Review – Freeks by Amanda Hocking

This was a book that bookstagram made me buy. My feed was filled with pictures of this book and it sounded good so I just had to have it. Honestly, just look at that cover, how could I not want it?

Title: Freeks

Author: Amanda Hocking

Genre: Fantasy – Paranormal

Age Classification: Young Adult

Publisher: Pan

Format: paperback

Release: January 10, 2017

So, I may have first been attracted to the cover, but the synopsis also sounded interesting. A carnival in 1987 filled with secrets and hidden powers, lives in danger and a cute little love story on the side, what’s not to love? For me, Freeks by Amanda Hocking was a nice little mystery that held enough intrigue that I did not want to put it down.

Mara Beznik, our main character, is a brave young woman who has lived her whole life as an outcast. Her mother, Lyanka, is a necromancer and so they have been travelling with Gideon Davorin’s Travelling Sideshow most of her life. Once people find out what she is, a carnie, they tend to call her a freak and so she has made a point of not getting attached to people.

Enter Gabriel Alvarado, a mysterious but predictably good looking guy Mara meets in chapter 2. The two have a ‘connection’ but Mara knows he is hiding something, not that is should matter because she is only in town ten days so she cannot get attached. Spoiler, they both get attached.

There are a group of other characters that have varying levels of influence over the story, including telekinetic Blossom, Roxie the fire chick, Luka the healing guy, and super strong Seth, just to name a few.  Another character with influence in this story is Della Jane. Odd. That is all I am going to say about her or I will spoil it for you all. There is also some twats that go by the names Logan and Troy. I believe them to be there for twatting purposes only but they too are odd. Let’s be honest, the who freaking town of Caudry is odd.

I really liked the element of mystery the book had and, being a fan of YA romances at the moment, enjoyed the love-ish side plot. I actually want to say it was a little similar to The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Obviously, The Night Circus was written for a more mature audience while the writing style in Freeks seemed to be aimed at younger readers. Freeks was also more paranormal rather than magic, however, the mystery, danger, forbidden love and of course the circus setting is what makes me compare the two. The tarot cards separating each day was a feature I really liked as it made the breaking up of the book feel a bit more fun and a little less forced, which other books sometimes feel when they try separating sections of the story.

The tarot cards separating each day was a feature I really liked as it made the breaking up of the book feel a bit more fun and a little less forced, which other books sometimes feel when they try separating sections of the story. I also liked that as it is set in 1987 it was a book without phones and computers complicating or interfering with the plot. The most complicated thing we had to deal with in the book is feelings, besides the thing attacking carnival employees of course, and that is how it should be. Although I do not know how well I would adjust to a life without all the technology we have available to us today, I sometimes wish for the simpler times to return and this book was a nice little peek into the unplugged lifestyle.

There were a few things that bothered me, but the one that bothered me most was the ending. Perhaps it was done in the “let’s give it an ending that wraps up the book but could be continued on from if we so choose” mindset, but I feel the book needed another chapter. Even a few extra pages at the end could have made a huge difference to the whole book in my opinion.

Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Over on Goodreads, I scored Freeks a 4 out of 5. I really did like the book, just a few things I was not 100% happy with.

Who had read Freeks and what were your thoughts?
Also, have you ever bought a book for the cover?

Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Until next time bibliophiles!

Amy x