The Chemist - Stephenie Meyer - 4.5*

[Elise]

Juliana Fortis (the MC’s real name, even though she actually never uses it in the book) was a torturer for a very secret organization in the US government. One day three years ago, she heard something her superiors decided she shouldn’t know, and they decided to kill her, and she’s been on the run since. Until one day someone from her old office contacts her with a last mission, saying nobody but her can do it. She weighs the pros and the cons, decides to do it (her way)... and then things get much worse. Now she has to figure out why those people want her dead so bad, because she no longer has just her own life to save.

Here’s what I wrote about it last week when I was about 75% of the way through: “I’ve been reading The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer, and it’s surprisingly awesome, which is unfortunate. Not that it’s awesome, but that it comes as a surprise. Even though I absolutely adore The Host, my first thought when I pick up a book by Stephenie Meyer is Twilight. The Chemist is an adult spy novel, and is much, much more like The Host than like Twilight. Sadly, even though her adult novels are quite good, I fear Stephenie Meyer will forever be associated with YA, wishy-washy romance, sparkling vampires and beyond useless heroines. It’s unfortunate that because of this, a lot of people won’t give a fair chance to anything she publishes now, and that when we do, we feel the need to justify ourselves, and the fact that the novel we’re reading has nothing to do with vampires or teenage love!”

And now after having finished it I still think the same, I really really enjoyed it. There was romance but not too much and too annoying, the characters all seemed well-rounded, and there were lots of touches of humour which made the whole thing light enough to not get drab.

I took off a little half-star because the beginning felt a bit like Meyer was going “look how much I learned about spying!” I get the exposition was necessary to get to know the character, but it still felt quite dry compared to the rest.

Also because we never saw Lola at the end, and I’m mad about that!

[Jenni Elyse]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think I would've enjoyed it more had my reading not been interrupted by one of my surgeries. I didn't want to wait to finish it, but I didn't feel like reading so it kind of soured the read for me. I'll try it again someday and see if I like it any better.