Jocelyn Davies

"The night before their SATs, four former best friends get struck by a magical bolt of lightning that gives them special powers and sends them on an all-night adventure throughout New York City"--

The Odds of Lightning

Sparrow Hall

It is really sad to me when books don't live up to the hype that I've created for them in my own head. Further review to come soon...

A bolt of lightning inspires an incredible adventure in this charming, magical realism story that takes four teens on an all-night journey through the streets of New York City. Extraordinary things happen when we least expect them. Tiny, Lu, Will and Nathaniel used to be best friends. Then life-defining events the summer before high school tore them apart. Now, three years later, they hardly talk anymore. Nathaniel has become obsessed with winning the prestigious science scholarship that his genius older brother once won. Will has risen from anonymity to popular soccer star. Lu grew into a brash, impetuous actress. And shy, poetic Tiny has slowly been fading away. But fate weaves their lives together again the night before the SATs, during a wild thunderstorm that threatens to shut down New York City. And lightning strikes. Before they know what's hit them, the four teens embark on an epic all-night adventure to follow their dreams, fall in and out of love, reconcile the past, and overcome the fears that have been driving them since that one lost summer. And by the time the sun rises, odds are they’ll discover that there’s a fine line between science and magic, and that the mysteries of love and friendship can’t be explained.

Ava Shaffer

This is the first book of the magic realism genre that I’ve read, and I really liked it. At first the characters were dull and hard to actually care about, but as the story progressed and with the help of well placed flashbacks, I ended up loving all 4 of the main characters. Although this book was a little cliché (large paragraphs of insightful outbursts about teenagers’ feelings is sort of cheesy to me) I still appreciated the poetic phrasing and overarching theme of risk and chance in this book.

The Odds of Lightning

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