The Naturals by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

from goodreads

4 stars

Today is the last day of school! YAY!!!!! I have been done with making lunches and for that matter any form of food for the past three weeks. And now the end is here and I am so glad.

It is funny how something as simple as making lunches can really wear on you. But, in today's world it is more than just slapping a few things together, throwing it in a bag and saying here you go. A lot more thought has to go into it.

Lunches have to be peanut free and litter free. As well, they have to have variety, be healthy and be something that the kids will eat. Also at our school they have a balanced day format so that means that the kids eat twice. So then you have to decide what goes in the first break pouch and what goes in the second break one. So for each lunch for each child a lot of thought and care has to go into each one. After a while it gets to you.

So now I am looking forward to my two month respite of having to make prepared lunches. I think PB&J sandwiches will be on the menu for most of the summer because the kids can make those themselves. Maybe I will have them make me my lunch for a change. Now, there's a thought.

Synopsis

Cassie Hobbes has a special talent. She looks at someone and know exactly what type of person they are. It is so second nature she can't help it. She is then contacted by the FBI to be part of a talent development group. This group works on cold cases, but they become much more real.

My Thoughts

This was a really fun and enjoyable read. My book club friend summed it up the best way. She said "it's Criminal Minds meets Nancy Drew with a bit of the Scooby gang thrown in." It is a great blend of the dark side of humanity and the lighter side of being a teen. Some of the romantic feelings seemed a bit contrived or forced. But other than that I enjoyed the characters and found them to be relatively believable.

This book did have a bit of a feel of the "set up" book, where you were getting through the necessary facts so the rest of the series can flow. So this story wasn't as deep as it might have been. But it was still enjoyable and it has set up what I think will be a really neat series.

The main character was a real hard one to figure out. She seemed sort of flat yet interesting. I know those are kind of polar opposites but it's the way it is. I found her hard to picture at times. Perhaps more description would have helped. Yet the dialogue she had was great. She stood up for herself without seeming to pushy or rash. It was nice seeing a young female heroine who didn't feel she had to do everything herself or have a death wish. Strong but a team player, I liked it.

The rest of the characters were rather steerotypical, the physically aware and attractive girl who liked to stir the pot, the quieter nerdy girl who could spout out stats like nobody's business, the quiet and aloof boy, and the boy of many layers. Though they seem like characters that could be in any YA fiction their certain mesh worked and helped carry the story along.

While this is not going to win a pulitzer it was still an engaging, fun, twist and turn mystery ride. I am looking forward to reading the next installment soon. The third book in the series is due out sometime this year.