One foster kid. Two worlds. If she can’t catch a dangerous convict, she’s going to lose the only thing she cares about in either of them. Her foster parents.After years of being shoved from home to home, sixteen-year-old Trisha Penchant finally found a foster family that she won’t admit she loves. Life is looking up. Until the night she wakes up in the woods covered in blood, sporting a … blood, sporting a bullet-riddled dress.
Without her supernatural ability to heal, she’d be dead. And now the Faerie Council has given her an ultimatum. Catch an escaped fugitive, or be taken to Faerie, a place her missing mother told her horror stories about. A place without the foster parents she’s just learning to connect with. Trying to appease the Council, keeping her powers hidden from her foster parents, and learning to work with the ex-boyfriend who killed her, Trisha’s brushes with death and frustration are on the rise.
Pushed to the brink, she struggles to walk a fine line of doing what’s right, and doing what’s necessary.
Her choices will change lives. Forever.
Regen is the first book in the action-packed Penchant for Trouble YA urban fantasy series. If you like strong heroines, dangerous secrets, and fast-paced quests, then you’ll adore Cassie Greutman’s tightly woven adventure.
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“Regen” by Cassie Greutman. Great characters and solid world building in this young adult urban fantasy. I particularly like that the foster family is celebrated, not vilified, in this series. There have been some other books in the genre that have been using foster care as a cliche to say the heroine was abused.
This book was amazing. Trisha is definitely a teenager. Oh, but by the way, she’s also Fae. Other than her insane healing abilities (I have no idea what it would take to kill her!), it’s hard to tell she’s different than any other angsty teenager. Until her boyfriend tries to kill her. And she is drafted by a Fairie agency to find a dangerous criminal in exchange for being left alone. The only problem is that she is actually beginning to care for her foster parents. Not that she’d admit it. She is a typical teenager after all.
I loved all the twists in the story. Sure, I saw many of them coming, but not all of them. The world-building and magic systems were cool. We didn’t get to see Fairie, but it was fun the way they traipsed across the United States and ran into all kinds of Fairie creatures. I also appreciated that someone (finally!) wrote a story about foster parents without making them evil. Dan and Nina really love Trish, even when she’s in trouble or running off or keeping secrets. And ultimately, even when they can’t understand, they continue to be there for her. I’m really curious to see where the next book takes the story because the ending was nothing like I imagined it would be in so many ways. I can’t want to see what else Cassie Greutman has in store for the characters and her readers.
I received an advanced review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Regen is an easy YA fantasy read. The author has a great writing style. The storyline flows well. Regen gives a unique look at Faeries compared to the usual take. I found the story to be full of action that made it very hard to put down. This book is not just a fantasy, it deals with real life feelings as well. I highly recommend this book.
REGEN is the first book in the “Penchant for Trouble” series and has great world building leading into the next book.
The story moves quickly and is visually written.
The reason why I rated this book as 4 stars instead of 5 is because I would think at 328 pages, things should have been resolved a little bit.
Tags: KU, Quirky Blind Date With A Book, adding book 2 to my TBR, YA
Author Cassie Greutman has masterfully crafted a story with an empathetic protagonist named Trisha. Trisha is in the foster system and, after going through several families, is now with Dan and Nina Inza. Though she doesn’t want to admit it, she loves being with them. And this terrifies her because she’s hiding a secret: She’s fae, her mother who abandoned her is fae, and so is her father who she’s never met. But, one thing is for certain, Trisha possesses powerful abilities and that’s why the Faerie Council is seeking her out. They want to take her back to Faerie, train her, and use her for their own ends. Only, she strikes a deal with them that becomes increasingly more difficult to keep: help them track down a fae fugitive and, in return, get to stay with the Inzas.
Gruetman’s world in Regen is built on the premise that two worlds, a faerie world and our world, exist side by side with each other with minimal interaction. It works much like the world created in Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus. If something magical does occur, glamour clouds the eyes of ordinary humans, making them believe they are seeing something else. Much like Riordan’s heroes, Trisha also learns to use her newfound abilities to overcome outside sinister forces. In the process, she makes mistakes that puts her and her family and friends at risk.
However, this is not just another tale of a teenager discovering she has unique abilities that she imperfectly uses in a heroic way. The narrative is uniquely crafted with a protagonist, Trisha, who wrestles with moral and ethical dilemmas related to her newfound friends and family.
If you, or your teen, is looking for a great read with a strong female protagonist, I highly recommend Regent. While the story feels like a stand-alone, I will follow Cassie Greutman in the hopes of seeing her develop this as a series.
I really enjoyed this fantasy tale about a girl living within the foster care system and the secrets she holds.
The writing style and tone were great – fast-paced, snappy and compelling. There were a couple of oddities regarding grammar and some words used (drug instead of dragged and off of instead of just ‘off’ or ‘from’ for example) but maybe that is an American thing? Some of the scene descriptions were excellent – the opening scene, for instance…a fabulous hook.
The story was intriguing, the plot sound and the characters believable, despite the fantasy element.
Not all questions were answered, but I wonder if there will be a book two…good if there were.
A recommended read.
Trisha has stopped even trying to fit in to the human world and bides her time until she’s old enough to get out of the foster system and get out on her own. Unfortunately, this plan is put to the test when she finds herself in a home where the two parents actually care about her well-being and want her to be their daughter.
Trisha’s struggle to compartmentalize her feelings for them is very evident throughout the story as Nina and Dan continually try to help her. This new bond is put to the test when the fae come calling, forcing Trisha to help them locate a missing fae on the other side of the country. Trisha’s worry for Nina and Dan’s safety, as well as her own fears for the faerie world her mother has warned her against, are put to the ultimate test before the story is finished.
I loved the author’s easy writing style and the way the story effortlessly flows from one scene to the next. I wish I had the power of regeneration like Trisha’s! I thoroughly enjoyed reading fun and exciting adventure because it showed a different angle from the usual take on the faerie world.