Review: The Athena Effect by Derrolyn Anderson

The Athena Effect by Derrolyn Anderson
Published: August 30, 2012
Pages: 223
My Rating:  3 of 5 stars

Synopsis: Country girl Cali has been kept a secret her entire life, raised in isolation by two very troubled people. Despite her parent’s disturbing fits, Cal is perfectly content, living at one with the nature that surrounds her, and finding adventure inside the pages of her beloved books. When an awful tragedy tears her away from her remote cabin in the woods, nothing she’s ever read has prepared her for a world that she knows very little about.

Girls and motorcycles are what bad-boy Cal’s life is all about. Brought up in a raucous party house by his biker brother, he’s free to do as he pleases, going through the motions on his final days of high school. Aimless, Cal stopped thinking about his future a long time ago.

Attacked by a gang of thugs while running an errand for his brother, Cal is in serious trouble until a fierce girl appears out of nowhere to intervene. She chases off three grown men, sparing Cal a brutal beating before disappearing into the night like a spirit. He can’t stop thinking about his mysterious rescuer, and when she turns out to be the weird new girl at school who goes out of her way to avoid him, he can’t contain his curiosity.

He’s never met anyone like her before, and the more he learns about the unusual girl who shares his nickname, the more he wants to know. Cal can’t help falling for Cal, but can he keep her from falling victim to a dangerous enemy from her parent’s tragic past?

My Review: Well this was nothing like what I expected it to be. For some reason I thought there would be Greek mythology in this book because of the title and I kept waiting for some sort of twist about Cali being Athena but that didn't happen. I'm not saying that not having the mythology was bad in fact I actually really enjoyed this book but it just wasn't what I was expecting.

So I loved the idea of Cali living out in the middle of nowhere completely cut off from other people and technology because it was interesting to see how she reacted to the little things in life that everyone takes for granted. It made me realize how lucky everyone is and it was also hilarious when the other characters had to explain to her what some things were. At one point Crystal tells Cali that she's a dancer and Cali thinks that she's a ballet dancer when she's actually an exotic dancer and then Crystal talks to her about protection. So funny!

It was also nice to read about a heroine that could take care of herself and her power to see and manipulate people's feelings was pretty cool. In fact Cali was a pretty great character when she wasn't trying to avoid Cal but I'll get to that later. She wasn't afraid to stand up for herself and she didn't immediately fall for Cal.

Now the thing that really bothered me was basically the first half of the book when Cali was avoiding Cal and when Cal was trying to talk to Cali. I just got so frustrated because Cali didn't even know Cal and she just wrote him off as some idiot and decides that he's not worth her time. A little judgmental? I think so. Cal basically seeks Cali out and offers her rides places when it's clear that Cali is not interested in him. 

When they do start hanging out both of them want to kiss each other but neither of them will because Cal doesn't want to scare her off and Cali isn't really sure of her feelings. It made me want to bang my head against the wall and scream at Cal to just kiss her already. After that happens Cal says that he doesn't want to push her farther than she wants to go and I'm like oh my goodness just do it already! So much frustration.

But after that everything was a lot better. There's this crazy madman that I wish had played more of a part in the beginning of the book. He kidnaps Cali but other than that nothing really happens besides her finding out why she can see people's emotions. The madman kind of reminded me of the Rabid from Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes for some reason.

The only other thing that bothered me was that it switched from Cali's point of view to Cal's point of view in a paragraph. One sentence I'd be reading from Cali's point of view and then the next it would be from Cal's and I would get so confused because they had the same names.

The romance was really cute though. Cali and Cal were adorable when they finally admitted that they loved each other. I actually really enjoyed this book and am hoping that there's another book about Layla and Micheal.

*I received this book from the author. Thank you!