First, confession time, when I initially discovered the Giveaway page on booklikes, I entered to win a copy of Derrolyn Anderson’s The Athena Effect. I was also a new Kindle owner and when I won a copy, I didn’t understand what to do or how… so, many months later, when it was available as a free Kindle book on Amazon’s US site, I jumped on it (partly to make up for the earlier situation).

 

The preface will draw you in, setting the stage with a young couple on the run. What follows is the story of their daughter, Caledonia, as she must learn to live in society after being raised in isolation, completely off the grid.  Into her story comes a young man, Cal, who has also lost his parents, but in very different circumstances.  Conflicts occur due to each of their living situations, and to the evil that Caledonia’s parents had hidden her from.

 

I was a bit hesitant to continue reading once Caledonia’s special talents were revealed to the reader, as “New Age” stories do not appeal to me. But that aspect of the book is handled in such an interesting way that I did not mind it at all. It was less “New Age” and more a slow building of “here is a special talent, how it grows, why it happened and how it should and shouldn’t be used.”

 

At its core, this is the story of two people who have suffered great loss and how they rescue themselves and each other from their circumstances. It does cross into New Adult territory, but not in an overly graphic way.

 

An interesting and, at times, exciting read. I enjoyed The Athena Effect, and while I am not rushing to read the sequels (I gravitate more towards adult rather than YA/NA novels), they are now on my radar.

I received this book from the author in exchange for a review.

 

This was a very good read. The concept: a girl, Caledonia, is raised in complete isolation is left orphaned. She has the power to see people's auras/feelings and manipulate the, (including animals). She is transferred to the outside world to live with her aunt and her aunts creepy molestor boyfriend Phil. Once In high school she just tries to blend in, and avoid notice. But she's special. Eventually she meets bad-boy troubled soul Calvin, and a friendship and crush develops. Soon though, sinister forces that had her parents running for their lives 20 years ago; find Caledonia and want to take her away. An evil Dr. Reed enters the picture and Caledonia meets twins with similar abilities as her own.

 

As crazy as it sounds, I didn't find this predictable or cheesy. A major feat, considering how often the "girl with special powers" thing has been done in young adult. I thought her personality was charming, and her powers fascinating. Oh, and the fact that she keeps a knife on her person at all times, wielding it with such bad assery even Katniss would be impressed. I really liked the relationship that developed with Calvin, and her strength which was juxtaposed nicely with her naïveté due to living in complete isolation. Towards the end I simply couldn't put the book down. It felt like a thriller at the end, but the book had a contemporary feel to it that I enjoyed. It was nice that the supernatural elements didn't overwhelm the story. The only reason I'm not giving more stars is because sometimes the romantic dialogue became repetitive between Calvin and Cali.

 

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this book to others. It's unique plot and characters had me hooked. I was left surprised at the end, and I am definitely curious about where the story will lead in the sequel.

I received this book from the author in exchange for a review.

This was a very good read. The concept: a girl, Caledonia, is raised in complete isolation is left orphaned. She has the power to see people's auras/feelings and manipulate the, (including animals). She is transferred to the outside world to live with her aunt and her aunts creepy molestor boyfriend Phil. Once In high school she just tries to blend in, and avoid notice. But she's special. Eventually she meets bad-boy troubled soul Calvin, and a friendship and crush develops. Soon though, sinister forces that had her parents running for their lives 20 years ago; find Caledonia and want to take her away. An evil Dr. Reed enters the picture and Caledonia meets twins with similar abilities as her own.

As crazy as it sounds, I didn't find this predictable or cheesy. A major feat, considering how often the "girl with special powers" thing has been done in young adult. I thought her personality was charming, and her powers fascinating. Oh, and the fact that she keeps a knife on her person at all times, wielding it with such bad assery even Katniss would be impressed. I really liked the relationship that developed with Calvin, and her strength which was juxtaposed nicely with her naïveté due to living in complete isolation. Towards the end I simply couldn't put the book down. It felt like a thriller at the end, but the book had a contemporary feel to it that I enjoyed. It was nice that the supernatural elements didn't overwhelm the story. The only reason I'm not giving more stars is because sometimes the romantic dialogue became repetitive between Calvin and Cali.

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this book to others. It's unique plot and characters had me hooked. I was left surprised at the end, and I am definitely curious about where the story will lead in the sequel.

....I found you, Cali.

 

I counted this as my June Wimpy Challenge, since this series and author are new to me.  But this was such a nice read. By the end, I was clutching my Kindle with white knuckles, screaming at it. (I get worked up about books, okay?) 

 

Anyway, this was a cute read. I liked Cali's character, and I felt really bad for her and her parents. On the other hand, her aunt was a bitch and Phil needed kicked in the nuts. But the story was pretty interesting. I'm looking forward to reading more of this series. I need me some more Cal & Cali.

I won a copy through a BookLIkes.com giveaway. Even when i lost my copy after the kindle app on my iPhone crashed and I lost the document I contact ed the author and she provided me with another copy, so thank you for that :)

This turned out to be quite different from what I expected, and I'm please to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I did get a bit confused when starting the book, with the hero and heroine having the name nickname of Cal. Her name Caledonia and his name Calvin. But the flow of the story made it easy to get around that. It wasn't something that cropped up all the time.

The story was quite original, which I liked to see. Caledonia has an unusual ability and her parents keep her away from the public and raise her out of the way in the woods. Tragedy strikes and she has to go live with an aunt she's never met and deal with high school for the first time. Very difficult with her ability. Caledonia was a wonderful character. She was quite naive about the way the world worked having not grown up in it, but she learned to cope quite well and turned out to be amazingly strong willed. 

The bad boy love invest Calvin was a typical biker partying hooking up with random girls type. I didn't like him much when the book started, he notices Caleodonia right away but she quickly picks up on the bad boy biker partied thing and doesn't want anything to do with him. No insta love, it takes time for the to grow comfortable with each other. Calvin's biker brother and the girls who hang around turn out to be not so bad and actually pretty decent people when Caledonia does come into the picture.

And when the romance finally gets there...the feels in this book are so wonderful, it packs quite an emotional punch throughout. Both characters grow tremendously as people. Cali's abilities come into play an important part of the story and there are bad guys who come into play. Left open need for the next book, I would definitely be interested in where to see the story goes next.