Review: Chasing Power

CHASING POWER
Sarah Beth Durst
Paranormal Young Adult
376 pages
Bloomsbury
Available October 14th
Source: ARC from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Sixteen-year-old Kayla was born with the ability to move things with her mind-things like credit cards and buttons on cash registers-and she has become a master shoplifter. She steals to build up enough money for her and her mom to be able to flee if her dad finds them again . . . which would mean grave danger for them both.

When she's caught stealing by a boy named Daniel-a boy with the ability to teleport-he needs her help and is willing to blackmail her to get it. Together, they embark on a quest to find and steal an ancient incantation, written on three indestructible stones and hidden millennia ago, all to rescue Daniel's kidnapped mother. But Kayla has no idea that this rescue mission will lead back to her own family-and to betrayals that she may not be able to forgive . . . or survive.

MY THOUGHTS
Chasing Power is a fun, fast adventure, quite literally (given Daniel is a teleporter) jumping us from one place to the next as he and Kayla try and beat those responsible for his mother’s kidnapping to a series of ancient artifacts. While not the type of story to wrap our hearts in a vise-like grip and squeeze them until we hemorrhage feelings, our time with Kayla and Daniel is memorable in its sheer entertainment value, and we find ourselves happily flipping the pages to see how everything will work out for the two of them.

Kayla is a young woman gifted in the art of sarcasm, her banter with best friend Selena bringing tears of laughter to our eyes thanks to the dry delivery and their shared ability to introduce impressively random conversational tangents. She also, despite finding herself in increasingly precarious physical and emotional situations, lacks a flair for the dramatic, instead approaching revealed secrets and lies with the type of straightforward honesty that brings a smile to our faces. The calmness with which she accepts various truths once they’re all out in the open could be due in part to her tendency to keep her own motivations close to her chest, repeatedly lying to her mother about where she’s going and what’s she’s doing with Daniel. While we want to shake her a time or two and tell her to trust her mother with what’s happening, the fact that she doesn’t is understandable based on what we know about her past, and it’s not frustrating enough to noticeably detract from our overall enjoyment.

The romance with Daniel is sweet and subtle, the two of them partners in crime first and foremost as they try and thwart those pursuing them, and only ever-so slowly does their relationship change from antagonism and distrust to attraction and affection. Daniel manages to hold his own against Kayla’s smart mouth, and like her, isn’t prone to emotional overreaction or melodrama. Overall, the romance adds a nice touch without being overdone, allowing the humor and the mystery to be the elements that truly shine, and we reach a last page free of cliffhangers and unanswered questions and full of satisfaction instead.

Rating: 4/5

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This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.