Review: Found (Penny Black #1) – Stacey Wallace Benefiel

Posted 9 September, 2013 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review: Found (Penny Black #1) – Stacey Wallace BenefielFound by Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Series: Penny Black #1
Published by Write Free on 24 February 2013
Genres: New Adult, Paranormal Romance, Suspense
Pages: 159
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Buy on Amazon
4 Stars

Penny Black hasn’t had it easy. Just about everything you’d expect to happen to a harassed foster-kid turned junkie has happened to Penny. Add in the mysterious power to rewind time, conducting events around her, and it’s a wonder she held up on the streets for so many years. Now, at seventeen, the New Society has found her. Finally, Penny is where she belongs. But that doesn’t stop the visions, or the need to protect the victims shown to her.

Wyatt Adams is excited and intrigued when his sister Melody assigns him to be Penny’s Lookout. Being the youngest, and hopelessly ordinary in the family that created the New Society, has left Wyatt feeling like he has a lot to prove -- and Penny is a big deal. She’s got abilities that surpass any he’s seen before…and pretty much every quality he looks for in a girlfriend, but no one needs to know about that, especially Penny.

*I received a free ARC of Found from Write Free via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

Found is set in the same world as the Zellie Weiss series by the same author, but I do not think it is necessary to read those books in order to enjoy Found. Because I really did enjoy it, and I had no idea what this world was all about when I started reading. Penny has been alone for a long time – waking up in strange places is not something she pays all that much attention to, it has happened many times. During these dreams, she is using her hands and her mind to stop time, rewind events and then make sure those events are changed. In her dreams, she saves peoples’ lives. What Penny doesn’t know, though, is that she is not dreaming at all. That is part of her reality.

I really enjoyed reading Found, Penny’s gift is something else, and the fact that she wasn’t aware that these rewinding of events actually happen, she had no idea just how different she is. Then, she is taken in by the New Society, where there is a school inhabited by youth just like herself, kids with strange gifts, and they are often paired off. Wyatt is supposed to be Penny’s lookout. He doesn’t have any strange gifts himself, even if he is from a family that founded the New Society, but he has lived surrounded by these gifts his whole life and he has a very good understanding of it all.

Penny has a lot of trouble trusting anyone, she has been through so many bad things since her parents died, and living on her own on the street was better for her than being in a dysfunctional foster family where she was abused both physically and mentally. Arriving at the New Society’s school, she still doesn’t know if she should trust anyone, but getting enough food and new, clean clothes is not something she is willing to turn down.

There is a big mystery going on in Found, because someone is trying to get to the gifted people, and Penny seems to be the key to all of it. I quite liked the mystery, but I was not always so happy with some of the minor plot-points that were going on. First of all, even if there needs to be some kind of ‘trigger’ that binds or pairs two people it seems that they should still have a choice when it comes to whom they should date or be in love with. This is one thing that might have been already explained in the prior series set in the same world, though.

The writing is good, and the pace of the plot is quite quick, but it’s still easy to follow. There are a lot of characters present, and they all have their part in the story, and I was pleased that even in a short book like Found, I felt like even the secondary characters were well enough fleshed out for me to care about them. I will certainly read the next books about Penny, and I am pretty sure I’ll pick up the Zellie Weiss series as well. If you enjoy paranormal romance that isn’t all about the romance, I think you’ll enjoy Found as well.

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Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.

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0 responses to “Review: Found (Penny Black #1) – Stacey Wallace Benefiel

    • Oh my the ending! I was like NOOO as well! But it sure makes me want to read the next in the series!! Thanks for stopping by, Stormi 🙂

    • LOL, if it’ll only take a year that’s quite good, Brandee 😀 I’m afraid to go to your blog, because I know I’ll keep adding more books to my shelves 😀

      Thanks for stopping by, have a great week! *hugs

    • I know I have to get my hands on the Zellie Wells trilogy now, because Found is good, and the paranormal aspects aren’t what I’m used to reading about.

      Thanks for stopping by Naomi! Happy reading 🙂

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