Jessica (HDB)

Human Blend was one of those books that caught my attention early on. Laney, or Julie as she is known as most of the book, was an endearing character who chose to use her special abilities for good. On the run from men who want to use her abilities for their own devices. When I first met Laney I was drawn in by her sweet disposition, and the way she seemed to mesh so quickly with everything around her. Although her past was dark, she was determined to start anew.

The unfortunate part about Laney's personality though, is that she is torn. There is the girl who wants to start anew and let people into her life, and then the girl who remembers her dark past and is afraid to trust. I was a little thrown off sometimes at how often these two parts of the same character seemed to switch back and forth. For instance Laney seems to have absolutely no issue with allowing Austin into her life and falling almost instantly for him. However she also doesn't seem to want to share herself with them. I don't know, it all seemed a bit too convenient to me how they met and fell for one another so fast.

In fact, people seem to flit in and out of Laney's life with the greatest of ease in this book. You know in a movie when there is a window conveniently nearby as soon as the actor needs one? That is Laney's life. As soon as she needs someone to be there, they happen to appear. Just when I was reading and confused as to what exactly was going on in her life, someone appeared to explain it to me. It's not that I wasn't intrigued by the way that Pescatore implemented Laney's gift, I was. The author shares just enough information to keep you reading, and then lets on as to just what the characters are towards the middle. It was a nice way to keep me reading. I just felt that I never really got to know Laney fully because she was constantly being overshadowed by the other characters and their abilities.

My other issue with this book was simply the typos. I realize that this is a self published book, but it was extremely distracting to find those. As a person who edits papers as a job, they popped off the page at me and made it hard for me to read on. Just as I was immersed in Laney's world and starting to feel a part of the story I'd notice a typo, or a massive change in the tense of the sentence, and be pulled right back out. I suppose that is a testament as to why editors are so very important.

I'll end here. The fact remains that I did enjoy Human Blend in terms of the premise and the abilities that are shared with the reader. However the romance aspect and the typos made it difficult for me to fully get into. I think with a little more polishing, Lori Pescatore's book has the opportunity to become a real gem. If you can look past the surface you'll find yourself immersed in Laney's world, and it's not a bad place to be.