Elle Todd The Elect REVIEW BELOW
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Title: The Elect
Author: Elle Todd
Genre: YA Paranormal Urban Fiction
Length (print): 355 Pages
Buy Link: Amazon Kindle $3.99
Synopsis:Allison Noble never liked the Baileys. They were too good-looking, too popular, too charming to be legitimate. For most of their high school career she avoided the pair, convinced their outward affability was just a ruse to disguise their true character. Okay, yeah, she’s a little neurotic. Even so, she never suspected that what they were hiding was dangerous. It never occurred to her that they might have abilities based more in fiction than reality. Why would it? People can’t produce fire with their bare hands. There are no such things as mind control and telekinesis. Except, she discovers, there are.
The Baileys are Elect, gifted with supernatural powers Allison is able to not only sense, but use herself. In the history of the Elect, there has never been one such as she, and with good reason. Because she wasn’t born to such power, she has a difficult time controlling it. Accidents happen, putting them all at risk. As others draw near—some who wish to protect her, others who want to destroy her—she is forced to uncover the secrets of her past, and face the consequences of being what her own kind refers to as an abomination.
***Will not appear in review elsewhere. I adore the cover on this novel. While the type disappears at thumbnail size, the imagery is spot on. I'd like to see that type given an overhaul so it shows up better, but wow. Hullo, fire starter! *grin* This picture is spot on with the story inside.***
Speaking of the story!
I grabbed a sample of The Elect when Ms. Todd pitched it to me during my 12 Days event on my blog. From there, I was sucked into the story and knew when I got to the last page and wanted more, I had to have this novel. So, I grabbed it, added it to my TBR list, and dove in. Let's move on to my thoughts.
From a Reader's Perspective:
Hello? Two girls breaking in to their high school to pay it forward to a girl who's wrecked the life of more than one person? I'm in! So many things could've gone wrong, and the drama of the people those girls find in the school not knowing who they were? Great tension in the beginning of this book. I was turning pages to see what happened next. But then, bam! I had the brakes thrown on me. My resulting whiplash served to annoy the heck out of the brain that kept screaming for more. As a result, I found myself putting the book down more than once out of frustration. What I'm saying is, there's a huge lag of action through the middle part of the story as the characters are built and go through day-to-day operations and interactions. Then, all of a sudden, near the end, the story picks up and rushes to a close. I left feeling like a lot of the potential for plot pacing wasn't realized. There's also a huge cliffhanger, which left me wanting the next book, but also peeved about the dragging on only to rush to an open end.
I loved the characters, and their personalities and abilities were interesting as all get out. They're people I could relate to those in my own life, and I could picture them perfectly. But, like I said, I would've liked to see them built as the action unfolded. World building was phenomenal, Ms. Todd really outdid herself with the infrastructure of this whole Elect secret society thing. It was charming.
Nate and Ryan. Couldn't keep those two straight. They needed more than one syllable to differentiate. But some of the twists were cool, and I chuckled more than once at the teen interactions and speech.
From an Editor's Perspective:
I've started highlighting only those things I think should be pointed out when I'm reading for review. Otherwise, I end up with pages and pages of notes. Pronouns were all over the place, and some things I had to re-read more than once to make sense of them because of those issues. Commas are sprinkled around where they shouldn't be, and they were left out where they should appear. It creates, problems when, reading a sentence. See what I mean? Because of these, I can't give a star for editing.
Rating:
1 Star for giving me a great beginning and wonderful characters
1 Star for world building, and a unique perspective
1 Star for the couple of twists I didn't see coming and the laughter
-1 Star for nomenclature of characters and a middle that dragged on and on and on
-1 Star for grammar, punctuation, and pronoun issues
Overall: 3 out of 5 stars. Recommended for those that are looking for a different take on young adult paranormal.
What do you think? Have you read it? Do you plan to?
Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!
Jo
