Review: Power Within by C.L. Causer

Power Within 

by C.L. Causer

Published: March 12, 2012

Available: Amazon

Synopsis:

Charlotte 'Charlie' Gordon wants nothing more, than to be a normal girl. But having a near death accident as a child, she finds out that she has powers. After accidentally electrocuting her sister and blowing up her mother's kitchen, she suppresses her powers for ten years. Unknowing that there are more people like her out there. A lot more.

That is until a secret group of them try and hunt her down because of her unusual abilities. Forcing her family into hiding, she goes on the run. Having to learn about her powers and her past, she meets many new friends along the way. But you can't run forever. She learns that someone has betrayed her to the very people she is running from.

Review:
Power Within is one of those books I'm on the fence about. There is an interesting premise, but I just couldn't get into the story completely, especially in the beginning. Causer starts off with some good action, but I couldn't really get into it. Then about halfway through the story, things started clicking for me. The plot seemed to be stronger and I was actually starting to connect with Charlie.

In the first half of the story, Charlie is helped along by her best friend Jake and they have a really sweet friendship, one I was immediately hoping would become the romantic part of the plot. Then Jake disappears, and a new love interest pops up. Tyler was more of the typical YA love interest. Good looking, mysterious, rough around the edges, and he and Charlie immediately dislike each other. Even though the romance was a bit predictable, Tyler grew on me, and I liked that Charlie never relies on him to save her.

Charlie was really the reason I kept reading. She's not one of those over the top characters. As the central character, Causer does a good job of keeping us primarily in Charlie's head, and it's a nice one to be in. She's a nice girl. She loves her family and her friends, and wants to protect them, but she's also not stupid. She's willing to accept help, and it's trying to keep everything hidden, although she is smart enough to have some trust issues with people she's just met.

The one thing that kept me from from enjoying the story was the editing. I did read the updated version the author sent me, but there were frequent grammatical errors, and while I can ignore a certain amount, they became an annoyance the further I read. An example would be the continual misuse of sat and stood. Sentences which should have said "They were sitting at the table." were written as "They were sat at the table." or instead of "They were standing at the door." it was written as "They were stood at the door.". 

The last third of the book really picked up the pace and I really got into the flow of the story. I enjoyed the ending and thought it was a really strong conclusion to the first book in the series. I am definitely open to reading more by Causer.