Review: The Reader by M.K Harkins

The Reader

Author: M.K Harkins

Series: -

Publisher / Source: Self - Netgalley

Release date: 17^th August 2016

Pages: 260

Synopsis (Goodreads)

Hunted, shot, and without her memory, eighteen-year-old Ann Baker wakes in shallow water on a deserted Pacific Northwest island. She is soon approached by two young men claiming to be her friends. Something isn’t right, but when gunshots sound, Ann is left with little choice but to allow Devon and Archer to help her escape. Soon she finds herself in their North Bend mountain compound, where the higher evolved humans claim to be mind-readers. While Ann heals, she realizes they believe her to be one of the last and most powerful of all – The Lost One.

She’s welcomed by most with opened arms, but not everyone is happy about her arrival. A jealous adversary has plans for Ann, which spirals the entire Reader community into chaos. 

As lies, murder, and betrayal threaten to rip apart the once harmonious mountain dwellers, Ann is thrust into making a decision that could save or devastate not only The Readers, but all of mankind. But there’s just one glitch: by doing so it may require her to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Review: 4 out of 5 stars

I was quite fascinated by the premise of The Reader and thoroughly enjoyed the action, romance, mystery and overall storyline.

Our MC is 18 year old Ann Baker who wakes up on a deserted island with no recollection of why or how she arrived there; when she is approached by two guys claiming to know who she is she is initially wary but trusts them to get her to safety.

Devon and Archer take Ann to a compound where she meets a group claiming to be able read minds and believes that she is the most powerful of them all, The Lost One and destined to save a race of people.

I thoroughly enjoyed the uniqueness and the concept, the world-building was entertaining and not overly complex. The notion of higher evolved humans and their abilities was intriguing and seeing Ann have to decide who to trust with the war against The Readers and The Jacks kept things entertaining.

Ann was a great character, full of sass and sarcasm; she is selfless and strong. Devon and Archer were both interesting, a little evasive and complete opposites, we also meet Lucy who was a fabulous character and Suzie drove me crazy! Each of the characters played a pivotal role in the overall story and to be honest I couldn’t tell who could and couldn’t be trusted.

The plot moved at a solid pace; it was highly engrossing but there were a few parts where I felt there could have been further development; certain situations were resolved quite easily, I did enjoy the twists and turns that weren’t expected.

This book does have romance and it was one I thoroughly enjoyed, sweet and slow to burn.

Overall, if you are after an action packed, mysterious, thrilling and romantic read then The Reader will be perfect.

I received a copy of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

About the author: MK has always been a voracious reader. After hitting a dry spell of reading material, she decided to write the kind of book she'd like to read. This resulted in the creation of her debut novel, Intentional. (Award for Best Sweet Romance - eFestival of Words- August 2014)

Unintentional, her second book, is based on the life of one of the characters in Intentional. Unintentional was written as a stand-alone book.

Breaking Braydon and Taking Tiffany have both been released. Available on Amazon.

The Reader is MK's latest project, released August 2016.

MK is currently working on Famous by Default and the follow up to The Reader - The Jack. (Due out 2017)

When she's not writing novels, she likes to spend her free time traveling the world, splashing in mud puddles (She lives in Seattle, what can she say?), watching movies and reading (!)