Twisting Minds

4.7

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Author(s)

Tessonja Odette

Publisher Name

Crystal Moon Press

Genre(s)

Age Range

13+

Release Date

January 31, 2020

ISBN13

9780578633060

ISBN10 or ASIN

How can you trust your heart when you can't trust your mind? In a future where social status is determined by wealth, debt is punishable by law. Seventeen-year-old Claire Harper lives on the lowest rungs of society. Once an Elite, she's now a probationary citizen who's lost everything—her rights, her family…even her privacy. She has one goal. Work her way back to the top. Even if it kills her. Then she meets Darren. Darren turns her world upside down. He shows her there's more to life than working herself to the bone. And she’s falling for him. Hard. But what good is losing her heart if her sanity goes with it? When tragedy strikes, her reality shifts. She can no longer tell what’s real and what’s not. Is Darren who she thinks he is? Is she who she thinks she is? In a dangerous game she doesn’t know she’s playing, her only hope is to make it out alive. One part futuristic thriller, one part dystopian romance, Twisting Minds is a psychological thrill ride that will leave you questioning the power of love, technology, and the human mind.

Editor reviews

2 reviews

Enjoyable dystopian psychological thriller

September 19, 2020

Overall rating

4.7

Writing Style

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Plot

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Characters

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The story:

At seventeen, Claire Harper’s life has taken a turn for the worse – her mother has just died, leaving her an orphan, and her status as a privileged member of society has been revoked. In the caste-system her society lives by, she has been relegated to the lowest rung until she pays off her family’s mountain of debt. Not only that, but she has microscopic cameras filming her every move. Then she meets Darren, a mysterious boy who turns her world on its head, and who teaches her that life is something that must be lived.

What I loved:

Claire, for openers. After being dealt a bad hand, she is determined to reclaim her life, regardless of the cost to her own well-being. This leads her to making rash, flawed decisions, which are well-written and seem perfectly in character for almost anyone in her position. Her chemistry with Darren is undeniable, and their scenes together oozed with a desperate sweetness that I found very endearing. I also loved the steady buildup of tension as the plot shifted into a psychological thriller, where Claire begins to doubt her own sanity after yet another tragedy strikes.

What I didn’t love:

I had hoped that the payoff to the story would be as good as everything that led up to it… but sadly, the climax left me a little underwhelmed. I wasn’t entirely sure how the plot would resolve itself, though I did have a feeling it would incorporate elements of the story that were touched on early and then barely after that, as well as one character painted as trustworthy but turned out not to be. While I’m glad the book ended on a positive note, I wish the payoff could have been a little better.

My Final Verdict:

Twisting Minds is an enjoyable stand-alone story that fans of the dystopian genre will enjoy. Though the society within its pages is more akin to that of Hunger Games than The Walking Dead, there are definite parallels to the world we occupy today. The two MCs are well-realized, the voice is fantastic, and the book is impeccably edited. Though I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending, maybe others will be.