Review: Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson

Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson
Published by Simon & Schuster 2011

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. Or thereabouts. 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...

♥♥♥♥♥

I'm not sure if my review can do this book justice. I don't even know where to begin. All I know is, this book was a tidal wave of different emotions. Sarah Alderson's writing is utterly fantastic; it all felt so real. The main character, Lila, was instantly relatable and I found myself experiencing every emotion that she felt throughout the book. I was angry, sad, desperate, anxious and happy with her. My heart ached with her at times (I know, cliche). Jack and Alex were also wonderful characters. Alex is lovely and I did have a bit of a swoon going on. I loved the relationship between Lila and Alex. Jack was faithful and overprotective, as brothers are, and I thought Lila's relationships with both of them was very strong and sweet. The supporting characters were amazing and I loved them as well. The pace and twists and turns in this book are unbelievable. I didn't know what to expect and what was going to happen throughout the book and I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through. I was really shocked in some places at what Alderson had dished out. The beginning also doesn't waver and loiter; it dived right in and I was instantly hooked. I couldn't put this down. Last night I stayed up until 10 past 1 in the morning reading this and I had to force myself to stop. The ending of this book has left me with a huge grin on my face but also concerned about the turn of events, and I absolutely cannot wait until the sequel. I will be raving about this in my mind for months!

5 stars