How often do you come across a lightning addict protagonist?

That alone made me want to read Struck. Add it with a plot where a cult leader brainwashes people to become followers and leave out destruction to the rest of the world, and you just completely sold me a good story. Unfortunately, this book fell short to me.

Stuck is a story about a girl named Mia. She is a lightning addict and has been “sober” over her addiction since they moved to Los Angeles where lighting rarely comes around. Then an earthquake comes and turns the city into a wasteland. At this point after disaster stroke, Mia is caught in between two cults raging war with each other. She wants nothing more to do with any of them yet both seek her out for her “gift” which has everything to do with the “End of the World” jig going on. Life couldn’t get anymore complicated for Mia. Well, maybe a little bit more with a mysterious guy lurking around her.

I was absolutely captivated by the synopsis and then seeing the lovely cover of this book; you can actually feel my yearning for its release. Sadly it didn’t leave me a satisfied reader in the end.

I was really interested about Mia’s addiction to lighting so yes; I was completely engrossed at first. But as I progressed through the pages Mia just got on my nerves. There was too much “Mia-thoughts” that I felt were unnecessary, not to mention repetitive. I’ve been trying to find a way to connect with her but her decisions make me more distant than I already was. I know she wants to protect her family and all but she doesn’t give her decisions some thought first before acting out on them.

I don’t get the love connection between Mia and Jeremy. It happened so fast that it felt like a snap of your fingers and… Voila! Instant romance! I also didn’t see any growth between them up until the ending. Fail.

I’m confused over the whole lightning survivors idea. This is probably because instead of understanding their practices and motives, Mia ignores them and jumps only when her family is used against her. Of course there’s nothing wrong with stepping in to save your family but what makes matters wrong is the idea that she believes the lies being fed to her but doesn’t even take the time to ask questions about their purpose and other important details. She also doesn’t listen to those who are actually caring for her but instead listens to a guy she barely even knows.

Another thing that confuses me is Prophet aka the brainwasher. I don’t get how he got his gift of brainwashing through lightning. I don’t get how those who have been struck got the power to sense others like them. Details and explanations please, after all this is science fiction of some sort right? From what I know, the mysteries in books like these always provide information over how it occurred.

Struck is the first of a series by Jennifer Bosworth. Although it has left us with a “peaceful” ending, it gave off the vibe of “there’s more to come” and “this is only the beginning” idea. But I’m not sure if I find the idea interesting enough to make me want to try the next book.

For more of my reviews, please visit my blog:
The Blair Book Project @ www.theblairbookproject.blogspot.com/