Friday, June 3, 2011

Darwin's Children by Natasha Larry


Published synopsis:

Life can get pretty complicated for any seventeen-year-old girl, but for a home-schooled telepathic black girl trying to survive in a prestigious private school in small-town Jonesborough, Tennessee, it can be maddening – especially when her telepathic father keeps eavesdropping on her thoughts!

Jaycie Lerner’s family isn’t the usual mom-dad-kid setup. Jaycie’s mom’s MIA, but Allison, her personal live-in ‘trainer,’ is more than a mom, with her own special abilities, like being able to lift cars and run incredibly fast. And Jaycie’s godfather John is more than persuasive – he can literally convince anyone to do anything.

As far as the rest of the world’s concerned, Jaycie’s on the outside looking in. The townsfolk love Jaycie’s pediatrician father, but she doesn’t fit in with ‘normal’ kids, and she doesn’t really want to. Most of her free time is spent training to keep her telekinetic and telepathic powers under control. But there’s one thing she can’t control – and that’s her feelings, especially when her best friend Matt is nearby. If only he knew what she was truly capable of...

Everything seems to be status quo for Jaycie until she receives a cryptic message from a stranger and meets a very unusual girl new to Jonesborough. Then all hell breaks loose!

Review:

Jaycie Lerner is not your average teenager. To begin with, she has to constantly shield her mind from the onslaught of other’s thoughts, which is not easy to do when surrounded by teenagers who practically scream their heightened emotional thoughts at her. The result is that Jaycie often reacts inappropriately to social situations and is considered an outcast and a freak by her classmates. Her home life, though, is what keeps her sane. Her telepathic father helps her learn to keep shields in place in her mind and Allison and John help her learn control over her other abilities. Even if sometimes their lessons are a bit on the extreme side, the bond between these people not related by blood is stronger than most families who are.

Eventually, it is Jaycie’s turn to help another understand her superhuman abilities.A lost, broken girl, who Jaycie befriends at the request of a persuasive stranger, carries dark secrets inside of herself that are tearing her apart. With the help of Jaycie and her family, this girl learns that there is more to life than the memories of pure evil she holds inside of her. And sometimes, revenge is the only way to help along recovery.

The characters in Darwin’s Children are not only powerful, they also come across as people you would love to meet at the next neighborhood barbecue. Natasha Larry has done an excellent job of making the characters stand out from those in other books with their down home style and southern manners. But as secrets unfold and revenge becomes not a wish but a must, the strength the characters show prove that they are made of stronger stuff than most people. Not to mention, their powers are most enviable – superhuman strength, mind reading, telekinesis, the power to persuade anyone of anything, and the power to make evil doers feel the pain of their actions towards others. With all of these traits rolled into one book, this is a novel that lovers of paranormal and supernatural will love.

There were a couple of things that held me back, though, from giving this book a 5 star rating instead of a 4. A lot of information was thrown out over the course of the book and sometimes this distracted me from the main story line and made some of the passages move along slower than I would have liked. Not all of the information may have been necessary to the story line, such as Jaycie’s father and John going after a fire-starter in another state. The pace of the novel seemed to waver because of these extra details from fast-paced to meandering and as much as I enjoyed it, I couldn’t help but feel that some areas of the book could have moved along a little faster towards the final showdown. The other thing that held me back was the last few chapters of the book. Although they were well written and interesting, they were a little anticlimactic after the story had already reached a stunning climax. These chapters may have been better served as the beginning of the next book in the series.

Overall, I truly enjoyed Darwin’s Children and I am grateful that the author gave me a copy to review. It definitely makes my must read book list and if there is a sequel, I’ll be reading it! I give this book a strong four stars.


Purchase Darwin's Children by Natasha Larry

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