GoodRead - Hunting Lila

Am going to be honest, I wouldn't have known this book existed if it wasn't for Wondrous Reads. In one of her blog posts or one of her tweets (I can’t remember which), she revealed the cover and I fell in love with it. I thought it was striking, simple and mysterious. I think it was those red shoes. Striking, no? After tweeting her, I was excited about this book so, when Kathryn from Simon & Schuster emailed me, asking if I would want to review this book, I jumped at the chance. How could I not?

Lila has two secrets that she is willing to hide. Her first is that she has the power of telekinetic - of being able to move obejcts with her minds. So, when she is violently mugged and she exposes her power, she jumps on a plane to goes the only safe place she can think of: being with her brother, Jack, and his best friend, Alex. And here, we have her second secret: Lila has been in love with Alex her whole life. As Lila tries to keep both her secrets hidden, she discovers that both Jack and Alex are members of a military unit and they have been gathering information about her mother's murder which happened five year ago. And, by the looks of it, they know who it is…

But soon, the lines blur: who is the hunter and who is the hunted? What is the truth and what is a lie? Who can be trusted and who should be feared? And if Lila isn't careful, the lives of the people she loves will be put at risk…

Right, how do I review this without gushing? Yeah, this is one of those books where I could very easily gush. So, am keeping myself in check. And that make writing this oh-so-very-hard!

It's a typical, yet not-so-much a typical YA book. For a start, most of the story isn't set in school or on holiday. It's set near a military base. A nice change from boarding schools or towns in the middle of nowhere!

Also, you have a love story where you are screaming at the Lila to act on her impulsives and yet, you completely understand why she won't. And, because of that and her reaction to her power, she completely relate to her. She's a typical teenager and yet she is thrown completely into a non-typical situation.

And as for Alex… I was tweeted by Daisy Chain Books and was told that her heart is in torment as Alex was fighting it out with Jay from the Body Finder series (a series I adore! If you haven't read it, investigate it now!) for best ficitional boyfriend.

This is one of those YA books that is an addictive read, and it's a perfect summer read to have while by the pool. And there's a sequel on the way (YES!) and the author is writing a new series that will come out in January 2012 called Fated, which I am now very excited over. If it's anything like Hunting Lila, then I am going have to have to get my hands on this…!

So, it's a YA, paranormal read with a huge dollop of thriller and romantic. Perfect! This was a wonderful debut novel! I demand more! And I demand more steamy-ness (which I've been told will happen…)! At once!

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My song choices are quite random this time. I listen to my iPod on shuffle while reading in the garden and these songs came up. Odd choices, but what do you think?