29² [Twenty-Nine Squared]

29 #2

by Nancy Pennick

Nineteen year old Allie Sanders is a student at UCLA. She's done everything she can to forget Lucas Montgomery and move on with her life. Her goal is to graduate early and live far from home, a place that holds painful memories.
Fate intervenes and her structured life topples. Lucas returns, or was he ever really gone? Her brother Doug still hunts them, and he's become darker and more sinister than before.
Sometimes a girl has to resort to drastic measures to protect those she loves, and Allie feels forced to make a choice ... one she hopes she won't regret.

(Book 2 of the 29 series)

338 pages, Paperback

Published June 7, 2016

About the author

For three decades, Nancy taught elementary school. She'd written short stories as a child, kept a diary and loved the writing process. After retiring, she hadn’t set out to become an author, but when inspiration struck, she couldn’t resist putting pen to paper. She now had time to follow her dream. Today her writing spans various genres, including young adult, historical romance, romantic suspense and cozy mysteries.

Nancy lives with her husband, Ron, and has a married son, who helps her with tech more than he likes! Plus, add in a wonderful daughter-in-law and grandson which makes her life complete.

Reviews

[Jaylon · Rating 5 out of 5]

You will not be disappointed with this book. The story continues with more edge of your seat reading. Hoping for Book 3 and hopefully very soon.

[Tara Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

We pick up Allie in college at UCLA, having moved past her losses of a few years ago. She’s now equipped to defend herself, having taken self-defense courses. She’s still friends with Ash and Nate, her high school best friends from the last book. But she does have a new man in her life, Will, who she has just begun to think of as more than a friend. Yet Allie hasn’t truly let Lucas go, even as she thinks about Will romantically (still crying over the heart necklace he gave her years go, etc.). Some of this angst is why she drinks a little too much on her first date with Will and they go a little too far. Then she rebuffs Will the next day because she is thinking of Lucas again. But everything is going well enough for her and Will until Lucas shows up at the beginning of Chapter 3. They immediately have sex before she or he says anything to one another, like to ask why he’s back and what’s going on – 2X, in fact. And while my logical reasoning part of my brain was supremely annoyed at that, I couldn’t help swooning along with Allie, because I remember how much she loved him from the first book. Yet I was very upset for Will, who left Allie solid as her guy the previous evening, and then the next night she’s already decided to dump him in favor of Lucas, and to move in with Lucas. She waits a week before letting Will even know that much. When she does, the entire breakup is over in a few paragraphs, where Will confesses he was going to ask her to marry him. I was irritated at Allie for not giving Will more of an explanation, and also annoyed at Will for not demanding more of an explanation from a woman he loved enough to propose to.
There is enough backstory in this book so that if you haven’t read the first book, you’ll be able to follow what’s happening. The basis of the first book’s premise is that Lucas, having been born on a Leap Year day, has special powers and is called a Niner; people, including Allie’s brother Doug, are after him to capture him and use that power for themselves. And Lucas’s son (yes, no birth control used in aforementioned sex with Allie), in a Niner squared, rumored to have even more special powers. Very few Niner sons of Niners are known of, so the baby is a VERY rare and valuable commodity. As before, Doug soon learns that Lucas is back in Allie’s life, and about the baby, and goes after them. Havoc promptly ensues as in the first book, with special Niner technology, explosions, and many chase scenes.
My only irritation with this book was the bad decisions that both Allie and Lucas kept making. *SPOILER ALERT* We have a traitor who is obviously a traitor, yet a race which has bulletproof stretch aluminum and laser guns repeatedly believe his lame excuses (“ just slipped out in conversation ”) until people get killed as a result. And I’m really really sick of Allie’s idiot mom, and how Allie always gives her a pass on her idiot behavior, even when said behavior endangers her child’s very life. And Allie’s plan to go off on her own with her baby was also thoughtless. Then calling Doug to announce it? W.T.H.? Allie needs some therapy, and I hope she gets some in the next 29 sequel. Doug might be evil, but at least I understand his thought process.
Summary: exciting, and fun YA story, with a sweet HEA. But needs better decision-making by hero and heroine., or at least the recognition that they are making poor decisions. I’m all for leading men and women getting caught up in the heat of the moment, as long as they recognize later that they did let their emotions get the best of them. Will I read a sequel? Absolutely, I can't wait to see what happens next!