A girl wakes up on the beach with a bullet wound and two strange boys insisting she go with them to their compound. They tell her she’s a mind reader and that people are after her, and the suspense builds from there. This book was very entertaining; the plot was unique and unpredictable. But… the writing was terrible. It was too short for everything that happened. There were entire plot points just explained away with one sentence, and there was very little character development. The story was good, but it could have been so much better.

This book is eerily similar to others I have read. Nothing too out of the ordinary for me, it was a very short read. I wasn't too thrilled with anything in it, so no I wouldn't recommend it.

Omg......... this book was amazing I flew threw the pages with Olympic speed I was hooked from the very first page. I found it full of twists and turns threw out and it kept me on the edge of my seat all the way threw  I would defiantly recommend this book if you like a good book to keep you reading threw the night hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did

I did not finish this story because as I was reading, it felt as though I had already read a similar tale.

Couldn't really get into this one but it was generally a quick read. Would recommend to anyone who enjoys the genre and is looking for a short read.

The Missing Piece

What a fun read that was! The Reader by M.K. Harkins was a very entertaining quick read! I gobbled this book up in two sittings I didn’t want to put it down there is a lot of mystery surrounding Ann our lovely protagonist. This story is presented to us in Ann’s point of view sitting at around 250 pages if you don’t have a lot of time this would be the perfect read for you! There were some magical elements but not enough to put it in “Magical” category I would say this is a young adult book with paranormal elements (People with extraordinary abilities).
The Story, Ann turns up with no memory but everyone around her seems to know who she is. Immediately we are thrust into a situation where she has no choice but to accept the help of two strangers. However, as we come to find out they know much more than they are willing to share. Ann comes to make some wonderful friendships and learning about who she is was very enjoyable. I would have loved for the book to have had more world building and maybe some more back story.

The Characters, we are first introduced to Ann, Asher, and Devon. I won’t tell you who I picked for Ann but I was happy to see I picked the right guy. I’m notorious for falling for Mr. Not going to happen Ria but it was a nice try. The connection of the characters and their interactions were great! Like I said a quick and enjoyable read! There were so many characters that I really enjoyed….I take that back, I really enjoyed every character! I would have loved to get more from them, more of who they are, what makes them tick, and more time with Ann. These characters become her whole world I would have loved spending more time with their budding relationships.

The End, finally coming to terms with what Ann must do she is thrown into another predicament that may cost her everything. Even the things she thought were already lost to her. The book has a great ending I really enjoyed the epilogue…all throughout there is an aura of mystery and this remains through to the very end. There was some deus ex machina going on which is not bad, I just would have loved to have seen so much more fleshed out. Regardless of things feeling quite sudden in this book it kept my interest all throughout to the very end.


Rating

3.0 Fun and I wish there was more filled stars!

The cover of this book drew me in and I was not disappointed. The story was well paced and well written. The characters were interesting and kept me intrigued.

A good read with an interesting plot and well drawn characters.

I want to start off by saying that I really liked the premise for this book. It had a cool scifi/fantasy vibe that I was immediately excited about. While there were some parts I quite enjoyed, overall, I was kind of disappointed by this book. It all felt a little too cliche for my taste.

The characters had so much potential. Ann seemed like she was going to be a tough, smart, sassy young woman. And I think that was what Harkins was going for. But, sometimes she came off as a bit too whiny for my taste. And I started to get really annoyed by the amount of times she talked about how beautiful all the other mind readers were. But, of course, she couldn’t understand why anyone thought she was beautiful (even though they all told her how gorgeous she was on multiple occasions). It just got a little too much at times.

And love triangles. This is more of a personal preference, but I generally have a really hard time with love triangles. Most of the time they feel pretty unnecessary, and I think this was a case where that was true. Actually, in this case it was more than just a love triangle. More of a love square? Either way, I didn’t particularly care for it. But, if those are your jam, you might really like how it’s done in this book. Again, that was more of a “It’s not you, it’s me” thing.

Overall, I did enjoy reading this book. It annoyed me at times and I wish certain elements had been different/done better. But, I’m glad I gave it a read. The plot itself is pretty interesting, and the world Harkins created is really cool.

Merci à Netgalley pour m'avoir permis de découvrir ce roman.

Une nouvelle lecture en VO :)

Le résumé de The reader m'avait attiré. Je m'attendais à une intrigue mystérieuse et rythmée.

Dans ce roman, en parallèle des humains normaux, on peut découvrir que certains "humains" aux pouvoirs étranges cohabitent. C'est le cas notamment des Readers, qui peuvent lire dans les esprits des gens. Ann, le personnage principal du roman, se retrouve embarquée soudainement dans ce monde. On apprend donc à le connaitre en même temps que l'héroïne.

L'univers aurait pu être plus développé. J'aurais aimé rentrer plus en profondeur dans ce monde. On retrouve, comme souvent dans les livres jeunesses, un triangle amoureux. Je trouve qu'il n'est pas nécessaire dans ce roman, et pas vraiment développé.

L'intrigue se déroule rapidement (je rappelle que le roman fait seulement 231 pages), peut-être un peu trop. Concernant la VO, je n'ai pas eu de mal à comprendre le sens. Cependant, j'ai eu un peu de mal avec les changements temporels et spatiaux. A chaque fois qu'il y avait un changement, je ne m'y attendais pas et je m'en rendais compte après quelques phrases et pas dès le début.

Niveau personnage, on peut apprécier le fait que Ann soit un personnage actif. Cependant, j'ai trouvé qu'elle s'adaptait un peu trop facilement à sa nouvelle vie. Concernant l'ensemble des personnages, je pense que leur psychologie aurait pu être plus poussée pour nous offrir de vrais caractères.

The reader est un roman dont l'univers n'a pas été développé au maximum et je reste donc un peu sur ma faim. Mais ce n'est toutefois pas un roman désagréable à lire.

Wow! What's mind bender of twists and turns. If you like a bit freaky, a bit cults and a bit dystopian this is for you. Follow along as everything you think you know, isn't what you expect!

This was a very unique book. The characters were fascinating and the world that they lived in kept me intrigued throughout the entire novel. There were a few plot points that kept me from rating this book higher. For instance, I found it to be bit predictable. The love triangle trope has been overdone in YA so I wasn't too excited about that, but I still enjoyed the book and would read more by this author.

The Reader (The Immortal Series Book 1) Kindle Edition
by MK Harkins
I received a complimentary copy via NetGalley for review purposes

I mostly enjoyed this book until the ka-thunk ending. Twice we were hit with gotcha moments and then a switch of narrator as a clumsy wrap-up? No, really, 97-98% of the way through, Ms. Harkins just switched narrators with no warning, no prelude and no explanation. At the same time she cut out the entire payoff/climax with no falling action of any kind, just sort of an epilougue but an entirely different person.

This was deeply confusing and I had to keep paging back, to see if I missed something. This is the sign of either limited wordcount from a publisher, a profoundly untalented editor or a writer who just didn't put in the effort to give the pay off.

Also, in the beginning, Archer and Devon come of physically as around 17 or 18, then we are told the “boys” are in their mid-twenties, physically. Emotionally, they appear to be in their late teens as does the narrator (of the first 96-97%), Ann, behaves like a late teen herself, her behavoir never fully explained and there is no pay off to her amnesia being wiped. We are just left to flounder and wonder about that experience.

The story isn't all that original either, it is the fare of many paranormal romances as are the stock, immature characters. I won't spoil it by explaining why this is a problem, considering several plot points.

I can't, personally, recommend a read, as the actual reader (in this case me) never gets the payoff they should.

As such, where I would normally pop a 4 or a 5 stars, I can only give it 3.


https://www.amazon.com/Reader-Immortal-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01IM9A6KY/

I enjoyed reading this book. It was a very quick story to read, and it was interesting. It did lack some depth and only brushed the surface on some things, but at the same time, I think this also helped keep the book from dragging at times.

I never really felt that I had a grasp on how much time passed between Ann waking up on the beach with no memory and the end of the story.

If you haven't read many YA dystopian novels, this would be a pretty good starting point. The plot is interesting, the characters are likable, and the author does a good job of introducing the world in which the characters live. But if, like me, you've read more dystopian novels than you thought could ever exist at one time, you'll be able to see every plot twist in this story from a mile away.

Within this world, alongside humans there are also 'readers', 'jacks' and the now extinct 'seers'. When Ann meets two young readers as she washes ashore with amnesia, she takes their protection and follows them back to the reader compound. After Ann is all healed and starting to settle, she is told she may be the lost one. The one who is going to bring about the great war between jacks and readers.

I really enjoyed the premise of the book. Readers, jacks and seers are modified humans with special niche talents, which brings with it resentment between races and war. With the extinction of the seers, and the prediction of the fall of one of the other races, time is ticking. This plot could have accomplished so much but unfortunately it seemed rushed and lacked the depth needed to keep my attention.

There was a lot of action in the book, but not really a lot of details. Characters were seemingly created to dump information. This lack of development irked me. I really liked Devon's sister Lucy and I would have loved to see more interaction, but she was there to give Ann the information needed more than anything else.

Ann's destined love which leads to the catastrophic war was another issue, it could have been explored so much more. The resolution of the foretold love happened fast, and as such, I had no emotional feelings towards it. For scenarios like this to work, I need to either want the couple together or despise them together. There's no space for middle ground, I should want to route for these characters.

The predictability of the rest of the plot line was enraging at times. Yes, I know its a YA book, but does it have to use so many tropes? Set up straight away was the love triangle. Then, immediately after, you knew exactly who Ann would end up with. The big finale which is anticipated, but also forewarned by the characters, fell completely flat. It just didn't happen and so all the build up was wasted. Expectations plummeted. Disappointment was high.

As I said before, the premise is good. Just, not for an approximately 200 page book. A longer book, as part of a longer series would definitely catch my interest. Being able to have the word count to properly develop the world, the characters, the emotions and dig deeper would entice me so much more.

The Reader is a great story of love, loss, redemption and so much more. I am so glad I found this book and this author!! If you like books that are like Hunger Games meets clairvoyance READ THIS book!!I absolutely LOVED it!!!

This was a edge of your seat thrill ride. I had all sorts of emotions. My husband kept asking me "what are you reading" Loved everything about this book

I absolutely loved this book. Sure it could've been longer but when that is your only complaint about a book that means the author did his or her job. I'm hoping there is a sequel and that we don't have to wait to long for it.