The Candidates is the first book in what will hopefully a series. Dancia is an average teenager who does her best to blend in and never make friends. Because whenever she does get close to someone bad things happen. Dancia has a secret power that she cannot control. Whenever she sees someone she cares about threatened she makes things happen and usually it leaves the person causing the trouble seriously injured. She lives in a small town but on the edge of that town is a mysterious and prestigious high school that only the most wealthy and talented people in country can go to it. The school has decided they want to have Dancia there because of an "act of courage" when she saved her grandmother's life earlier in the year. Dancia attends wondering why she is there when the only special thing about her is her power and there is no way they could know about that. She becomes fast friends a couple of the girls in the school and the bad boy rebel Jack. Soon she is no longer doing her best to blend in but she is wants to stand out. She even has a crush on the most popular boy in school and is honored that he considers her his friend. But bad boy jack has begun to raise dark questions about the school that has her even wondering if there is something more sinister going on.
I really really enjoyed this book. I didn't want to but I did. I didn't want to because the writing did not have the crisp precision that a seasoned writer has. Instead it had the feel of a first time author (which I imagine she is). But she told a good story that had me keep turning pages. Then something happened that hasn't happened in a few years. During one of the romantic scenes in the book I actually stared to get that goofy butterflies in the belly ride on a roller coaster feeling. I haven't had that happen in quite a while. I used to read romance books just for that feeling and here a YA author has given me that feeling again. While yes this is your typical love triangle situation that you see lately it is an interesting dilema. Do you go for the bad boy who is open and completely honest or the good guy who has nothing but secrets and lies. Also I really liked Dancia. I've grown sick of the emo/milktoast girls who are constantly depressed and push away friendships. In this case Dancia grows and learns to let others in. She stops wearing her customary drab clothes and starts wearing brighter colors. She laughs and enjoys being herself. That is something new that you don't see much of in YA books these days. I give the book 4 and half out of 5 stars and really look forward to the next book. It would have been a 5 star book if it didn't have that herky jerkiness that smacked of new writer.
Challenges Fullfilled:
Kick Ass Herione
Hogwarts Reading Challenge
1 comment:
It does sound kind of typical, but you leave enough to the imagination with her powers. Intrigued!
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