Synopsis
from Goodreads: Kate
Parker is a 17 year old senior living in Texas. She's on the swim
team, has two incredible best friends, and a passion for saving
animals. She falls hard when she meets a mysterious and fascinating
guy named Lucas. He has a sexy accent and a killer smile. However,
she sees unexplained pain and anger in his dark brown eyes. He claims
he’s a foreign exchange student from Spain who is attending the
local University—Kate knows there’s more to his story than that.
She works hard to discover who he is—what he is.
How
acquired: ARC sent to me by the author for review. Scheduled release date June 3, 2016.
My
thoughts: I
didn't know much about this book other than it's a YA/Urban Fantasy, and I really
had no idea what to expect. Kate is an interesting character. The
word “hyperthymesia” is never used, but Kate has it. In case
you're unfamiliar with it, it's also called Superior Autobiographical
Memory, and those who possess it can remember every detail of
everything that ever happens to them. Kate tells Lucas if she hears
it or sees it, she will remember it. Other than her memory, Kate is a
pretty normal teenager. She's on the swim team, she likes hanging out
with her best friends, she fights with her little brother. She also
loves animals, and seems to feel a connection to them. I thought in
the beginning that might be explored a little more or be more
intrinsic to the plot, but after the first part of the book, where
Kate is trying to rescue a starving stray in the woods, it became
more secondary.
Lucas
is a mysterious motorcycle riding foreigner. He's come to the US from
Spain to attend college. They have a “meet cute” moment when Kate
walks out of the woods to find Lucas stranded on the side of the
road, and she ends up fixing his motorcycle for him. (“Lucas, if
you hold my pork chop, I will fix your bike.” That line made me
laugh out loud.) There's a slight element of paranormal introduced,
as Kate feels a strange anxiety inducing energy when Lucas touches
her. Kate's father is a psychiatrist, and she tells him about this
weird feeling (I can't imagine telling my dad anything like that at
17!), which leads to an extremely embarrassing moment for Kate when
her father meets Lucas for the first time. Her father was a little
off the wall with the over protectiveness, and I'm not sure if it's
just the way he's wired, or if there's something about Kate that will
be revealed in a future book.
Overall
the writing felt a little simple, which may be typical of a lot of
YA? Since I don't read a lot of it I can't really compare it to the
rest of the genre. I was interested in the story, but did not really
get engrossed until Kate learned the secret Lucas was hiding about
himself. Until then I think I had mixed feelings about him. He had
very violent tendencies, and while he seemed to really care about
Kate, he did inadvertently physically hurt her at one point, and not
knowing what drove him made it hard to feel completely sympathetic to
him.
Some
of the descriptive passages were vivid, and there was a very funny
scene between Kate and her mother in the kitchen, as mom is getting
dinner ready and Kate starts acting like a boxer and pretending to
throw punches at her exasperated mother. I could see the scene play
out in my head and it made me laugh.
This
is the author's debut novel, and I think she shows a lot of promise.
The book ends a tad abruptly, not on a cliffhanger, exactly, but sort
of...I can't tell you any more than that, but it will be interesting
to see what unfolds in future books.
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