Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson

I seem to be in the minority here when I say I didn't like Hunting Lila, but I found that I struggled to get through it, mainly down to our awfully whiny protagonist Lila – I understand why she is partially like that due to her mother’s death and uprooted family, but it was to the point where she was very unlikeable; and also it's another book with a great premise that I found poorly executed. 

          Lila has a special power – she can move things with her mind – and she is the only person who knows she can do this…until she is mugged and in self defence almost blinds her attacker with a knife. Panicked and afraid, on an impulse she books a plane to take her across the pond to her brother and his best friend (her crush) in California where they work for The Unit. Unfortunately, her father wants her back in London and brother is desperate to get rid of her; soon she discovers the reasons why, and is launched into a dangerous world, where others like her exist, including her mother’s murderer…

             Even though it sounds a little bit like it’s been done before, great premise, right? Unfortunately, the actual plot is predictable and plagued by the romance between Lila and Alex – although I’m starting to think I’m really not a romance fan, unless it’s done well, so my dislike of the book may stem from that. It starts off well, with the reader diving straight into the action, but then you get to know our protagonist, who is self-centred, bland and overly obsessed with Alex. Who is hot. Which totally isn’t mentioned in every other page or every time Lila looks at him.

I felt that the more ‘actiony’ scenes were the best parts of the book, but even they were predictable and over in a few paragraphs; plus we have a cliffhanger ending, which really irks me in books, because its sole purpose is to force you to read the next book if you’re invested in the story. The whole special power thing was very ‘meh’ for me, and I almost felt like I was reading Sophie McKenzie’s wonderfully compelling The Medusa Project series at several points. I found that pretty much everything about this book was average, including writing and plot, despite quite a nice twist; even the cover is average, barring its striking colour quality.

I personally can’t really recommend Hunting Lila (although as I said I am in the minority by saying this as I know a lot of people have thoroughly enjoyed it so it may just be me), but you may enjoy it if you are a fan of the paranormal (as in telekinesis) and romance novels between boy and girl who can’t be together but inevitably find a way because they’re in lurve.

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[SYNOPSIS: 17-year-old Lila has two secrets she's prepared to take to the grave. The first is that she can move things just by looking at them. The second is that she's been in love with her brother's best friend, Alex, since forever.

After a mugging on the streets of South London goes horribly wrong and exposes her unique ability, Lila decides to run to the only people she can trust - her brother and Alex. They live in Southern California where they work for a secret organisation called The Unit, and Lila discovers that the two of them are hunting down the men who murdered her mother five years before. And that they've found them. Trying to uncover the truth of why her mother was killed, and the real remit of The Unit, Lila becomes a pawn in a dangerous game. Struggling to keep her secrets in a world where nothing and no one is quite as they seem, Lila quickly realises that she is not alone - there are others out there just like her - people with special powers -and her mother's killer is one of them...]