Friday Reads: ARC Review Paranoia by J.R. Johansson!

As the final Friday Reads entry of this week, I'm having an ARC review! I have to give a big shout out to Flux Books for always approving my requests on NetGalley! Thank you!!

As a review copy, it is included in my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge and little by little, I'm inching towards the 80% ratio!

Paranoia by J.R. Johansson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was very lucky to be approved by Flux books on NetGalley for Paranoia, and after finishing Insomnia, I was extremely eager to get some more answers to all the unanswered questions!

I'm gonna try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, but you can expect some spoilers for the first book.

Paranoia starts pretty much where Insomnia left us with Parker, Mia, Finn and Addie dealing with the aftermath of what happened by the end of the book, and recovering from it. Parker is now better since he can finally get some sleep and his friends know about his "ability".

Then Finn, Addie and Mia leave for Disneyland and as much as Parker tries to stay in control all hell breaks loose and he ends up being taken over by his darker side and in jail. And low and behold, Jack the guy with the blind skull patch comes back again to save the day.

I'm a bit torn on how to rate Paranoia, because I loved Parker's progression and character growth and we got answers and we got some background story for that answers that made sense and hinted at more things... but I highly disliked Jack for 90% of the book and I was truly annoyed at the twists added to the romance part.

First of all, let's start with Jack. He's been sent by Parker's dad to protect him, but he's been doing quite a crap job and he really isn't helpful at all when training or giving answers to Parker. I knew something didn't add up in his story, and I guessed correctly. He knows everything Parker doesn't about the abilities and how to control them and all the rest of what he calls "the Night Watchers" and despite knowing that Parker had no contact or information about it all, continues to act annoyed and high and mighty every step of the way. He might be hurt, he might be resentful, but he really isn't doing his job very well at all. Very frustrating!

There was a certain uncertainity introduced with Mia and Finn and Parker and if the romance mess would have been limited to that, I would have understand. It made sense and confusion and misunderstandings happen. But how things went with Addie and Parker and Jack, it was once again frustrating!

The way the book ends is quite enough as to leave this as a duology, and we do get plenty of answers (finally!). The climax was interesting, with a few reveals that were quite interesting (one I had guessed, the other I didn't see coming) but I have to say something I know should have been a bigger emotional punch left me a bit unsure how to feel. I don't think neither Parker nor the reader has enough time to process emotionally the changes to feel affected enough.

It was still a very engrossing read, less creepy and full of tension than the first book, but thankfully full of answers. Torn as I am, I give it 3 to 3.5 stars.




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Friday Reads: Insomnia by J.R. Johansson!!

Hello everyone! Welcome to yet again another edition of Friday Reads! This week's first entry is another recommendation by the quite awesome Alyssa from The Eater of Books, and one that had been on my TBR list for quite a while, and as such is part of my 2014 TBR Pile Challenge!

Insomnia by J.R. Johansson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This was a very interesting read! I had it in my TBR list for a while, and when I got approved for the sequel in NetGalley I knew it was the right quick to get to reading it already!

Insomnia is the story of Parker, a teenager that cannot sleep, he doesn't have his own dreams, he ends up inhabiting the dreams of whomever he made eye contact last. No sleep is taking a horrible physical toll on him, and a mental one too, since he hasn't told anyone around him for fear of being thought insane and sent to a padded room. It all changes when he meets a girl with different dreams, the kind of dreams that allow him to sleep for the first time in forever. But instead of things getting better for him, it all starts going downhill from there.

This book was fantastic at building the suspense and to make me feel all the creepy-ness in it! I could really feel for Parker and how he suffers, how torn he is about all his choices. His descent into certain degree on madness and obsession is written so well that you feel like you're going downwards with him!

The other characters were also great, I loved Finn as main sidekick/best friend/comic relief, he never felt like an add-on but always had a voice that served as a contrast of normalcy with Parker's increasing otherness. Mia was a great character, even if at first we aren't sure how important she'll really be. Addie is a bit of an odd one here, she's Finn's sister and Parker seems to have a crush on her, but we never really get to know her too much or feel for her much until the very end.

The mystery and the twists in the book were fantastic, but the one thing that annoyed me and that actually costed this book one star was the lack of answers we get. We only know what Parker has somewhat figured out about his "curse" or "ability" and although we suspect something bigger is at stake and we're even teased at and hinted at more answers coming we are not given any in this book, and that really irked me!

This was a very engaging book that kept absorbed and intrigued, turning page after page, and I give it well deserved 4 stars. I'm only annoyed at the lack of answers by the end of the book about the bigger picture! Hopefully I'll get some of them in the sequel!



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