Aversion by Kenechi Udogu : A Review

NOTE:

Team Readers' Muse thanks Deepika for this splendid review! 

BOOK NAME: Aversion, Book One of The Mentalist Series

AUTHOR: Kenechi Udogu

GENRE: Young Adult, Fantasy Fiction, Romance

SERIES/STANDALONE: The Mentalist #1

          Gemma Green is a normal fifteen year old girl, but the secret in her life is that she is an Averter: one who could just move your thoughts around a bit so that you don’t end up doing something life-spoiling (I hope that is a word!). She is all the more special than the other Averters because she is a girl, which is a virtually non-existent thing in Averter history. Or so she thinks until she meets Russ Tanner, the first person whose memory she is supposed to alter in order to avoid his major life turning crisis. Almost everything after meeting him goes out of her control and she learns that not everything around her is true. I say ‘almost everything’ because she there is sweet Russ to cushion the blows dealt out to her...sometimes. So does it really mean that Russ has fallen for our plain Jane or does it only mean she has somehow botched up her first Aversion and Russ is going to wake up to the truth soon? Hop on to the boat of “Aversion” for a happy reading of Udogu’s smooth writing to satisfy your curiosity!

          Let me start out by saying that, I am a number one fan of girl power fiction and am all in support of girls who keep their heads together when it comes to dealing with mess. That said, I have read SO many over-hyped books about strong female leads who are hailed to be strong and level-headed but whom I actually find so whiny (I am not naming any names now). I started out this book by hoping fervently that Gemma (the protagonist) would not turn out to be one of ‘those’ girls. And lo and behold, my prayers were answered! An added joy is that just when you think things are going to get predictable, it doesn’t and just like that we are in a reader’s heaven!

           I don’t know what I have against romance, but I actually cringed a bit when a romantic angle was around the corner (read extremely dreamy guy). I had no need to do that, since it was a pleasantly romantic twist and it actually does help move the story forward rather than proving to be just a vent for raging teenage hormones. Though the usual good versus evil is imminent, the author succeeds in leaving you hanging with a lot of curiosity towards the end (read the title! There are more to come. Yay!). And an honestly unexpected ending!!

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE BOOK: The creative concept in a beaten-to-death theme of high school romance with teenagers trying to find out more about themselves, the character development of the protagonist and the easy, crisp narrative style of the author which comes out in even such a short read.

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: We realize that love is indeed the answer to everything. But c’mon, why can it not for just once be something different: like maybe just for the thrill of it or for self-betterment (without getting too philosophical)?

RATING: 4/5