I am extremely excited to be reviewing this book on the final stop of the Random Things Tours blog tour. This is my first ever blog tour and I am incredibly happy that I have started off with such a bang! What a fantastic book to break in with! I want to say a huge thank you to everyone at @randomttours and @MartiLiembach for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this story. I was given a copy of this book for free but all thoughts and opinions are wholly my own.
Title: Dragonfly girl
Author: Marti Liembach
Source: Random Things Tours (proof)
Publish date: 23rd February 2021
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Blurb:
In this spellbinding thriller and YA debut from bestselling author Marti Leimbach, Kira Adams has discovered a cure for death—and it may just cost her life.
Things aren't going well for Kira. At home, she cares for her mother and fends off debt collectors. At school, she's awkward and shy. Plus, she may flunk out if she doesn't stop obsessing about science, her passion and the one thing she's good at . . . very good at.
When she wins a prestigious science contest she draws the attention of the celebrated professor Dr. Gregory Munn (as well as his handsome assistant), leading to a part-time job in a top-secret laboratory.
The job is mostly cleaning floors and equipment, but one night, while running her own experiment, she revives a lab rat that has died in her care.
One minute it is dead, the next it is not.
Suddenly she's the remarkable wunderkind, the girl who can bring back the dead. Everything is going her way. But it turns out that science can be a dangerous business, and Kira is swept up into a world of international rivalry with dark forces that threaten her life.
My thoughts:
I absolutely loved this book. It was such a great mix of science, drama and action. If you weren't interested in Science before you certainly will be intrigued by the end!
Kira, a high school girl with a phenomenal scientific mind becomes embroiled in a world she doesn't fully understand and takes a dark turn that she is unprepared for. Winning a scientific prize for her essay about Dragonflies Kira is transported into a world unknown to her. Suddenly her work is being discussed by important people in science and she draws a lot of attention from esteemed colleagues and not all of them are what they seem.
There were some fabulous characters introduced in this story. From the beginning we see Kira is struggling, she doesn't seem to fit in within the social constraints of her life. She is extremely passionate and driven about science but this is to the detriment of everything else in her life. The first line of the book highlights her struggles
"My brain isn't normal."
We come to realise that she has an extremely academic brain that is miles ahead of her peers but doesn't help her fit in with them.
Her best friend Lauren is a sassy beautiful girl who champions everything Kira does and supports her throughout.
Will I despised from the beginning, such a great character you love to hate.
Especially as you get to know him throughout the book he gives more and more ammunition. Without giving away any plot his and Kiras relationship is tantamount to the direction her story takes and I cannot wait to see what Marti has in store for them both in her next book.
So many other brilliant side characters Dmitry, Rik, Dr. Munn, April and Volkov all keep the story ticking and bring a sense of life, danger and suspicion at every turn.
There was a good amount of scientific knowledge, but not so much that I became lost in the science. As well as a great amount of intrigue with many twists and turns along the way. Marti weaves a lovely web of deceit and secrecy so that you never quite know who to trust in the story.
I truly enjoyed the book and I really hope there is a sequel on its way! I want to see how Kiras journey continues!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marti Leimbach's latest novel is DRAGONFLY GIRL, a YA action/thriller about a high school girl with a gift for science who discovers a "cure" for death and ends up embroiled in an international rivalry. It is published by Harper Collins in February 2021.
Marti Leimbach is known for her bestsellers, Dying Young, made into a film starring Julia Roberts, and Daniel Isn't Talking. She is interested in neurodiversity and has shared the stage with young inventors at the Human Genome Project (Toronto), the National Autistic Society, and the University of Oxford.
She teaches on the Masters Programme in Creative Writing at the University of Oxford. Dragonfly Girl is her eighth novel, but her first for young adults.
Twitter @MartiLeimbach
