My Review
I haven’t read anything by Kieran Scott before now, although I have heard a lot of praise for writing over the years. I was pretty excited when I started reading Pretty Fierce, because spy thrillers are definitely my thing. I haven’t read one that I haven’t absolutely loved, so when I couldn’t sleep one night I started reading, hoping to fall in love with this one like I have with so many others in the same genre.
Unfortunately, while the book was mostly a good read, and it kept me entertained for the most part, I couldn’t get invested in the story or the characters the way that I wanted to. From the very start of the book, I couldn’t connect with the main characters, Kaia or Oliver. Kaia was a distant character, and I felt absolutely no connection to her while reading this book. Oliver, on the other hand, was more like a completely cookie-cutter character that I just couldn’t really get interested in. Together, their relationship felt like it really lacked chemistry, and as though it was staged or forced throughout the entirety of the novel. I love character driven novels, but for me, this one was more plot driven with characters that didn’t leave much of a lasting impact on me.
The story in Pretty Fierce, on the other hand, was definitely interesting. The main character, Kaia, is used to being on the run, since her parents are professional assassins. Because of this, she knows how to spot danger and how to stay away from it – going to extreme lengths to survive and keep herself out of it. However, after one of her parents’ jobs go wrong, she finds herself living without parents with another couple in hiding. When something goes wrong one day, and Kaia is attacked by a hit man, she hits the road and tries to get to the bottom of why she is being attacked. Her boyfriend, Oliver, who caught her fighting and demands to know everything, is along for the ride, causing Kaia to spill all of her secrets to him. While she tries to keep him safe, even attempting to abandon him so that they won’t be after him as well as her, Oliver seems to have his own secret.
While they are on the road, trying to figure out their next moves, Kaia and Oliver have killers trying to get to them everywhere they turn. When an interesting message on a cell phone turns up some information that Kaia almost can’t believe, things change for her – and it seems like maybe everything she thought she knew might not be what she believed.
Like I said, the story was pretty good – it definitely had its ups and downs, but all in all, it was enjoyable, incredibly fast-paced (almost too fast-paced at times), and it had its thrills. I think this book could have been a lot better had the characters been believable and better rounded. Kaia is the daughter of an assassin with secrets that she guards close to her heart, but honestly, that’s about the only thing about her that’s interesting. The remainder of her personality is somewhat dull and uninteresting. Oliver was okay, but nothing memorable here, either. The plot is what I remembered most about the book.
YIKES! Character connection is extremely important to me, so it sucks seeing that it wasn’t done so well in this book. The thriller/mystery part sounds fun though, although in my opinion it doesn’t necessarily make up for the lackluster characters.
Wonderful review, Kelly!
Aila @ One Way Or An Author recently posted…ARC Review: Noteworthy by Riley Redgate
Thank you! It really was difficult to get into this since I didn’t care for the characters, but the whole spy thriller vibe the book had going on made it kind of enjoyable. Unfortunately it wasn’t all that memorable in my opinion.
I like spy thrillers too and this book kinda reminds me of You don’t know my name by Kristen Orlando. Despite the issues, I’m glad you enjoyed it! Great review! 🙂
Raven recently posted…Monstress Vol. 1: Awakening By Marjorie M. Liu, Sana Takeda [Review]
You Don’t Know My Name was such an amazing book! The characters in that book were really easy to get into, as opposed to how difficult I found it with this one. This book felt really rushed, but overall, the story was really well done!
I was wondering about this book after seeing it on Goodreads. It’s too bad you couldn’t get invested in the characters. That always makes it harder to enjoy a book.
Deanna @ A Novel Glimpse recently posted…2017 New Adult Reading Challenge Update #4
It definitely does make it difficult to enjoy a book when a connection with the characters just isn’t there. Luckily the plot of the story was fast paced and enjoyable, though!