Unfortunately this book timed out on my Netgalley shelf before I could get to it so I wasn’t able to read it. However, I bought a hardcover and I’m still very excited to read. I’ve heard amazing things.

Unfortunately, the world-building, characterization, and plot in 'Powerless' was so trope-ridden it ended up lacking any depth. The plot was so similar to 'The Hunger Games' it was impossible not to compare the two, and yet 'Powerless' lacked any of the commentary or thematic messaging that made 'The Hunger Games' great. Despite having a focus on social and economic inequality, disinformation, social Darwinism, and literal genocide against a targeted group, 'Powerless' seemed to fumble the play by treating these heavy, real-world issues as superficial plot devices. This was disappointing, since the concept seemed to have potential. In addition, the only relationship that had any sort of progression or development was the main romantic one. Mind you, I love a good romance, but friendships being ineffectual background is a missed opportunity, and the enemies read as two-dimensional. Even then, the romance was a bit cheesy and on-the-nose. Overall, it read as repetitive and naïve.

All that being said, the story was exciting and kept me engaged enough to finish. The ending had me shook! This book may be a good fit for anyone looking for a strong romance plotline in a fantasy setting and entertainment you don't have to think too hard about. If you're looking for an abundance of sarcastic banter and a side of plot, this is the book for you.

Lastly, I have genuinely enjoyed following Lauren's journey to becoming a successful published author online. Although I think there is lots of room for improvement, I look forward to seeing what she does next and wish her well!

(Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ARC and ALC.)

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'll start by saying WOW! I was not expecting to love this as much as I did. I have not felt this way since I started my reading journey in 2015. I felt like a teenager kicking my legs and gasping every 5 seconds. 🤭
Lauren Roberts delivered a beautifully solid debut ya fantasy novel. The characters and storyline are wonderfully done. However, I would like to see more of the world's buildings. I feel like we could have gotten more about the politics which I hope is explored in the next book.
As I was reading, I noticed so many parallels between the this, The Hunger Games and Red Queen. I know it was marketed as a crossover between the two, but the similarities were a little much at times. The editing also needs some work.
The Slow-burn banter in this book, oh my! Kai and Pae are so cute together with the perfect amount of angst; they are fierce and adorable. 💕💕
They are my children, and they better get the happy ending they deserve. 🥺
I look forward to reading the next book and immediately preordered after finishing this one. I hope to read more of Lauren Roberts and am excited to see how she improves as an author.

I need book two now!!! 😭😭

Quotes:
"What do you want to call me?"
"I want to call you mine."

"I wouldn't want to mess up that pretty face of yours, darling."
"That's funny because I won't hesitate to mess up your pretty face."
"I knew you thought I was pretty."

“She's so stunning, yet so stubbornly oblivious to how the sunset behind dulls in comparison to the vibrance that is her.”

"So, you just want someone to keep you company?"
"Not someone. You."

"Because beasts don't get the beauty."

"Remind me to to make you smile like that again, when you aren't dying, and I have all the time in the world to memorize it."

"She is the embodiment of a bad decision. The twin of danger and desire. The fine line between deadly and divine. And I can feel myself drowning."

"For every girl who has ever felt powerless"

This was an amazing fantasy book. I loved everything about it. The world, the romance, the trials - everything about it kept me invested. I really enjoyed that this author included a lot of a my favorite fantasy tropes, like dagger to the throat, ballroom scenes, rivals to lovers, in a way that didn’t feel forced. I loved Kai and Paedyn’s banter and their sweet, vulnerable scenes together. One thing that made this book stand out from other fantasies is that it was dual-pov and first-person. I think that made this book even more addicting and fun to read. I am already so excited to read the next book in the trilogy.

LOVED this book! A little bit hunger games but not as dark and not as young. The way Roberts pulls you in and makes you love the characters is awesome. Even the ones who don't get a lot of page time. I loved the pull between the brothers even though you can tell who she really cares for. I couldn't put this one down and will be getting my own physical copy. I can't wait for books 2 and 3!!!

I really enjoyed this book, and I can’t wait to see where the author takes this trilogy next. There was slow burn, enemies to lovers, balls, betrayal, deadly competition, and hidden alliances. Powerless was truly an immersive experience, and a well done debut. I enjoyed being taken along the incredible journey of this book and I can’t wait for the next installment.

Wow. Just when I think the great stories of Hunger Games meets Divergent meets Cinderella/Oliver Twist and touch of Shadow and Bone are over, I'm hit with this gem of a story. While part of a larger story, (trilogy?) It has characters that you want to root for. It has real angst between characters, so while a very clean read for young readers of middle school, it has enough to rival any Kdrama. I love how the main character, Pae, has no powers, and yet has to pretend due to training with a diligent Father. I love how the "Enforcer" who kills people at the King's request is internally struggling with this fact. Bring both of these characters together and you have two young people who seem to find themselves in a Hunger Games arena over weeks and still manage to survive and get to know each other. It begs the question, Who am I and what is my purpose in life? Can I take control of my life? Pae struggles to grapple with this question as does Kai. They find they want to be more than what life has dished out to them. I can't wait for more of this story. While it does end, it's not quite a cliffhanger, which was a relief. It was definitely leading to more and as a reader, I look forward to the next 2,3? books in the future. Highly recommend.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Content Warning: This book includes: on-page alcohol consumption, sexual content: (Insinuations and jokes, tension & loads of pining, and romantic and sexual thoughts from multiple characters). A couple of on-page swears, death of a parent, Gory/Bloody descriptions, mentions of assassinations and murder, grief, and panic attacks.

I was super excited when I saw this book on NetGalley because I have been watching Lauren on TikTok for what seems like forever. I love it when I find aspiring others before they’ve published their books because it feels like we are on the journey together. I watched this book go from an idea to being picked up by a major publishing house.

The story is so fun and intriguing; full of twists and turns. I really loved the plotline of the books, it did feel a little predictable but honestly, I was having such a good time I didn’t even care. It felt like my favorite tropes were all rolled into one gorgeous book and it ATE.

The characters were really well done, I love Paedyn and Kai so freaking much. Honestly, a good forbidden romance is always a win, but this one was so well done. Surprisingly, I also didn’t mind the little love triangle (Not really a love triangle) with Kitt as well. I like that we’re adding his perspective into the next book (I’m assuming we will be based on the ending), it’s going to be super interesting to see how he’s going to grow into his own person without his father being there to be a major jerkface (You have to admit that plotline ending was very satisfying).

Overall, this was a very impressive debut novel. I am super excited for the series to continue and for whatever else Lauren does in the future. I definitely think that this book series will be the perfect addition to any public or private collection.

I would recommend Powerless to anyone who loves Young Adult romantasy. Recommended reading would be The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (The Trials are pretty much a condensed version of the Hunger Games), Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas (Romantasy/Trials), and Defy the Night Series by Brigid Kemmerer (Fantasy/Forbidden love/enemies to lovers).

A big thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK IMMEDIATELY.

Powerless by Lauren Roberts is a YA fantasy novel that has all the perfect tropes. She is the very thing he’s spent his whole life hunting.
He is the very thing she’s spent her whole life pretending to be.

Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya—the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites. The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that—ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime—making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity. Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be keenly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can to stay alive and out of trouble…easier said than done. When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilya’s princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites’ powers—the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don’t kill her, the prince she’s fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is…completely Ordinary.

I have no words for this book, save for it hits all the notes I wished it did and more. If you're looking for an angsty classic teen read. This is it. Just read it, you'll love it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

A new thrilling YA fantasy romance. I enjoyed the world building and unique characters. We have a kingdom and hierarchy which means people are starving and dying. We also have purging trails that felt a lot like hunger games. I guess this was a forbidden romance and I found it frustrating. Just kiss already! But over all I loved it. It was a clean romance.
Things I liked:
• world building
• freckles
• Paedyn
• purging trails
• the chemistry
4.5⭐️
I can’t wait for Reckless! Gimme, gimme, gimme.
Thanks Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing via NetGalley.

(4.5 ⭐️ )

Ugh this was so incredibly fun to read. This scratched a very specific itch in my brain because I obviously love The Hunger Games, I love The Red Queen series and I just love fantasy in the colder months.

This book is for the girls who love Anakin Skywalker, sorry I don’t make the rules.

The slow burn element in this story had me wanting to bash my head into a wall in the best way. The banter and quotes had me kicking my feet and smiling like an idiot to myself.

All of my romantasy girlies need to put this on their winter fantasy tbr immediately!!

Paedyn is an ordinary person hiding in plain sight in a kingdom where being ordinary is outlawed. Kai is the prince being trained to eliminate ordinaries like her. When Paedyn accidentally saves the Prince’s life, she finds herself entered in a series of dangerous trials that just might expose her secret.

3.5 rounded up to 4.

I enjoyed this overall. I liked the concept, which very much gave my Hunger Games nostalgia. The chemistry between the main characters was great, and they had excellent banter.

The downfall of this book for me was the internal dialogue. It was repetitive to the point that it felt tiring to read. You probably could have eliminated at least 20 pages just by taking out Paedyn and Kai’s internal dialogue about each other’s eyes.

Nonetheless, I’m excited to see where Roberts takes this story in the sequel.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This is one of my top three books of 2023. I am blown-away at this debut from Lauren Roberts.

The TENSION, holy smokes. This is the most tense slow-burn I’ve encountered yet! I believe the author has built a very sturdy foundation for big, big revelations between Kai and Paeden’s intense feelings for one another in book two.

This book has…
-great world building
-meaningful characters with complicated emotions and backstories
-the perfect amount of action versus romance and conflict
-believable romance/feelings
-enemies to lovers
-SLOOOOWWWW burn, lots of tension
-high stakes
-major Carissa Broadbent vibes, with Hunger Games intensity.
-no spice, but it doesn’t matter! That tension is ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SPOILER WARNING


The depth of the enemies to lovers trope in this is so good. How could you recover from killing your love’s father? I CANNOT wait to find out how these two can justify/work out this major deal-killer. Also, I need Kitt to not turn into the evil king, because he is a precious puppy.

I would have preferred for this book to have been written in third person. First person, switching POV for each character between chapters didn’t really work for me. The narration didn’t feel different or add anything stylistically for the separate characters. Kai and Payden both felt like the same character as far as their POVs were written. It was very similar to “The Hunger Games,” but I did find the premise interesting as far as the Plague, Elites, and Ordinaries. There is potential in this book, and it was enjoyable. It took a while to get into it, but I would recommend this story for people that enjoy both fantasy and titles similar to “The Hunger Games.”

At first, this novel reminded me of the Hunger Games with the Trials. Adding in the idea of the Ordinaries and the Elites helped make it different enough for me to be interested in reading it. For me, the beginning of the novel was very typical, and I wasn't surprised as Paedyn interacted with Kai and ending up in the Trials. The difficulties she went through during the first few Trials weren't surprising either. However, her growing relationships with Kai and Kitt kept my interested, and I wanted to discover where those were going. I loved Paedyn's character and the chemistry she had with Kai. The plot ramped up near the end by adding several conflicts to the main story, which makes me want to read the next novel.

Loved the concept, struggles with the past and present tense switching within a sentence. The story held my attention for the first half!

Wow! I loved everything about this book even if it was a typical ya fantasy. The book gives off Red Queen and Hunter Games vibes, but I feel like there is so much more to it.

Paedyn is an Ordinary living in a world where they are hunted and killed for being well ordinary. After she saves the King’s son by accident, she is rewarded by being thrown into a Trials that celebrates the purging of the Ordinaries from society. Not only must she stay alive while hiding the fact she is an Ordinary, but she also catches the eye of both Princes, the heir and his Enforcer of death.

This book is said to be a part of a trilogy and I am here for it.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This book will be a fast hit bestseller once it released next month.

What a stunning debut! This was an quick read and I devoured it in one sitting. It was definitely easy to follow World building and it was a straight to the point book. I enjoyed the premise and how it progressed as well as the cliff hanger at the end!

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.