J's Musings

Book review by Janhavi

This week, get ready to get traumatized. Unless you are completely unaffected by gore and violence. Then get ready to get emotionally disturbed.

‘The Naturals’ is book 1 in ‘The Naturals’ series. This series came before ‘The Inheritance Games’, but didn’t blow up the same way on the internet. Despite that, I probably liked this series more than TIG.

The story is far from basic and JLB’s writing complements the chaos in the best way possible.

The book follows 17-year-old Cassie Hobbes dealing with the death of her mother, as she lives with her father’s adoring family. In the midst of the mess that her life has become; Cassie is invited by the FBI to join a program for exceptionally skilled teenagers due to her profiling skills.

The program recruits kids like her to help the FBI solve cold cases remotely. All is well, until gruesome murders start taking place a little too close to home and The Naturals are pulled onto the field.

In my opinion, The Naturals is some of Jeniffer’s best writing. It flows like the waves in your pool from when you were 7 and summer stayed all year around.

One thing I hate in books is when I can tell that I am reading. That doesn’t happen with JLB. It is so easy to slip into the story and just feel like you’re there. Some books make it hard to imagine the scene, so you can’t really have a movie playing in your head, that doesn’t really happen in this series.

I guess what I am trying to say is that Barnes’ writing is immaculate and has this natural rhythm. Not poetic or something, but just very human. The dialogue and characters are so very “real”, that the rhythm of conversation and time is weaved in seamlessly.

As for the story, it is literally perfect. The synopsis can’t convey much because I’m too scared that I’ll spoil something for you and ruin the book. Just be assured that the actual story is so much more complex, intriguing and thrilling.

There is a plot twist every 2 pages or so and the pace is incredibly quick while also being grounded, so that you don’t feel like you’re being bombarded with information all at once and actually have time to settle in before a new fact bomb.

The vibes, stakes, and even characters are all high. [pun intended] It is a really fun, intense, fast paced read. Easy to finish in one day.

The only thing I have to warn you about is that there is some intense gore. Especially if you don’t regularly indulge in gore, this can be triggering.

To avoid the worst gore, skip the chapters titled ‘You’.

These have all the descriptive violence and cruelty, which even I skipped. It doesn’t take away from the thrill in my opinion, and simply makes the read more comfortable for sensitive readers.

All in all; 10/10 read, even more creepy if you can handle the gore and has absolutely wonderful writing [yes, this is a JLB fan club].

I really hope you like the book, which the chances of are even higher if you’ve read IG or other JLB works, because this is her, but better.

Hoping you had a good Wednesday and are having a better read,

Janhavi ❤