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The Origin (The Origin #1)

by Wilette Youkey (Goodreads Author)

3.39 of 5 stars 3.39 · rating details · 38 ratings · 6 reviews

He may have super powers, but his is no hero's story...

For someone who has no idea how he acquired his special abilities, all Daniel wants is to live a simple, emotionally detached life. He has a quiet day job, a solo night job and no social life to speak of, and that's just the way he likes it.

That is until Olivia King, a woman from a past he'd rather leave behind, talks...more

Kindle Edition, 295 pages

Published February 27th 2012 by Phoenix House Press

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May 15, 2012 Tori smexys_sidekick rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-book, fantasy, read-in-2012, urban-fantasy, romance, review-for-smexybooks

Originally posted at http://smexybooks.com/2012/05/review-...

Favorite Quote: “She had changed, he made sure of that. “

Our hero, Daniel Johnson, is a dark, broody, emotionally tortured young man who views his special powers as a curse. He never asked for the abilities to save the world and struggles to define exactly what he is. Rather like Batman in the Dark Knight-he is not a bright shining beacon of goodness. He doesn’t fight evil because he is inherently good but because he reluctantly feels...more Originally posted at http://smexybooks.com/2012/05/review-...

Favorite Quote: “She had changed, he made sure of that. “

Our hero, Daniel Johnson, is a dark, broody, emotionally tortured young man who views his special powers as a curse. He never asked for the abilities to save the world and struggles to define exactly what he is. Rather like Batman in the Dark Knight-he is not a bright shining beacon of goodness. He doesn’t fight evil because he is inherently good but because he reluctantly feels he should. When a young woman from his past enters his life, he struggles to keep his distance. He fears emotional attachments and that he will inadvertently hurt her. But Olivia is determined to break through his shell and soon Daniel finds himself falling in love and accepting a future with her. That is until Olivia is kidnapped. Daniel crosses all the lines he has drawn for himself in his search for her and is left questioning if he is the hero or the villain.

We learn throughout the book that though Daniel thought he was alone, there are others out there like him. The reasoning behind that are quite unique and I enjoyed the path Ms. Youkey takes with that.

The Origin is an emotionally dark urban fantasy that plays upon the basics of good and evil with a twist. Set up in a comic book/soap opera style, Ms. Youkey build us a dark and philosophical multi-tiered character driven world that asks the basic question-what separates a hero from a villain? If you commit evil deeds for the good of mankind…can you still consider yourself good? Simple and straightforward writing style sets the story at a steady pace as we meet our hero and heroine and watch their lives unfold and intersect. Multiple sub-plots intertwine, giving us background on our characters and leaving us clues to future storylines. Engaging dialogue with injections of dark and snarky humor keeps the story grounded and realistic.

Olivia King, our heroine, comes off at first as being the perfect girlfriend for Daniel, but as you get to know her, you realize that she is fighting her own demons. An intelligent woman who knows what she wants and she wants Daniel. Their courtship is both humorous and very slow as Olivia struggles to understand why Daniel pushes her away. When he finally reveals his secrets, Olivia acts quite realistic with thinking he is insane and/or making up excuses. She eventually accepts he is what he says, though her kidnapping occurs right afterwards, so we never know exactly how well she was dealing with it. I like how Olivia handles herself in the end. No whoa is me or heavy histrionics. I look forward to seeing how she deals with Daniel in the next book. The romance is heavy with chemistry and tension though the physical scenes are few.

The secondary characters are interesting in their own right. Olivia’s father plays a large role as a controlling man whose actions concerning Olivia and others are going to come back and haunt him. We are left with the impression that he knows more about Daniel and his gifts. A bodyguard and ex boyfriend both have storylines that beg for more exploration.

The villain of the piece inspires sympathy as we watch his rise and fall. With his story you start to get the answer to the question The Origin asks. I would have liked to see more development with them. We only got what was exactly needed from them. That was a problem I had with the story. It stays firmly in the present so we are left with a lot of questions of how everyone got to this point. Hopefully this will be addressed as the series progresses.

The path to the end is convoluted as the main conflict wraps itself up but old and new storylines branch out and to lead us into the second book-The Forsaken-set to release in 2013. A mild cliffhanger promises interesting times ahead.

Overall Rating: C+(less)

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May 02, 2012 Kari rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Kari by: GraveTells.com

Shelves: reviewed-books

To see the full review, check out GraveTells.com!

We’re all used to seeing the good in our superheroes, and maybe even some of their flaws. But what about the not-so-pretty picture of a teen boy who discovers that the super-awesome powers he has doesn’t make him immune to pain and suffering – whether it be his or someone else's?

In The Origin we see exactly that. Dark and broody Daniel Johnson lives in big, bad New York City all by himself, trying to escape an awful accident from a high school fo...more To see the full review, check out GraveTells.com!

We’re all used to seeing the good in our superheroes, and maybe even some of their flaws. But what about the not-so-pretty picture of a teen boy who discovers that the super-awesome powers he has doesn’t make him immune to pain and suffering – whether it be his or someone else's?

In The Origin we see exactly that. Dark and broody Daniel Johnson lives in big, bad New York City all by himself, trying to escape an awful accident from a high school football game gone wrong. By day he’s a security guard for a bank, and by night he plays superhero, saving citizens as crime crosses his path. He thought he was safe from his past until Olivia King – a girl that had a huge crush on him from high school - shows up, in his bank of all places, and knocks his life down a path he never expected.

Olivia King is the kind of female I love to find in a book. She’s confident, she’s driven, and she doesn’t take no for an answer. The second she walks away from Daniel when they meet in the bank I knew she was a woman I would absolutely adore. I wasn’t disappointed! Throughout the book you learn that while Olivia’s life may not have been smooth sailing, she’s working to pull her shit together and get her life straight. She takes her struggles in stride and works to rise above them, not to let them pull her down. This is a big contrast to Daniel, who has tried to push away from his past, and he constantly fights who he is.

The Origin has a great pace. We have a healthy mix of romance, plenty of surprises, and some great (albeit violent) action. It can be very hard to follow action scenes in writing, but Wilette Youkey executes them perfectly. There’s an awful lot of circumstance and coincidence that lead up to the end of the book and a few big questions go unanswered, but the ending of the book catches you so off-guard you’ll be stalking the author’s blog for a release date of the next book. Who says superheroes are best left to comic books? Wilette Youkey brings the action to life, and all in text.

The Origin is packed full of the stuff heroes – and villains – are made of. Wilette Youkey does an amazing job of showing us that strength in muscle and strength of character are two entirely different things. We get romance, we get well-written action scenes, and we get dark, broody men. Can you ask for much more than that? With the next in the series scheduled for release some time next year, this is a great time to pick up The Origin, and to start keeping an eye on Wilette Youkey.(less)

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Jun 25, 2012 Jecca rated it 2 of 5 stars

I read this rather quickly and it was fairly interesting. I also find it hard to rate books when the story is not over. I felt unsatisfied at the end of it. I will probably read the next one, just to see where she goes with it. I was not a huge fan of the main characters, but there was a minor one or two I would like to know more about.

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Mar 28, 2012 Julian Tan rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the rich character development, the intriguing storyline and the multitude of subplots happening which added depth and complexity to the story. In terms of subject matter, I think it hit the right balance between sci-fi, action and romance and the writing style is very readable and entertaining.

1 like · like · see review

May 16, 2012 Judy rated it 1 of 5 stars

I would've thrown this book across the room if I hadn't been reading it on my iPhone. There were so many problems a (semi)skilled editor could have fixed.

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Oct 31, 2012 Jambriones rated it 4 of 5 stars

very good book

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May 20, 2013 Kaushik Srinivasan rated it 4 of 5 stars

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About Wilette Youkey

Wilette Youkey is a daydreamer who was born in the Philippines, raised in Australia, and now calls the United States home. At the age of ten she penned a short story inspired by a Judy Blume novel and has been unable to stop writing since.

She has lived on four different continents and most recently inhabited a 240-year-old castle in rural Germany owned by a Graf. She now resides in California wit...more

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Quotes from The Origin

“Alex moved away, clearly crestfallen. Some other day, maybe as soon as tomorrow, she would feel regret, but not tonight. Right now, she couldn’t summon the energy to care about the feelings of a wannabe knight in tinfoil armor.” — 1 person liked it

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The Origin (The Origin #1)

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