Susan Kaye Quinn


Have you ever felt you were so different from your peers and everyone had little regard for you? In Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn takes the reader back to that awkward segment in life and its function creating the mindset of lower self-worth. Ms Quinn does an extraordinary job conveying the relationships, emotion, of her main character Kira Moore, a high school student, and her peers. Kira is considered a misfit/outcast in her high school because she can't read minds. More...

One hundred years into the future nearly all human beings have gained the ability to read minds. Our first-person protagonist, Kira, is a “zero”, one of the few people who never gained this ability. Early on the novel is the story of Kira as a social outcast. As a high school teacher I feel the author did an outstanding job capturing the feel of the high school experience. The novel significantly changes gears once Kira discovers that she is not a zero but a mindjacker. We leave the world of hig More...

Open Minds explores a world where everyone, well almost everyone, is an open book. People can read each other's minds if they are close enough to each other. There's no conversation necessary.

Kira, however, is a zero. No one can hear her thoughts when she walks into a room, and she can't hear anyone else's. This pretty much ruins her opportunity at any kind of normal education, or job, or family. Zeros are outcasts. Since she's only sixteen, there's still hope that she might change.

Raf, who is K More...

What a unique concept! The world has evolved to a time when everyone can read each others’ minds…well, almost everyone. Those who can’t are called Zeros and aren’t trusted. They’re second class citizens. Unfortunately for Kira, she’s now passed the age when everyone develops their mind-reading skills and is having to come to terms with the horrible fact that she will have to live her life as a zero. Until things get even worse!

One day she unexpectedly connects with her friend Raf’s mind and almo More...

Originally posted at Riffs and Reviews

Open Minds is the fantastic first book in a new YA paranormal trilogy from author Susan Kaye Quinn. Set in a dystopian future where our polluted waterways have changed our genetics so that almost everyone is a mindreader, 16-year-old Kira Moore is an outcast zero – someone who can’t read the thoughts of others. But when her powers violently develop and almost kill her best friend, Raf, Kira discovers how much of an outsider she really is and how dangerous a More...

The setting in Open Minds is a future world (late 21st century) where almost everyone is a “reader.” Chemicals in the environment triggered a massive genetic evolution spawning generations of mind readers. During puberty, children begin to both involuntarily send out there thoughts and read the thoughts of others in range, which means most conversations take place mentally.

Some children never go through the change and are designated as zeros. Sixteen year old Kira Moore is a zero….or so she thi More...

Kira Moore lives in a world of eerie silence.

It's the twenty-second century, and everyone can read minds, except for Kira. Her inability to share thoughts with her classmates leaves her hopelessly at the bottom of the social ladder, and she even has to wear a special hearing aid so her teachers can whisper their lectures. Things most young teenage girls look forward to, like college and boyfriends, are completely out of the question for a zero like Kira.

The one bright spot in Kira's life is her More...

This review formerly appeared on Indie Books List.

Ok, so the protagonist of this book is a mutant. Cue the comparison to X-Men, Spiderman, random-superhero-who-is now-superhuman-because-of-some-random-freak-event. What’s that? Our heroine is a mutant because she lacks something. She’s defective. She’s able to hear, and yet hearing impaired? Tell me more.
She did. I read this book straight through, in a single sitting. It was late, I kept reading ’til dawn.

I’m guessing that I’m not the first perso More...

I never know what to expect with a new to me author. I liked the synopsis when I read it and was intrigued by the premise. This book far exceeded my expectations. I really enjoyed it.

Open Minds is a very well written YA novel. I liked the world that the author has created. Most of the world population becomes a "reader" some time in their teens. Imagine being able to read everyone's mind. Most people don't even talk out loud anymore. For Kira, the change doesn't seem to be coming. She is facing More...

So I started out with zero expectation. I'm quite fed up with the YA that's been coming out lately...really lame crap. But this was actually good. No wolves, vamps, sparkly emo anything. Yeaa! What you do have is a world where being "mesh" is the way to survive and live a fulfilled life. To be different or remarkable meant you were changing the curve and it was dangerous to your life and others. Some other I noticed remarked on how hard core or difficult it was to read the social situations or s More...

In Open Minds, everyone can read everyone else’s minds. Well, everyone, that is, except the Zeros. While the rest of the world has evolved into some sort of telepathic society, the minds of the Zero’s remain blissfully quiet. Unfortunately, that’s not a good thing. When you can delve into the thoughts of everyone around you except a select few, who are you going to trust? The guy who cannot possibly lie to you because you’ll know the truth just by digging, or the girl who is totally closed off a More...

An interesting take on being unique in society, author Susan Kaye Quinn introduces Kira to the reader. Kira doesn't quite fit in. One might expect her to be an outsider due to the way she dresses, speaks, or conform to societal rules, but that is not the case. Instead, Kira cannot read minds or have her own mind read in a society where just about everyone else connects with their minds.



However, Kira might just have an ability that could be better than simply having her mind read. Kira can "mind More...

Hmmm… I'm not sure what to make of this book. It's not that the writing was bad because it wasn't, but it's so psychologically and mentally disturbing that I'm just stunned, I guess. So I'm not sure I can fairly judge whether I like the book or not. So the following review is merely one or the merits and weakness of the book and not whether or not I actually enjoyed the story.

Overall, I think it was a very creatively written story, and I'm impressed that Quinn has created such a world. However, More...

This unique and original storyline had me on the edge of my seat, and I was generally unwilling to put the book down. The idea of a future where mind reading was the norm was interesting enough, but when the twist of mind-jacking was thrown in, it became positively enthralling. The author weaves details into the story bit by bit to let readers get to know the rules and norms of society at their own pace. New vocabulary is learned through the context of the setting, and I found myself enjoying th More...

You'd be forgiven, from reading the first few chapters, that Open Minds is about surviving high school and navigating the strange world of boys with a little bit of superpowers thrown in to make things interesting. What unravels after the obligatory boy drama, however, is a downward spiral into a dangerous world where the "bad" and "good" guys are pretty much the same as each other, and it's difficult to know who to trust.

It's very clever how Kira gets drawn into the conspiracy, how each choice More...