I really wanted to like this one. Unfortunately, this is a case where being dumped straight into the action didn't work. Normally I want to jump right in but for this story to catch me, I needed to care more about the characters to have a sense of fear.

"If my mother is alive, I'm going to find her. I'm going to bring her home. We were a family. A team. "


Kaia has lost everything she had ever known in the blink of an eye due to a job her parents were on. Being the daughter of assassins, while fun at times had also grown old. With Kaia wanting to have a 'normal' life and to not have to travel constantly and never have any real friends.
Now I'm not saying her parents were awful to her or anything of the sort, they loved her dearly and told her everything she ever wanted to know for the most part, and because of that when everything fell apart she knew what to do. She went to the designated place and restarted her life, all while grieving her parents and trying to act 'normal'. Which is where she met Oliver who has helped her start over, all while making sure to keep her past hidden from him. But she doesn't know that Oliver has secrets of her own that will end up saving both of them multiple times.

"Whining about the situation doesn't help the situation. Doing something does."

Once the two were on the run and had to rely on each other we really see not only how important they are to each other. As Kaia learns more about her parents and who exactly is out to get her now. We see both of them struggle between telling the truth about their pasts and trying to just stick to the status quo they had made.

" I need to know the big stuff. The stuff that makes you, you."

Overall I found this a fast paced read. Kaia and Oliver ended up working through things as a team and got to Kaia's goal that she had been wanting for the past 18 months.
Seeing things from Oliver's perspective as well every other chapter, really helped show not only what he had been though, but also what he was feeling throughout this crazy mission.
Of course some things go wrong and others amazingly enough end up working out for the best.
I also found the flashbacks to when everything changed for Kaia really enjoyable and helped the story make more sense.

As for the ending well, I wasn't expecting it to end so happy.

Pretty Fierce has a high-speed on-the-run plot, filled with danger and assassins, with the alternating voices of Kaia and Oliver. This alternating POV helped, because on one hand you have Kaia, the experienced daughter of two ex-CIA-operatives-turned-private-assassins, and on the other you have Oliver, who literally is a fish out of water in this scenario. The first half of the book had me hooked - they were on the run from leagues of thugs coming after her, and trying to stay one step ahead and figuring out the why of it. Oliver and Kaia, though deeply in love, had hidden things about their pasts from each other, so in a way, this is like them learning new stuff about each other, painful things that they didn't bring out. The second half is where it sort of fell apart for me, because if until that time the plot was mildly-believable in its Jason Bourne glory, it got a bit more unbelievable. Ironically, the first half was more unpredictable than the first, and the second was mostly what I would expect from a standard action flick.

As for the writing, Scott always impresses with her characterization. You can see the painful loneliness in Kaia, the desire to hold on to family, and you can see Oliver's helplessness in the situation, his fear that he won't be enough for her. Their relationship is a very comfortable one, and though there are fights arising from miscommunication, they behave realistically and resolve it, instead of creating unnecessary angst. And even though they are romantic partners, this book doesn't feel heavy on romance at all, which was a nice change. The danger took the main focus of the plot, as it should have. The ending, however, was a bit out there with everything wrapped up so fast in the last two chapters, and though I was already sure what was going to happen, I ended up disappointed. It is also left open-ended, which considering what the plot had revealed just towards the end, did not sit well with the implication on their lives.

Overall, though, if you love spy-like thrillers, with car chases and hiding out, you are probably going to love this book.

I really wanted to like this novel. The beginning of this story was full of excitement and I got a rush from reading about their hasty flight out of town. This story was told from the perspective of both Oliver and Kaia, which I thought was a nice touch; we get to see what the assassins' daughter feels and the civilian. However, the longer I kept reading, the more incredulous I found the whole thing. There are so many things that happen to them, so many weird connections made, and things just didn't add up. At various points in the story, I had to put the book down and just try to move past all of the inconsistencies. While there was definitely tons of action, I felt no connection with the characters, and just couldn't get into this absurd plot. For me, this novel did not live up to expectations.

Kaia had led a very unusual life. Her parents were hired assasins, taking her on jobs with them, until one day – the job hit back. Kaia escapes to live with her “grandparents” in South Carolina, where, for the first time, she leads the life she always wanted to have with her parents. A normal one. One day, ‘stranger danger’ hits town, and she realizes that her parents may not be dead. This book is mostly about her search for them.

I knew I was in for a crazy book when Kaia defends herself from a kidnapping by kicking butt, stepping on the guys neck, and pointing his own rifle down at his head. She’s trying to figure out if she’ll shoot or not, when her boyfriend Oliver walks through the door to pick her up for a movie, and catches her in the act. Does he run screaming from the room? Nope! He follows her into a car and makes a mad escape with her. Ok, not very realistic, but it did keep the pace of the book from slowing down.

I was exhausted from reading this book. It was all action, with only moments for reflection and reason. Kaia didn’t appeal to me very much, and instead I looked for Oliver’s POV to bring a little realism and sanity into the story line. Ok, yes, I understand what kind of book I was reading, but I just couldn’t really care if Kaia ever found her parents alive or dead, and that was the whole plot! I gave this book ❤❤❤ because it was well written and there weren’t too many holes in the plot. I would’ve liked it better if it was told entirely from Oliver’s POV. He was sweet, mixed with a bunch of teenage badass…

I was given an ARC of this book for my honest review.

I enjoyed the fast-paced nature of the book and Kaia was fierce. There were times I felt a certain disconnect from the characters and the story, trying to wrap my head around the implausibility of certain situations. The dual narration was at times jarring, not quite flowing. However, I did enjoy seeing the events played out from two such different perspectives.

This will go live on my blog on April 11. Kellyvision.wordpress.com

Kaia isn't like other girls. Her parents are former CIA and now basically hitmen. Or they were. A year ago, she and her mom were in a hotel room when their dad texted, telling them to run. Seconds later, her mom was shot. Now orphaned, she lives with "her grandparents," an older couple who used to work with her parents. It's a decent life and she has a boyfriend now. Except her old life has just caught up with her.

This book is crazy fun. You'll need to suspend disbelief (like hardcore suspend it) but it's really fun. She's basically the teen girl version of Bryan Mills and who wouldn't want to read that?

There are twists, a plethora of villains (including a big bad), a sweet romance and enough action to keep anyone happy. How could you not enjoy this?

(I received an advance copy of this book for free. Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Fire and NetGalley.)

This was a YA contemporary story about a girl who had parents who were assassins for hire.

Kaia was an okay character, and I felt sorry for her when she believed her parents to be dead after a hit gone wrong. She did quite well to stay on top when people were chasing her though.

The storyline in this was about Kaia being attacked, and then being chased across the county by the people after her. She took her boyfriend with her, and they basically just ran. We got a bit of action, car chases and guns, and a bit of mystery over what had happened to Kaia’s parents too, but the whole thing felt a little unbelievable to me, and some things just didn’t add up at all <spoiler> her mother just happened to steal someone’s phone and check the cameras in a random safe house with said phone, all at the exact same 10 seconds in time that her daughter is holding her phone number up to said camera? When they have multiple safe houses, and it’s been a year since she last saw her daughter? Really? </spoiler>

The ending to this was okay, and things ended happily enough, I just had issues with the believability aspect though.
6.25 out of 10

WhenI first started reading "Pretty Fierce" I was a bit worried because it sounded a little cheesy. Not enough to make me not want to read it, but I was slightly concerned it would be too much. While I do still believe it's not as realistic as most books I choose to read, there was a great feel to this book that made you want to be a badass just like the main character Kaia. Because, let's face it. That's what she is.

This book centers around Kaia as she is managing her new life after being raised by professional assassins and being left abandoned. Her past quickly catches up to her though and turns her world upside down. She quickly finds herself on the run, dragging perfectly innocent people from her past with her. Queue beautiful jock boyfriend Oliver. Oliver is funny to me because he's trying so hard to fit into this new reality he is facing as he learns Kaia's secrets. He wants to be a part of her life, even if that means letting go of the "easy" life back home, which isn't so easy. These two damaged teens kind of turn out perfect for each other.

As a new future unfolds around them, Kaia has to come to grips with some harsh realities about her parents and the life she's always known. I think that can act as a comparison to real life. Sometimes, as we grow up we find that realities we once knew are not real and a new future takes shape. Author Kieran Scott took a slightly not realistic book and entertained us thoroughly, while giving comparisons to real life situations we may find ourselves in. Kaia is still a teenager and her emotions are very real to how we react to things.

Pretty Fierce is a good read for people who like action and trying to figure out a mystery. Kieran Scott gave us a "pretty fierce" read. I'll be looking out for more from Scott in the future.

STAR RATING: 4/5

I had a bit of an issue reading it because there was a formatting error or something that caused some sections to have no spaces between words and I had to try extra hard to figure out what it was saying.

Other than that I thought it was a decent read. It definitely had lots of action, which I love. I also love the whole, on the run, thing. It's a guilty pleasure of mine.

I didn't feel overly attached to the characters. I felt bad for their situations, but I wasn't all that invested in their lives.

I did really like the cover, though. I have to give them that.

PRETTY FIERCE was a fast-paced chase novel. Kaia is the daughter of two professional assassins who disappeared in Mexico on a job gone wrong leaving Kaia to take shelter with some retired colleagues of her parents. Kaia is plagued by insomnia and nightmares from being there with her parents when things went wrong. She is certain her parents are dead because she knows they wouldn't leave her alone otherwise. She finds herself attending a normal school and living a normal life for the first time which is what her last fight with her parents was about. But she didn't want a normal life at the cost of her parents.

The only one who is able to help her cope with school and the nightmares is Oliver. Oliver is a foster child who is in an abusive situation and who was abandoned by his father after watching his mother die of cancer. He has big hopes for his future with college on an athletic scholarship in his plans.

Oliver walks in on Kaia fighting off a hit man and they two go on the run to find out why hitbmen are suddenly targeting Kaia. They travel from safe house to safe house trailed by a variety of hit men. Kaia begins to believe that her mother is not dead and is determined to find and rescue her.

The story was exciting and the relationship between Kaia and Oliver is a great one. Both of them are dealing with major issues and each strengthens the other. This was an engaging story that kept me reading all the way to the ambiguous conclusion.

I really enjoyed this book, and can't wait for the sequel. (Please let there be a sequel!) The characters and pacing were great, and I just don't think her mom is really dead.

As you probably know, Kate Brian / Kieran Scott is one of my favorite authors. She's an auto-buy for me and really has been since I was in high school. There is just something about her writing that draws me in, makes me feel nostaglic, and keeps me engaged after all these years. I still have some of her backlist books to read, but I moved very quickly to request PRETTY FIERCE. I don't really read books about assassins but do enjoy the occasional spy-related series.

The first step in this story? Suspend your disbelief. You really have to just let yourself enjoy it and not think about how ridiculously crazy the idea of this story is. There are so many wild twists that happen later on that you can't believe you're reading in a YA novel instead of watching a soap opera.

I liked that Kaia and her boyfriend were kicking ass together instead of this being a romance that starts in the book. The couple is already together before the book and the events of the book make them stronger. I liked learning about their histories but think some of it was a little glossed over. (Oliver was kind of a cliche, but I still really loved him!) I would have been interested to see a chapter or two of her "regular life" before the action gets going. Things speed up pretty damn quickly.

Overall, this story kept me turning pages. I was fully engaged and intrigued from start to finish. I would think about giving this 4.5 stars but the sheer insanity of what happens (and how unlikely it all really is) kind of takes away some of it now in hindsight. I didn't think it was a big deal as I was reading because I was engrossed, but stepping off of the roller coaster makes me think a little differently. I highly recommend this!

This book took me forever to finish. Partly because I was juggling three books at any given time and partly because it had its ups and downs. I would get sucked into the amazing detail and super spy like action but then Kaia would do something really stupid like try to abandon Oliver at a random gas station and I would just have to set down the book. There was also a lot of give and take with the characters and a LOT of miscommunication. Which helped character growth but still really ticked me off at points. Overall I would say its pretty good with plenty of crazy action scenes and a pretty unique story. What threw a wrench in it was the ending where everything got wrapped up into a neat little bow in a matter of like 5 pages. If that. It was just so... anticlimactic. With all the traveling and gun slinging and henchmen bashing Kaia and Oliver did I was hoping for more of a bang at the end. Or a lead up into another book?

Either way I'm happy I read it but don't plan on running out to buy it.

I was excited to read this book as I love espionage and assassin type movies like the newer James Bond movies, Spy with Melissa McCarthy, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, The Professional, Collateral... oh how the list goes on and on. They are thrilling and action packed, so to see that genre in a YA offering had me itching to get through the pages as soon as I could.

pfPretty Fierce by Kiernan Scott is quite the ride. It centers around a girl named Kaia, whose parents are professional killers. A year before our story begins, Kaia is playing a game with her mother in a hotel room. Her mother is anxiously watching and listening, but still trying her best to entertain her daughter. It's clear that something is amiss. A phone call and gunshots change the rest of the story, and Kaia ends up living in hiding on her own.

A year later, we find Kaia has been attending school and being cared for by a set of guardians, and even has a boyfriend. But she is now discovered by hitmen who tell her that her mother is alive, and are trying to find out what Kaia knows. In a quick move, Kaia clocks the man over the head with the stock of a shotgun and is threatening his life when her boyfriend, Oliver, walks in on them. Kaia can't bring herself to kill the man, especially in front of Oliver who has no idea what is going on. She grabs Oliver, packs them into a car, bursts through the garage door and goes on the run with him.

And trust me, that's just the first few pages, so not much of a spoiler! Kaia has to figure out who is after her and what the truth is about her parents. Is her mom still alive? Is her dad still out there? What happened in the job gone wrong all those months ago? And if they are out there, why didn't they ever come for her?

I think my favorite part of this story was actually Oliver's voice and how he was processing things, and his descriptions of Kaia and the actions through his eyes. There were moments that the writing did take me out of the story, or perhaps I am not used to the author's voice; mostly this is when there were memories explained in the middle of an important moment, rather than waiting to explain it. It was almost like revealing things as you go, instead of saving those moments for the quieter times in between the action. Sort of like it wanted to be cinematic, but kept interrupting the action with asides/footnotes for the character to feel.

Overall it was an interesting read, and as I understand it, this is a new genre for the author. I may have to check out some of her other works and see how different her voice is there. It was a fast-paced book with plenty of chase scenes, guns to the forehead type scenes and lots of intrigue to keep readers engaged. The writing style was not exactly for me fit-wise, but I would recommend it to action-seekers.

I have been a fan of Kieran Scott for quite some time now. I was obsessed with the Private series she wrote under the pseudonym Kate Brian. I had not read anything by here in a long time, yet when I pick up Pretty Fierce, I was instantly reminded of why I was such a fan of her writing. The characters and plot are always so exhilarating and well developed. This novel of hers was no different.

Pretty Fierce starts out with a bang (quite literally) and really does not stop until the very last page. There was never a point in this book where I was bored, I guess you could say that this book was the true definition of a page turner. The story follows Kaia, the daughter of CIA trained assassins, who after a rogue mission found herself orphaned and sent to live with old family friends. She is forced to enroll in a normal high school where she is miserable until she meets Oliver. I really enjoyed the romance in this book. Unlike a lot of other YA novels, this romance was already fairly developed. Kaia and Oliver had started dating a year prior to the start of the book, but literally everything Oliver knew about Kaia and her life was a lie. And little did Kaia know, Oliver has some tragic secrets of his own. When Oliver witnesses something he shouldn't have, Kaia is forced to take him on the run with her. On the road, they get to know each other in a different way, the REAL way, while also fighting off enemies from Kaia's past.

One issue I had with this book was the ending. I was about 90% finished with the book and thinking that there was no way that we would get answers to any of the questions that popped up throughout the story, when all of a sudden it was like a dump truck of answers just completely unloaded on the reader in a page and a half. It was TOO perfect of an ending. I think that this would've have been an incredible series, but the ending really did not leave that as an option.

Overall though, I thought that this was a fun, exciting read. If you like spies, action and a little bit of romance, check this book out.

*Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. Pick it up when hits shelves in April 2017*

I'm always on the look out for something fun and thrilling in the YA department and having already loved some of Scott's other work, I was eager to pick up her newest novel and see what she had in store for us this time.

I'm happy to say this didn't disappoint. While it did have a different feel from her others, more mystery than horror or paranormal, it still had all the action and adventure we are use to getting from her and strong characters with a plot that is always surprising us.

With some unexpected twists and turns and a plot that will keep you turning the pages up until the end, this was a fun filled ride that was a good escape read for a few hours.

Fun, fast-paced suspense thriller for teens. Some suspension of reality needed but it was exactly what I was hoping for from a book about the daughter of assassins.

Pretty Fierce is a book with an undeniably intriguing premise, focusing on a daughter of assassins who's now trying to fit into civilian life after her parents' mysterious disappearance. I am pretty much always on board for a good spy story, so the second I read the synopsis and saw the juxtaposition of the blurb with the unabashedly pink cover, I knew this was a book that I had to read.

As the book's synopsis states, a majority of this book features Kaia and her boyfriend Oliver on the run, after being ambushed by a hit man who is no doubt after information from her past with her parents. This set the stage for an extremely action filled story with a quickly paced plot, that involved many wonderful action sequences, from car chases to fight scenes to exploring safe houses (I love safe houses, they fascinate me). Though the novel's premise and fast pace lent itself to story that often read like an action movie, it kept itself firmly rooted in YA thanks to the realistic portrayal of its two POV characters, Kaia and Oliver. I enjoyed their true-to-life actions and interactions while being on the run, from the tension and frustration they felt at times toward each other (because really, what could be a more stressful situation than running for your life?) to Oliver's stress eating. While I didn't always feel the bonds of romance come through throughout the course of the story, I definitely saw the strong and sweet friendship and close regard for each others well being that Oliver and Kaia had, and it's so refreshing to see strong and respectful relationships being portrayed in YA.

Without revealing any spoilers, I will say that about 2/3 of the way through the book some revelations are made regarding Kaia's parents past that I found to be super interesting, and that's the point in the story where I had to keep reading until the end. In fact, I wish this book had focused a bit more on Kaia's parents past aside from the few glimpses we received to set the stage for the final story climax, as the backstory as to why they became assassin's, especially that of Kaia's mother, and how it led to the events in the present plot of the book were so intense and therefore engaging to read about. If the author were to write a prequel novel just about Kaia's parents I would definitely read it!

Overall: Pretty Fierce was a story with an engaging and action-packed premise that reads quickly. Though I saw Oliver and Kaia as having a stronger friendship than romance, I loved their interactions and respect for each other. The book never has a lull or dull moment, and while I wish Kaia's parents past had been more explored, it was still a super interesting read. Recommended for anyone who likes spy stories and a fast paced plot!

Review will be published on blog (girlinthepages.com) and Goodreads on 3/8/2017.