I knew from the prequel novella that I'd enjoy this book and I did. The stakes are higher here for Skylar, and very personal, because the small girl for whom she babysits is kidnapped and everyone seems to believe the girl's father is the kidnapper/killer. Everyone except Sky and her friends. This book had an actual creepy factor for me--getting Sasha home safe was always urgent and on everyone's minds no matter what else was happening. Also, it was cool to see Sky learning more about who she is and what she can do. ( )

couldn't really get interested, but made myself finish it. actually started to 2nd one same problem. don't think I'll bother with any others in series. ( )

Skylar Reid is a normal teen until the little girl she babysits gets kidnapped. Then Skylar starts having nightmares and a mysterious girl and her boyfriend show up and tell Skylar that she's special; a hormone rages in her blood and it gives her some super powers. They then explain that there's a new drug being marketed called Destiny, and a key ingredient is this special hormone found in only a very few people, including the kidnapped little girl. I liked the story but I would have liked it a lot more if Skylar didn't suddenly become aware of these powers. It was just a little too convenient for my liking. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A great idea that just didn’t come together for me. I tried really hard to like this book, but I felt so indifferent to it that I only got about half way through before quitting.

Opening Sentence: I had not been under the impression that trophy wives owned guns.

The Review:

Skylar Reid is just your average teenage girl. She currently moved to Florida from Connecticut and it has been a difficult change for her. The only good thing about moving is the fact that she gets to babysit the cute nine year old girl that lives down the street. Sasha is quirky and weird at times but Skylar loves spending time with her and her family. It fills a need that her dysfunctional family doesn’t, but something terrible happens to Sasha. She is kidnapped in the middle of the night from her room and her father is the main suspect. Skylar knows Sasha’s father would never hurt her or anyone for that matter.

On top of Sasha’s disappearance weird things start to happen to Skylar. Things like one of her favorite posters from her room disappearing or the fact that she can smell some really awful scents that no one else can smell. Then a girl with some very unique abilities starts to show up all the time and informs Skylar that she also has abilities. It turns out that Skylar’s blood contains a very unique hormone that makes her stronger and faster than a normal person, but it also makes her a target because the hormone is used to make a very expensive drug called Destiny. Skylar will have to learn to control her powers if she wants to survive and stop anymore little girls from being kidnapped.

Skylar seemed like a sweet girl that really wanted to do the right thing, but unfortunately I pretty much felt indifferent to her character. There was nothing about her that really stood out to me as someone that I really wanted to get to know better. Sure she had a somewhat funny personality and she was very loyal, which are great qualities, but nothing unique. I also thought it was weird that she all the sudden she had all these amazing abilities that just popped out of nowhere. I understand that superpowers are abnormal, but there is usually something that triggers them and that wasn’t the case with this story. I really wish I could have liked Skylar better, but I never developed any type of connection with her at all which made it so I didn’t really care to read the rest of her story.

There was a pretty big cast of secondary characters and there were a few that were just introduced before I stopped reading so I didn’t really get to know them very well. I believe that the love interest in the book was supposed to be a boy named Milo and he is one of the characters that I barely had a chance to meet. But as far as first impressions go, I wasn’t all that impressed. I will admit that there was a possibility for potential with his character, but nothing that kept me interested enough to find out. There was nothing romantic in the story at all up to the point that I read, which lead me to believe that there wasn’t going to be much romance or it was going to feel extremely rushed since there wasn’t much time left to develop it. That is total speculation since I didn’t finish the book, but I’m pretty sure it is accurate.

The only other character you really get to know is Skylar’s best friend Calvin. He was probably the only thing I actually like about the book. I thought that he was witty and some of the things he would say were pretty hilarious. He is in a wheelchair, which I thought was a good twist to the story and it added some diversity. But even though I liked him it wasn’t enough to want to keep reading.

It is very rare for me to not a finish a book and the reason why is that I usually find something in a story that intrigues me enough that I want to know what happens. I can honestly say that there was nothing in this story that made me want to finish it. It started out really weird which didn’t set a very good tone and things pretty much just went downhill from there. I did end up reading over 200 pages, which was about half way through and it was a struggle to get through those pages. The only reason I kept reading was because there were so many great blurbs about how wonderful it was so I kept waiting for it to get better and finally I knew it was time to just throw in the towel. I think a lot of moments were meant to be humorous, but instead of being funny they just felt awkward. I liked the whole idea of teenagers with superhuman powers, but it was overwhelming trying to figure out all the different types of powers they could have. I think I would have liked it better if everyone only had a couple different abilities versus a whole slew of possibilities. But the main reason this story just didn’t do it for me was because I felt completely indifferent to all the characters and really I just didn’t connect with the story at all. I really tried to give this book a chance, but in the end it just didn’t work for me. I do feel that there will probably be other people who love it, so if it sounds interesting to you go ahead and give it a try. Hopefully you have a better experience with it then I did.

Notable Scene:

“Okay. That’s all the questions we have for now.”

I was livid, because I knew he was going to use my statement, my yes, as some kind of twisted proof that Edmund had done terrible things to Sasha. “You know if you do this, if you blame Mr. Rodriguez, then the people who really kidnapped Sasha will go free. We’ll never find her, never get her back!”

Hughes looked up at me, and for a fraction of a moment I saw something in his eyes—sorrow, or maybe sympathy or regret. But it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by that defeated fatigue. He took a business card out of his pocket and slid it across the table to me. Then he took the picture and placed it back in the manila folder. “If you think of anything else that pertains to this case, please call this number.”

I couldn’t breathe. “You have to believe me,” I insisted. “Edmund didn’t kidnap Sasha! He would never hurt her!”

Hughes glanced at me again with raised eyebrows. I had called Mr. Rodriguez Edmund again. This wasn’t fair!

This wasn’t fair!

And then, just like that, from atop the conference desk, Detective Hughes’s soda can launched into the air and exploded.

FTC Advisory: Sourcebooks Fire provided me with a copy of Night Sky. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )

I enjoyed the story that NIGHT SKY told, but here were also a LOT of slow points, lot of drawn out build-up and for the length of the book, I wish I would have remembered more of what happened.

There seemed to be a LOT of world building missing from NIGHT SKY, I would say that's because that information is in the prequel DANGEROUS DESTINY, but it wasn't there either. It would have saved me from being completely confused in the beginning of the book. I probably won't continue with book 2.

* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )