Finding Sky by Joss Stirling

Finding Sky by Joss Stirling
Buy Finding Sky by Joss Stirling at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Teens
Reviewer: Robert James
Summary: Assured debut from a new author which has enough to make it stand out from most of the multitude of other supernatural teen romances.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 320	Date: October 2010
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 978-0192732132
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Sky is upset when her adopted parents decide to move her away from all her friends in London to a small town in America, but tries to make the best of it. She quickly makes some good friends, but one particular guy is strangely attractive, even though he doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with her. Their paths will cross, however, and they'll be thrown together by fate.

Look, there's plenty of similar books out there, and many people may ask the question 'Do we need another paranormal teen romance?' It's a fair enough query, but in this case, I think the answer's 'yes'. At the very least, if not being completely required reading, this is an engaging story with likeable and realistic characters – particularly Sky's overprotective father – and enough pace and intriguing plot twists to keep me happily reading until the end. Also, somewhat incredibly for a book in this genre at the moment, it actually works as a stand alone, with no hint of a sequel as far as I can see and a neatly wrapped up ending!

The basic story, as alluded to above, is fairly standard. Sky moves to Wickenridge, Zed is initially withdrawn when he's around her, but eventually confesses his deepest secret to her. Rather than being a vampire, werewolf, or similar creature, he's an exceptionally powerful savant, the seventh child of a seventh child. His family all have extraordinary mental abilities, and he recognises her as not just another savant, but also his soulfinder, the one girl he's meant to be with.

I especially like Sky's reaction to this, as she seems more taken aback by the intensity of his love for her than the actual supernatural things going on – and what teenage girl wouldn't be shocked by this much passion. The relationship between them is handled really well and develops beautifully, especially as Sky ends up in danger from other savants. The whole idea of the savants is also intriguing, with limits on their power clearly established, and shows that author Joss Stirling has obviously managed to create a really interesting world here. The gradual revelation of Sky's background, and the part her psychic powers played in this without her realising, is also fascinating. As I said, this works perfectly as a stand alone book, but if there is a future follow-up I'd definitely be keen to read it.

All in all, while I'd say there's probably a couple of similar books I prefer to this novel, and I'll mention them below, this is still highly recommended and certainly won't let down any fans of the genre.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to The Bookbag.

Further reading suggestion: I'm sure I've recommended Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl in several other reviews, but there's a reason for that – it's beautifully written, gorgeously evocative, and completely unputdownable. (Is that a word?) For another brilliant slice of supernatural romance I'd also like to suggest the Forbidden Game, a trilogy by L J Smith, currently available as one volume. Just to make it a trio of recommendations, I'll also put forward the fantastic By Midnight by Mia James, on a similar theme.

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