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Found (Penny Black #1)

by Stacey Wallace Benefiel (Goodreads Author)

3.96 of 5 stars 3.96 · rating details · 25 ratings · 13 reviews

From the author of the Zellie Wells trilogy comes FOUND (Penny Black #1)the first book in a whole new NA trilogy set in the Society world.

Discover what happened to Zellie, Avery, Melody, and Ben!

And meet Penny Black, a girl with a past that can see the future.

Penny Black hasn’t had it easy. Just about everything you’d expect to happen to a harassed foster-kid turned junkie...more

Kindle Edition, 159 pages

Published February 24th 2013 by Write Free

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May 14, 2013 Bobbie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya

Firstly, I need to admit that I haven't read the Zellie Wells Trilogy, which is a bit of an oversight on my part. I thought because this was stated as a companion trilogy rather than a follow-on, I'd be okay with not having read the original trilogy. However, I would advise you to read the Zellie Wells books first, because I did spend the first couple of chapters being a bit confused and trying to work out how this world works. To be fair, it wasn't that hard to work out - the author does a good...more Firstly, I need to admit that I haven't read the Zellie Wells Trilogy, which is a bit of an oversight on my part. I thought because this was stated as a companion trilogy rather than a follow-on, I'd be okay with not having read the original trilogy. However, I would advise you to read the Zellie Wells books first, because I did spend the first couple of chapters being a bit confused and trying to work out how this world works. To be fair, it wasn't that hard to work out - the author does a good enough job of making it possible to start on this book without the benefit of having read the first trilogy, but I think anyone who hasn't come across Stacey Wallace Benefiel before would do well to start with Glimpse and work your way along from there. Personally, I wish I'd read the Zellie books simply because I really enjoyed Found, and the references to the characters from the Zellie books made me wish I knew them better.

Penny Black is a Retroact - someone who has visions of the future, and can pause and rewind time in order to alter it. That right there is a pretty big thing to get your head around. It's best not to think about it too hard or you'll give yourself a headache. Benefiel handles the complexities of altering time really well in the book - offering just enough detail to make what a Retroact does kind of plausible (in a fiction way!), whilst not getting bogged down in the whole butterfly effect thing.

Penny is a great character. Strong, prickly and sassy, she's someone who's been on her own for most of her life, relying on no-one but herself. She doesn't even realise how special she is - she heals ultra-fast but she assumes it's normal because she's never talked to anyone about it before. There's a great girl/guy role reversal here, as Penny is the one who's had a lot of experience with guys, and love interest Wyatt is the sweet and innocent one. I'm a big fan of dual PoV books, and Found is no exception. Penny and Wyatt are such different characters, even though they seem like they're made for each other, and getting both their sides makes the story that much more interesting. First person writing makes it much easier to get really into the main character, but you often feel like you're missing out on what other characters are thinking, so dual PoV works perfectly.

The story gets a bit Scooby Doo, with a major mystery, a group of kids running around trying to foil the baddies and so on, but it works, it really does. It's fast-paced, fun, exciting, full of brilliant characters and the ending is just crazy. I can't wait to read the next book in the trilogy.

Full review at http://escapeintowords.blogspot.co.uk...(less)

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May 11, 2013 Tellulah Darling rated it 1 of 5 stars

DNF

I feel really bad about this. The premise of Found sounded right up my alley and it's rare that I can't make it through a book. Coupled with the fact that this was my first NetGalley arc, well, I wish I had liked it.

SOME SPOILERS!

Set up is tough. I know this. There are a lot of characters and lingo thrown at us off the top. That's okay, but when I found myself 30% of the way in, with no clue of what the big picture was, no sense of what the over-arching goal in the story was, I started to get...more DNF

I feel really bad about this. The premise of Found sounded right up my alley and it's rare that I can't make it through a book. Coupled with the fact that this was my first NetGalley arc, well, I wish I had liked it.

SOME SPOILERS!

Set up is tough. I know this. There are a lot of characters and lingo thrown at us off the top. That's okay, but when I found myself 30% of the way in, with no clue of what the big picture was, no sense of what the over-arching goal in the story was, I started to get concerned.

In terms of the overarching mythology - by the time I gave up, about almost 2/3 of the way in, I still didn't have a clear sense of what New Society did. How did everyone's jobs break down in a clear and specific manner and what was the point? Yes, there were people who could rewind time, but what did they use it for other than random unfortunately events? When the Crusader bad guys were finally introduced, I didn't understand why the kids weren't aware of them? Why had they not been trained for a possible resurgence by these guys?

The main two characters are Wyatt and Penny. I felt like I was told a lot of things about them that didn't actually pan out in my experience of them. Wyatt is supposedly considered a f-up by his family and is kind of an outcast back home. But here at his summer school (and I have no idea why its just a summer school) he seems to be really popular, the pretty girl, although bounded to another guy definitely has strong feelings for him and his family seems to love him. Because I wasn't sure what a lookout was supposed to do, exactly, I wasn't sure why he thought he was screwing up either.

Then there was Penny - we're told she's had a terrible past and she's a street kid. Okay, but I didn't really see that manifest itself much. She pretty much trusts the New Society people right off the bat and is happy to hang out and get dreamy about Wyatt. What were her burning wants and needs?

The last thing to throw me was tone. I'm all for funny YA paranormal/fantasy, you know that. But I felt like Benefiel kept undermining any tension she'd set up with constant jokes. After a while I began to wonder if anyone took anything seriously.

As I said, I couldn't finish it. So maybe it picked right up. But I just wasn't able to stick around and find out.

Thank you to All Night Reads and Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
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May 05, 2013 Caiti rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, coffee-table-fantasy, ebook

I was only partially aware that this story was the beginning of a companion trilogy to another one, so I made the sort-of mistake of reading a preview of Glimpse before jumping into Found. Quite frankly it just made my head spin, whoops! I ended up with far too many questions and definitely not enough answers.

As I lost most of what I had written up for this beforehand, I'm going to try to begin with what I noticed most about this book.

Spoiler-y bits ahead!

(view spoiler)...more I was only partially aware that this story was the beginning of a companion trilogy to another one, so I made the sort-of mistake of reading a preview of Glimpse before jumping into Found. Quite frankly it just made my head spin, whoops! I ended up with far too many questions and definitely not enough answers.

As I lost most of what I had written up for this beforehand, I'm going to try to begin with what I noticed most about this book.

Spoiler-y bits ahead!

(view spoiler)[
The author has very good potential to write very engaging, fascinating, and real characters, and the seeds for those are definitely planted in Found. However, I never truly felt a connection to them, and it wasn't entirely their fault. The 'magic system', per se, used in the story was interesting and clearly had a healthy dollop of work put into it. I wanted to see more development set aside for it, but unfortunately it was my biggest problem when it came to connecting with the characters. Because the Retroacts can alter time (and with little repercussion, aside from needing a monster of a nap afterwards), I never sincerely felt as if any of these characters were ever in any danger, which makes that aspect of the plot very predictable. Problem arises, the team gets in trouble, Protagonist simply reverses time and fixes everything. Rinse and repeat as necessary. I am a total sucker for stories with any sort of time-related abilities involved, but this predictability can be a really common problem with them I find. Because I never felt as if any of these characters could be forever snatched away from me at any moment, I never felt the desire to really get to know them and to savour my time with them.

To follow on with the characters, I really enjoyed that the author clearly is good at writing people, particularly inner dialogue. It's usually a weak point in a lot of stories, and although it wasn't as strong as I felt it could've been in Found, the foundations were definitely there. Despite that, I felt like the characters themselves weren't entirely...all there. I really didn't get to know them all that much throughout the story - yes, we know that Penny has a troubled childhood, but everyone else knows that too. We know she loves a certain band, but everyone else knows too. I feel that's where the knowledge stops for Penny herself. She starts out as some tough, abrasive and smart chick, but that quickly gets wicked away by life at the New Society, which I feel was an enormous shame. Wyatt started taking the lead a lot for her (and being a simple-minded, objectifying jock at times, which was quite shocking), which she was mysteriously okay with most of the time, when I would've expected her to fight for her independence. She fell into life far too comfortably and quickly - the power of influence that some of the characters had felt like a major cheat-code to me, as it would've been really rewarding to read about Penny learning to deal with her troubles in her own time, surrounded by people who were trying to be there for her. Of course she would make some mistakes, and of course everyone else would make some mistakes, but the satisfaction of being there alongside these characters as they developed, especially Penny, would have been terribly fulfilling by the end of the story. It also would have made the very interesting twist at the end hit a hell of a lot harder.

On a lesser note (and possibly a silly one), another reason I had a terribly hard time connecting with Penny is because she has been living off of the streets for some time, yet she owns a head of white and pink hair. It's my understanding that it's very difficult and expensive to achieve (and maintain) white hair, and if she's desperate enough to pay for a burrito with sex, I absolutely can't see her spending $75-100 getting her hair done. That alone broke me out of the story more than anything else. Penny is also described as petite and curvy - if she was spending her days wondering where her next meal would come from, it is highly unlikely she'd still have her curves. Also, I believe that coming off of morphine can cause weight loss (followed by problems with weight control afterwards) - I would've pictured her as someone with greasy hair (with faded, worn out dye at most), no make-up, sallow skin, and unhealthily thin. Not this groomed punk-rock girl Wyatt views her as.

Most of the characters introduced in the story (and there are a lot) are generally described as socially attractive. Penny even makes note at one point that she doubted anyone at the New Society was 'butt ugly' or bland-looking. This is an immediate 'nope' in my books; it's not realistic and the social construct of 'beauty' is false and extremely harmful. Not only that, but nearly all of the characters just seem so nice. They don't really have any bad points, which makes for unbalanced and very 'blank page' characters. Most of the teens ended up having surprisingly mature sides to them, and most of the adults ended up having really quite 'unmature' sides, which I was having trouble seeing past.

The technical side of the writing really threw me for a loop as well. I've been reading so much high fantasy lately that jumping into a book with a very modern, spunky, almost young quality to the writing was like jumping into the deep end! It really felt like listening to modern pop on some ancient radio, which, for the most part, was really refreshing. On the other hand, it did at times strike me as over-the-top and way too excessive to be realistic, which knocked me right out of the story and made it quite difficult to get immersed again. The narrative and dialogue felt a lot smoother and flowed much more easily during serious situations, I felt. The usage of 'bueno' and 'chido' was so frequent I ended up wanting to pull my hair out every time I saw them (do people really speak like that?), but as this is a slightly futuristic story, I ended up assuming it was a natural appropriation of Mexican (the touch of the hat to Firefly really helped this assumption!), and as I am not aware at all of the events in the Zellie Wells trilogy, I tried to let a lot of these things not get to me too much.

As this is something else I was assuming was explained in Zellie Wells, I didn't focus on it too much, but I won't lie, it was pretty confusing. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why only straight females and homosexual males seemed to have access to these powers. I don't recall seeing a single gay girl in the book, even though realistically I imagine there should've been some. The sheer amount of pairing off that was happening got to me as well. I understand that it was to do with the trigger/Retro dealio, but as someone who is asexual, it just ended up seeming kind of silly and contrived to me. I would've loved seeing how an aromantic, non-sexual character would've been handled here, as the setting provided a lot of ample opportunity to really play around with how relationships can work and how it would've affected the abilities. Because of the exclusiveness of the orientation of the characters, I really felt that this part of the story read more like a fan-fiction rather than a book, and I couldn't even connect well with the gay characters, which I've personally always felt much more comfortable with.

As it stands, I finished Found without really knowing anything about any of the characters. I couldn't easily tell anyone who asked things about Penny; her strengths and particularly weaknesses weren't all that clear to me. She also treated her past with an aloofness I found really kind of unusual, as if she was aware that it was serious and damaging to live through what she went through, but didn't feel all that connected to it. There was a lot of missed-out 'oomph' potential there, I feel.

All in all, I'd have to give this a solid 3 stars out of 5. I seriously enjoyed the potential that this world and these characters have, and am looking forward to reading the sequel (I'm hoping more time is spent on the characters then!).
(hide spoiler)](less)

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Apr 20, 2013 Jessica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites-of-2013, 5-stars

I absolutely loved this book! I have never read the Zellie Wells' trilogy or any other of Stacey Wallace Benefiel's books, so I came into it with no expectations. I was blown away! The writing is superb, the dialogue is spot-on, and the pacing of the book kept me flipping pages all the way to the end. I formed an instant connection to Penny, empathizing with her horrible life and all of the hard things that she has had to deal with - and is still going to have to deal with. And I loved Wyatt! He...more I absolutely loved this book! I have never read the Zellie Wells' trilogy or any other of Stacey Wallace Benefiel's books, so I came into it with no expectations. I was blown away! The writing is superb, the dialogue is spot-on, and the pacing of the book kept me flipping pages all the way to the end. I formed an instant connection to Penny, empathizing with her horrible life and all of the hard things that she has had to deal with - and is still going to have to deal with. And I loved Wyatt! He was not the typical overbearing, arrogant guy who was trying to run the show and "take care of the little lady." He gave Penny her space and backed her up as best he could.
My only regret with this book was that I wish I had read the Zellie Wells' trilogy before starting this book. This book can certainly stand on it's own, but there were characters and back stories that I would have instantly understood what was going on if I had the history from Zellie Wells. However, I was able to catch on pretty quickly and continue on with the story. But I'm pretty sure it would have added another layer of enjoyment if I had been reading the story as a continuation of the Zellie books.
The new (to me) world that Benefiel introduces in this book had me totally engrossed. I love the storyline of these kids with special gifts (very reminiscent of X-Men) that all go to school together and learn how to control their special powers. The idea of a Retroact, a person who can turn back and control time (which is what Penny is), was very interesting and very believable in her world. Plus, I also loved the concept of Triggers and Lookouts. It brings a whole new dynamic to the story, plus I can see numerous scenarios where it could turn into a messy love triangle. Speaking of, I absolutely was on the edge of my seat at the end of the book. It broke my heart a little and left me hanging enough that I will be counting down the days until the next book in this series is released.
I am very glad that I picked this up! It is not normally the genre that I turn to for a good read, but it has me considering that there may be more great books out there that I am missing. Time to get over being so judgmental (don't judge a book by it's cover and all that, lol). "Found" now has a permanent spot on my "Favorites in 2013" shelf, and I have just popped over to Barnes and Noble and downloaded the Zellie Wells' trilogy. I can't wait to read it!

To see more of my reviews, please visit my blog at Jessica Loves Books.(less)

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May 04, 2013 Carrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

I received a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I will start by saying that I have not read any other associated books, so this was my first look at the world that the author has created. While the character family trees got a little confusing, my lack of previous knowledge didn't make the story any less enjoyable. I'm usually anti-futuristic books, but went into this one with an open mind. That being said, this book was fabulous!

I loved the Wyatt/Penny swapping POVs and really li...more

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May 03, 2013 Becca rated it 3 of 5 stars

I wrote the review below before I knew that this was a companion series for the Zellie Wells series. That explains why there were so many characters and why I couldn't keep track of them all. It also probably explains why the enemies story line was in the book. I will definitely read the Zellie Wells series!

3.5 stars

I received a digital ARC of this book.

This is going to be pretty difficult to review. There were things I loved and things that just didn't work.

There were too many characters in thi...more I wrote the review below before I knew that this was a companion series for the Zellie Wells series. That explains why there were so many characters and why I couldn't keep track of them all. It also probably explains why the enemies story line was in the book. I will definitely read the Zellie Wells series!

3.5 stars

I received a digital ARC of this book.

This is going to be pretty difficult to review. There were things I loved and things that just didn't work.

There were too many characters in this story, and I couldn't keep track of them. Many of which were related to one of the secondary characters, and there was a lot of emphasis on how they were all family, which I didn't really see the point of, and it took up a lot of the story. The only sense I could make out of it was that this runaway was now a part of a family in a way and she cared about them and didn't want to hurt them. Within all the characters, there was a group of teenage friends, and it was really fun to read the dialogue between them. It made the book snappy and was really well-written. Even when the book was sagging, the dialogue made it bearable. The adults also had interesting dialogue. Now for another negative, I really didn't understand the motives of their enemies. In fact, that whole story line could have been left out and replaced with something else, like more character development and the relationships between characters, or just a different story line.

The aforementioned storyline with their enemies was difficult to follow and understand. While a lot of this book was so great, because it excelled at showing instead of telling, that storyline was just the opposite. It was characters trying to explain why those people are enemies and what they're up to. It just didn't work. Too hard to understand why they were actually enemies, because the explanation was meh, too hard to follow all the characters that became involved, and it just wasn't enjoyable. The first half of the story was extremely engaging, up until that enemies story line started. For this reason, I would read the sequel, because that story line ended, and just about everything but that story line, was fantastic. The sequel will focus more on the characters and their relationships, I think.

The story was very unique, and the author did a good job with the world-building. There was a magnificent and amazing cliffhanger at the end, which sucked me right back into the story and makes me anxious to read the sequel. It was a tiny bit predictable, but it still was enjoyable when it happened and surprising.

As I said, it's hard to rate. I loved the characters, dialogue, world-building, and plot (not the enemy story line), but I disliked the amount of characters, all the explanation about how they're connected (which I couldn't keep track of), and I just couldn't stand the enemies plot (telling instead of showing, motivations for it, and too confusing).(less)

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Feb 26, 2013 Magan Vernon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: arcs, indelibles-on-fire

First off, I just have to say that this title is perfect. It invokes the song "You Found Me" by The Fray and that is exactly what Penny was before she was found by Ben, Zellie, Avery, and the rest of the gang "Lost and insecure, you found me, lying on the floor."

That's where Penny was, well lying on the side of the highway, but I'm not about to give any spoilers.

This book is told from the dual POV of Penny, Wyatt, and you get to see a little bit of Ben and the old gang from the Zellie trilogy a...more

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May 09, 2013 Lindsay rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley, indie-2013, indie-love

I really, really enjoyed this! Yes, it can stand alone, but I am very much drawn to read the Zellie Wells trilogy now. I need more! I loved the unique, fun writing style. It isn't like anything else that I've read before, which wins some major points for Benefiel! It won't be for everyone, but it was definitely for me.

PS I hate waiting for sequels! Just as everything was being all neatly tied up, she had to go and tack on that one. more. scene. O_O Dammit!

A copy of this book was provided by Ne...more

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May 08, 2013 Marie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: powers, different, paranormal-fantasy-challenge, romantic, short-but-sweet, shocking, sounds-good, cool, 2013

Good story, a bit on the short side though.
I don't think Wyatt and Penny got enough time to form a friendship let alone the beginning of a relationship BUT that ending? WAW-OH-WAW. That is what finalised this book as a worthwhile read. DID. NOT. SEE. IT. COMING.

Love it! Well and truly shocked.

This was a good book the whole way through, the way things unravelled about Penny but by bit, the way her powers seemed to develop more and more, even the mysterious start was intriguing. But it didn't be...more

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May 03, 2013 Laura rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, arc-galleys, spin-off-series, paranormal, first-in-series, indie-authors, new-adult, romance, self-destructive, dystopian, supernatural, elite-private-boarding-schools, young-adult, science-fiction, super-heroes-super-powers, povs-dual-multiple

3.5
Full review soon.

I really liked this But think I would have enjoyed it more had I read the Zellie Wells Trilogy first.It was hard to follow all the characters who I gather are from the Zellie Wells Trilogy.Im a bit conflicted about the this book (Think I need to read that trilogy now) and the cliffie really didnt help much. But if I take what I didnt like or bothered me the story line was pretty good.

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Apr 26, 2013 Liane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Normally not a fan of the futuristic genre, this book's excerpt caught my attention and I thought I'd give it a try and boy am I glad I did!

The language use make this a very believable first-person narrative and it's refreshing that a teenager sounds like a teenager! I enjoyed the fact that it touches on topics that most other books wouldn't and seriously can't wait for the next one to come out!

The only down part I could find about this book is that it went a bit too fast for my liking. I woul...more

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Mar 12, 2013 Angela Carlie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the Zellie Wells Trilogy, but I love the beginning of the Penny Black series even more! FOUND is full of draw dropping action, suspense, and is just a fun read. One of my favorite parts of the book is Penny's voice--her witty and funny comments. There's even a bit of romance. I can't wait to read the second!

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Mar 08, 2013 Cassie rated it 5 of 5 stars

As a huge Zellie fan, I knew I would love Penny! I was hooked from the beginning, and can't wait for#2 to find out what happens next. My only mild criticism would be everyone used the word bueno a little too much.

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Shelves: netgalley, e-book

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About Stacey Wallace Benefiel

Stacey Wallace Benefiel is the author of the Zellie Wells trilogy, FOUND, the Day of Sacrifice series, The Toilet Business - a collection of essays,CROSSING, and multiple short stories.

She sometimes goes by S.W. Benefiel or Reina Stowe, but knows she's not foolin' anybody.

Stacey lives in an orange house in Beaverton, OR with her two young children.

For more information on Stacey and her books, plea...more

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Books by Stacey Wallace Benefiel

Day of Sacrifice: The Prophecy (Day of Sacrifice, #1)

Zellie Wells Trilogy (Glimpse, Glimmer, Glow)

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Found (Penny Black #1)

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