Review ~ Scorched by Erica Hayes

eARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: 22nd May 2014

Publisher: Harper Impulse

Description:
In a world where everyone wears a mask, you can't trust anyone… not even yourself.

Verity Fortune was once Sapphire City’s top crime-fighter, wielding her powers of telekinesis to battle the city’s most despicable villains. Now, she’s consumed by a single burning desire: revenge. Against those who took away her mask, her memory, and nearly her life.

Having escaped from the asylum they left her to rot in, Verity dons her mask once again and becomes the Seeker, a vigilante warrior for truth.

But when she unwittingly uncovers an evil conspiracy deep within her own family, she’s suddenly on the run, alone and hunted by those she thought were on her side…

My Opinion

I've been eagerly waiting for this book, hoping it would go up on Netgalley, since I saw the cover. I was really excited to read an urban fantasy by this publisher and the cover had me hooked so I hit the 'send to kindle' button instantly when I saw it had been uploaded and I definitely wasn't disappointed.

Scorched had me intrigued right for the start with Verity's inner conflicts about whether she is a bad person or not. It set up the themes in the book nicely and the constant battle with herself over right and wrong was constant and developed well. There was also plenty of action from the offset which had me turning pages at a quick pace and unable to stop reading even though I had other things I should have been doing.

Throughout the whole book there was plenty of action and the characters all had a gritty, fighting edge to them--especially Verity. She was a strong female lead despite her inner battles. I liked the way she wasn't afraid to talk back to people and had a mouth on her. For me those qualities enhanced the believability of what she had gone through. She needed to be tough for everything to tie together and she definitely was.

As well as this I liked the whole superhero/villain aspect this book had. I've read a lot of paranormal book where people have supernatural abilities but very rarely do I come across one where they are actually referred to as super heroes and villains. For me it gave this book a comic book quality and while that's not usually my thing I think the fact the author roughed it up and have it a harder edge worked, the book was gritty rather than cheesy.

One thing I would have liked was more background on where they were and the world they lived in. I would have also liked more details on the supernatural side of things as I felt it was slightly under developed and basic. I was never sure on the extent of each persons' ability and would have liked to know their limits of what they were capable. I would have also liked the twist at the end to have been a bit more of a surprise as I did assume what was going on before it happened but that might just be me.

As well as this, my only other comment was there wasn't much romance. Although this isn't a complaint, I did expect more romance coming from this publisher but there wasn't any. There was a short back story at the end but it did come about all of a sudden so although I don't think the book needed romance, I had assumed there would be something. I did spend a lot of time wondering if Verity would fall for someone and I wouldn't really class this as a romance having read it now.

Overall, Scorched was a book that was full of energy. It was fast-paced, action-packed and had a darker edge to it which I love in novels. It was also written well and had an interesting concept. I'll definitely be looking out for more by this author.

4.5