Weekly Words: Untouched by Robert J. Crane


It's already the end of January, what?!

And it's a Friday. so far, I've finished two books, so I'm proud of myself. One was short, non-fiction, and non-good, so there's that, but the other was the precursor to the book I'm currently reading: Untouched by Robert J. Crane.

Still haunted by her last encounter with Wolfe and searching for her mother, Sienna Nealon must put aside her personal struggles when a new threat emerges – Aleksandr Gavrikov, a metahuman so powerful, he could destroy entire cities – and he's focused on bringing the Directorate to its knees.

The ending of Alone was very interesting, as Sienna's true power finally manifested, and at least one of her mother's weird rules made perfect sense. I also looked up the definition of paranormal, and I understand why this is labeled that way now. With the introduction of this new character and starting with his past, I'm curious to how the rest of the story will play out. We still have no clue where Sienna's mother is, and like Sienna, I still don't know exactly who to trust. I've already seen a little growth in Sienna, but mostly because her stupid decisions have led to trauma, so hopefully there will be other ways her character arc develops, as I'm reading a grown man writing a sheltered teenaged girl. I'll see.

What are you reading?

Weekly Words: Alone by Robert J. Crane

 


Happy New Year! I can't believe it's 2024. When you get older, time seems to move so much faster. I'll be 40 in July! How!?

Anyhow, with the start of the new year, I've started my most lofty reading goal yet, and that is to read 24 books this year. I have friends who have read 100, and I know I can't do that, but I can at least read two books a month if I get off my phone.

On that note, I have decided to chip away at my growing Kindle collection and have started with Robert J. Crane's Alone from his Girl in the Box series.


Sienna Nealon was a 17 year-old girl who had been held prisoner in her own house by her mother for twelve years. Then one day her mother vanished, and Sienna woke up to find two strange men in her home. On the run, unsure of who to turn to and discovering she possesses mysterious powers, Sienna finds herself pursued by a shadowy agency known as the Directorate and hunted by a vicious, bloodthirsty psychopath named Wolfe, each of which is determined to capture her for their own purposes...

Having written an objectively annoying teenager trying to take on the world herself, Sienna has made me mad several times in this book. She has spent most of years training to fight, and not being allowed to leave the house, so when she thinks she can take on the aforementioned psychopath who is not only psycho but noted as being a very old mythical-type creature, I knew she was delusional.

I'm curious to see how this pans out, because I want to know where her mom is, why she left, and more importantly, what Sienna actually is. The header on the Kindle also notes this series as being paranormal, but it's so far more supernatural, which is why I labelled this post as both.

The dialogue is great. Sienna is an asshole, and I do love an asshole main character. I just wish she wasn't also naively stupid. Hopefully she learns before the bodies stack up.

What are you reading? What are your reading goals this year?