Owl Post Reviews: Review: Mind Games by Kiersten White

Title: Mind Games
Author: Kiersten White
Series: Mind Games #1
Publication: February 19th 2013 by HarperTeen
Genre: Young Adult ~ Paranormal
Cover Rating: 5/5
Overall Rating: 4/5

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

~My Thoughts:

So far I've read only one book by Kiersten White which was The Chaos of Stars, a book with Egyptian mythology in it. I loved it so I wanted to try another book by this author to see if I was going to like it as much also. I really wanted to try Mind Games because it seemed really great and how could I resist that gorgeous cover? Anyways... I've seen a lot of mixed reviews of it — the usual extremes of only one, two stars or four, five stars. Because of that it's always hard to tell what you will think of it, personally. And I must admit, starting it the first fifty pages or so were kind of slow and I didn't know what to think of it. It doesn't mean it was bad or anything... I just needed something to pigue my interest. (That's why it didn't get a full five stars.)

Mind Games introduces us to two girls, sisters. Fia is the younger one who has flawless instinct. She acts first, never thinking always knowing what is right and what is wrong. Her older sister, Annie, is blind except when she has her future visions, where she can see clearly as you and me can. Together they are trapped in a school that's run by the Keane foundation where they use both Fia and Annie plus other girls who also have special abilities for their own gain. Fia and Annie have to keep using their gifts or risk each others lives and that's just not something they are willing to risk.

This book was fast-paced and shocking but very enjoyable for me. Its characters were brilliant and yet messed up in their own ways. Kiersten White has created a very intense world with the school Fia and Annie are trapped. I could practually smell, taste and feel Fia and Annie's desperation to protect each other. Especially Fia was very harsh and fierce to read about because she's so broken by everything she had to do to protect her sister.

Mind Games felt right from the beginning very different from other books. I've never read anything like it. The overall story makes it very interesting as did the characters. It has both the sister's point of view, but also flashbacks about what happened before, taking place so far back as ten years ago to six months back, also in both Fia and Annie's perspective.

Aside from the two main characters we had a bunch of others. Some you will like, some you will hate. But really, all these people from the Keane foundation are awful. I can't understand why someone would be willing to work there. Anywho... we also have James Keane. Yes, Keane as in the Keane foundation. He's the son of the Mr. Keane who calls the shot. He's one of the love interests for Fia. Though it's not like there's a lot of romance in it, just the potential for romance, especially with Adam. Fia has a lot of history with James but things actually feel right with Adam. But before I give too much away I must say personally I like James more. People will probably call me crazy but what can I say, I like the bad ones.

The ending of this book was freaking shocking. I was freaked out by everything that was happening suddenly. Shit really did hit the fan. It only made me crave the sequel even more. I'm really glad I was able to score it already! I can tell you I will be reading it soon because I can't wait to read about what's going to happen next. I'm sure it's going to be really exciting as well.

Mind Games by Kiersten White was really as author Holly Black says on the cover of my copy, "A brutal, exciting gem of a book." It's the perfect description of it. It was all that and more. I was surprised by how captivated I was by it. A definite must-read for fans of psychological thrillers with paranormal twists.

Kiersten White is the NYT bestselling author of the Paranormalcy trilogy and Mind Games, the start of a new dark thriller series. She has one tall husband and three small children and lives near the ocean, where her life is perfectly normal. Visit her at www.kierstenwhite.com.