Reviewer: Tracy
Altered
Publication Date: December 28, 2015
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When "normal" ends, survival begins...

The sickness came on suddenly and violently. When it was done, waitress Blue Michaels was different in a really strange way. And the entire town of Glory was dead...except for her.

Only that's not exactly true. A handful of people made it, including U.S. Army Specialist Seth Campbell, who was caught in the wrong town at the worst time. He's fierce and protective, and way too good-looking. As much as they need a leader—as much as Blue wants to trust him—there are too many questions and not enough time for answers. Now they are hunted. But what their pursuers don't know is each of them has strange new powers. And they'll use their "gifts" to survive...no matter who stands in their way.

Blue Michaels just got home from work as a bartender when she becomes violently ill.  When it finally stops and she’s finally slept she finds most of the people in her small town of Glory, Colorado dead.  There are some people who, like her, survived but she’s not sure what exactly she survived.  One of the people who she finds living is Army Specialist Seth Campbell.  He manages to hide them enough to get to her friends house when she finds her alive.  Her friend, Kitty, is freaking out because she can all of a sudden read minds.  When Seth and Blue think about it they find they have special powers as well and it’s freaking them out.

The group grows while they try to get out of town and seek assistance but they’re being followed by a group by the name of Goldstone who wants to take them prisoner.  Blue and Seth as well as the others want to find out what the hell happened to them, how did their families get killed, WHY this happened and how can they make it all stop?  They don’t know who to trust and just when they think they’ve found the right people they’re betrayed and now have nowhere to run.

I have to admit that when I read the blurb to this book it definitely sounded interesting but it was vague enough of a description that I really wasn’t sure what I was getting into.  I’m happy that I took a chance on the book because it was a good one.

The story was bizarre enough that I had to keep reading to find out what happens to the group but the writing of the characters and the way they each dealt with their powers/afflictions was what kept me reading.  Marnee Blake kept me glued to the pages as with each one I turned there was something exciting happening.  It definitely had me on the edge of my seat.

Within all of this there was a blooming love story between Seth and Blue that started pretty suddenly, but as the book went on I saw the relationship grow and I liked the two together.  They were each caring people to start with so together they made quite the pair and led the group to the best of their ability – taking care of those who wouldn’t have necessarily been able to take care of themselves.  They were most certainly stronger as a whole unit than individually.

The story is not finished which is the only bad thing about the book – which for me was a big one.  I really don’t care for books that have cliffhangers.  Really, this wasn’t truly a cliffhanger but it’s not a complete story either.  I know that the next one is about Kitty but it will include the group as well as none of their stories are finished.  This was a major problem for me because I’m not a patient person! lol  Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the next story to roll around because I really want to know what happens next.

If you like a good suspense story that has pretty major paranormal elements to it then this one would be a good one for you to pick up.

Rating: 4 out of 5