Future Shock!

Elena Martinez, a "tatted-up Mexican girl" with a penchant for fighting is about to age out of the foster care system. Which is why she's so desperate to find a job. She's smart and has an eidetic memory, but with her checkered past no one wants to hire her. Until the Aether Corporation comes along offering her a big chunk of change to do one job for them. They want her to participate in a research project with four other teens. It'll only take twenty-four hours to complete. But she'll have to venture 10 years into the future to do it. Aether says there's no risk to her and the others, but Elena suspects they're not telling her the truth. Still, what other choice does she have?

Elizabeth Briggs has written one fun page-turner. Elena's a great narrator, flawed yet personable; Adam, Chris, Trent, and Zoe, the other four teens who travel into the future with her, are good secondary characters with their own unique abilities. I liked them all. This YA novel is a very compelling read--from the first page to the last I couldn't put it down. Especially when Elena & Co. step 30 years into the future instead of 10 and things start to go wrong; then they begin to uncover the first of Aether's lies and the guessing game of who's telling the truth and who they can trust begins. As with any time travel novel, a little suspension of belief is required. But all in all, this turned out to be a very fun and entertaining read.

Happy Reading!

A little YA fun...

They are the lost causes:  Sandra, Gabby, Justin, Z, and Andrew. Five teens struggling with drug addiction, OCD, anger issues, depression and hypochondria; five teens who everyone has given up on. Which makes them the perfect subjects to assist the FBI in tracking down a killer, all with a little help from a secret serum that unlocks an untapped psychic ability in each of them. Suddenly, Sandra can see ghosts, Gabby has visions of the past, Justin can move objects with his mind, Z can hear the thoughts of others, and Andrew 's brain can process information like some kind of genius. Which only leaves two questions:  Can they trust these newfound gifts?  And what isn't the FBI telling them?

This YA novel requires a little upfront suspension of disbelief in order to truly enjoy it. But if you can get past the absurdness of the FBI having an ESP-inducing serum that only works on teens and that they would recruit a bunch of misfit delinquents to help them solve one of their cases...this ends up being a very entertaining read. In The Lost Causes, authors Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz have created five quirky characters that are genuinely likeable. Seeing them bond as friends as well as try to solve the FBI's case on their own were some of my favorite parts. I also enjoyed the bits with them trying to figure out their new psychic abilities. I cared less about the whole FBI investigation, especially at the beginning of the book, but even that got more interesting and more suspenseful as the story went along. There was even a good twist at the end that made the initial premise more believable. All in all, I thought this was a fun read. And if the authors ever decide to write a sequel, I will be checking it out.

Happy Reading!