Dual Review: Lightning Kissed by Lila Felix
Lightning Kissed by Lila Felix is a sexy and unique YA tale that had me dying for the ability to transport anywhere in the world. And maybe for a Portuguese-speaking boyfriend. But don’t tell my husband. My review is below, and we have also published Teresa’s review as well! So check out both of our feelings on this must read!
Lightning Kissed by Lila Felix
Series: Lucent Series #1
Category: Young Adult, Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Publication: January 4th, 2016; Clean Teen Publishing
Purchase: Amazon, B&N, iTunes
Colby Evans can leap from one country to the next in a heartbeat. She can see every sunset in every time zone in the same day. She can travel across the world in a flash. She defies gravity and physics with every breath she takes. She’s tested her abilities and found them limitless.
She is the lightning. She is Lucent. And nothing can stop her.
Except him.
Theodore Ramsey isn’t supposed to be able to flash like Colby. The power of travel is passed on from mother to daughter in their people. Except once in every hundred generations.
Theo is the one.
He can flash like Colby. And it makes him a target to their enemies and to himself. His abilities change everything he knows about life and throws his future into an uncertain tangent. In fact, the only thing certain in his life is the love he feels for Colby.
Their love defies time and space and has been the only constant thing in their lives since childhood. But even their infallible love will be stretched to its limits.
She will risk her life to protect him. But he will risk everything to protect them all.
Sara’s Review:
[book rating=4/5]Chocolate chip cookies laced his breath, and what girl in her right mind
doesn’t want to be kissed by a boy who tastes like chocolate?
You know those quizzes on Facebook that ask what supernatural power you’d want if you could have your choice? I used to say the ability to shoot lasers out of my hands, or to move things telekinetically, but I was forgetting my love of travel when I made those choices. If I could have any supernatural power, I would want to be able to transport, to any place at any time. I can’t put into words how amazing it would be to jump from England to Scotland to Germany, then over to Thailand, then off to Hawaii.
In Lightning Kissed, Colby is a Lucent, a female with the power to transport who descends from a long line of women with the same ability. She can “flash” to anywhere in the world, and reading this book made me long to do the same. Colby is brash, headstrong, and funny, but she lives in fear because she has some extra abilities. This fear prompts her to break up with Theo, the love of her life; what she doesn’t know is that Theo also a “flasher,” a rare occurrence for males. Because of their powers, both Theo and Colby are outlaws in the eyes of the Synod, the self-appointed council that rules their community.
Theo is everything that Colby isn’t: patient, gentle, contemplative. He complements her perfectly, tempering her personality without expecting her to change. He is very tender, often kissing her on the temple, which is a sign of respect and love in the Lucent community. Colby and Theo’s relationship is described beautifully and richly; their history is lifelong and very sweet.
I really, really enjoyed Lightning Kissed. It was vividly written and, as I mentioned before, left me wanting nothing more than the ability to travel the world in the blink of the blink of an eye (yes, I put blink in there twice, on purpose). Colby loves beaches, she loves to watch lightning, and she loves visiting freezing cold places to take spa treatments. I was with her every step of the way, except maybe for the spa treatment…sigh.
Colby is also very selfish, something that she sort of prides herself on in much of the book, this trait definitely rubbed me the wrong way several times, but it’s a purposeful character flaw that begins to be rectified by the end of the story. I love when characters are flawed and able to learn from their mistakes. As I mentioned, Theo is very patient and forgiving, but he starts to grow a backbone by the end of the story, too, so they are able to continue to complement one another while still growing and changing. Theo is also pretty sexy, and when he speaks Portuguese, I melt.
The plot is interesting and unique, and I like the secondary characters. I also like that this story is about a female-driven society. The males are very supportive of their wives, daughters, and sisters who have the “flashing” ability.
The only place for me that fell a little flat was toward the ending, right after something major happened. The timeline from that point forward until the end seemed skewed; I couldn’t quite get a handle on how fast everything was supposed to be happening, and I was sort of like, “I don’t think this character would react like that…” It felt a little rushed and not as well developed or edited as the rest of the book. That being said, Lightning Kissed was a great read and I’m super excited for the sequel!
4/5 Stars: Richly imagined, humorously and warmly written, unique and entertaining.
Quotes
The loudest voices weren’t necessarily right. They were just louder.
It was strange how when everything was frazzled in your life—the world just continued. It shouldn’t continue. It should stop when our lives do and take notice.
“That should be us. We should be in the streets, enjoying life together. Sometimes this ability doesn’t seem like a gift at all. Sometimes it feels like false freedom.” – Theo
Teresa’s Review:
[book rating=5/5]
In Lightning Kissed, Lila Felix introduces us to Colby and Theo, who are Lucent’s. They can travel across the world in the blink of an eye. They love each other. They defy all laws of space and time. They are the lightning. Nothing can stop them.
But people will try. What are they willing to risk to protect each other? What are they willing to risk to protect everyone?
I thought the premise of Lightning Kissed was pretty cool. Honestly that is how I would describe this book -pretty cool. I think that it is an interesting idea, and an interesting story line.
I liked Colby a lot, from the first page. I think she is all of us, at some point in our lives. She is strong. She is weak. She is confident. She is insecure. She is magical…ok maybe we just all wish we were magical. 🙂 Theo is who we all want to chase us. Ok maybe not all of the time, because we all know I have a huge weakness for a bad boy. But he is the man we all want our daughter to being to dinner.
All joking aside, I really do like Theo and Colby as individuals, and together. I think they have fights, and those same insecurities all of us have even when we know it’s “The one”, but more than that, I like who they are apart. Both of them have things going on. To me that’s a big plus for young women nowadays who think that you have to always have a man by your side. It’s nice to see a young female character who is hurting, pull it together and go to work to make things better for herself. Making the choice to be with someone is much different that just being pulled to someone. As a reader it makes me very excited to see how this will effect the story line later on.
Felix made me want to travel the world with this book. To be able to see all of those places up close…wow! No spoilers, but I might have added a few new places to the bucket list. The writing in this book was clear, witty, and beautiful. The story line is so original, and imaginative. I cannot wait to see where she takes on the next part of this journey.
Overall I really liked this book, I thought it was interesting, imaginative, and well written. I give this book a 5/5.
Happy Reading!
-T
Author Bio: Lila Felix
Lila Felix is full of antics and stories. She refused to go to Kindergarten after the teacher made her take a nap on the first day of school. She staged her first protest in middle school. She almost flunked out of her first semester at Pepperdine University because she was enthralled with their library and frequently was locked in. Now her husband and three children have to put up with her rebel nature in Louisiana where her days are filled with cypress trees, crawfish, and of course her books and writing. She writes about the ordinary people who fall extraordinarily in wild, true love.
Links:
Website ** Facebook ** Twitter ** Goodreads
