Mind Games

Author: Kiersten White
Pages: 237
Published by: HarperTeen
Published on: February 19th 2013

Two sisters, bound by impossible choices, are determined to protect each other - no matter the cost. James's frozen face melts into a smile. "Do you want to know the trick to getting in trouble under the watchful eye of a psychic?" I think of the nailed-shut windows. I think of Clarice. I think of the two, the two, the two who are now zero. Tap tap. "Yes, I absolutely do." "Don't plan it. Don't even think about it. The second you get an inkling of what you could do, do it then. Never plan anything ahead of time. Always go on pure instinct." I smile. "I think I can do that."

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Ohhh Kiersten White. I have hard such great things about you. I mean, I have read one of your books but that doesn't count because it was the second book to the Paranormalcy series... Mind Games was kind of ehhhh. I liked the characters, the plot and backstory was pretty good but this story needed more action and could have had a lot of potential for a longer story. The story just ended and I feel like it could have been much more. I understand the author might have purposely cut the story short but it just wasn't something I liked.

Like I said, I liked the characters. Fia and Annie are sisters. Fia has perfect instinct and Annie is her blind older sister who can see the future. I can't really say too much about both characters without spoiling too much. A metaphor I can say about these sisters is that Annie is Fia's proxy. (If you don't know, in Alex London's book Proxy, a Proxy is someone who takes the punishment of their Patron, the person who is committing these bad deeds.)

This is the part that just dragged down my rating because I felt as though this book was cut short. The book ends and I basically imagine about tons and millions of things that could happen after that part. Maybe the author meant for the part to be imagined by readers but honestly, I read a story to know what happens, not to make up a version of my own. (ie. The Giver) This book had so much potential! Fia had planned to do something right before the book ended and I was just so disappointed how Kierstan didn't keep writing on about this story. I really like the plot and the backstory to how Fia and Annie end up the way they are. I loved this world with all these cool abilities the characters had. Other than that, I also found this book was a bit uneventful. Based on the previous pages I had read, I had expected this book to have more fight scenes, to have more near death experience, more action in general!

One thing that also bumped down the rating a bit was how much I just couldn't keep up with the POV changes. 4 perspectives: Fia past, Fia present, Annie past, Annie present. That was waaay too much for me to keep track of. It got a little overwhelming due to how many people I had to keep up with.  It is kind of like letting loose 4 animals that each other. They run around and you cannot control them! I would have preferred it if there were flashbacks instead of "Then" POV chapters.


Fia finally killed Annie. Like guys, this was so needed since I read the first few chapters. It's interesting because I think the antagonist in this book is Fia's caring and love for Annie. Because she cares so much, that caused her to obey Keane and his horrible commands. When Fia finally killed Annie, Keane's hold and control over Fia just fell because he had no longer had anyone to torture for Fia's obedience.

I wasn't a big fan of the romance in this story. It just seemed like it was kind of forced. I always got the feeling that James didn't mean what he says and Fia just needs someone other than Annie to love her. Honestly, I thought Adam and Fia would be people who got together because it is something that I see a lot in these kind of stories. Killer doesn't kill because of potential liking. Also, Adam seems like someone who hasn't had a very tough life. You know that story, broken and scarred person falls for a person who doesn't have that much of a tough childhood?