Skip to main content

Book Review: Empath (Flawed #1) by Becca J. Campbell

Another winner from Becca J. Campbell! In her latest series, Flawed, her usual flare for suspense and the manipulation of reality manifests itself in the forms of five unique and gripping characters, all of whom possess a certain “flaw” that enhances their life experience—and not always for the better. In Empath, the riveting first installment to the series, we are introduced to Jade, a young woman plagued by the distinctive problem of being highly sensitive to the feelings and emotions of others—to the point that she often loses track of her own personality. In an effort to gain control over this phenomenon, Jade enrolls in on-campus college classes for the first time ever, and strikes up a surprising number of friendships with people who allow her to be herself. Caught in the internal tug of war of emotion, not only with her own feelings for her new friends, but with theirs as well, Jade is unable to track the emotions of the one person who may matter most: the man who is stalking her, intent on torturing and eventually killing her.





Campbell’s signature writing style shines as bright as ever in Empath, allowing the reader to be truly enveloped in Jade’s awkwardness, emotion, and conviction that she must overcome what she calls her “handicap” and have normal relationships with normal people. The story runs a winding course, cutting brutally back and forth between violent scenes that slowly reveal the villain’s intent, and touching moments between Jade and her friends that keep the reader enthralled. Though the killer purports to use people’s fears and weaknesses to destroy them, it is really the interaction between the characters minds and bodies that seems to discuss the relationship between fear and love, strength and weakness, leading the reader to question his own fears, and speculate about what it really means to be strong.

Though it is absolutely thrilling up to the very last page, this book is more than a simple suspense novel. It is a deeper probing into the idea of what makes a person normal, and how perceived abnormalities might actually be a blessing in disguise. Part thriller, part romance, and part superhero creation story, Empath by Becca J. Campbell will frighten, amuse, comfort, and inspire. With Campbell’s easy storytelling style and well-rounded characters, this is the perfect book to read when what you really need is something to devour in the course of a weekend, because it is inevitable that you will.

Bottom Line: A solid, all-encompassing book that engages and thrills. This is a series starter that will leave you thirsting for the next installment!

Side Note: I would rate this book as PG-13. Probably a good read for late middle school, early high school, but definitely not for kids. Just in case you were wondering.





About Becca J. Campbell

Becca J. Campbell is the author of the New Adult Romantic Science Fiction novels Foreign Identity and Gateway to Reality, New Adult Romantic Paranormal Thriller Empath (The Flawed Series #1), and  Sub-Normal, a series of Science Fiction short stories.
An avid lover of stories that tiptoe the line between fantasy and reality (even when they plunge off one side or the other), Becca looks for new angles on bridging the gap between the two. She holds a special place in her heart for any story that involves superpowers or time travel. Her passion is defying the limits of her own creativity. You can find her on her Author Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Amazon.
 

If you would like to purchase a copy of Empath, it will be on sale for $0.99 through the following venues:

Amazon US | Amazon UK  | Amazon CA  | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner(s)!

Did you know that you can buy an entire chicken at the grocery story for less than $6? Well, you can. And if you are willing to put up with a little home butchering, it can make enough food to last you almost a week. I bought a chicken last weekend for our Sunday meal, and used the last of it just yesterday. This is a huge help when you are trying to mitigate the expensive cost of meat in your grocery budget. First, it needs a little work. I roasted the chicken for our weekend dinner, and I always butterfly it because it cooks faster that way. I'm not going to sugarcoat it--butterflying a chicken is kind of gross. Really gross, actually. But if you can overcome your squeamishness, it cooks great. There are a lot of great tutorials for doing this on YouTube, but here is how I did it.  Step 1: Remove the giblets (the heart, neck, and gizzard). This is disgusting because you must reach into a dead animal and pull out its organs. But once they are out, you can throw them away, ...
1 comment
Read more

I Am Afraid of Snakes

I am giving you some valuable information here. Snakes are my biggest fear. My second biggest fear is that upon discovering my biggest fear, people will pounce on it and send me snakes in the mail, or put them in my bed, or my car, or throw them in my face like David Bowie did to Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth . So, the other day, when Norris was getting ready to go on a short trip, we were talking about all the critters in our yard. Normally I like all these critters. We have a bunch of toads (like, seriously, we have like 20 toads in our back yard—and that’s just the ones we can find. Toads freaking love us.) and a couple tree frogs, and some praying mantises, and snails, and a family of birds (dusky flycatchers—the babies all just flew away and I was very sad) that nested in our patio light fixture, and for a few days we had a raccoon living in one of our trees. We also have a couple of hawks (I mean two hawks that are in a committed relationship. We know they care about each...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Fungus Among Us

Aren't they pretty?  I love mushrooms. I think they are cute, and pretty, and fascinating. Before all this rain, I even bought a couple ceramic mushrooms to put in the flower bed because they make me think of the forest floor in a fairytale. Now that we’ve gotten so much moisture, though, we have tons of living mushrooms all over the garden! The main garden. Carrots in front. Speaking of the garden itself, it is nice and green, but having a little trouble actually growing because all the weather has kept temperatures cooler than they normally are this time of year. We haven’t gotten nearly as many spring blooms as we normally do, and all the tropical plants, like our passion flower vine and hibiscus and bird of paradise are enjoying the rain but not the cooler temps. Yellow squash!  Nevertheless, here is what is happening in the garden this year so far: carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, purple bell peppers, sweet jalapenos, zuchinni, land yellow sq...
Post a Comment
Read more