Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

Rating: 3.5
Writing: 3
Plot: 4
Characters: 2

Worth the buy?  No, but you should read it.

Theme: Cults, apocalypse


Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.


This book didn't start out that well. I hated everyone, didn't know what was going on and thought Jeremy was a creeper/stalker.  A little bit later in the book, I started to like the Main character, Mia.  Mia was a conflicted character because of the way she was written.  Like, on one hand the author wanted her to be a bad-a, yet on the other hand she wanted Mia to be a dopey girl who can't save herself.  Half of the time I wanted to reach into the book and slap her for her decisions.  I liked that I could find an emotional connection, though, with Mia.  I felt myself rooting for her and actually caring about if she lived or died.  I wanted, for most of the book, for Mia to "go Carrie" on everyone.  For those of you who don't get the Stephan King reference, Carrie is a telekinetic girl who goes crazy and kills everyone.

The main male character and love interest, Jeremy, is one of the first male love interests I actually despise.  He was a Gary Sue and he was really creepy.  I mean, I know some guys do some creepy things to girl in books, but Jeremy takes the cake.  He stands outside Mia's house and follows her for a little while, then he warns her away from a group of cultists.  When Mia is near said cultists, Jeremy gives her a vision and she passes out.  He leaves her with the cultists and runs.  What the heck?  I don't get why Mia trusts him.  He's bossy, untrustworthy, but still they are "drawn together".  The other character I hated was Parker, Mia's brother.  He was one of those rebellious teens; I get where he was coming from, but I still hated him.  And Mia's mother!  She could not take care of herself and was easily brainwashed by Prophet.  I actually wanted her to get captured.  I did, however, like the Cultist Katrina.  She was cool and I rooted for her, as well as Mia.

I liked most of the writing in the book.  The plot was almost never boring and there was a constant threat for Mia, which I liked.  Also, you get bits of Mia's past in the book, too.  Usually I hate flashbacks but I really liked these.  I didn't like how there was no show-don't-tell, and the book was trying too hard to make you feel something.  Oh, and when magic was introduced, Mia was just: "Oh.  Okay!  *skips into the sunset*".  I thought it was weird that she didn't react like most MCs would have.  The worldbuilding was fantastic and it was a great backdrop for the story.  In the story, Mia always feels this impending storm coming.  In the end, though, Mia says, "The storm is in me."  I thought that was genius; Mia was waiting for a storm that never came because it was in her all along.  This quality of writing surprised me, and I was very satisfied with the ending.  I wish this was a stand-alone title, but it isn't.  I'm a little worried about the sequel, if it's one of those series that drag on, but I guess I'll just wait and see.

Links:
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12432229-struck