The Athena Effect By: Derrolyn Anderson Review

The Athena Effect
Author: Derrolyn Anderson
Pages: 221
Rating: 3.5/5
A copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review. 

     Country girl Cali has been kept a secret her entire life, raised in isolation by two very troubled people. Despite her parent’s disturbing fits, Cal is perfectly content, living at one with the nature that surrounds her, and finding adventure inside the pages of her beloved books. When an awful tragedy tears her away from her remote cabin in the woods, nothing she’s ever read has prepared her for a world that she knows very little about.                                                             
     Girls and motorcycles are what bad-boy Cal’s life is all about. Brought up in a raucous party house by his biker brother, he’s free to do as he pleases, going through the motions on his final days of high school. Aimless, Cal stopped thinking about his future a long time ago.                                                                    
     Attacked by a gang of thugs while running an errand for his brother, Cal is in serious trouble until a fierce girl appears out of nowhere to intervene. She chases off three grown men, sparing Cal a brutal beating before disappearing into the night like a spirit. He can’t stop thinking about his mysterious rescuer, and when she turns out to be the weird new girl at school who goes out of her way to avoid him, he can’t contain his curiosity.                                                                                   
     He’s never met anyone like her before, and the more he learns about the unusual girl who shares his nickname, the more he wants to know. Cal can’t help falling for Cal, but can he keep her from falling victim to a dangerous enemy from her parent’s tragic past?

     The Athena Effect is the first book in author Derrolyn Anderson's Athena Effect series. The book starts off with a scene featuring Cal's mom and dad. It is evident they are on the run, but we a the reader are left confused as to what they are actually running from. Fast forward to the present, and we get some backstory on Cal and the secluded life she's been living until, one day, she finds out her parents have died in a car accident. With her parents dead and her only relative being her aunt, Cal is removed from her secluded world and is put into the real world where she is forced to deal with society.

     Cal's character was a very interesting one! Not only does she have one green eye and one blue (sigh...I wish I was that cool!) but she can also "see" people's emotions as colours outlining their skin. In addition to her awesome powers, she is also really tough. She's able to fight her own battles and doesn't need no hero to save her (I'm a sucker for kick-ass female characters!). Seeing Cal experience the world for the "first time" was also quite a unique and funny thing to read about. 

     How can I not mention the love story between Cal and Cal....(yes, I did find that the two of them having the same name came off a little bit cheesy and made reading sometimes a little difficult to follow). Since I'll be talking about the both of them a lot, I'll use their full names; Caledonia and Calvin! Calvin is a typical bad boy. He's with a new girl every night and has basically given up on life, that is, until he meets Caledonia. The romantic storyline between both of these characters was cute and progressed naturally. I really enjoyed seeing how their love changed both of them in different ways =)

     I have to point out that there were a few characters in this book that completely creeped me out. One of those characters was Phil (Calednoia's aunt's boyfriend). I have only one word to describe Phil: CREEPER *shivers* *Attempts to shake out the creepy-ness* The second character that gave me heebie-jeebies was Professor Reed. Professor Reed comes into the story as a long lost "friend" of Caledonia's parents-- this guy gave me chills as well, but I won't go into depth with that because that would involve major spoilers......But seriously, he seems a little coo-coo ;P

Favourite Quotes...

“Because with a really good book you get something new every time you read it. Because…Well…Because you're a different person each time.”

~~~~~

"And you're too stupid to wear a helmet."

He was taken aback, "It wouldn't matter anyway."

She cast him a withering glance, "That's not what the statistics say."

"Well, I like to be free," he said defiantly.

"To do what? Donate your organs?"

Overall...

     Overall The Athena Effect was a very different read that I really enjoyed-- I flew through it! The ending of The Athena Effect made me speculate that the next book will look further into Lyla's story-- and it turns out this is true! The Mackenzie Effect (Athena Effect #2) will be out sometime this year! Have you read The Athena Effect? Would you ever want special "mood-reading" powers?! Be sure to let me know in the comments below! Keep Reading!

Your Y.A. Bookworm,

Caitlin <3

The Athena Effect @ Amazon