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3.5 

Freeks

By Amanda Hocking
Freeks by Amanda Hocking digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

Step into a wondrously strange new world with this dazzling new standalone novel by Amanda Hocking, New York Times bestselling author of The Kanin Chronicles!

Mara has become used to the extraordinary. Roaming from place to place with Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Carnival, she longs for an ordinary life where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future.

She gets her chance when the struggling sideshow sets up camp in the small town of Caudry, and she meets a gorgeous local guy named Gabe. But before long, Mara realizes there’s a dark presence lurking in the town that’s threatening the lives of her friends. She has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she had in order to save everyone she cares about—and change the future forever.

In the pages of Freeks, Amanda Hocking once again proves her ability to create amazing characters and enchanting worlds that will capture your imagination and never let go.

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280 Reviews

3.5
“Actual rating: 3.5 stars https://scarletbookkeeper.wordpress.com/2017/02/27/blog-tour-freeks-by-amanda-hocking/ All in all, an interesting tale, and while there was definitely the potential for a great story with the concept and the world setting, it just fell a bit short for me. Before Freeks, I hadn’t read any books by Amanda Hocking, though I had heard a lot of wonderful things about her Trylle Trilogy. I recently read Caraval by Stephanie Garber and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, both wonderful stories set in magically whimsical circuses, so I definitely had high expectations for this. Initially, everything started out mysterious and drew me in, the paranormal aspects added to the magical element. Soon, however, I felt as though the story was almost too predictable, but then there was a twist which was so unexpected and just seemed to come out of nowhere (but maybe I’m just super unobservant???). The pacing was slightly off too, the beginning started out pretty slow and repetitive, and then all of a sudden things picked up and the whole thing was basically wrapped up in like 4 pages. There were so many strong female characters! I loved the character development, and I felt attached to all of the characters, even the ones that weren’t in the spotlight for that long. I liked the relationships between the circus members, I loved how tight-knit their ‘family’ was. I did, however, get slightly annoyed with the protagonist, Mara, when she started flicking back and forth and changing her mind. I felt the main relationship between Mara and Gabe was a case of a not-so-tasteful insta-love, and I think the story could’ve been better if it wasn’t so focused on them, I would’ve loved for the book to have focused more on the circus and the crew! I couldn’t fully appreciate the romance, because everything happened too fast for my liking. In general, I did enjoy the book, but there were certain things that could’ve been changed to improve it. I did like Amanda’s writing style though, so I’ll probably read more of her books. I received a review copy from the publisher https://scarletbookkeeper.wordpress.com/ | https://www.instagram.com/shanayahreads/ | https://twitter.com/shanayahreads | http://adelinaamouterus.tumblr.com/”
“https://fafasbookcorner.wordpress.com/2017/01/29/review-freeks/ Beware spoilers ahead! I received this E-ARC via St. Martin's Griffin and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I am also participating in the blog tour. I had heard about this book through Netgalley. I was scrolling one day and came across this book. It sounded good and some of my friends were reading it. I am happy to say that I enjoyed this book! The book is written in first person all in Mara's point of view. Before every chapter there is a picture of a tarot card with the date and the year. This book does take place in the eighties. The book begins with Mara and the circus traveling to their newest location. Mara's mother and her boyfriend Gideon have a bad feeling about this location but they need the money. One of their former members lives in said town and promised them a good deal. Mara would love the idea of living a normal life. While she likes her family on the circus, she would like to stay in one place and maybe start a family of her own. Whenever Mara reaches a new town she explores it the night before any of their performances. While exploring the town and taking in all the houses Mara runs into this girl dragging her drunk boyfriend. Mara offers to help said girl. Later the girl invites Mara into the party where Mara meets the girl's brother Gabe. She is instantly attracted to Gabe and spends the night with him. The next day Mara's mother is asking her whether she has seen one of their members and her roommate Blossom (I think that's her name). Mara has not. This is actually quiet normal for Blossom to disappear and come back again. Which is why Mara doesn't worry about her. On the other hand Mara's mother has weird vibes about the town and sends Mara and Gideon to inform the police. Informing the police doesn't really go anywhere but at least Mara's mother is appeased. As the book continues weird things start to happen to the circus crew. A majority of their powers aren't working properly. More people have gone missing. Something seems to be only targeting and killing the circus crew, specifically those who are the most powerful. Mara actually starts having these nightmares about a woman screaming something at her in another language. And the town is just giving off weird vibes. The town thus far has do nothing to help. It's up to Mara, the circus crew, and Gabe to figure out what's going on. To be honest I wasn't sure what to except about this book. I had heard about Amanda Hocking before but have never actually read any of her other books. I was kind of surprised that I enjoyed this! I really liked basically all of the characters! Mara's voice felt real to me and I understood her longing to live a normal life. I have actually forgotten all but three characters names, so I don't remember Mara's friend's names. Which sucks but is also not surprising seeing as I read this back in October 2016 and didn't take any notes. I apologize in advance for any confusions. I liked the relationship Mara had with her mother. It wasn't complicated but instead the pair were quiet close. Mara and Gideon had a good relationship as well. Now you would think that they'd have an awkward relationship seeing as he is dating her mom, but surprisingly they were close as well. Gideon genuinely cared for Mara and all of the other performers. The powers were really cool to read about! I actually didn't hear about some of the powers so that was nice. Mara's mother could predict the future using tarot cards and allowing the spirits to speak to her. This did have a negative affect on her physically and mentally. This was the same with all of their powers. I found this to be very original as I have never read about paranormal powers having negative effects on the people themselves. Mara's friends were nice and they all had a good relationship with one-another. Mara also becomes friends with Gabe's sister whom I loved. As for Mara and Gabe's romance it was very quick. It wasn't insta-love so much as insta-attraction. Normally I don't like reading about rushed romances, but I didn't mind it in this book. I really liked Gabe so maybe that's why I let it slide. There is an LGBTQIA romance as well. Both the characters are already dating before the book takes place so you didn't get to see their romance develop. The setting was fantastic! This was my first eighties book and it certainly won't be my last. I also felt I was walking right next to Mara as she took in the town and described the circus and some of the places she went to. I did not see any of the plot points coming! I found it very original and entertaining to read about. Note this book is more focused on the characters and the setting. It's a decent pace but not a whole lot happens right away. I only had one problem with this. In the beginning I found that not much happened in the book (which I mentioned above). It took awhile for some of the characters to go missing and for the circus to realize that there was something up with the town. After some time I got used to it. I started to get sucked in because I really enjoyed reading about the characters. Overall this was a good standalone! I recommend this to anyone looking for a character driven standalone. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for this author.”

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