ExtraNormal (Suze Reese)

ExtraNormal
(A Paranormal Romance, Book 1)
Suze Reese
Valarian Press
Fiction, YA Romance/Sci-Fi
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: Mira Jones came a very long way to enroll at Los Robles High School in California... through a wormhole from her home planet Nreim. Since discovering Earth, her people have been fascinated as much by its similarities - third planet from a yellow star, genetically similar dominant species - as its differences - a complete inability to understand, let alone manipulate, personal electromagnetic fields, which the locals derisively refer to as psychic nonsense. But some nafarians have gone rogue, doing far more than just observing the curiously backwards humans, manipulating and exploiting them. A linkmated pair of scientists, the Stones, gained global fame for their studies of Earth, but the Nreim council has long suspected them of rogue activities. They just started teaching at Los Robles, for unknown but likely suspicious reasons. Until someone can gather actual evidence of wrongdoing, the council takes the unusual step of sending a teenager to keep an eye on them. She won't be alone - her mother, a government agent, will be with her - but it's still dangerous... and not just because the Stones might figure out she's not a native. Mira underwent stringent training, with a list of forbidden activities nearly as long as the distance from Nreim to Earth; this is, after all, a government mission, not a vacation, and her teenage mind must be protected from distractions. No eating unapproved Earth food. No getting too close with the locals. And absolutely no mingling with males.
Before her first day of school is out, Mira violates the top two commands... and before long, the strangely attractive loner Jesse tempts her to violate the third. But then the handsome new boy Everett appears, and Mira's covert mission becomes more dangerous than she could ever have imagined.

REVIEW: This being a romance, albeit with sci-fi trappings, there are certain givens in the plot. There will be a Handsome Stranger, whom the heroine is destined to love. There will be a Dangerous Rival. And there will be all sorts of complications, real and imagined, standing between the leads and True Love. ExtraNormal faithfully adheres to this formula. Mira spends a fair amount of time pining and fretting and otherwise working herself up over her star-crossed lover, but she manages to not be entirely useless. Jesse's blind devotion from first sight grew a little tiresome, his love always pure and unflagging even as Mira doubts herself, but he was simply playing out his role as the Handsome Stranger. Likewise, Everett plays his role as the villain to the hilt, a serviceable (if not entirely original) baddie whose sole purpose in life seems to be making Mira and Jesse miserable. The story of the rogue aliens, the Stones, often takes a back seat to the angst and romance, but Mira checks in on the subplot often enough to keep them in play, adding a little intrigue and the occasional burst of action. The sci-fi elements of the tale play like soft background music, just loud enough to set the mood (and provide a few more obstacles for Mira to navigate as she sorts her heart.) Anyone looking for hard, or even plausible, sci-fi will walk away disappointed. For what it was, though, ExtraNormal proves decent enough, hitting its marks with confidence, if not stunning originality.

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