Review: Mind Games by Kiersten White

Title: Mind Games
Author: Kiersten White
Pages: 237
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: February 19, 2013

Fia was born with flawless instincts. Her first impulse, her gut feeling, is always exactly right. Her sister, Annie, is blind to the world around her—except when her mind is gripped by strange visions of the future.

Trapped in a school that uses girls with extraordinary powers as tools for corporate espionage, Annie and Fia are forced to choose over and over between using their abilities in twisted, unthinkable ways…or risking each other’s lives by refusing to obey.

In a stunning departure from her New York Times bestselling Paranormalcy trilogy, Kiersten White delivers a slick, edgy, heartstoppingly intense psychological thriller about two sisters determined to protect each other—no matter the cost.

My Thoughts: Mind Games drove me crazy. At first I was intrigued when Fia and Adam met. The story was fast-paced, and it didn't take long for action to happen. I wanted to know where it was all leading. However, once Fia and Adam went their separate ways that's when things started going downhill, and I went from interested to irritated. Why? I mostly blame the characters.

I can't stand when characters are being manipulated and controlled like how Fia and her sister Annie were, so I understand why Fia was always angry and frustrated and explosive. But dear Lord, it wasn't easy reading from her perspective. She made me cranky as heck for the majority of the book. I liked Annie more, even though there were times where she made mistakes that made me facepalm hard.

I hated James. I really don't care if his intentions were good or if he had this grand scheme to end things. None of that mattered to me because all I could focus on was how he treated Annie, the sister of the girl he supposedly cares a lot about. You don't treat family like that. If one of my sisters were to end up with a guy who treated me or any of my sisters like crap, I would tell that motherfucker to go to hell and force my sister to choose between him and us. I was just disgusted with James's treatment of Annie. He came off as such a huge prick.

As for the other "love interest" Adam... He was kind of random and bland. Really, he seemed important to the story, but I felt he was overshadowed by some of the other characters in the end. Although I liked the whole Fia and Adam romance that seemed to be developing in the beginning, I honestly wasn't feeling it at all near the end. I would like to state now that I'm hoping for some Annie and Adam instead. Mwahaha! Hopefully Adam's as good as he sounds.

Okay, I realize this was more of a ramble about the characters than anything else. I couldn't help it. A story can be all over the place and still be a good read to me. But if I find the majority of the characters to be unlikable or unmemorable that's all I'll be able to focus on and that's exactly what happened with this book. If I ever decide to read the sequel to Mind Games, it would only be because I want to find out what happens to Annie. I'm not sure how much I'm going to care when the times comes though.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars