Challenge Completed! Book Review ~ Spark by Rachael Craw

Title: Spark (Spark #1)
Author: Rachael Craw
Publisher: Walker Books Australia
Release Date: July 1st 2014
Source: Purchased

Evie doesn’t have a choice.

One day she’s an ordinary seventeen year old, grieving for her mother. The next, she’s a Shield, the result of a decades-old experiment gone wrong, bound by DNA to defend her best friend from an unknown killer.

The threat could come at home, at school, anywhere. All Evie knows is that it will be a fight to the death.

And then there’s Jamie. irresistible. off-limits.

Goodreads Link

Initially, I simply set out to read a book from cover-to-cover without getting distracted and losing interest as my recent track record has been - but very quickly, all that changed...

Spark is the first book in a YA trilogy about genetically engineered people with superhuman powers and a creepy secret organisation that tries to control everything and everyone associated with it (it has a very cool 'The Tomorrow People' vibe to it).

Evie is an average girl who has just buried her mother and she's trying to adjust to living with her aunt - but right off the bat you know she's sick, you know that weird stuff is about to go down, and it is so, so good.

If you love young dystopian novels like The Maze Runner, The Hunger Games, and Divergent; there are definitely those same crazy institutional overlord vibes going on within the Affinity Project (the bad guys) but Spark is so much more than that - it has fabulous friendships, amazing first loves, and super awesome secrets that hold you to the edge of your seat!

And the writing is so damn good - I saw it all playing out in my head! The author has an incredible talent for painting such lifelike scenes, I actually felt like I was watching a CW show. (Supergirl, The Flash, Supernatural, Legends of Tomorrow, TVD, iZombie, Arrow, etc, etc, etc, I am a CW show fa-na-tic!! and Spark would totally rule as a CW show!!)

Full of twists and turns, mystery, adventure, and forbidden desire - Spark is a roller coaster read and quite easily the best YA book I've read in a very long time. And as an added bonus, I described this book to my fourteen year old and it's now on her tbr pile, and honestly, my nine year old is lining up to read it too and as a parent, any book that will get my kids off their devices is a blessing!

Spark is a heart poundingly good read and completely deserving of a 5 star rating.

Challenging Myself...

My reading record of late has been a bit dismal and so I'm setting myself a little reading challenge.

I've chosen a book by a New Zealand author that I've seen popping up on all my social media feeds recently - Spark by Rachael Craw.

I've had a copy of this book on my tbr pile for quite some time but the third book in the series just released earlier this month and my feeds have been flooded with lots of beautiful cover art and I'm hearing fabulous things - so its time to dust my copy off and take the plunge!

The challenge is... I want to get this book read within a week - considering the reading funk I've been in of late it may be harder than it sounds - however, I've only heard great feedback so I'm hoping to finish it much sooner!

Here's the cover and blurb for those that might like to take a look...

Evie doesn’t have a choice.

One day she’s an ordinary seventeen year old, grieving for her mother. The next, she’s a Shield, the result of a decades-old experiment gone wrong, bound by DNA to defend her best friend from an unknown killer.

The threat could come at home, at school, anywhere. All Evie knows is that it will be a fight to the death.

And then there’s Jamie. irresistible. off-limits.

Goodreads Link