Struck

Struck

by Jennifer Bosworth

Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.

Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.

Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything. (description from Amazon.com)

This was a cool book. The way that Mia was addicted to being struck by lightning was original, creepy, and totally compelling to read about. 

This is a post-apocalyptic book...sort-of...at the beginning, only Los Angeles is really affected. Well, decimated in reality.  However, the leaders of two different and warring cults are both claiming that another storm is coming...one that will cause an earthquake that will devestate the entire world!

Mia was a very intriguing main character.  She was tough, used to having to provide for her brother and somewhat catatonic mother... but she also had hints of vulnerability.  She admits to her addiction and tries to fight it.

I also really liked some of the secondary characters.  I felt like they were very defined.  You knew who they were.  That also became a fault of the book in one sense... there was a revelation about the real identity of one character that was not surprising, at all.  I still very much enjoyed the twist, but it wasn't really that shocking. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and look forward to more from this author.  Though not the best in the genre recently, this had a refreshing new twist that made it stand out for me!