REVIEW: Waste of Space by Gina Damico

Summary


The premise: Ten kids on a reality TV show where they get sent into space, facing challenges until there’s one left standing. It’s supposed to be a typical reality show. They have all the character types – the orphan, the nerd, the addict, the hippie, the bad boy.

Except the TV station has no intention of actually sending anyone into space. No one has the tech to pull that off. They don’t even have the tech to make the kids still on earth float around like they are in space. So they tell everyone they have created an artificial gravity for use in space. And the lies don’t stop there.

The kids are told everything is real. They think they are truly on a space ship in orbit of Earth. The show fits reality TV mold completely and is wildly popular.  But not everyone is who they appear to be. And some of the kids start to pick up clues that maybe their mission to “space” isn’t what it appears to be either. And then, in one moment, everything changes.

Review


This is such a fun and quirky story!

The format is terrific. It’s transcripts of phone calls and video from the show and unaired footage as well as interviews and commentary from the intern who is putting all the pieces together. This allows the reader to get into everyone’s head and see the story from different perspectives – the viewers, the producer who put it all together, the kids on the show.

The characters exceed their stereotypes, which is great. Motives change. What you think is true keeps changing. The whole premise is terrific. The TV producer is sleazy, creative and cutthroat. You hate him but at the same time you can’t look away, wondering what he will throw at the kids or at his crew next.

There’s a twist in the story about 2/3 of the way through, and from there, I couldn’t put the book down. I had to know what was going on. The truth was less flashy than I imagined from the set up , but it was still a good ending. (Language, sexual innuendo, drugs/alcohol/firearms)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥

I received an electronic review copy of this book. Thanks to Netgalley and HMH Books for Young Readers for the opportunity to read an early copy of Waste of Space in exchange for an honest review.

REVIEW: Bad Blood by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Summary


The Naturals series finale. It’s hard to summarize the final book in a series and not give something away from a previous book. Suffice it to say that Cassie and the Naturals are back, still using their “gifts” to pursue serial killers. Each of the Naturals are dealing with their own baggage in this one while it careens towards an ending that wraps up the one case that ties all of the books in this series together.

Naturals series finale

Review


I love this series because it is a perfect book for teens and young adults (and adults) who enjoy a great mystery and suspense story. And I am crazy about great mysteries!

I love the psychological aspects to the main characters and their cases. The characters are fascinating – deep, nuanced and flawed. They have evolved over the series into an interesting family of sorts. And each book in the series has given back story to Cassie and the other Naturals bit by bit, rounding out their history and explaining some of their “gifts.”

This book is darker than the first three. This was necessary for the story that’s being told in this one. I wish I had re-read the earlier books before starting this one so all the parts and characters were fresh in my mind. I think it would have added some depth to the story when past moments came up that I haven’t read in a long time. [If you aren’t familiar with this series, you HAVE to start with book one, The Naturals.]

While I would love to read more stories with these characters, the series arc was wrapped up well. Some great twists in this one keep me going back through the story in my mind.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥ ½