A review by jenniiireads
Powerless by Lauren Roberts

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

The author says she wrote this in her teens and it shows. I think I’ve read Wattpad fanfics with better writing. Because of this, I can’t rate the book anything above two stars. It’s a shame because the story could have been written to be more intriguing and less cringe inducing. I also can’t continue with noting the clear copying of other stories (hunger games, red queen etc.) and whilst obviously art inspires art, there were some similarities that had me rolling my eyes.

Final problem with the story is the clear plot holes, you’re tell me there are elites with the power to detect lies, yet she wasn’t found out in the interviews or past that???? Get out of here. 

Now, onto the positive, I’m always going to be a sucker for enemies to lovers. I did like the twist of enemies to lovers to enemies, though her anger at the end towards Kai doesn’t feel too warranted. You literally said how the king made him do things against his will, and now you’re mad cause he kills your father against his will? Anyway, a 10/10 romance if your love language is physical touch and I can’t lie when I say the romance scenes from the middle/end of the book had me kicking my feet (though anything from the first half of the book just felt sooooo pushed, we don’t talk about the first trial). So yeah, just overall a mediocre book.