Title: Human Blend
Author: Lori Pescatore
Publisher: CreateSpace
Paperback, 234 pages
ISBN 10: 1453765131
ISBN 13: 9781453765135
Goodreads description:
Escaping from them had been difficult enough, now Laney needs to keep hidden. All she wanted was to be on her own. Laney is not like other girls... she has very special abilities that set her apart from others. How or why she came about these abilities is a mystery she has yet to unfold.
Haunted by memories and flashbacks of the suffering she endured at the hands of her captors, she changes her appearance and hides out in a small town. Ignoring her own warnings, she begins a relationship with a local boy.
The relationship turns dangerous when the boy begins developing similar abilities. This development does not fall under the radar of the men who are trying to recapture her.
A young doctor's interest is piqued when he witnesses her mysteriously curing a young child's illness. He befriends her due to his growing fascination with uncovering the true nature of her abilities, but not without harboring secrets of his own. Laney's new life falls apart when she meets a young intern that seems to have all the answers to her questions. The information sends her into a tail spin. Thoughts of going on the run once again are thwarted as those whom she was running from find her.
My Take:
Laney looks 16, but is quite a bit older .. you see, she does not age normally. She also has remarkable abilities - the ability to heal and the ability to foresee numbers. The latter ability makes her very valuable to the men who forcibly took her from her father at a young age and have held her ever since.
Now she has escaped them, and in her new life as Julie Miller, an 18-year-old, she finds herself in Marion, Virginia, where she meets a boy named Austin Dorsett, and gets a volunteer position at a local hospital.
Can she keep the men who are after her from finding her? Why is she so attracted to Eli Ellsworth, a senior doctor at the hospital? What are the hazy memories of when she was first abducted trying to tell her? Are there others like her?
As Laney tries to live her new, normal life, is her past is catching up to her? Will she be able to outrun it, or is she placing her new friends in danger as well?
There were some editing issues, although, as a whole, they didn't take too much away from the story. As this is a YA book, I was somewhat taken aback at the physical relationships that seemed to move far too quickly for me. Although an explanation for this eventually appears, I would have felt more comfortable if it had appeared earlier.
I loved this plot concept, and Laney's character (known as Julie through most of the narrative) was compelling. I loved her instinct for healing, even though it meant that she had to take the pain of the sickness she was healing inside of her for a while; the selflessness she showed in doing so was wonderful and endearing. As this is the first in a planned trilogy, I think we will see a bit more character development in the secondary characters; I never really understood how the "bad guys" came to meet Laney or her father or how they knew of her abilities - these are two things I'm looking forward to finding out.
All in all, I liked this read; although it didn't grab me from the start, I eventually found myself pulled into the plot and felt so much sympathy for Laney and for the life she had been forced to lead.
As with all of the YA books that come in for review, I gave this one to Not-So-Bebe-Girl Autumn to read, and she blew through it in less than a day. She said, "Well, she's a pretty fast girl" (speaking of the physicality), but she also said, "I understood more later, and I really liked it ... can I loan it to Jasmine (her bf) to read?", which is high praise, since she only wants her friends to read the books that she really likes.
BOOK RATING:
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Not-So-Bebe-Girl Autumn's Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
BUY IT: At Amazon, and through other on-and-off-line booksellers.
WIN IT: Thanks to the author, I am able to give a copy away to one of my readers! I am making the giveaway international (although, if international shipping costs for a physical copy are prohibitive, the winner's copy may be in eBook format)
MANDATORY ENTRY: If you could have one psychic ability, what would it be and why?
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ELIGIBILITY: Open Internationally
End Date: Thursday, February 9, 2011 at 11:59 PM EST
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this title from the author to facilitate my review. No other compensation was received and I was not required to post a positive review.
