I really enjoyed this! In one way it's 'another' "teen girl discovers the world isn't what she thought it was" book - I must admit to reading quite a few of those - but in as another way its appeal was that it was familiar yet different and unusual *enough* to work. For a start, the protagonist being a young Amish girl was an interesting way to explain why the events that caused the dystopia it is set in had to be explained to her - no unnecessary exposition here - and I liked that it seemed a believable dystopia. Some of the ones I've read, you find yourself thinking that there's no way 'the people' would allow that, or I suppose no way the government would risk the response it would get if it introduced some of the new rules. (much as I like the series, I think the ones where its legal to 'kill' your teen for spare parts for example, may have caused a bit of a fuss).

I liked the characters, though wasn't completely convinced about the love triangle and its eventual outcome, and the adults were mostly a bit thin, but the main appeal was the story. It was exciting and swept you along from one interesting bit to the next, and right from the opening it kept my attention. The whole 'Spark' idea was fun and was described well - I could see it working really well visually, too, I'd watch a film of this!

Finally, the main problem with a lot of the young adult indie published books I've read recently (and some of the adult ones come to that) is the quality and/or style of the writing, but to me this had none of that at all, it read like a well-written pro book with a writer confident and comfortable in their writing, and rightfully so. I would read more in this series (if it is or became a series, very much liked that it was open at the end to happily be a stand alone book but could also be returned to in the future) - and I will also look out for more by the same author. For me, that's pretty high praise in itself! ;) ( )

Grounded kept me in my seat and turning the page to find out what happened next. While very similar to many of the other YA dystopian novel out right now, it still kept me interested and had some interesting twists. The main characters in the story had good depth and were relatable even with their special inhuman abilities. ( )

An amazing story of finding yourself when you think you've found all that there is to find. Lydia is a girl with a power inside her that's well hidden on an Amish Community. So well hidden in fact, that she doesn't even know she has it. That is, until she ventures off on her own into the world beyond their little slice of heaven, into a post apocalyptic, futuristic world. I knew immediately that it had potential to be one of my new favourite books.

Check out my full review here!

https://radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com/2021/10/08/book-review-grounded-the... ( )

I am very honest with my reviews and usually list both pros and cons, especially when the writer gets pertinent info wrong or makes mistakes from one chapter to another. With that said this book is superbly written and a great read. I know a lot about the Amish and G.P. put a great spin to the book using an Amish setting ( )

Electrifying!

I loved how the protagonist's two worlds came together as she discovered her power. I loved the connection between the two main characters. The author did a great job of describing the intimacy of the use of the power and how it made the character feel. I loved being in her head and seeing how the Amish life style that she grew up with caused inner conflict when she was faced with the views of the outside world.
Clean read but electrifying enough to keep me hooked. ( )