OMG.

This book is fucking amazing. How is it not more popular? Jennifer Lynn Barnes is popular for writing The Inheritance Games, but The Naturals blows it out of the water. This is way better than The Inheritance Games in every possible way.

The first thing I liked was Cassie’s character. She was introduced the same way Avery from The Inheritance Games was introduced: this detached, mature kind of person who wasn’t really interested in romance. The problem with The Inheritance Games was that as soon as Avery met Jameson and Grayson, her entire personality changed and she became boy-crazy, which I found very annoying. Why introduce the character as someone not interested in romance, only for her to fall in love with a random guy she’s never met before?

That was something I was worried about with Cassie once Michael and Dean were introduced, but luckily her personality didn’t change and she didn’t become boy-crazy. I also like that there wasn’t too much focus on the romance, which made the book much more interesting.

The second thing I loved was the mystery itself. We didn’t find out who actually killed Cassie’s mother yet, but finding out that Agent Locke is a freaking psychopath and a serial killer completely caught me off guard. Looking back, there were definitely some signs, but while reading it I never even suspected her.

And one thing I loved and I’m really looking forward to in the next book is the friendship between the Naturals, all five of them. I know the second book will probably go deeper into the love triangle between Cassie, Michael, and Dean, but I really hope it doesn’t ruin Cassie’s relationship with the rest of them.

4.75 stars (One of the best mysteries I’ve read so far.)

This was an amazing book to read, it was almost perfect.

Let me start by going through everything I liked about the book.

One thing I like about all Lynn Painter's books is that she writes her characters to be self-aware enough to realize when they're about to do something cliché or something straight out of a movie. I like how they always acknowledge it; it makes the characters feel more real.

The second thing I liked was that as soon as Emilie realized she was in a time loop, she started trying to figure out how to break out of it. In most books, the characters stay oblivious for way too long, which can make them annoying. So I liked that Emilie was smart enough to realize what was happening and immediately start trying to break the loop.

Another thing I liked was how Josh and Emilie’s breakup was handled. In most books, the writer only focuses on the main character (Emilie) and the love interest (Nick), and they end up together while the other guy is left heartbroken or portrayed as a terrible person. I know Josh was kind of jerkish, but I was glad he and Emilie ended things amicably, and their final conversation was really great.

Also, I laughed so much reading this, so that’s another thing the book did really well.

The only thing I didn’t like was that the whole time loop thing was never properly explained. At the end, Emilie realizes it was Eric’s jacket that caused the time loop, but there’s no explanation for how the loop actually started or how it ended.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention this: Nick and Emilie have amazing chemistry. Their conversations are always interesting and funny to read, and Emilie is such an amazing character.

Because of that one issue with the time loop explanation, I’m giving this 4.5 stars.

This book had so much potential to be good, but it just dragged on way longer than necessary.

One instance of this that really annoyed me was the chapter where Paedyn was supposed to go for her third trial. The chapter was almost 20 pages, and the only thing that happened was Lenny escorting Paedyn to the arena and us finding out she’s supposed to fight Kai. That’s literally the entire point of the chapter. So why the heck is it almost 20 pages long? I was so annoyed reading that, it was just a complete waste of time.

All the time-wasting aside, the book did have a lot of really good moments. Finding out Paedyn is actually Iris’s child, that Kai was never really the king’s son, and that Callum was an evil mastermind were all great twists. Those reveals made the story much more interesting.

Overall, though, I feel like the good parts of the book get cancelled out by how unnecessarily long it is. Because of that, I’m giving it 3 stars.