Tonya Kuper

Enigma is the second book of the Schrodinger Consortium series and takes up shortly after the end of Anomaly (book 1). Reid and Josie are currently on the run from The Consortium and Josie is having trouble dealing with the fact she killed Santos. This is one of the first things I really liked about this book. Unlike many action stories, it didn't make the killing of enemies, even with kick ass powers, glamorous. Instead showing very real consequences and reactions to having , albeit accidentally, killing someone.

I also liked that story kept momentum all the way through. An easy, entertaining read, with a well paced storyline that kept the reader moving through the twists and turns and guessing who the mole was until the end. As reader, I felt immersed in the story the whole way through.

I liked Josie. How strong she was, how she used her intelligence hand in hand with her compassion and protective spirit to protect her family and help those around her even as she dealt with her new abilities and the unimaginable power that came along with them. I loved Reid, his strength and protectiveness of Josie along with his swooniness. He was everything a good book boyfriend should be.

Overall though, what I most enjoyed was that the premise behind the story was quite different from things I had read before. The idea of being able to push and retract and the science behind it was a really intriguing idea which i thought quite well though out and believable. This created a world that I really wanted to know more about.

A very enjoyable read. I give this book 3 3/4 stars

Sapphired Dragon XX… (més)

This review first appeared on A Weebish Book Blog

When I picked up ANOMALY, I didn’t take much time to read the synopsis, I was mostly drawn to the pretty cover. People always say, “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but sometimes, the cover is what captures our attention. It didn’t prepare me for the hilarious dialogue, the awesome geeky main character, or the impressive Big Bang Theory references.

The Oculi create reality through observation. There are those that create matter, those that “erase”, and those which can do both. But being Occuli comes with a price that kills the fun of having the power create a million dollars into existence…

Now, I know what you’re thinking. It all sounds weird and a little blah, and at first I had many WTF moments, but Kuper has a talent for writing and world building that makes the weird plot line work better than you’d think.

ANOMALY sort of reminds me of Christine Feehan’s Ghost Walker series but for teenagers with a less convoluted plot line. There is a ton of action, lot of humor, and a few delicious make out sessions.

Josie takes the cake for having the worst birthday ever. Her boyfriend dumps her for not putting out, her dad has been missing for a month, and soon she learns her whole life has been a teenage rendition of The Truman Show and even worse…someone wants her dead.

As you can tell, I enjoyed Josie as a heroine. She’s a superhero obsessed, Sheldon-type without the god complex and a better attitude. Even though she’s a brainiac with super powers, she is a character that I easily connected to. She has issues that I found relate-able and realistic in a sense.

I wasn’t as enamored with Reid, but the author didn’t reveal much about him until the cliffhanger. I still didn’t get near as much detail as I wished. I did enjoy him eventually, but until I learn more about his mysterious past I’m still left with only pieces of his character.

Kuper is sadistic with her teasing foreshadow, but I enjoyed myself immensely. I cannot wait to read more from this series. If you are a fan of young adult or almost-but-not-quite dystopian worlds, try ANOMALY out for size.… (més)

This book has been on my TBR list on Goodreads FOREVER. When I found out that the author, Tonya Kuper, is coming to our town in a few months for a book signing I went ahead and pushed the book to the top of my to-read list.



Anomaly follows Josie, a 17 year old science dork who loves anything and everything science related. The book starts out on her birthday where a crap show of events happens... she doesn't hear from her dad, her boyfriend breaks up with her, and an internship she had scheduled for over the summer fell through. Her BFF Hannah tries to cheer her up with some awesome Big Bang Theory cupcakes when two hot dudes on motorcycles roll up at their school. Later that night, she convinces her super overprotective mother to let her go to a party where she meets Reid and Santos, the two motorcycle hotties. Reid takes her for a ride while Santos entertains Hannah and he shows her how she is different. She is an anomaly, someone who can push and retract physical objects with her mind. This is super hard for her to grasp since she is such an analytical person, but eventually Reid shows her beyond a doubt that she is different. This begins a strange series of events that pretty much turn Josie's life upside down leading up to an award ceremony later that week where she is to presented with a physics achievement award by the Vice President of the country, which turns out to be an even bigger deal than Josie had originally imagined given the new information about herself.



I really liked this book. If you were to ask me what a fantasy YA book should include and how to write one, I would give you this book as an example. It hits all the highs and lows that a typical YA book should. You have your quirky and relatable leading lady, the hot dude that is hot/cold with LL because of outside circumstances and inner conflict, family conspiracy, government corruption, a few plot twists, and a big grand finale ending where everything hits the fan. Anomaly follows this formula perfectly, which in this case is a good thing.



The plot is unique enough where you don't feel like you've already read the book. The push/retract thing is fairly complicated and I found myself having to reread sentences a few times to really get it. I liked that because I wasn't able to guess straight out how the whole thing worked. The LL Josie is very relatable with her Star Wars and Star Trek references and her overall nerdy-ness. I really like how she isn't the typical someone-please-save-me kind of gal. Her life really does get pretty hectic and she finds out all sorts of things that are really hurtful for her, but she takes it all in stride. She puts on her big girl panties and does what she needs to do to protect her family. She reminds me a lot of Tris from Divergent where she is all "this sucks, but oh well guess I gotta save the world and stuff." Reid actually like of reminds me of Four from Divergent, as well. He is her trainer and you totes know he has the hots for her(it helps that the POV switches between the two of them so you actually do know what's going on in his head) but he has to put his needs/wants to the back burner and do what he has to do as well.



I pretty much saw the twists coming from the beginning, but it didn't make me enjoy the book any less. The ending you saw coming from a mile away, but I was still on the edge of my seat needing to know how it would all wrap up. I really hope there is a second book because I think this story could really go awesome ways. I would love to follow Reid and Josie to the Hub and see their romance really bloom.



It was really refreshing reading a true YA book. These days the lines between YA and NA and everything else gets blurred, so it was really cool to go back to the basics and read a book that really embodied everything that I love about this genre. I would recommend this book for anyone who loves traditional YA fantasy writing. If you are a fan of Legend or Divergent, then you will probably really enjoy the writing style and story line.



FULL REVIEW AND MORE:
http://southernbredsouthernread.blogspot.com/2015/04/anomaly-by-tonya-kuper.html
http://southernbredsouthernread.blogspot.com/2015/04/anomaly-by-tonya-kuper.html
http://southernbredsouthernread.blogspot.com/2015/04/anomaly-by-tonya-kuper.html… (més)

“I didn’t know if I should be scared of him or not. My gut said no, but I didn’t go off gut feelings. I let observations, calculations, and analysis determine my actions. I needed proof that he was safe.”
I’m such a physics nerd I had to pick this one up as soon as it came out! The story switches back and forth from Josie’s point-of-view to Reid’s.

Josie is a super-geek in all things sci-fi and a physics nerd. She’s strong and smart, but still can’t do everything on her own and sometimes her logically way of thinking causes her the most problems in her new Oculi life. Add the facts that her mother had been hiding secrets from her for her entire life and is constantly putting her in the line of fire, and Josie is losing her hold on reality.

Reid is a tough Oculi trainer, but can’t help picturing Josie with Princess Leia hair buns when she wears her Star Wars tank top. He finds her geeky pop-culture references endearing and uses them to explain parts of their training. There’re also secrets in his past that connect him and Josie deeper than she would have ever believed.

The story line is okay, but it really focuses too much on Josie and Reid’s relationship than the plot for my liking. They are a great couple and a strong team, but you don’t get to see it their interactions very much in actual situations. There’s a long buildup in the book to a very short climax. Hopefully the next book will show a little more action.

Overall, this book is defiantly for the sci-fi geeks and physics nerds out there. Open the cover and see if you like it or not! (Schrodinger’s Cat joke, har har.)

www.readingbifrost.com… (més)