Kinetic by S.K. Anthony ~ Review

Title: Kinetic

Author: S.K. Anthony

Publication Date: September 20, 2013

Pages: 336

Genre: Young Adult, Superhero, Fantasy

Rating: 2 stars

Summary: Being strong is one thing. Being an unlimited source of power is quite another.

Genetically altered by the Organization, Annie Fox takes down criminals CIA-style with her luminary strength. With nothing to mend but her broken heart, she is relentlessly pursued by her boss Derek Lake. Just when Annie is about to give him a chance, her ex-husband unexpectedly comes out of hiding.

A wanted man, Nick Logan is a cold-hearted murderer who is considered enemy number one, and orders are clear: kill on contact. He is more powerful than ever and threatens the lives of those she holds most dear. His plan? Get his hands on Annie and use her Kinetic energy to destroy them all. When Annie finds herself with an opportunity to end him, she pauses, horrified by the scars covering the face she once loved. A split second that will cost her everything…

I'm sorry guys. This just wasn't the book for me, I guess.

My main gripe is that this is a new series, right? I mean there are no other books about the Luminaries. This is the first book to the series. I should have no idea what Luminaries are, what they do, or what kind of world they live in. Nothing, nada, no habla ingles.

So when an author throws the reader into a new universe without any sort of build up, without laying down some cards, I get understandably confused. Which leads to frustration. Which leads to rereading. Please don't get me wrong. I like to reread books. At the end. When they're already finished. When a book is so good, I just can't put it down yet. (Divergent did this to me.) I do not like to reread to clarify something going on in the novel. To go back and forth between the pages for things to make sense. This is what this book did to me.

I was thrown in and I drowned. Fast. (I even reread the first 70-something pages. Just stopped where I was and started over. Didn't help.)

Then came the characters. Many of the characters were bland for me. Vanilla pudding bland. And in a large cast of characters, I quickly became confused as to who was who. This happened much too frequently. For instance our MC, Annie, has two best friends. And they were interchangeable. No, really. You could have swapped them around and they would still be exactly the same. There was no character to these characters. 

And speaking of the main character. Ughhh! No, just no. There are so many things I disliked about Annie, I was sincerely hoping that both love interests would just turn away from her and be with better, more deserving people. But alas, it didn't happen. 

I feel bad because when you look at the reviews on goodreads, there are many positive reviews. I'm sad that I can't be one of them.

I will admit that the only reason this book has more than one star is because of that gorgeous, eye-catching cover. I wish the inside was just as pretty. 

Provided by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review. Thank you!