e-ARC, 320 pages
Release Date: November 5, 2013Published by: Disney-HyperionThe Naturals, #1
Source: NetGalley (A huge thanks to NetGalley and Disney-Hyperion)For fans of: Paranormal, Romance, Thriller, Mystery, Crime, Action, YA, Sparkly Cover
Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie.
What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides— especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.
Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.
Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive.
*MY THOUGHTS*
If you follow me on my blog, or Twitter, or Instagram, you know that I’m a HUGE tv crime show addict. I love Law & Order: SVU, CSI (all of them), and Criminal Minds. So when I saw this featured something about the FBI, I immediately thought of Criminal Minds and knew that I would read and LOVE this. And you guys, I was right. This book was brilliant.
“This isn’t a language people should want to learn.””
30% (e-ARC)
The mystery was spot on. Through out the entire story something kept me guessing. I was never bored and it kept me on the edge of my seat. So many times I got so immersed in the book that I pictured that I was actually watching an episode of Criminal Minds. But what impressed me most was the fact that these were teens doing this. I can’t put into words how many times I’ve said I wanted to be a profiler, but I’m not sure that I could actually deal with the crazy and actual crime scenes. I just thought it was pretty damn cool that they could do all these cool things.
“Enjoying a bit of light reading?[…] You looked pretty absorbed. […]Then why did you interrupt me?.”
49% (e-ARC)
Speaking of that, I’m one of those people that try and guess “whodunit” as soon as the mystery starts. I’m really good at guessing it (I blame that on all the tv crime I watch) At the beginning I have a list of suspects, but then towards the end I have a concrete guess. I normally have my concrete guess around 70% through. This time I didn’t make my guess until 85%, but I guessed right. I think I would have given it 5 stars if I hadn’t guessed who it was.
Another thing I didn’t like was the romance. There was a love triangle, and I couldn’t stand either one of the choices. Not in the romantic sense. If we were judging them as just a person in the program, I may have liked them, but as a love interest, they just didn’t do it for me. Maybe this was because throughout the entire story she acted as if they didn’t do that much for her, but whatever it was, I think it should’ve been handled differently.
“Cassie. A word.{…] Ambidextrous.””
59% (e-ARC)
As far as the characters overall, I loved them. I loved hearing about the uniqueness of their abilities. It was interesting to learn so much about them. For instance, Sloane was a very relateable character. She reminded me of my mother. My mom is one that throws out random trivia like Sloane and afterwards everyone looks at her like “Umm what?” `With Cassie, I liked her and felt like she was a pretty strong heroine. With what she can do fine tuned, in the future she will be something to be reckoned with.
This story will definitely leave you on the edge of your seat and chewing off all your nails. It’s a fast paced thriller that will leave you in shock after you turn the last page. Because trust me, that ending is a doozie. Overall, if you’re a thriller/mystery fan, you will want to read this. Go pick this up now!
Overall, I give this
