Book Talk Review; Enthrall

"I’ll do it. I’d do anything for her, I thought as I maintained her gaze, and her eyes widened in fear."

After years of being a helpless witness to his father’s physical and emotional abuse towards his family, seventeen-year-old Miles Boswell has just about reached his breaking point.

 He dreams of the day where he can leave everything behind and begin a new life on his own...that is, until he discovers that he has the ability to control people’s minds.

 And suddenly, the odds are overwhelmingly in his favor.

At first, Miles can’t believe his luck. 

Elements of his life that had previously been unavoidable nuisances -- his father’s rude, drunken comments, his brother’s bratty outbursts -- were now situations that could be manipulated at the ease of a focused command. 

But what begins as the answer to all of his problems soon causes him to question his every thought when he captures the attention of August Sylvan, who seems to be the girl of his dreams. 

She shares his aversion to alcohol and drugs, has fantastic taste in music, and most shocking of all -- she wants to go out with him.

As someone who has limited experience with girls, Miles can’t help but wonder -- where do his powers end, and where does reality begin?

 He has no way of telling if August is truly interested in him, or if she’s simply reacting to his attraction towards her.

At the same time, he finds himself at constant odds with his morals and his potentially warped sense of justice. 

At what point may it be considered acceptable to subjugate the minds of others? 

Is there ever an appropriate time for such an action?

And perhaps most pressing of all, what will Miles do when he knows that his solutions to certain problems will cause everyone that he cares about to be against him, but are events that he feels must take place? 

 *

This is only one of the four ARCs I have to go up this month. Yes, I said four. Yes, I might be a little crazy. 

This book is one that I really enjoyed reading. It caught my attention right in the beginning and it kept me compelled until the end. 

I have been dipping back and forth between different genres for a while. And I always love finding a book that is between worlds. A little dash of romance, some sci-fi, mixed in with a lesson of human morality. The best. 

Miles has spent years watching his father tear his family apart. He found himself stuck in a place that seemed inescapable, but he himself felt detached at the same time. A common theme found in books with domestic abuse issues. One that I find pleasing in some way because it is truth. 

Things like that happen everyday. And to see the truth written in fiction, to see it laid out and the emotions so raw, like they are in so many real people, it is something that I enjoy. I have a thing about books that show the ugliness in life. 

What doesn't happen in real life, at least to my knowledge, is Miles' power of mind-control. A power that allows him to stop this ugliness. A power that thrills him when he learns of it, but also scares him, because why does he have this power? 

And so begins his journey. 

This book touched a lot of points that made me, as a human being, stop and think. 

Miles struggles a lot with his morality, and what is right and what is wrong, when you are a person of power. 

Especially when it comes to August. Does she want him for her, or does she want him for him? 

When does the line between manipulation and free-will become blurry? 

And what does that make him, as a person? 

This book exposes us on an intellectual level, on a personal level, and on a societal level. 

We must think about the choices we have made, we must choose to sympathize with Miles, or to condemn him. We must try to fit him in our world. If this was real life, what would he do? What would we do, if we were in his shoes? 

This I enjoyed the most. The content, was great. I grew to feel for Miles and his troubles. But I enjoyed the controversial issues this book brought to my attention- whether it was the author's intent or not. 

Not, that I have ever focused on an author's intent. Every book has a purpose. Whether it be to teach us, to humor us, to allow us to pretend, or to have us question ourselves. 

And we all can take something away from each and every book we read.

What we can take away from this book, I cannot truthfully tell you. For there are a million ways this can be interpreted. And I'm not sure I want to narrow it down to a few inadequate sentences.  

I will gladly read other books by M.R. Reed. 

*Quote- "I’ve learned that the people who have the most satisfying lives are the ones who understand that you can’t control what happens to you on a daily basis."

-Abri