Struck (Struck, #1) in And So It Begins Reading Challenge

Mar 09, 2012 Carrie Ardoin rated it liked it

Shelves: from-netgalley, dystopia, other-supes

Mia Price is trying to keep her family afloat after an earthquake destroyed Los Angeles, where she lives with her younger brother and mom. Her mother has been struggling with severe PTSD and is basically checked out from their lives. If this is not stressful enough, Mia has been struck by lightning so many times that she is addicted to it...her body craves it and she can feel the heat and electricity burning inside of her.

So Mia and her brother go back to school for the first time since the quak Mia Price is trying to keep her family afloat after an earthquake destroyed Los Angeles, where she lives with her younger brother and mom. Her mother has been struggling with severe PTSD and is basically checked out from their lives. If this is not stressful enough, Mia has been struck by lightning so many times that she is addicted to it...her body craves it and she can feel the heat and electricity burning inside of her.

So Mia and her brother go back to school for the first time since the quake, if only because going to school means getting fed. But when they get there, things start happening quickly. Mia meets both an enigmatic girl named Katrina and a gorgeous guy named Jeremy, who both give her warnings about her future. When Mia's mom becomes brainwashed by the televangelist and self proclaimed Prophet Rance, she comes to learn that the warnings were right...and now she must choose a side in the battle for the lives of everyone she loves.

This is one instance where I wish I could give half stars, because this book was exactly 3 1/2 stars for me.

The story has a fascinating, semi-dystopian premise. I can almost tell where the author got her story idea. Ripped from the headlines...a prophet claiming he knows when the world will end and all sinners should repent now? Sounds very familiar, no?

Mia was alright for me as a main character. She made some stupid decisions and was sort of flighty, but how much of that is from the catastrophic event that just changed her life? I don't know. In any event, I was a bit dismayed when she first laid eyes on Jeremy and fell in instant lust with him. SIGH.

The action of the plot itself was very enjoyable, I just had some problems with the pacing. One event would happen where I couldn't turn the pages to read it quick enough, then after that I'd find myself skimming over some paragraphs.

I will say though, that the twist with Jeremy completely threw me for a loop--I didn't see it coming at all. I thought most of my questions got answered, but towards the end I still found myself asking, why did Jeremy do this, or what was the point of that?

I'm still kind of meh about the ending. Things seemed wrapped up a bit too nicely...so nicely in fact, that I have no idea where a second book in this series could go, but I see that this is the first book in a planned series. I'm not sure if I'd read the next. I'd have to see what the premise was, and hope the author comes to use fewer tired cliches than she did in Struck. ...more

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