For fans of The Hunger Games, Black Mirror, and Divergent comes a mind-bending love story you won’t want to put down.HOW CAN YOU TRUST YOUR HEART WHEN YOU CAN’T TRUST YOUR MIND?In a future where social status is determined by wealth, debt is punishable by law. Seventeen-year-old Claire Harper lives on the lowest rungs of society. Once an Elite, she’s now a probationary citizen who’s lost … society. Once an Elite, she’s now a probationary citizen who’s lost everything—her rights, her family…even her privacy.
She has one goal. Work her way back to the top. Even if it kills her.
Then she meets Darren.
Darren turns her world upside down. He shows her there’s more to life than working herself to the bone. And she’s falling for him. Hard.
But what good is losing her heart if her sanity goes with it?
When tragedy strikes, her reality shifts. She can no longer tell what’s real and what’s not. Is Darren who she thinks he is? Is she who she thinks she is?
In a dangerous game she doesn’t know she’s playing, her only hope is to make it out alive.
One part futuristic thriller, one part dystopian romance, Twisting Minds is a psychological thrill ride that will leave you questioning the power of love, technology, and the human mind.
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I don’t usually choose to read love stories but I’m glad I read this. Amazing and difficult to put down with an awesome protagonist Claire and her love interest Darren. Futuristic and a world that could certain be our future if we don’t hold on to the freedoms people seem to not care about. A great read and scary if you see something like this in the loss of a Republic like the U.S. (not a democracy)
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
This psychological thriller really pulled me in. I don’t read much in this genre and the author is new to me, however, I became engrossed in the story and could not put it down. There were a few mild swear words that I could have done without. Even though it ended on a positive note, I felt unsettled when I finished it. But isn’t that the point of a good story? One that stays with you even after you finish it? This one did.
Talk about twisted story’s – wow! Society created many levels of people. The poor used credits for food and essentials and the people on the top had everything, like usual. Claire’s mother and father died owing money so that legacy, Claire had to repay by working several jobs to get out from under the charges. In comes a doctor for a psychological study and they want Claire to be in it with cameras around her 24-7. Well, things aren’t like they are supposed to be, an I elucidating? Good book!
She knows her place and each day is the same, she knows she will never become more. Suddenly there is a shift and her minds seems to be split. She also falls in love with a boy but she has no idea if she is sane. What if he is in danger? Can she save him? See what is going to happen for them
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
After reading Odette’s Lela Trilogy, I was excited to read her debut science fiction title, and i was not disappointed.
This was a great read, and I loved every minute
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Twisting Minds
Tessonja Odette
Another great book by this author! It definitely grabbed my attention and kept it throughout! I enjoyed the characters. World building was awesome as well.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Think Before I Go to Sleep for a YA audience, set in a sci-fi future that’s more like the Victorian workhouse than egalitarian gleaming spires. The narration had me hooked from page one, even if the flash-forward chapter one was a tad confusing without context. It’s a subtle and cleverly written YA psychological thriller that’s easy to read and even easier to get lost in.
I loved it. There is tension even in the parts not meant to be tense purely because you know things aren’t as good as they seem. It’s a slow-burn of a book in a way, but being a relatively short read it’s easy to blaze through it.
The central relationship is so well written, which is such a rarity in YA. Showing! Not telling! She doesn’t even sniff him or name his muscle groups to indicate attraction. Hallelujah! It could be misconstrued as insta-love, but it’s better than that. The characters do have that instant connection, but it feels realistic, if a bit Hollywood. Like some kind of dystopian meet-cute moment, it keeps rolling even as the story deals with Claire’s poor mental health and all the little slightly sickening details about the world she lives in now.
The world-building is great. There could be more, but for a YA/lite sci-fi, it is the perfect amount to not overwhelm. How society has separated off into tiers based on wealth and social security being conditional sounds Victorian, but has taken root in a highly technological world setting that’s unsettlingly believable.
And the pscyho-drama in on point. It’ll keep you guessing just who knows what and why things are happening until the very end. It’s actually pretty twisted stuff.
Looking for an easy sci-fi lite dystopian romance to mess with your head? You couldn’t do much better than this.
*I received an early copy from the author. This does not affect my review. This review is voluntary.*
So good, I was hooked from the start! I was excited to hear the author had written a Dystopian, as I’ve been on a kick lately, and I loved it! (Of course I did!) The action, mystery, romance and plot are all so well done, and well developed! I loved all the emotion and detail put into the story. It really shows as the story unfolds, and I’m hoping there will be more to come!
Edited: I originally reviewed this book as 4 stars – it is now a few days later and I am still thinking about the book and reliving it in my head. I have changed this to a 5 star rating.
“We can’t get better jobs until we pay off our debts and rise in the rungs. We can’t pay off our debt until we get better jobs… It’s a cycle. It keeps is stuck. That’s where they want us to be.”
This was a blind read for me and I had no idea of genre or length or plot points. I wasn’t sure what I was actually reading until, well honestly until the end. The beginning was a little slow. It had to be in order to set the ground work, I see that now.
I think this is a good YA, dystopian story. It reminded me of a few different stories I’ve read in the past yet has it’s own unique spin.
I would recommend this story.
Tags: YA, dystopian, popsugar reading challenge (AI), quirky blind date with a book, ku, 5 stars
A fun book that deserves to be read. I very much enjoyed the book as it was easy to lose oneself in the story. It has humor and the events take one on a rollercoaster of twists and turns that delight the reader. The characters work, the plot works, and the humor works, and what more could one hope for in a book?
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I haven’t read much by this author but this will definitely not be my last book. Wow! What a ride! The story is set in the future, after WW III, where society is several disjointed cities that have no connection to each other. People live in a type of caste system based on one’s wealth. The main character, Claire Harper, lived at the highest level of society when she was a child but, now due to her father’s accidental death and her mom’s extended illness which incurred extensive debt she would be unable to pay off during her lifetime, she is now on the lowest rung, a probationary citizen with no rights. Claire is forced to repay the debts of her parents by doing jobs assigned to her by the governing body and has mandated psychiatrist visits. But, she is determined to work her way back up to the upper tiers of society. This story follows several months to a year or so of her life. During this time, she meets and falls in love with Darren, only for him to completely disappear. Did something happen to him? Did he ever exist? Is she going crazy? Can she trust her own mind? I felt as though I was going through her life with her, including all of the trials, joys, confusion, and frustration. There are multiple plot twists, making it difficult to determine what was real and unreal, who was friend or foe, or if Claire is losing her mind. This story is definitely unique and twisted, as the title suggests. I did not want to put it down. The characters and plot were well developed and the story flowed well. I don’t want to give anything away but, if you are looking for a dystopian psychological thriller with some romance thrown in, this book will not disappoint. ****I was provided an ARC by the author via Booksprout for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
WOW! Just wow! I loved this book so much.
I have been following Tessonja since she was writing her YA Fantasy Trilogy. The first book was chosen as a read-along for a book group I’m in on FB, and I immediately got hooked. I was lucky enough to get an ARC of the third book, and now have been blessed with an ARC of this book, and I was not disappointed.
Each book Tessonja writes just gets better than the last one. I was hooked by the first chapter, and didn’t want to stop reading. This book is fast-paced, and full of suspense. I just had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen.
This book is so well-written, that I had no idea what was real and what wasn’t, and the conclusion was mind blowing. This is just an amazing book. It definitely works as a standalone, but I wouldn’t be upset about more books in this world.
And Claire is a character that you root for, and feel for, and just want to finally have a happy ending.
I am so impressed with this book, and highly recommend.
Allow a day for this coming-of-age tale from the dystropic future after WWIII when the Elite have even more power than now and debt slavery is even more pervasive.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Let me start by saying that this was a wonderful spin on dystopian stories. And it was SO DIFFERENT from the previous books I’ve read from Ms. Odette (The Lela Trilogy). She has developed these characters and this world so well that it felt like I could wake up to it tomorrow. Its a little bit thriller, a little bit romance and a LOT of great! I highly recommend this book!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
It was not quite what I was expecting, I will say that. But it was such a great read! I think I’ll be reading this again sometime in the future. I love Claire’s character, the description of her emotions. The premise, and I think execution, of Dr. Shelia’s experiment. I would be interested in reading, if not full story’s, then short stories of the other patients.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Claire is 17 and has amassed a lot of debt due to circumstances out of her control. She lives in a world where there is a system to follow which requires her to be on probation and serve and work for probably several years to be able to pay back all the debt.
We see her at times in a psychiatrists office and through those sessions , get to know her past and how she got in debt in the first place.
The book immediately grabbed my attention and held on. The main character is young but she’s strong, determined and fully fleshed out. It’s definitely like she’s a real person, not just one dimensional and typical. She meets other people of course too and all of them are unique individuals and memorable. I think creating characters is a strong suit for this author.
I did not notice any foul language or cussing at all which is a huge plus to me. I also want to note that there were kisses, cuddling and a very respectful and very short scene of a couple on a rooftop being together romantically.
At times, I wondered if I had the confusion and twists “figured out” but I was only slightly correct. The story had a pace that was easy for me to keep interested in and there were dramatic suspense scenes and puzzling twists.
The end was very satisfactory and while I wanted to know more about what the future held, it seemed appropriate to end where she did. Sometimes, I read books where it seems like things are just getting going and then it speeds up real fast and ends abruptly but I absolutely felt satisfied that all questions I had were answered and all of the whole story added up and was complete and it was a very good place to end.
I had read one other book by this author and it was a different genre and I am amazed at how she can do both types of writing so thoroughly. She makes the worlds she writes about very real and believable and the people come alive. I would highly recommend the author no matter what genre she writes in.
I did receive this book as an advanced copy through an app called Booksprout and I am delighted to have spent time living in this world of twisting minds and I feel it would be time well spent for anyone who likes dystopian, young adult, futuristic, psychological type genres.
From the beginning it seems you are supposed to and do know the underlying scheme (see the setup), of course at it progresses there are surprises and layers uncovered. The wrap up at the end is just wonderful, though. I was grinning and giggling for the last 10 pages or so. I was pulled so completely into this dystopia, Tessonja created. I understood it, I felt it, I want more of it. All the feels, as they say. I truly hope she writes more from this world with new characters and stories.
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.