I was pleasantly surprised by Talented. The storyline was gripping. The fighting was believable... I enjoyed it!

An AMAZING and Talented author! I loved this book - it was part fast paced with a ton of action and adventures, as well as part love story.

Natalia Lyons, or Talia for short, is a Talent - she has a special ability due to the "Great Contamination" over a hundred years prior that caused a lot of natural disasters - which lead to a nuclear contamination. The result was the Talented who have special abilities such as Morphing, Light Manipulation, Viewers, Telekinesis, or the rarest type of Talent – a Mimic which can take on any Talent from someone around them. Talia is Telepathy, but a very exceptional one referred to as an advanced Mind Manipulator.

Since her parents were murdered right before her eyes when she ten years old, she has wanted to hone her skills, especially when the director of the McDonough School for the Talented – Danbury McDonough, aka Mac, and his family – take her in and adopt her as a part of their family. And now Talia is a Pledge to the Hunters (aka Spies) through the “Talented Organization of Exceptionally Interesting Citizens or TOXIC, so she can take revenge on those who tore her family apart and killed her parents – whom she believes is another group of Talents called the Coalition who is lead by Ian Crane.

Beside her through her training is her boyfriend, Donavon – who is also the son of Mac, as well as her team mates Henri and Erik. As her training progresses, she and her team build a strong working bond. Using Erik’s morphing skills along with Talia’s telepathy skills, the three of them are able to communicate without uttering a word out loud, which comes in very handy while running missions. Throughout her training, Talia feels Donavon slowly pulling away from her, but she tries to maintain their bond. Then she meets Penny, who is a Pledge for the “BRAINS” or Cryptos. They become fast friends, which Talia likes as the only other friends she has are her boyfriend and her two team mates. Once Talia and her team go on their first mission, it quickly goes from bad to worse when Talia is seriously injured. Erik helps her – using his mimicking talent – by taking the pain away while Henri tends to the wound. From that moment on, Talia and Erik share a special bond.

Upon returning their compound, things between Talia and Donavon become even more strained. When he leaves for a mission of his own, Talia is feeling the pressure of their relationship, but knows there are more important things at stake. While he is gone, Talia starts feeling things like jealousy regarding Erik, but again, she quick tries to dismiss them, but the keep nagging at her in the back of her mind. But when Donavon’s betrayal hits too close to Talia’s heart and she finds him with another girl in his bed, she explodes and blows up his cabin.

Mac then sends Talia and her team on several missions, but she walks around like she is in a fog that just won’t lift – so she throws herself into her training and preparations. As her skills and confidence build – as well as her feelings for Erik. Finally, she is called to Mac’s office to complete her “Solo mission”, which is basically like their graduation – and it isn't just any solo mission…she is to infiltrate the compound of Ian Crane himself. Just as her relationship with Erik starts to bloom, she is off to Las Vegas for her mission. But when she runs into trouble and comes face to face with Ian Crane himself, Talia is injured and forced to make a quick getaway. Lucky for Talia, she is able to activate her tracker before she blacks out. The TOXIC operatives – Donavon in particular – finds her and she is rushed to the awaiting plane. But when Donavon finds a letter from Erik to Talia he gave her right before her mission that explains how he came to be with TOXIC and about his family, it’s anyone’s guess on how Donavon will react – will he give the note to his father, or back to Talia and keep Erik’s secrets safe?

I just LOVED this book! Talia is strong and smart, and while she is a flawed human despite her abilities, she is real. And I thought that the “love triangle” was brought around well – Erik seems too hot for words! Can’t wait to see what happens next in this amazing series! Highly recommend :)

Wow what a beginning! I have to confess that I had this book on my kindle and for some reason it had got overlooked and I hadn't read it! So pleased that I realised my mistake and finally got around to reading this. This is the first in this series by Ms Davis. I'm a huge fan of paranormal and urban fantasy so this book was perfect for me and will probably interest many other readers out there.
Talia knows what it's like to suffer. Seeing her parents brutally murdered as a child has woken up her psychic gifts and now all she dreams of is justice and revenge . She's one of the lucky ones though as she was taken in by Toxic and now is training to be a Hunter. As a hunter she will work in a team with others like her and fight against Ian Crane and those other humans like him who wish to see the extermination of the psychic Talents.
Talias life is full of conflict as she struggles to balance her training with her emotional entanglements. Is it possible to love when mind reading is possible and who can really be trusted with your heart? Talia is about to be tested in ways she had no possibility of imagining and trust is about to become her most valuable commodity.
This was a really interesting book and I'm so pleased that there are other books to follow . So much is starting in this book and I feel the heroine is about to embark on a long and difficult journey. There's a lot of world building which is essential to allow the reader to immerse themselves in this quite bleak future but hope is allowed as well. Humanity is not always accepting of differences and the author captures that . The heroine Talia begins her transition from adolescence to adulthood. Yes there is a romantic element but also it's a book with action and drama. A complex beginning with enough plot to capture my interest and I'm kicking myself that I hadn't read this sooner. I'd rate this a solid four and a half as it's probably more of a young adult read but that doesn't mean it's bad, no far from it. I really enjoyed it and hope to follow Talias journey which seems bound to be interesting and full of adventure.

The premise of Talented by Sophie Davis was attention-grabbing to say the least. It is a dystopian tale with paranormal aspects, such as Talia’s and her coworkers’ talents. Will begin by saying that I think the genuine young adult audience will love Davis’ book. There’s thrilling action, romance, and innovative world building.

Talented begins with a truly fascinating turn on how main protagonist Talia and all the other people become talented in this series. I valued that these talented individuals were not immediately accepted by society for their talents, for there is an honesty that runs true with this way of thinking.

This story gets very intense at times which I really like. I love suspense and love to be hanging on the edge wondering what is going to happen next. There are occasions, however, when there is relatively a bit of back story discussed during the first half of the book. Although enormous portions of back story at the beginning of a novel or series may possibly be tedious, Davis fares to keep readers on track with her exciting writing style.

The majority of the second half of the book was utterly exhilarating. The novel’s climax was truly sensational, and it kept me zealously reading to find out what would happen next, but that was regrettably only the latter half of Talented. The novel ends on a decent cliffhanger, motivating readers to grab the next part in Davis’ series.

Talented is a very unique post apocalyptic story. After a nuclear waste disaster, life on Earth is not easy. The exposure to the nuclear waste as caused abnormalities in the next generation of children. They become “The Talented”. Talents such as Morphers, Light Manipulators and Telekinetics are rising within the next generation. These children are taught to hone in and control their abilities so that they can be used to protect the world under the government’s careful eyes. Our heroine, Talia, isn’t one for sticking to protocol. She is out for Ian Crane’s blood. He forced her to watch him murder her own parents and she wants revenge.

Davis’ has created such a vivid and amazing world in this series debut novel. She has taken pen to paper to create a world that I can imagine it from her description in my mind very clearly. Every emotion Talia feels as if it is your own. It is a rare talent that an author can take an idea from their own mind and describe it so vividly.

Really enjoyed this book! It was sort of a dsytopian/fantasy/secret agent book, and it was well written, not easy to put down, fast paced and full of fantastic characters. Definitely recommend it.

This was one I received as a free review copy, and as soon as I finished it, I went on amazon and bought the rest of the series. To put that in perspective: I have about a year's worth of books unread on my shelves.

I couldn't put the book down. It was an amazing read for me. Fast paced, full of action, solid characters, great plot.....great book.