Review: Hunting Lila (Lila #1) by Sarah Alderson

Hunting Lila (Lila #1) by Sarah Alderson 

Published: March 22d 2011
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Page Count: Paperback, 320
Source: Bought
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Find the Author: Website, Good Reads, Twitter, Blog
Buy This Book: Amazon, Book Depository
Add It To Your Good Reads Shelf

17-year-old Lila has two secrets she's prepared to take to the grave. The first is that she can move things just by looking at them. The second is that she's been in love with her brother's best friend, Alex, since forever. Or thereabouts.After a mugging on the streets of South London goes horribly wrong and exposes her unique ability, Lila decides to run to the only people she can trust - her brother and Alex. They live in Southern California where they work for a secret organisation called The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who murdered her mother five years before. And that they've found them. Trying to uncover the truth of why her mother was killed, and the real remit of The Unit, Lila becomes a pawn in a dangerous game. Struggling to keep her secrets in a world where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realises that she is not alone - there are others out there just like her - people with special powers -and her mother's killer is one of them... - Good Reads

I finished this earlier today and and all I've been able to think about all day is how I wish this didn't end and I could still be in Lila's world watching everything unfold. I tried starting another book after I was done and my heart just wasn't in it. It still isn't in it. So needless to say Hunting Lila was amazing. I actually tweeted about two weeks ago asking for suggestions for a book with a romance that would my make my heart go all aflutter and Wendy from A Cupcake and a Latte suggested Hunting Lila. I went straight to Book Depository and ordered it on the spot. I didn't even bother reading the summary and funnily enough I assumed it was a contemporary based on the cover... It's not. And I was pleasantly surprised because the theme of the book is one I'm in love with: characters with mysterious superpowers like telekinesis, which is what Lila, the heroine of the story is armed with. And various characters throughout the story have other types of powers, like mind reading and memory removal. I could probably blabber on and on about my love for Hunting Lila, but I'll try to sum it up.


ACTION: The book pumps out the action right away. The action on the first pages I read was actually what made me pause and read the summary. I was thinking, "hey, I thought I was reading a contemporary" It tapers off for a little bit, but doesn't get boring by any means. Halfway through the book the action picks back up and it's with us until the end. 


LOVE: Lila has been in love with brothers best friend Alex all her life. She's relentlessly obsessed. And... the love story in Hunting Lila is just GOOD. I pouted with Lila, I swooned with Lila, I sighed with Lila. Very, very captivating love story. And I love how I went to Sarah Alderson's website and saw that Untouchable by Taylor Swift was Lila's song for her feelings towards Alex. Such a sweet song and perfectly fitting song. 


STORY: I loved the twists and turns this story took. I could see some of it coming, but there were many things I didn't see coming. And often times if I did see something coming, the way it played out still had me on the edge of my seat. 


The only faults I could see in the book is that sometimes Lila could be overly dramatic and jump to the wrong conclusions about Alex. But... I can't tell you how many times I did that when I was young and in love, so I found it something I could live with without much annoyance. There were just one or two times where I felt like jumping in there and telling Lila to settle down. But I felt it more in the big sister way rather than "OmG r U sTuPiD?" way. 


RECOMMENDED TO
I want all of my friends to read this. As soon as possible! If you haven't pick this up: you need to! DO IT FOR ME! Book Depository has it for $9 with FREE SHIPPING! 


FAVOURITE QUOTE

“I felt his other hand sear hot against my cheek. He bent his head, and in a voice that Jack couldn’t hear, said, “When you came down the stairs, and fell into me, that was the moment.” Then his lips pressed against mine.” 

I swooned *so* hard! 


So, friends! If you could have a superpower... WHAT WOULD IT BE? I wish I could teleport. I'd be teleporting all over the place! 


                                          5 out 5 Hello Kitties!