The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Review

 Hello Friends :)

I pray today finds you all doing well, and I want to thank you all for joining me for another book review here on The Preppy Book Princess.

I'm not sure I've ever explained this before, but I thought I'd start off today's post by talking about when my reviews typically get posted.

If a book I'm reading is a review title, I'll review it pretty much right away afterwards, and the review will be posted pretty soon after, depending on what the author or publisher preferences are.

However, since I do review the majority of the books I read, and because I read a lot of books, often my reviews of non-review titles can be a few months behind.

While I'm typing this up today, I'm actually at home recovering from something I'm not totally comfortable talking about on my blog as of yet, and the book I'm about to talk about with you all really helped give me something else to focus on.

Throughout my many years of being an avid reader, I've loved young adult fiction for quite sometime. Unfortunately, in more recent years, I've noticed a downwards trend in terms of inappropriate content and whatnot, and as such, I don't read nearly as many of these books anymore, and when I do, I often end up not enjoying them.

So for me to find a secular young adult fiction novel that I ended up loving the way I did this one, let's just say that's extremely rare, and I can't wait to tell you guys all about it!

Let's go right ahead and dive into the review.

The Fixer by Jennifer Lynn Barnes:

Source: Libby Library App

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's

Publication Date: July 7th, 2015

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Mystery/Suspense/Politcal/Thriller

Series: The Fixer

Synopsis:

This thriller YA is Scandal meets Veronica Mars.

Sixteen-year-old Tess Kendrick has spent her entire life on her grandfather's ranch. But when her estranged sister Ivy uproots her to D.C., Tess is thrown into a world that revolves around politics and power. She also starts at Hardwicke Academy, the D.C. school for the children of the rich and powerful, where she unwittingly becomes a fixer for the high school set, fixing teens’ problems the way her sister fixes their parents’ problems.

And when a conspiracy surfaces that involves the family member of one of Tess's classmates, love triangles and unbelievable family secrets come to light and life gets even more interesting—and complicated—for Tess.

Perfect for fans of Pretty Little Liars and Heist Society, readers will be clamoring for this compelling teen drama with a political twist.

(synopsis from goodreads)

My Review:

A few years back, I pretty much inhaled young adult mystery thrillers like this one, and I couldn't read them fast enough. However, in recent years, I've been less impressed with them, and since I'm picky about the type of content I read these days, most of these type of books don't make the mark. I've enjoyed quite a few of Jennifer Lynn Barnes' books in the past, but last year I read The Inheritance Games trilogy, and I couldn't stand it. They ended up being some of my least favorite reads of the year, and I thought that maybe my reading tastes had changed, and she just wasn't the author for me anymore.

However, I'd had The Long Game sitting on my bookshelves for quite some time, and something kept pushing me to want to give it a chance anyway. When I discovered it was the second book in a series, I went ahead and requested the first from the library app, and I was not prepared for just how much I was going to end up loving this story.

Right from the start, this one was composed of pretty much everything I've come to love in young adult mysteries, and it reminded me heavily of Embassy Row, Heist Society, and The Conspiracy of Us, some of my all time favorites.

The characters were well fleshed out, and seemed realistic and relatable, and I loved the somewhat eccentric friendship that builds between such an eclectic group of people. Having this one set in Washington, DC added an extra layer of suspense and intrigue to the plot, and the way that the scandals and coverups in the government were represented was both shocking and made this one hard to put down.

The mystery is very well plotted, and I loved how major shocks and reveals kept emerging around every corner. While I had guessed at one of the major reveals, honestly all the others had me pretty shocked, and I love when that ends up being the case.

Honestly, this one was pretty much jaw dropping right from the opening pages, and I can't wait to get the chance to sit down and read the second book.

Final Rating: 5/5.

I honestly loved this one so much more than I was expecting, and I appreciated the fact that it was pretty clean as far as young adult novels go. I'd highly recommend it if you're also a fan of young adult mysteries, particularly if you enjoy political ones.

Thanks so much for reading guys! Have a great rest of your day :)

This is not a sponsored post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The photo does not belong to me, and all rights to the respective owners.