Member Reviews
Wow. I really enjoyed this book! I've read one or two of her other books, under both names, I think, and yeah, they've all been really great to read. I only found out about that when I was making this post, but before I read it, so yeah, that made me really eager to read this book. And it was so great!
I'd say that this book is a YA thriller/mystery. After all, there's the kidnapping, and there's a conspiracy, and it all lead to a very quick, tightly plotted book. And being that she doesn't know who to trust-and that she has been a part of a young spies program, makes a good recipe for investigating herself!
Things get real very quickly, there's a dead body in the first 100 pages. And it doesn't stop there. With terrorism, would you expect that? I really enjoyed watching Sophie use the spy skills she learned-and with her fellow young spies, each having different skills. They were great characters to read about!
That ending was pretty intense! And pretty heart-wrenching. You know something bad is going to happen, or it's going to cost for the good guys to succeed, but man, the cost was so high! And for what? It's kinda sad, the reason behind why this is happening.
Loved this book, it was a really great read!
T-Minus is a straight-up thriller full of action, intrigue, and even some romance.
It follows Sophie Washington, the daughter of the president of the United States. When terrorists threaten to assassinate Sophie's mother, Sophie has to figure out who she can trust to help her uncover the reason why. Why is her brother missing? What happened to her father? And what secrets will be dug up that could change everything?
This book is definitely a teen version of the show 24. Now, I've never watched 24, but I do know a bit about it, and this book definitely fits that label pretty well. Sophie only has 24 hours to discover who is behind these threats against her family. She has no idea who she can trust, but she's willing to risk everything to expose the truth.
T-Minus is action-packed. It will keep readers on the edge of their seat as they try and figure out what's going on along with Sophie. It's an intense nail-biter that I thoroughly enjoyed.
This story doesn't hold back, either. There may be possible upsetting scenes for more sensitive readers (there are some mildly graphic character deaths), so readers will definitely want to take that into account.
I thought the book was really well-paced. It reads quickly, with no lag, but it's not rushed. It's fleshed out enough, and there's so much going on that you won't want to put the book down.
The characters are all fascinating and well-written. Trying to figure out who to trust and who not to trust is a nice little challenge.
If you enjoy YA thrillers that will have you racing through to the end, or if you're a fan of 24, check out T-Minus today.
4.5 stars from me.
This book started out really well. I fell in love with the cover and was so excited to read it. The story opens with bad things going down and the main character making a very VERY stupid choice. I really almost put this one down when that happened early on. The writing in this one was pretty straight forward. Green knows how to weave a story and make you want to find out what in the world is happening. She gives us some great pacing and some twists and turns.
I really didn't have a favorite character in this one but they all shined though until the very end. This one had a lot of death in it so be warned for that coming your way if you choose to read this one. I also had an issue with how Sophie just slipped out from under custody. I guess in the end this one was very good and I totally loved it but certain things just felt off.
I voluntarily read and reviewed and advanced copy of this book, received through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
T-Minus is a YA espionage thriller with a fast pace and an interesting central mystery. Sophie Washington, the daughter of the first female President of the USA, and her family wake up one night to a terrorist threat against her mother. As protocol dictates, they are sent to a secure location each, but before departing her father leaves a fearsome message: "do not trust anyone". The next 24 hours turn her life into a nightmare, in a tight race against the clock to save her family and many innocents.
There were a lot of things to love in this story. The pace is fast, consistent with the feeling of wanting -needing- to read more and it accelerates as the story progresses, keeping up with the actions that drive the plot. The main mystery was also engaging, as a reader, I was hooked and desperately wanted to learn who was the mole and if/how Sophie would reunite with her family. The characters were really good too. I especially liked Sophie, the main character. She was well developed and it was really enjoyable to read things from her perspective. She also felt a believable character, even if there were some not-so-believable details such as her or her friends' teen CIA training.
If I had to point out some details I didn't like much or just didn't care about it would be the flashbacks and the romance part. While there is not much character development over the course of the story, we learn about Sophie mainly through her actions and her thoughts. There are some flashbacks inserted during the main storyline intended to provide a background for the characters and to explain the relationships between them but they could mostly be skipped as they felt like they slowed down the plot. In terms of the romance, I didn't feel like it was a necessary element. While it was believable, as it was established during the time as shown in the flashbacks, it didn't add much to the story and, as such, wasn't moved by it. However, I would have loved to know more about the relationship between Sophie, her brother and her parents.
I would really recommend T-Minus for people who like fast-paced YA thrillers with a mystery and some good plot twists and are able to overlook some minor issues with believability.
This was very reminiscent of The Specialists series by the author, but with less learning and more action. I liked it. There were a few things that I wish weren't in the book, and a few scenes where you really have to suspend your disbelief, but overall this was a solid read.
This was an absolutely fun read. I left all my analysis aside and read the book for the pure thrill of it. Sophie was the daughter of the first female American President. A terrorist threat forced her family to separate out. Her brother Erik was missing and soon kidnapped by a terrorist. Sophie had to use all her skills and her intelligence to get to the truth along with the help of her friends.
My first book by Shannon Greenland was a pure 3 hours of adrenaline. The book didn't give me time to think. The story kept its fast pace and forced me to jog along with it, trying to keep up. Some of the secrets and people involved could be guessed. But I left that aside just to enjoy the ride.
Sophie as the main character thrilled me at times and sometimes left me exasperated. It was thrilling to see what she could do in 24 hours to save her family. I liked knowing about her life in flashbacks, and it was obvious how much she loved them.
My niggles popped up soon. I liked the kickass heroine, but if she was pondering over a boy in a race against time, it simply irked me. Romance could be done post danger. So I felt.
The author's writing was a web of deceit which involved the past and dragged it onto the present in a seamless manner. Reading the book was like watching a three dimensional thriller movie with popcorn, I would say.
When I read the blurb of T-Minus, my attention was caught. It reminded me of 24 Hours. Since I was a fan of that show, I knew that I needed to read this book. I am glad I did!! T-Minus was a fast, explosive read that I got lost in.
T-Minus is the story of Sophie Washington. Sophie is the teenage daughter of the first POTUS. One night, she is woken up by her Secret Service agent with the news that the President and her family are the targets of a domestic terrorist attack. They are to be separated and taken to different safe houses. Sophie finds out that this terrorist cell has people who infiltrated the White House. Not trusting anyone, Sophie turns to the only other people she can trust, her friends from a CIA training camp for teens. Sophie has 24 hours to find out who is behind the attacks on her family and bring them down. But that is easier said than done when she doesn’t know who to trust.
I couldn’t believe the fast pace of T-Minus. Right from page one, the book was go-go-go. The author did a fantastic job of keeping the speed of the plotline as fast as she did. But, there were times when it faltered. Mainly during the flashbacks. If the author placed the flashback at the beginning of the book (like headers) or even had dedicated mini-chapters to them, I would have been fine. But to have a scene interrupted by Sophie remembering various people, drove me nuts.
I liked Sophie. I liked that the author showed how stifling being a child of the POTUS could be. I couldn’t imagine having Secret Service tailing me everywhere. I also thought that she was strong: mentally and physically. I would have lost it after what happened to her brother. But she didn’t allow herself time to dwell on it. Instead, she turned all her feelings into anger, and that powered her through the rest of the book. I also liked that she was also a normal teenage girl. She had crushes, fought with her parents, and did crazy teenage stuff with her friends. Of course, all that was told in flashbacks but still. It was nice to see glimpses of what she could be like during the book.
The mystery of who was behind the terrorist attacks was wonderfully written. The author was able to make me think it was several people, including Sophie’s father. There were several twists in the plot that took me by surprise. But it was the one at the end that made my jaw drop. I couldn’t believe who it was.
The end of T-Minus was unbelievable. The author wrapped up all the plotlines except one, which makes me wonder if there will be a book 2.
I would give T-Minus an Older Teen rating. There is no sex. There is language. There is violence. I would recommend that no one under the age of 16 read this book.
I would reread T-Minus. I would recommend it to family and friends.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
Well hang on to your hats because the action in Shannon Greenland’s T-Minus doesn’t stop for one minute. From the opening scene where Sophie is awakened from sleep to be moved to a safe-house to the tension-filled climax, the novel is go, go, go.
I’m a fan of teenage spies, FBI recruits, and the like so it was obvious that I was going to enjoy T-Minus. Sophie is a fantastic heroine who has been training in the TIA (it’s teenage CIA training) where she’s met her best friends: Zeke, who she has a crush on and Jackson and Callie who are computer gurus.
While I really enjoyed the novel there were a couple of things that I wasn’t a fan of. The first and biggest was the use of italicized flashbacks to provide information or memories during a scene. Unfortunately what it did was draw me out of a scene and frustrate me. I’m definitely certain information and memories could have been integrated in a far more fluid manner, certainly one which didn’t cut into the action the way this method did. The other thing was the body count, which became large and sad. I don’t need to explain that, right?
T-Minus is a fast paced, quick read for all of you YA spy novel enthusiasts.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The story is fast paced, fun and interesting. It didn't take very long to read and wasn't very difficult either.
At some points the story wasn't very original and I did have a feeling that i've seen the same kinda thing in movies, but that was no problem for the totality of the story.
It was an enjoyable read and I would recommend is.
T-Minus by Shannon Greenland tells the story of Sophie Washington, daughter of the first female President of the United States of America. In the very early morning hours of her seventeenth birthday, she's woken to find that a domestic terrorism plot has started with the end goal of wiping out the first family. T-Minus follows Sophie as she races to save her family and the government itself. I was provided an e-ARC by Entangled Publishing in exchange for a fair and honest review
T-Minus perfectly encapsulates the adventure YA novel. Sophie is a strong female character, who isn't perfect. She fights with her mom, she's terrified of close spaces, and she's way to into the cute guy that she's absolutely certain is out of her league. Throughout the day of her seventeenth birthday, she's challenged to go above and beyond what a normal teenager expects to encounter.
That said, T-Minus isn't the deepest of books. It's characters, while fun and enticing, are still surface level at best. This is the kind of book that can be read quickly, enjoyed throughout and put away. Should it be made into a film, it would be great fun beginning to end.
The twists and turns leave you with a nagging feeling that you know what's going to happen next, but then you're not really quite certain that's the case. By the end, you're quite turned around from where you started and that's not an issue. This would be on the top of my lazy poolside reading list. I can't wait to read more from Shannon Greenland.
Review will be posted to blog on August 6th, with good reads to follow. Links will be made available at this time.
When a credible threat against the president arises, her family is taken by the secret service to secure locations. Trouble is, one member is missing. The president's daughter needs to find her brother - and that is when the action takes off. This was a fast-paced story about cover-ups, moles, and finding out that no one is who you think they are. There was some language, quite a bit of violence (to be expected, given the plot), and I think the cover does not do the book any favors, but it would be easy to recommend to someone, especially a reluctant reader as the story moves quickly.
Overall, this was a pretty good story with lots of potential!! I was hooked to find out how and why it all went down. However, I felt like it lacked some background information about the characters and the country for me to be fully emerged into and engaged with the the story,
Have you ever seen those posters where it’s the body counts for all of the Shakespeare plays? I haven’t read a lot of Shakespeare, but I think that if you added this book on there, it would take the cake for most deaths. Honestly, the characters just kept dropping like flies. The author broke my heart!
This book was right up my alley if you take away the tons of deaths. I love me a good spy/action book so this was perfect. Plus, throw in just the tiny bit of romance and it becomes so much better! The author had me guessing what would happen next and she always surprised me. I couldn’t believe some of the things she did with this book!
There were many lovable characters, and you have to love Sophie. Despite all the things she went through, she survived and came back stronger than ever. She’s the perfect protagonist and all authors should aspire to create a character like her. Besides Sophie, I loved Sophie’s gang. The only thing better than a kick-butt heroine is a tough and fearless group behind her. After reading this book, you’ll want friends like Sophie’s.
Shannon Greenland has some guts to kill off so many people in such ways. But she is also a genius. Greenland played with my emotions, and I imagine she’ll do the same to you. I recommend this book to people who love a good thriller and what is hopefully the beginning of a fantastic new series.
Shannon Greenland's T-Minus is being sold as 24 for teens. Pretty good description. This espionage thriller sets a tight ticking clock and high personal stakes that will keep readers turning pages until the end. 17-year old Sophie Washington's mother is the first female President of the USA. One night, there is a legitimate threat against her mother which protocol dictates that the Secret Service separate all four members of Sophie's family to secure locations. Her father leaves her with a curious message, "Do Not Trust Anyone." Anyone could be a threat.
Over the course of the next 24 + hours, Sophie's life will turn into a nightmare and secrets will be revealed that will upturn her life. Sophie and her friends Jackson, Callie, and Zeke are all members of the CIA's teen program. (There is no such program. It's a figment of the author's imagination). They attend a school that trains them in all areas of covert missions including hand-to-hand, martial arts, simulations, and obstacle courses.
While trying to discover what happened to her brother Erik, and attempting to save her family, Sophie discovers the truth about an incident that happened 15 years ago but was covered up by the people she knows very well including the Vice President. As for Sophie's character, there were times that I questioned the thought process to some of her choices and decisions. I felt as though there were certain instances that were unrealistic and problematic. But, it is fair to say her choices in the end were courageous and heroic.
Recommendation: If you can honestly and truly suspended all reality for the entire time you read this book, you should enjoy the action packed scenes and the daring escapes that Sophie manages while staying alive and attempting to uncover who the terrorists are. If you are a fan of shows like 24, or even Designated Survivor, you might actually enjoy this story since you already know that fiction is not real life and it is pretty much impossible for what happens in this book to actually take place.
3.5 rounded up
There was a lot to like in this YA thriller--and some bumps in the road that kept me from loving it.
First the things I liked. The central mystery as it unfolded was interesting, and avoided black and white hats. It was a believable issue, with creepily believable reactions on the part of those taking said action.
The pacing overall was fast, accelerating steadily as the teens drove the action. I liked the main character, daughter of the first female President. I mostly enjoyed the voice, finding our narrator appealing and engaging.
Things that held me back--that's harder to discuss without [ going into detail, so SPOILERT ALERT:
As an adult reader, I found far too many deaths of the innocent. Teen readers might feel differently, as for them body counts are mostly cartoonish. But I'm a parent, and reading about the senseless murder of teens pushed the story way toward the sort of realism I try to avoid in my fiction. (end spoiler)
Another issue was the frequent flashbacks. A couple of them would have been okay, but for a book depending on a fast pace, there were far too many of them. As the story accelerated they seemed more and more awkwardly placed, jerking the pacing to a halt.
I also had some minor issues about procedure, but I'm willing to cut a lot of slack for those, especially in a YA, if the story is served. The twists and turns certainly kept things hot for our heroes!
Overall, it certainly kept me reading!
A great YA read for action/adventure and suspense. The action is unrelenting, and the danger is real: People die, government is threatened, and the protagonists truly can't trust anyone.
The author cleverly provided context through flashbacks that explained the present setting. There some great plot twists.
~A few nicely-unrealistic points, but I enjoyed the book that way.
~A touch of romance, handled satisfyingly.
~A fun read -- one I was glad it lasted as long as it did.
This book will be easy to share with friends and library patrons: accessible and engaging for readers who enjoy action and a fast pace.
Publication date: Aug 6, 2019
This was the first time reading about book by this author and it was a nice surprise. It was action packed and full of adventure. Gave a bit of Taken movie vibes with all the kidnapping and bombing and locating. I enjoyed the action. The romance felt a bit forceful in the story. I loved the friendship of the TIA gang. Great read and would recommend it for action and adventure lovers.
A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
I can finally take a breath.
I volunteered to read this book because it was labeled as a young 24, and I was such a fan of that show. Well this is exactly that, and boy does it deliver an emotional punch. A fantastic set of characters. Nonstop action. Cute romance. Smart plot.
Love love love.
Wow I'm just stunned with how good this title was. I just had so much fun reading this title and getting to along for the ride with these amazing characters. I'm so excited to see what's next from this author.
(I received an electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review)
First off, thank you to Entangled Teen and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to review this book!
Second, that cover is gorgeous!
Rating: 3.5 Stars
This book was a fun and wild ride! I found myself throughout the whole book holding my breath and waiting for what I was going to read on the next page. This book has such a unique and different concept and plot that when I read the synopsis of what this book was about, I immediately wanted to read it. Going into the story, I expected high stake thrilling moments and a race against time. This novel delivered just that.
Right off the bat, the author throws the reader into the action and I had a hard time putting this book down. The main character Sophie was likable and well flushed out. I enjoyed reading from her perspective. Although there were times that I questioned the thought process to some of Sophie's decisions. I felt as though there were certain instances that were unrealistic and problematic. Even though the novel is far fetched at times it still made for a unique and quick read.
What I enjoyed:
- The plot! It was fast paced and very hard to put the book down. The plot was by far my favorite part and I believe it was well rounded and I liked that the book ended without any loose ends left to tie up.
- The action! We need more books like this!
- Sophie, while I wish she was more flushed out at certain times, overall I enjoyed her commentary and being in her head throughout the story.
What I didn't care for:
- The romance: I might be the outlier on this, but I just didn't really care for the romance that was added into the story. I thought it was very one dimensional and it felt forced at times. I'm not a big fan of insta love, but the love interest in the story just didn't seem that invested as Sophie was.
- Lack of character development: As I had mentioned above, the reader is thrown right into the story. The reader receives no background but the author put in flashbacks to try to help this aspect. I thought the flashbacks weren't enough to aid in the character development. I wish we could have seen more of Sophie and Eric's relationship and her parents. It left much to be desired.
-Unrealistic choices and outcomes: Sometimes choices that were made by Sophie made no sense, and were not realistic. It frustrated me how easy certain situations worked out for the main character.
Overall: I enjoyed reading this engaging story and would recommend to others wanting a fast paced, action packed thrill ride.
Thank you again to Entangled Teen and NetGalley!
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