Review--Trance by Kelly Meding

Kelly Meding’s war-ravaged Los Angeles is ground zero for the ultimate Meta human showdown in this sexy, action-packed new series.

Fifteen years ago, Teresa “Trance” West was a skilled telepath and a proud member of the Ranger Corps. But ever since the Rangers were inexplicably rendered powerless at the climax of the devastating Meta War, she’s bounced from one dead-end job to another. Now her powers have reappeared just as mysteriously as they vanished— only they’re completely transformed and more potent than ever. And they’re threatening to destroy her.

Trance heads to Los Angeles to track down the surviving Rangers and discover who restored her powers—and why—but a phantom enemy is determined to kill them before they can reassemble. As they dodge his deadly attacks and come to terms with their new role as heroes, Trance and the rest of the team set out to annihilate the sinister madman . . . only to discover their own powers are his greatest weapons.

Kelly Meding's new series takes off with Trance, in a new kind of place with new characters! Trance has a slight dystopian feel to it, but not entirely. The world is just a different place. Not entirely great, but not horrendous or filled with a lot of new tech.

Things are explained nicely, but basically we have heroes and villains, but something odd happened 15 years ago when Trance, Teresa was just 10 years old, her powers, along with the powers of her friends just disappeared. Teresa than began living a life of a normal human, but her life wasn't anything grand. Until one night her powers suddenly come back, slamming into her like a freight train. Only her powers aren't the same as they were when she was 10. She seems to have gained some of her grandmother's abilities as well.

Feeling compelled to go back to LA where it all ended and started, Teresa is joined by a few of her friends from her childhood. The ones that lived anyway. And Gage is one of them. The boy she had a secret crush on in the past.

I honestly really enjoyed this book, I did have my doubts when I read a so-so review, but it was far better than I expected. We basically have a book with superheroes, but not comic or graphic. Teresa and her friends have superpowers and abilities that they use to help people. Only not all of society likes them, but Teresa and her friends want to change that.

But the big bad guy from their past, the one their parents were trying to fight, is on the loose and taking them out one by one. Diminishing their numbers, Teresa will have to get her act together and get her team together to stop him before there's no one left.

There is a bit of romance sparking between Teresa and Gage that I enjoyed. It wasn't insta love, but it did happen kind of fast, yet they did know each other years ago. Yet they both have their issues that they must each get through so that they can trust the other completely--it's that part I liked. I like the romances that are challenged by one or the other. Sure sometimes the hangups can be annoying, but it is somehow real.

The ending was good! There were some surprising outcomes that I didn't expect, yet one I did have an inkling theory on! But the ending is not the ending, as Teresa says, it's only the beginning, the beginning of a new series!

There were just a few things that made reading a little challenging, Teresa and her friends all have code names, and they go back and forth with referring to one another with them. I got Teresa and Gage's down pretty good, but it was the others that made me pause because I had to remember their other name in order to remember their code name. The other part was some of the politic issues--which weren't a lot--that made it hard to grasp as well. But again, the politics weren't even that big of an issue, it was just some things that also dealt with the Ranger Corps and Meta War history that kind of befuddled me for a bit, but I got over it pretty easily!

Still, LOVE this series now! Not sure if I rate it above her other series or not. It's a tough call! But I will definitely be sticking with this one til its end!

Overall rating 4.5/5 stars