I can't take much more of this high school nonsense. I feel like I'm not supposed to be here. So, where would I be if I weren't here? ...I don't know. All I do know is I'm in the middle of all this crap, going to class, taking tests- but I'm on autopilot, going through the motions, waiting for life to start happening.
Jayne is the usual 17-year-old trouble-maker. She constantly gets in trouble at school and really doesn't care that she does. Tony, her best friend of the last two years, is her polar opposite. He never gets in trouble and is doing his best in school. He wants to go to college some day. Tony never has a girlfriend and gets embarrassed when Jayne talks about certain body parts. He is socially awkward. But then again, she doesn't fit in either. They are both outcasts in their school and neither has a good home life. One day they both run away to Miami. Tony has a strange link with Jayne where sometimes he can feel her emotions if they are pretty intense. One night he felt what was going on with Jayne at her house and that was the turning point. Bad things happened that night and Tony was resolved to get them both out of town.
The minute they get to Miami they meet Jared. He is different than normal people. He does weird stuff, like put the butts of his cigarettes in his pockets, instead of throwing them on the ground. They stay in a very quaint warehouse with others that Jared had found. There was Chase, Spike, Finn, Becky, and Samantha. They live on what they can, using porta potties and getting money when they can for food and other necessities. They all seem to be outcasts as well.
An opportunity comes up for them to make quite a little bit of money that the group needs. A flyer for a clinical trial for a fitness study is found. But this is no ordinary trial. During the preliminary test, they are asked very strange questions. Then are interviewed and asked about the answers they marked on the test. One of the strange questions is if you could be a super hero, which one would you be. Besides Samantha, the group is flown out to a remote forest to go through the "clinical trial". But things get weird when they have to battle strange creatures that suck blood, sirens, and come into contact with tiny gnomes. They are in danger as long as they stay on this obstacle course, but there is no way out until they finish or give up. And it could take days. Although they are armed with some simple weapons, the best help they encounter is the forest itself. Jayne figures out she has a strange connection with the trees and environment in the area. She can "talk" to the plants and trees. As they battle through the forest, they learn that they are in the world of the fae. And when the group gets to the end of the course, there is even more surprises in store.
I didn't want to be the old Jayne anymore- the one who sat in high school history class waiting for life to happen; the one who feared men coming into her room at night; the one who looked at amazing things and only wondered what they could mean. I wanted to be special. I wanted to be more.
I have not really read that many books involving the fae, but this was definitely a good one. The interesting thing about it is that they include the incubus and the succubus as a type of fae as well. This is something completely new, but also explains the whole taking from humans. It seems that most fae need the humans for various reasons. The small group has fae blood in them, unknowingly of course, and this test was to see what type of fae they might be. When they learn they most likely have the blood of the fae, they must make a life-changing decision. For most of them, it is the choice to become something better, to become who they were meant to be.
The book has a lot of action, and just a little bit of love in it. It's a great combination of the two. Jayne starts becoming interested in Spike. For some reason she really likes his teeth. It seems like a strange thing to like about someone, but it's a good start. But then at the very end of the book, she starts having some strange feelings for Chase, but she just isn't sure what they are yet. Loved it and I cannot wait to read the next book! Check it out!!
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*images via Elle Casey
*quotes via Elle Casey
