Rosamund Brandt has had a semi normal life for sixteen years. Well, semi normal for a family descended from aliens. Sure, she could create portals and her family had a secret basement. But she went to school, had a best friend, and got her driving permit like every other teen.
However, her definition of “normal” unravels when a killer with multiple powers and an agenda steps into town. When Rosamund herself becomes a target, she has a choice between playing the killer’s game and saving a few, or getting to the core of the murders and stopping them for good.
Rosamund’s choice will save everyone she cares about–or unleash a new era for herself and her family, shattering whatever hope for going back to normal she had.
Hello! And thanks for checking out my books! I've written two mystery novels so far. My first, Dead Locked, is about Imogen Bell who works for a team of underwater archaeologists and ends up embroiled in a deadly treasure hunt. My second mystery, The Jester's Apprentice, is about Philippa, a woman caught between her new husband Edric and his smoky past - and hers.
I've always loved mysteries, even in elementary school. My mother raised me on TV show reruns like Murder, She Wrote, Matlock, and Magnum, P.I, and later I picked up her Agatha Christie addiction.
However, sometimes I just want a hot (but intelligent) guy and a strong woman bantering for pages. Or a gripping action sequence. Or some fun sci-fi/fantasy elements. And sometimes I want it all in the same book. So with mystery as the backbone of my stories, I blend in romance, action, adventure, and soon sci-fi to keep it fresh and exciting.
Why should you take a chance on my books? Well, I write what I'm passionate about, and I'm passionate about people and mysteries. I make my characters passionate too: about each other, about what they're hunting, fixing, or piecing together. Above all, I want my readers to have fun, and leave happy!
*This book was received via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*
I really liked this book. The beginning was really interesting and fast paced, however towards the middle the story started to drag a bit. Thankfully towards the end of the book the pace picked up again. I loved the incorporation of mystery and aliens; it gave the book an edge. The plot was quite original and I really liked the main characters Bryce and Rosamund. The book was well-written and surprising as I never even suspected who the real killer was.
Overall, this was a great read that had suspense, mystery, aliens, superpowers, action and a little bit of romance; I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mystery and alien books. I can't wait for the next book which I hope Bryce will star in as Roz's boyfriend and more of the Brandt family's secrets will be revealed.
**I received a copy of this book free from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**
Where do I start with this book? I was intrigued by the description: an alien girl learns about her powers while a killer is on the loose. Sounds interesting, right? Well...it was...but a little confusing, to say the least. The book starts out strong...Rosamund Brandt can make portals (it's her alien power), and she lives secretly among humans as most aliens do. A mysterious boy shows up at school and is handsome, just as a dead girl appears and freaks out humans and nonhumans alike. Does the mysteriously sexy boy have something to do with it? And does her family hold more secrets than just being average aliens? So the book is like a mystery thriller (and I was more into it for the alien aspect, but I kept going), but so many people are pointing the finger at each other that it starts to get a little overwhelming. Is it Bryce, the cute boy that has come with Earth Patrol to investigate the murder? (Really, "Earth Patrol?" They explain that the name was chosen by others, but still...) Is it Joss, her best alien friend and neighbor? Is it a gang that has come looking for justice for their dead brother? Or is it someone closer? Can she trust anyone? That's when it started getting weird for me. She likes the mysterious boy, but he's an ass, and then she likes Bryce, who is suspicious. No real romance in this book. Very little emphasis on all the cool info that could be explained about aliens: it's just a fact thrown into the stories to explain the odd way the girl is murdered. We only really learn of two powers, Rosamund's and her mother's. What's the brother's power? What about the father? Her best friend, Joss? You don't know. Then it goes from weird to weirder...I won't give spoilers, but I started getting really confused, and at that point I was tearing through the book just to find out who the murderer was because everyone is a suspect...and until about 90% of the way, you're completely in the dark about most of what's going on. You learn little about Rosamund herself as a character, too. She's pretty two-dimensional: Lachlan and Bryce have more personality than our protagonist. Yes, there is a cliffhanger, and apparently another book in the series, as well as a novella in between the two. Will I read the next installment, Marked? Probably. I'd like to know I didn't waste my time...I need to know more about what's really going on. And you won't get that closure at the end of Inborn. You'll need to keep reading, I'm assuming, to get the full picture. I only guess this because I don't have the full picture, and there's a second book. So I have to find out what happens. I can't start a series and not finish it: so I guess I'll pick up Marked and hope it explains so much more. ★★★☆☆. I'd like to give it more, because the writing is good, and the effort was there. But I just felt something was lacking. Perhaps it's the lack of any connection to my main character. Perhaps it's just not my cup o' tea. Who knows? We'll see if the sequel makes all the effort worth it. I'm crossing my fingers in hope that more character development will come with the second installment.
Got a little draggy for a good part of the book. Little to no romance and no real chemistry. Good cliffhanger. Hope the next one has a little more meat to it.
I was given the opportunity to read an electronic copy of Inborn via NetGalley. This is my honest opinion of the book.
Rosamund Brandt and her family are anything but normal. Midnight drills are common because of their dirty secret: they are the descendants of aliens. The hidden basement houses the non-human side of their lives, complete with a secret tunnel. One night of family safety drills yields a terrifying surprise. When it is discovered that a group of people with a unique set of abilities are being targeted, can Roz's parents and the Earth Patrol help to uncover the perpetrator before it is too late? Will Rosamund's meddling end up doing more harm than good?
Involving herself in matters that she just does not understand, Roz Brandt thinks that she is the only person who can help. The big problem with this aspect of the story is that Roz's parents have been drilling Roz and her brother about safety since they were small. I find it hard to believe that Roz would rely on the help of strangers instead of asking her own parents. Roz allowed so many events to unfold because of her stubbornness and her lack of good judgement. She did seem more like a typical teenager during those scenes, but it just did not seem likely to happen. In a genre filled with many books of this nature, Inborn does not stand out.
I liked this YA science fiction novel. It moved rather slowly in the beginning, but plot twists toward the end made it much more interesting. Stick with it to the end if you decide to read this one.
I found this to be a quick, easy, clean read and finished it in less than four hours. I found the concept intriguing; aliens are here and they hide among us in plain sight.
The main protagonist of the series, Rosamund Brandt, her brother Xavier and her family are one of these groups of aliens living in Maine and there are other aliens that live in the same community, but Rosamund doesn’t understand why her parents hold these drills at odd hours when none of the other families do. The aliens are able to assimilate into the culture using DNA altering agents that they have with them and they also have other medical and technical items that will fascinate techies.
The story starts out quickly, stalls some in the middle and finishes with a cliff-hanger. While the story was entertaining and I will read book 2, there are some things that fell flat. There were characters that just appeared only to be killed off when because of who and what they were they should not have been so easily caught in the killers nets. Also the abilities that some, but not all aliens have are not explained, yet we are told that the people who have been killed have rare abilities. How do they know what abilities the dead had and why are they rare? Do they have a test that lets them know what the dead aliens abilities were and if not, how do they get the information? How are these abilities acquired and at what age do they start to manifest? Is it a matter of genetics or just something that happens to some and not others? Then there is the Bryce, Lachlan, Rosamund triangle that it felt like the author was trying to create, except it never worked because it always seemed as if Lachlan was the one they were looking for, but any readers know that would be way too easy and then in the cliffhanger we get a hint that he may be someone else entirely. Then there is another huge problem that I felt was overlooked; their parents tell them that they need to come straight home and stay there because of everything that has happened and continues to happen, yet they are never at home except at night and they never call or check their security system that the reader assumes they have because of everything else they have to see if the kids are safe at home.
3.25/5 STARS: **I want to thank the author and/or publisher for providing me with a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are mine.**
Inborn has a fun concept and imaginative plot ideas. Descendants of aliens walk among us, and they have special powers. The story is told through the POV of Rosamund, the youngest daughter of a secret family of aliens. The most interesting part of the book has to do with Rosamund’s mother’s mysterious past, also that the new bad-boy stranger in town somehow knows her.
The story has weaknesses.
Weak dialogue. For example: “Thanks.” He took the book from my hand, though I hardly noticed. “See you later.” “Yeah…sure.”
Especially considering that she is a teenager, Rosamund is unrealistically accepting of her parents' chronic, over-the-top mushiness.
Rosamund uses her alien power so often--with zero consequences--that it loses its impact (at least to this reader).
There's a frequent unusual use of hyphens. Example: “I’ve just-heard-about it.” I think the hyphens are supposed to be dashes, and the dashes are supposed to be elipses?
There's a female character named Kenji. Maybe other readers weren't bothered by this but I found it totally distracting since Kenji is a Japanese boy’s name. It’s like naming a female character Richard.
Romantic clichés. New bad boy at school, with a motorcycle. And a love triangle.
What an awesome book. I really loved the character of Rosamond and I really loved her brother Xavier, as well as the character of Bryce. I really hope the next book has more romance in it. And I can't wait for her next adventure and I hope Bryce is more involved in the book. I also want to know more about the mysterious Lachlan.
I was really surprised on how much I really enjoyed this book. I hope we find out more about Rosamond mother and father in the next book. I loved how their family did drills in the middle of the night. I thought Rosamond was a really great young adult heroine, I really related with her a lot. I was surprised but yet kind of not on whom the bad person was. I was thinking it could be that person but couldn't figure out why the person would want to kill.
I was given this book to read for free by the Author for just reading and writing a review with my honest opinion on why or why not, I enjoyed the book. I would definitely recommend this book to my family and friends. Again I am really excited to see what happens next.
June 2016 I received this book for my Honest review.
This book begins with Action, mystery and suspense all within the first chapter to the last. Rosamund Brandt is one of the main characters in the book. There were so many times I couldn't put this book down and other times I had a love/Hate feeling. Overall it was a well written story with an awesome story line. The tree party scene was one of those hate times. Even though at that point many questions were answered and the "who" was revealed. I felt like the Author really tired too hard and made that part too fairy tale.
I would recommend this book to teenagers and adults to read. I plan to read book #2.
This book intrigued me. Alien discovers powers while on the run of a serial killer… but it fell a little flat to me. Most of the book, I was confused by what was going on. There were times when the story was a little too corn-balls for my taste *cough cough* Earth Patrol? Finally, the ending was very abrupt and ruined the flow for me. I will say that the author is a good story teller though. This novel feels like it needed just a little more “OOMPH”.
I am not one to really like the whole alien sci-fi stuff but this book sucked me in. A great story line, it kept you guessing on who the killer really is. Fun and quick read. I'd give this 3.5 stars just because there were a few minor flaws but I did truly enjoy this and plan to read the second book.
Calling this 3.5 stars. This was a really enjoyable book. For being about aliens, it wasn't too sci-fi for me. The characters were very like-able and relatable. I was guessing until the end and then shocked. Love that! Looking forward to book 2.
I couldn't read this fast enough! This was a book I didn't put down until it was finished. Unique, great characters, plot keeps you guessing and is filled with enough action to satisfy most readers! SciFi, paranormal, shifter, and alien life fans will enjoy this book!
This was a good Clean read. It was confusing at times trying to keep up with all the information. Well worth time. A few editing errors but easy flowing, suspenseful, strong female lead character.
* I received a free copy of this book on netgalley in exchange for an honest review * This had a delightful 'Heros' feel to it, loved it! looking forward to reading the next book.
It's an intriguing premise, but weak writing makes the plot too porous to really enjoy. This paragraph near the beginning is a good example of such writing:
“I peeked back at Joss and she mouthed, ‘Tell me everything.’ I nodded in the affirmative and Joss gripped her pencil. After all that, I wouldn’t need to worry about it because things took a turn for the weird after lunch. In the middle of English lit, a school faculty member interrupted the class.”
Aside from the somewhat mechanical feeling of these words (i.e., “I did this and then I did that”) and the cliche situation they represent, there is also an incongruency of tenses that puts the reader off in subtle ways. Most of that quote, and the narrative throughout the book, is in past tense, as in “I peeked” and “Joss gripped.” “Wouldn’t” is a future statement embedded in a past tense narrative; it sends the reader into the future for a heartbeat, then back into the past. The paragraph, and the flow of the plot overall, would have been better with something like: “I didn’t need to worry about it after all because things took a turn for the weird after lunch,” or by taking the sentence out altogether, enabling the reader to follow Rosamund through events as they unfold.
Subtle tense dissonances are scattered throughout, and are occasionally compounded by mismatched tenses and pronouns. Take, for example, this sentence:
“But the sight of it did make me bolder, so I got to my feet. Besides, it was easier to defend yourself “But the sight of it did make me bolder, so I got to my feet. Besides, it was easier to defend yourself standing up.”
The author again changes tense mid-phrase, going from past (with “make,” “got,” and “was”) to present tense with “defend,” and changes point of view, going from first-person (“me,” “I,” and “my”) to second- (with “yourself”). As I mentioned, this may not be something that would bother you, but it threw me off. That phrase would have been stronger if she’d written something like: “…so I got to my feet. I wanted to defend myself standing up.”
Various other instances of passive voice, redundancy, telling instead of showing, and unusual character reactions make what could have been a really fun, exciting read one that is decidedly less so. I would give this book a solid four out of ten stars.