Bookanista Recommendation: STRUCK by Jennifer Bosworth

It has occurred to me that it's been ages since I passed along a book recommendation. And coincidentally, I belong to a group of writers who recommend books every Thursday! It's like the universe has aligned or something.

So this week, I'd like to tell you about STRUCK by Jennifer Bosworth, which comes out on May 8th. Have a synopsis. Don't say I've never gotten you anything.

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

Cool, right? This book was a lot more complex than I expected. I expected lots of lightning strikes, and one obviously good cult and one obviously bad cult, and then I expected Mia to at least temporarily choose the obviously bad cult, because that always happens, right? And then I end up screaming at the book, "NOOOOO! THAT'S THE BAD CULT!"

But these things didn't happen. Well, there were quite a few lightning strikes, and that bit was pretty awesome, but there were a lot of shades of grey, and it was hard to know who to trust because everyone seemed pretty shady in general, and that was pretty cool. This was some killer world-building, and I'm always in awe of that.

The romance is kind of secondary, which worked for me (which shouldn't surprise anyone who has read one of the Kate Grable books). Jeremy might seem a little too good to be true, but isn't that how first love often feels? I hope there's another book, because I'd love to see how their relationship develops.

I'd definitely recommend this one to fans of postapocalyptic books.

Before you go, don't forget to enter the contest for a free full manuscript critique! And after that, check out what the rest of the Bookanistas are reading:

Christine Fonseca  gives a shout out for REGRET

Corrine Jackson cries heaps over STORY OF A GIRL

Stasia Ward Kehoe loves up THE LIBERATION OF MAX MCTRUE

Debra Driza gives away WANDERLOVE

Katy Upperman delights in GRACELING

Tracy Banghart shares some CLARITY and PERCEPTION

Jessica Love delights in THE SCORPIO RACES

Hilary Wagner hosts a Guest Post by Author Aaron Kato on YA Voice