A book about gifted youngsters count me in.  I enjoyed the read.  Time for me to read the next books.

An unexpectedly good read. I'm not normally a fantasy reader, but this is a YA fantasy book that I've recommended to several readers!

Teddy Cannon is a young woman living in Las Vegas who has found herself in a bit of trouble. Kicked out of Stanford for participating in a betting ring, banned from every casino on the strip, and now owing a lot of money to a Russian bookie. She tries to sneak into a casino to use her ability to read people to win at the poker tables to repay her debt and keep her parents from the trouble she’s caused. It doesn’t go well, but Teddy is saved by a man who recruits her to a special school where they train psychics to work with law enforcement and military to protect the country. Teddy begins to hone her abilities and befriends other students who have also felt different because of their skills, but she also begins to learn more about her birth parents and suspects there is more going on at the school than she’s been told. A mysterious theft, students disappearing, and then she and her friends have to try to break into FBI headquarters to retrieve a file that may hold answers to many questions.

I really, really enjoyed this book! You really connect with Teddy from the first page even though she’s doing something pretty dishonest. You can tell immediately that beneath her sass and grit she’s a good person who has made some bad choices, but she’s trying to make it right. That’s actually a theme throughout the book (and probably the series): when do the means justify the ends, bad choices justified by the good they produce, and when does it go too far? As I said, Teddy is an extremely likable main character, and I really enjoyed a lot of the other characters as well. It was entertaining both for Teddy’s comedic snark as well as a lot of fast-paced action. You do have to suspend belief a bit since everyone at the school has extraordinary powers, but they’re not completely out there, so it wasn’t a huge stretch of the imagination.

I’d rate this book PG-13 for a medium amount of moderate swearing and a couple of mild sex scenes (vague descriptions of what’s happening and then the scene ends before the actual occurrence of anything). If not for that, I might have rounded my 4 1/2 stars up to a 5! But I thoroughly enjoyed it and will definitely be reading more in the series. Thanks to NetGalley for the free ebook.

This was an entertaining start to a new series where Teddy is taken to a school for psychics. She meets others that possess similar skills, and those characters were certainly fun to learn about. The book itself is definitely very YA (so much teenage angst!), so it lacked a certain polish, but all in all, I enjoyed this inventive novel.

Meet Teddy, a woman who is a bit troubled, but can read people with surprising precision.. She is invited to attend  a school of Psychics.  If she survives, she will be emp0loyed by high levels of the government and can help save the country and maybe the world.

School for Psychics is a fun, enjoyable read about a young 20-something Theodora Delaney Cannon (Teddy) who after a life of gambling and living on the edge in Vegas, discovers she can escape her old life and its consequences, by enrolling in a secret School for Psychics--Whitfield Institute for Law Enforcement Training and Development. While there, she trains to develop her skills for reading people while meeting other students who are developing their gifts, such as reading animals' minds, fire starting, reading emotions. The book includes mystery (who/where are her biological parents? ), romance, and humor which helped me continue reading through some slower parts, to the great twists and turns to the last part of the book, which I couldn't put down until I finished it! I heard that this might be developed into a series for CW network? And if it is, I can't wait to watch it! Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC ebook.

I think it’s finally time for me to admit DNF on this book.

I received a copy of it through NetGalley, and I have *tried* for months to get through it. It’s not badly written, and the general idea is interesting. However, the main character kills it. She’s so lackluster that it’s hard to bond with her on any level. Really, I just don’t like her very much. The main boy, her love interest, is equally as annoying.

I hate DNF-ing books, but I also know when I’m just not going to get back to it.

School for Psychics by K.C. Archer in ARC form was given to me in return for an honest review thru NetGalley.  For me, this the first time reading a book by K.C. Archer. 
  What happens when you find out about your true background, and that “reading” people is just one of your gifts?  This happens to Teddy Cannon. Yes, she knows that she is adopted, has no clue to who are real birth parents. Imagine yourself being approached by a total stranger who knows more about her than herself, and what she could be capable of. What would you do? A stranger who wants to help hone your skills, meet similar people like yourself, and only at an unique school?
   School for Psychics is a different read for me. I truly enjoyed this ARC, and I am looking towards the installment by this talented, story weaver author. Thank you, K.C Archer for sharing this world with us and looking for so much more.  Once again, thank you NetGalley for a chance to read and review this fantastic read

Teddy is a young adult who can read people and she uses it to gamble.  She owes a loan shark a lot of money when she is recruited to attend the Whitmore Institute for Psychics and she discovers that she is actually psychic.  While attending the school she meets others like her as well as learning how to use her powers.  She also finds out the truth about her birth parents.

Teddy Cannon has made it to her twenties without realizing that her uncanny ability to read people, especially while playing poker, is psychic in nature. Lacking direction in her life, and in trouble, will Teddy take the invitation to apply to a School for Psychics? Will being in a remote area off the coast of San Francisco with others with varying abilities help Teddy to realize her true potential?

The biggest problem I had with School for Psychics was the lack of character development. From the beginning, Teddy was portrayed as a rebel. Her abilities helped her in a big way, but her losses outweighed the wins. This description was more like the standard gambler, trying to parlay a win streak into a big purse. I did not really like how the teachers of the school pitted the students against each other, especially in light of the fact that they were all in different stages of their psychic development. The ending was predictable and the obvious set-up for a subsequent book cheapened School of Psychics for me. Although it was a quick read, I would be hesitant to recommend it to other readers for the above mentioned reasons.

Disclaimer: I was given an Advanced Reader's Copy of School for Psychics by NetGalley and the publisher, Simon & Schuster. The decision to review this novel was entirely my own.

A fantasy about someone with special abilities... sign me up! A 20 something year old arrives at a school.... okay I can do this, but I really couldn't. I was so bored I almost didn't finish.

While this book has an interesting premise, I could not find myself going further than the first few chapters. I'm not sure if it was the pacing or if the character development was not as expected.

The book starts off with Teddy Cannon who's in disguise gambling in Las Vegas since she was banned from most casinos. Teddy is a "psychic" who knows exactly what the other players are going to do and responds in turn. She's in a whole lotta debt and needs to pay it back so that's why she's there. In this casino, however, she's approached and is offered a chance to work on her skills. She then goes to a school for psychics where she must pass a test to study there. 

I was pretty excited to read this book because it sounded interesting. I mean, a school for psychics? What could be better (or worse)? But honestly, there were parts of the book that were moving really slow and it made me feel like I didn't want to keep reading. Near the end, however, things did pick up which made me more invested.

Teddy is a bumbling twenty-something looking for ways to fix her mess-ups. She's dropped out of college, has a gambling problem, and epilepsy that seems unchecked to boot. She doesn't know what to do with herself, and trying to win big one last time at a casino she's already been kicked out of seems (to her) like the right thing to do to set herself on a good path, or at least one where she doesn't get her butt kicked by the Russian mobsters trying to get their money back. 
My biggest complaint about School for Psychics is that the writing style didn't feel conducive to the story line. Archer continued to stop throughout the book to give updates on Teddy's feelings that didn't keep the story moving and felt often misplaced. Some of Teddy's thoughts were mere jokes, and sometimes repetitive jokes that made me want to roll my eyes. I was not a fan of her personality, and having further insights into the way she thought did not help me enjoy the experience further. 
None of the side characters were very developed either, and they constantly seemed shifty and untrustworthy throughout the story. That made it a very one-sided, Teddy-heavy read, which you may guess, was not the most enjoyable for me. 
The redeeming factor of the book was the overall premise and big mystery. Psychics being trained for military purposes, but also a government cover-up about what happened to some of the early psychics being trained for the military was an interesting premise indeed. Unfortunately, as this is the first of the series, the big mystery was barely revealed, and I don't think I'll have the energy to continue down the road with Teddy to uncover what's truly going on.

School For Psychics by K. C. Archer was one of the first books on NetGalley that caught my eye. I only recently joined, and I wasn’t expecting any of my requests to be honoured, but I’m glad that this one was.

School For Psychics has an exciting start in Las Vegas where Teddy uses her gift at the poker table. Gambling with high stakes is certainly a thrill, but the poker table isn’t where the thrill stops. The whole book is action packed and you might want to save the last few chapters to read in one go because you don’t want to stop halfway.

    Harry Potter with psychic abilities and government conspiracies.

What I really like is the science. The psychic abilities are explained through science and Archer has done a great job at that. A poor explanation, or the lack of, would’ve killed the setting. The story wouldn’t be believable.

While this book technically doesn’t fall into YA because Teddy is 24, I think it can be enjoyed as YA. I sometimes forgot that the characters are all in their twenties and some already finished higher education. It just feels like school story, much like the last two Harry Potter-books.

I rate School For Psychics with 4,5 stars, highly recommended for people who want a fast-paced story about gifted people who get involved in secret organizations.

When I first saw this book, I thought it would be some YA book about a group of kids with psychic powers that go to some sort of Hogwarts school to hone in on their powers and some magical fantasy thing would play out.

Boy, was I ever wrong.

This is a book about actual adult psychics who are training at a school so they can apply to work for different law enforcement agencies. No fantasy anything. So that was a big let down. In other words, don't judge a book by its cover.

But if someone out there wants to write a fantasy book about psychics and stuff...

Anyway, back to this book. Despite my misgivings over what I thought the book would be about (because God knows I hardly if ever read the synopsis), what it ended up being was actually very cool. It reminded me of my days of wanting to go into one of the federal law enforcement agencies when I was in my 20s. But to add a psychic to the mix, well, that would be very interesting. It would definitely put a new spin on solving cases.

People with psychic abilities are limited in what they can do and see. That is something this book stresses a lot. Just because a person is psychic, it doesn't mean that they'll get a clear view of everything. I have to say it was rather interesting to see how each student worked on developing and controlling their powers.

This type of book though would not be a good story without some strange sinister plot happening, one that has yet to be revealed. In this case, trying to figure out who is sabotaging, why students are going missing, and what this overall feeling of something not settling quite right is all about. That's what will hook you in to reading the next book (which I plan on doing next week).

I'm interested in seeing where this story leads us.

Definitely worth the read.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster  and NetGalley for an ebook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book to be interesting and gave it a solid 3 stars.  It reminded me a bit of X-Men with all of the characters having different supernatural powers.  
It was a decent read with good writing, well developed characters and enough action to keep me engaged.  Not super exciting but easy to get through.  Recommended to those who like YA, fantasy and the paranormal.

I thought this book was okay. Some of it moved a little slow for me and felt predictable. I enjoyed Teddy's character and her sense of humor.

Teddy Cannon is a smart, intuitive young woman. So much so that she's been banned from many of the casinos in Las Vegas. Yet the rigors of getting an education and earning an 'honest' living never really sit well with Teddy.  She's always been good at reading other people at the poker tables and that's where she's most comfortable. When she is discovered in a casino and about to be forcibly run out, a stranger intervenes.  A stranger who is looking to recruit Teddy.  Teddy, it seems, is not just good at reading people ... she's actually psychic.  The stranger runs a school for people like Teddy, training them to develop their skills and work for a branch of law enforcement set out to help people in a way that only someone like she can.

School has never been her 'thing' and she knows it will be a challenge, but the fact that there are others with special abilities, is encouraging and Teddy decides to give it a try.  But there are secrets at the school that Teddy begins to uncover that will continue to change the way she sees those who are supposed to be her friends.

I really had a lot of fun with this book right at the start.  Author K. C. Archer gives us a slightly stereotypical YA female protagonist, but Teddy isn't a mooning little girl who develops passionate crushes on the cute guy in the book ... well, that's not entirely true.  She does do <em>precisely</em> this. The difference here is that this isn't the heart of the story.  This is a little side action which sometimes feels included just to have all the bases covered for the YA audience.

The introduction of Teddy and her introduction to this school for psychics is really well done.  It is engaging and exciting and we get a good feel for the struggles that Teddy faces as she learns about her abilities.  The friends, students, and instructors we meet along the way are nicely fleshed out and this takes on a very nice tone such that it feels quite believable.

But then we get into a new plotline.

Teddy learns some things that muddy her views on the school and those around her.  This new storyline is clearly devised to build a larger story arc that will encompass multiple books.  But somehow this new development is not nearly as interesting as what we were getting in the early stages.  And while it becomes a definite YA novel with a group of students taking on the adults in their world, which is a fairly common trope in YA, it also becomes less believable.   It was definitely a head-smacking moment when the students managed a crime against, and inside the building of, the FBI.

There's a lot of fun here, and I am intrigued, but at the end of the book, I wasn't as satisfied as I was during the early chapters.  How the stories play out in future books will decide the fate of this series, since the characters and the premise are definitely interesting.

Looking for a good book? <em>School for Psychics</em> by K. C. Archer is an adventurous YA fantasy that has a lot going for it, but falls just short on delivering a strong story.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

My feedback here is late to the party.  I enjoyed this book, but it was relatively forgettable.  I'd recommend it to others as a quick read.