Sparked started off with great promise. A missing sister, intriguing and tense, especially because no one is taking the absence seriously. When the book started sliding into the paranormal, the momentum ebbed, and it didn't seem that all the aspects meshed well. I think perhaps it was slightly too ambitious. Maybe if the plot had focused solely on the mystery or solely on the paranormal, it may have been a more cohesive tale.
2 stars

*I received a review copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Thank you to Geek & Sundry and Netgalley.*

I really enjoyed reading this book! I read this book in one sitting because I could not put the book down, I highly recommend reading this book!

This is a truly moving and shocking story. I was hooked on every page until around the ending. It wasn't necessarily my favorite book, but the middle and beginning were very good.

Such a great read. I loved the paranormal fantasy aspect in this storyline. The characters are enjoyable and the mystery/suspence elements were really fun.

It was an okay read! I wasn't overly thrilled by the story but it was one that I still enjoyed. Though it wasn't a favorite of mine, I would still recommend it to someone looking for a quick read.

Sparked was a strange novel for me, it starts off as an abduction novel with a girl looking for her missing sister but then it takes a turn into the occult and supernatural. While not a typical pairing I actually really enjoyed the book.

This story felt hurried and unfinished. It was lacking depth. I finished reading it but it was a struggle. I never cared about the characters. I was told how they felt but didn't feel it or believe it.

Missing child 
Mysterious new kid 
Dark secrets 
Prophecy 
And special powers!
This book has everything you could want in a fantasy novel. I would recommend to fantasy and paranormal fans.

A solid teen story with a decent mystery. I think this should appeal to those patrons who always want a new whodunit.

It was okay. It was just really average. And the whole powers thing has been done so much

Actual rating 4.5/5

I really enjoyed this book. I have been wanting a good paranormal book for forever, and this one definitely fits the bill. This book is based on a prophecy, and that was such a fun aspect to find out! I love how this book mixed tropes you find in a contemporary book, with the other world feel of a paranormal book. You should highly consider checking this book out!

The result? Suspenseful, eerie, and slightly romantic, Sparked is the ULTIMATE October read!

Sparked started out very strong, and I really enjoyed the first half of the story. But unfortunately, around the halfway mark, things started to go downhill for me, and it ended up being a typical YA paranormal that reminded me of so many other stories I’ve read. Which is sad, because I’ve had great luck with publisher Inkshares up to this point (Sparked is actually published by Geek & Sundry, who has partnered with Inkshares to create several writing contests.) But as I’ve had some dubious luck with young adult books in general lately, I’m starting to wonder if I really am too old for them! Sparked has tons of four- and five-star reviews on Goodreads and Amazon, so obviously this is just one reviewer’s opinion. But I’ll attempt to describe what did and didn’t work for me, as usual. And like I said, things started out great!

Fifteen-year-old Laurel and her seventeen-year-old sister Ivy live with their single mother in a trailer in the woods of Oregon. Both girls attend the local high school and try to stay under the radar, since their mother is on the verge of being deemed “unfit” and losing her daughters to foster care, due to some bad choices in her past.

One morning, Laurel wakes up and Ivy is missing. The trailer door is wide open, and Laurel immediately suspects that something terrible has happened to her sister. She goes to school as usual, hoping that Ivy will show up eventually, but when she doesn’t, Laurel’s worry begins to turn to fear. None of the adults around her seem to be concerned, but luckily Laurel finds someone to trust in the mysterious newcomer at school, a boy named Jasper Blake, who turns out to have the power of starting fires with his mind. Later, Jasper reveals that he’s been meeting with Ivy in secret and helping her learn to control her power (telekinesis), which Laurel knew nothing about.

Jasper tells Laurel about an ancient prophecy that says an evil entity  called druj will destroy the world on Halloween, unless four people with powers—”sparks”—join forces to stop it. Jasper believes that Ivy is one of the four, and so he and Laurel set out to find her, as well as the other three sparks, before time runs out.

I want to start with the positives. I absolutely loved the fact that Laurel, Ivy and their mother are poor and barely hanging on. You just don’t see this type of marginalization in young adult fiction that often. The authors do a great job of making their situation believable. Laurel’s mother is a struggling artist, although that storyline isn’t really developed. Laurel never acts resentful for their family’s situation, she’s always trying to help her mom out in any way she can, and her real support system is Ivy, although now that Ivy has disappeared, Laurel is left floundering a bit and has to step up and do things for herself. The mother has a horrible boyfriend named Bryan who occasionally stays in the trailer. He’s your typical pervy boyfriend who ogles both Ivy and Laurel and walks around the trailer half-nude. He made me very uncomfortable, and I was glad when the mom finally throws him out later in the story.

I also loved that Laurel is a budding writer and gets encouragement from her English teacher, even though that encouragement feels like criticism. Like many authors, Laurel feels as if her work is being torn apart, when her teacher is actually going out of her way to help Laurel improve her innate skills. Jasper also encourages her, and I wonder if this bit is autobiographical.

But while the beginning of the story was exciting and fresh, as the reader is introduced to the mystery of what happened to Ivy and who the heck is this newcomer Jasper, it soon became predictable and silly in many ways. I got a strong Edward/Bella vibe from Jasper and Laurel—mysterious and broody new boy at school meets unpopular, introverted girl, forbidden love ensues, boy is unapproachable yet charismatic. I feel like I’ve read this story a hundred times before, and while I really loved Laurel’s character, Jasper did absolutely nothing for me.

Ivy seemed like she would have been a fantastic character. Unfortunately, she’s not even in the story until the very end, and I feel like it was a lost opportunity for some great character development. And since I’m complaining about characters, the girls’ mother annoyed the hell out of me. She continues to stick up for the abusive Bryan, even when she sees that her girls might be in danger. She does finally come around and kick him out, but even that felt forced and unnatural.

But the main downfall for me was the “been there done that” trope of special teens saving the world. I know that isn’t going to go away anytime soon, but authors, you really need to come up with better ways to do it. In this book, the authors base their scenario on an ancient prophecy—hey, it’s hard to dispute those!—but the explanations were so flimsy that I spent a great deal of time either confused or laughing at the sheer absurdity. For example, the prophecy states that four “sparks” will join forces to combat the evil, but it’s not clear who those four are. We learn that sparks all have the exact same star-shaped birthmark somewhere on their bodies, and when their power is working, the birthmark starts to itch like crazy. Jasper is clearly a spark, since he can start fires, but he claims he can’t be one of the four because someone tried to destroy his birthmark with a lit cigarette. Two mean girls at school turn out to be sparks, and Jasper says that Ivy is one, but the fourth could be a woman named Simone, or maybe not. Maybe it’s Jasper or maybe it’s Laurel! Hey, it turns out Laurel is a spark too! But Laurel’s birthmark (of course she has one!) isn’t star-shaped, so that doesn’t make any sense. The whole thing was a head-scratching mess, unfortunately.

I also hated the fact that Laurel turns out to be utterly stupid. She's so desperate to find Ivy, and no one is taking her seriously, so she jumps head first into some terrible situations. She breaks into houses, goes down into cellars, and confronts angry strangers, all without a moment's hesitation. I get that she's frustrated, but at this point I lost all respect for her.

I’m giving this book three stars because I did enjoy the beginning, and I think the authors touched on some important topics. I actually think this would have been a much stronger story without all the paranormal shenanigans, but unfortunately, that is not the book that was written.

Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.

**4.5 Out of 5 Stars**
Laurel and her older sister Ivy are best friend and know everything about each other. But on the morning that Laurel wakes up and Ivy is not in her bed, Laurel knows something is wrong despite her mother's denial and the note Ivy left behind. Laurel refuses to give up on what she knows about her sister and with the help of a mysterious boy named Jasper, who is full of his own secrets, Laurel is willing to do anything to get Ivy back.

So here I was, thinking that I am reading a gritty real life mystery about a teen trying to find her missing sister, but instead I was thrust into something completely unexpected about magic and the end of the world. Color me surprised with what I read, and I don't mean that in a bad way. After I was like half way through the book, I went back and read the synopsis and realized that I totally skipped over the words like "prophecy" and "powers" when I originally discovered this story. Now that that is out of the way, I really enjoyed this tale, it kept me guessing and there were so many side secrets and mysteries that I picked at during my journey through the pages. The authors were very skilled at creating a layered story with lots of depths and issues. This was not just a mystery, but instead a well written mystery full of supernatural developments, surprises, teen angst and family drama, societal drama, love (be it romantic or sibling) that kept me on my toes.

The story was narrated by Ivy predominantly, but there were also moments of Mei and Peyton, as well as visions of what Ivy was going through while she was taken. I enjoyed getting to know Laurel, how sensitive yet persistent she was, how she realized what was important to her and to tune out the rest, and that she was so mellow and controlled in the face of supernatural revelations and danger. Laurel hero worshiped Ivy (who was a great character and an even better sister!) but pretty much thought of herself as non-existent, but by the end she realized her own worth and strengths. I loved watching Mei and Peyton grow and develop as people because when the book started I will admit that I was not of fan of the seemingly vapid and mean girls. But by the end of the adventure, I was rooting for them right along with Laurel. I really enjoyed how all the characters came together to create a hodge-podge family of sorts, be it supernatural kids or a brainiac bestie. Seriously, the last chapter or so were so freaking sweet I loved it.

I like that the story wrapped up so this could be a standalone, but there were enough hints and loose ends that I would love to have another book set in this world. I found this to be a very unique, engaging read dealing with teen supernatural powers, dangerous villains and a love with power sacrificing potential. What more could you ask for? I am also super impressed that this was written by a writing team, the chapters flowed so smoothly and everything was cohesive as if one creative mind wrote the book. I am excited to read more stories by Helena and Malena, be it together or separate.

I received this title for reviewing purposes. Visit the tour for a chance to win a copy of the book here https://smadasbooksmack.blogspot.com/

I was super excited to read this book. I had heard great things, and I was drawn immediately to its dark enchanting cover. Sparked was a perfect fall read, with a fast paced plot, a bunch of twists and turns, and a group of interesting characters. The plot of this book was clever and exciting, and I couldn’t wait to see where it would go. Although I picked out the major ending twist towards the beginning of the story, there were plenty of other minor twists that kept me thoroughly entertained. While I loved the concept of “the sparked,” and the ancient prophecy, I wanted more information about how it came to be, and how it all worked. It felt a little underdeveloped and rushed through. The way it was presented made it hard to follow, and I found myself having to reread those bits to make sure I hadn’t missed anything important. The prophecy came out of nowhere, and with very little detail and explanation was just accepted by everyone. I was along for the ride, so it didn’t take me out of the story completely, but I definitely had a “That seems fake, but ok.” moment. I absolutely loved the different powers that emerged within each of the characters, but I really wanted more detailed information about how they worked and grew and where they came from. Laurel was a surprisingly likable narrator, despite her “I’m not as beautiful and special as my sister” syndrome. She annoyed me a little at first with her whining, but I grew to like her as her character developed and the story progressed. I admired her courage and drive to do whatever it took to find her sister, Ivy. I loved their close relationship, and how they helped each other through their rough family history. Her romantic interest, Jasper, however; was so bland to me. I felt completely indifferent towards him throughout the book, and while I appreciated the slow burn of their relationship, it felt really anticlimactic and I felt no chemistry between them. My favorite character was Peyton. I liked her immediately, even when she was the classic mean girl, and couldn’t wait to see how her character developed. I was hoping for a bigger arc for her and Mei, but as most of the story is Laurel’s perception and journey, I understand why it developed as it did. I was pleasantly surprised by the perspective switches, and I felt that they worked really well in furthering the plot and giving us better insight to each of the “sparked”. Even with its faults, I had a good time with this book. Sparked was a fun, fast read that fans of the Supernatural YA genre will definitely enjoy.

I'll be up front with you: this isn't the type of story I normally read. I've been known to close books midway through and never finish them at the first mention of the paranormal or supernatural. It's just not normally my cup of tea
So needless to say, I was skeptical when I was first approved to read this arc. I wasn't sure what I was getting into. But something I really appreciated was that the story gave you some time to warm up to the fact that certain people have supernatural powers and it is weird at first to the characters in the book too. They aren't all automatically accepting of this fact at first and some are very skeptical about it. It didn't just throw the powers in your face right off the bat; it eased you into that plot point and let you accept along with the characters that this was the present reality.
I have to say that I loved the writing of this book. I know it's an Arc and probably not in it's final form grammar and spelling wise yet, but the writing and structure of the story flowed really nicely.
There are a few things about the story and maybe some of the characters that didn't sit quite right with me, but they were small things that I am honestly being too picky about and aren't even worth mentioning. Really just stylistic choices to be honest. Another reason I didn't give it a 5 star rating was because I found a few of the plot twists a little predictable. I still enjoyed them, but I already knew what was coming.
Overall, I found this to be a nice, easy read. I read this book in just over a day and a half and if I didn't have kiddos running around, I could've read it in one sitting. I would recommend this book if you are looking for a captivating story and easy read. I can't tell if this is going to be a stand alone or if it will be part of a series. The ending was left open enough where there could be more to the story but it was also wrapped up enough for me that I would be ok if it was a stand alone novel. Bottom line: it didn't end with a gripping cliff hanger.
This title is being released on October 3rd of this year so make sure you keep an eye out for it!

Sparked follows Laurel who's sister has disappeared, and the only person who cares is the mysterious Jasper who speaks to no one at school. Where did she go? Why is Laurel having mysterious dreams involving her sister?

I adored this book. Now, I did find a few grammatical mistakes (a to instead of a too), but the story was very good. This is how a 15 year old thinks. She thinks that no one listens to her, that most people are against her, and in some ways she is right.

The best part about this book? Nearly every character actually grows. This was written by Helena Echlin and Malena Watrous, these two authors know their audience and know how to write and explore a story together.

That being said, WILL THERE BE A SEQUEL? I mean, why do authors have to end everything on a cliff hanger? The other downfall of this book is also one of my favorite things: Jasper, the leading man. At first he reminded me far too much of a certain Twilight character. But he did grow on me. In a lot of ways, I wish we saw more of him. More of his character, and got a more three dimensional look at him earlier in the book.

Fans of YA, magic, urban fantasy, mystery, and those who like a little teen angst in their stories will enjoy this book. I rather enjoyed this book.

A well written YA fantasy! Old prophecies and legends, a little romance, and lots of good fun make this a book definitely worth the read.

This was a very creepy book which was perfect for the season. Also really loved the author's writing style.

In Sparked, by Helena Echlin and Malena Waltrous, Laurel is a fifteen year old high school student who has to beat the odds to find her missing sister…and make friends with the popular girls while she’s at it. With the help of her genius best friend and the mysterious new kid (or is he the old kid?) in town, Laurel must save Ivy (and the world!) from an ancient, prophesied evil, all before she turns sixteen. What a week!

Overall, this was a perfectly fine coming-of-age story that I think I would have enjoyed much more if I were closer to sixteen, but even then, I would have had some issues with it. I found the narrator to be often very unlikable, with many of her chapters couched in whining and woe-is-me dramatics.

Conversely, the chapters that Laurel did not narrate were delightful, as they followed Ivy, the kidnapped sister, as she struggled to stay alive and defend herself, and the two popular girls, Peyton and Mei, as they confront their strange new powers. These chapters were full of character development and growth that really encapsulated that unique moment of growing up where everything is strange and terrifying because you’re starting to discover who you are as a person. It reminded me very strongly of the moment my mother told me she realized that I was my own person who made legitimately funny jokes (thanks, Mom!), and who wasn’t just her little girl anymore. It was a sad moment for her, but one that she says was also one of her favorite memories because that was the moment that she knew that I would (probably) be okay as an adult. In Ivy, Peyton, and Mei’s chapters, I could see the beginnings of those developments shining through; in these struggles of their teenage lives and now powers, they are becoming the women that they will become and growing through and past their parents’ expectations and dreams for them.

But the good (and the nostalgia) wasn’t quite enough to balance out the parts of the book that I did not enjoy. For one, the romance between Jasper and Laurel is both too quick (a week!) and disconcerting due to the age difference, even though Jasper insists that he never really grew up. I thought Laurel had the right of it when she called him Peter Pan, but should have taken that as a warning as well.

May 2017-December 1920 romances aside, I also could not condone the blatant mishandling of sex. From the slut shaming between the teenage girls, to the slut shaming by adult women towards one another, I was not a fan. There are so many positive ways to write about young women exploring their own sexuality and their efforts to confront the ways that society views them as unclean for having any desires at all. Sparked did not, unfortunately, take any of these positive routes and went the full shame route instead. There were some hints that this would be addressed further (and better) in the sequel, but it didn’t happen in this book.

My other quibble was that Laurel, Ivy, Peyton, and Mei weren’t the ones to save the day–Jasper was. If you’re going to write a book about powerful ladies saving the world, let them! But instead, here comes the old white seventeen-year-old to save the day with his superior gifts and crushing guilt. There was a small redemption when it was revealed at the end that the great evil had not been vanquished after all, and I sincerely hope that the four girls get the chance to save the day and let Jasper sit on the sidelines.

Overall, this book was a solid fine. I’m not upset that I read it, but I’m also looking forward to reading something else.



Thank you to NetGalley and InkShares for providing me with an advanced copy of this book.