Powerless: TikTok Made Me Buy It! The epic romantasy series taking the world by storm! (The Powerless Trilogy) Paperback – 6 July 2023

Totally lives up to the online hype! Characters are well fleshed out, unique and well written, plus the plot is fabulous. Love this author so much!

Beyond the basic premise of Powerless and seeing an aesthetic video on Insta I didn’t know much about this book other than it’s a YA fantasy with a stabby FMC.Paedyn is an 18-year-old orphan, left to fend for herself and work as a pickpocket on the streets of Ilya, after her father's brutal murder. Ilya is a kingdom ruled by a king who wants only the magical Elites to have a place and the powerless Ordinaries to be eradicated. Of course, Paedyn is an Ordinary in hiding and using her abilities to read her adversaries' weaknesses and pass herself off as a Psychic.When she picks the pocket and then saves the life of a handsome stranger, Paedyn is entered into the annual Purging Trials. In these survival challenges she is forced to compete against a group of Elites, all with their own deadly magical abilities. Making an unlikely alliance with Kai, the king's second son and personal fixer/assassin, Paedyn must use her skills to fight to survive the trials and bring down the tyrannical king.I really enjoyed the story and characters but I know if I hadn’t read The Hunger Games I would have loved it so much more. There are so many elements which are a direct parallel to THG that it started to become a bit predictable. For example the contestants are made to gain the Ilyan peoples votes through a public interview (where Paedyn doesn’t say the script she’s meant to follow), royal balls (where of course Paedyn goes against tradition and dresses to stand out) and of course the trials themselves which despite knowing there can be only one winner they form alliances.For a new YA generation this book does a great job of combining a fast paced fantasy adventure with a very capable female main character, a dark haired morally grey Prince who only has eyes for her and enough slowburn tension to keep the reader wanting more. If like me, you’re an older reader that likes to dip back into YA then this might not be the best choice as it has so many elements of other books that it loses some of its charm and becomes too unoriginal in places.Overall an enjoyable book and I’ll definitely be reading the other two books in the series.RatingsSpice: 0.5🌶Story: ⭐️⭐️⭐️Characters: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐

“I’m tougher than I look, I assure you. The strongest weapon a woman has at her disposal is that she is often underestimated. And I wield that all the time.”😭 ahhh this book!! It’s been a while since ive been so submerged in a story and the characters. I savoured this book like a fine wine, I wished it wouldn’t end. The story building is epic, kept me hooked from the very first chapter. My first thought was, this is giving me hunger game vibes which I didn’t dislike as I love hunger games! But I hoped it would open up into its own and I think it did in the ways that count - I think you need to overlook the similarities and enjoy this story for what it is. Hunger games who?! 😉Paedyn is officially up there with my all time favourite FMC’s!!! She may be labelled as an “ordinary” but this girl is anything but. She is an absolute bad***. She has been through some absolute horror in her life and is now living it out in the slums of Ilya with her best friend Adena. She claims to be psychic to survive and blend in with the elite. She is an epic thief!! Little did she know the guy she saves in the slums is the prince, which leads to her standing out and her name being picked for the the brutal competition - the purging trials. Anyway…..KAI!!!!! 😍❤️🫶🏼 new book boyfriend alert!! I’m so in love I can’t even. Brought up to be the kings enforcer, Kai has been brutally trained to play his role and execute whomever the king wishes. A killer. Brutal.“She is a vision, a nightmare, a dream. “The banter between Kai and Paedyn is everything 😂 I was laughing so much throughout. The flirting and swoonworthy - ness 😍😍 I was here for it all!! But I will say, if you’re looking for any sort of spice, it’s not there. ** spoiler alert**we didn’t even get one kiss!! Soo damnnnn close!!!! 😫🥲😂 - Lauren you big tease!! You done us dirty there 😜🤣“She is a devil. She is a deity. She is a man’s downfall in human form. She is my downfall.”And what with that ending, it might be a while till we get what we’re all waiting for!! But my god, that ending guys 😫😭 we all knew it was coming, but didn’t make it any less harder. I need the next book. Like. Now? 🙏🏼🥺

Enjoyed the story and it went fast, the design is also so pretty which is an added bonus , was first book I actually read and it got me to books to will forever be a defender of it