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Presenting Struck in several simple and cliche-ridden steps:

1) Heroine lands herself in trouble.

2) The new boy comes rushing to heroine's rescue. He apparently looks like "a European underwear model" with "tortured blue eyes".

If you google "tortured blue eyes", this is what you get...



Something tells me that this isn't what the author had in mind.

3) Heroine and new boy are inexplicably drawn to one another. Heroine also inexplicably feels like she should avoid the bad guys... oh, this one's a real genius.

4) New boy has super secret knowledge about why Los Angeles is being plagued by storms and earthquakes, he knows it has something to do with the heroine. He knows that our heroine may be the only hope for humanity... so, obviously, he tells her what she should do, right? RIGHT?! No... fucking WRONG.

5) Heroine is "not ready to hear it yet". WHAT THE HELL??? Withholding information because a character is supposedly not ready to deal with it is up there with "I love you, but I'm wrong for you" on the list of the most annoying, cliche lines of all time.



And that's about where I gave up any hope of enjoying this book.

It actually starts fairly well. Mia Price is a lightning addict - I didn't really get this but points for originality - and she is in the middle of not-quite-post-apocalyptic Calfornia. Something very strange is going on, LA has just experienced one of the most devastating earthquakes in world history, storms are raging, people are left homeless and starving... and amongst this rises a man who calls himself "Prophet" and those who follow him, who are aptly named "Followers". He brings a message reportedly from God that this is the end of the world the way the bible predicts it, that judgement day is approaching. Does this Prophet really have divine knowledge? Or are his motives more sinister? And what of the other group - The Seekers - who are they and just what exactly do they seek?

Despite it being a tad more biblical than I usually like, I originally saw a lot of promise in the first few opening chapters. It's very easy to read, I seemed to get through 100 pages in no time at all and I had a lot of curiosity for the story - if nothing else. But I began to see the same old familiar pattern when Mia is thinking about how much she'd like to have a boyfriend to care about, and then she turns into her classroom and sees new boy - gorgeous, smart, perfect... and there's just something about him. Well, of course there is.

There's a whole bunch of readers who I'm sure will eat this kind of novel up and come running back for more. Unfortunately, I stopped being that kind of reader a good few years ago. But, in case this sounds a little too snarky and negative, I will leave you with a guy who really does have the sexiest eyes ever: