Review--The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Everything is different

Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox has just awoken from a year-long coma - so she's been told - and she is still recovering from the terrible accident that caused it. But what happened before that? She's been given home movies chronicling her entire life, which spark memories to surface. But are the memories really hers? And why won't anyone in her family talk about the accident? Jenna is becoming more curious. But she is also afraid of what she might find out if she ever gets up the courage to ask her questions.

What happened to Jenna Fox? And who is she really?

I am a huge fan of Mary E. Pearson's The Remnant Chronicles, so I decided to check her backlist out with The Adoration of Jenna Fox! Apparently it's being made into a TV show, at least that's what I thought I heard. But sadly, something just didn't click for me with this book. Maybe the TV show can make it more understandable for me, but for the most part, I felt like I was just drifting through the pages hoping and waiting for a pick me up.

But as I like to say, just because this read wasn't for me, doesn't mean it won't be a good one for you! We have a great deal of mystery in this story! Jenna wakes up from an 18 month coma with no idea who she really is. She basically has no memories of her past of even what happened before she went into her coma. There's nothing but a void.

We watch as Jenna struggles to bring up some memory of herself. Even watching all the tapes her parents had of her throughout her life doesn't seem to help.

I think this is where I started to lose interest. Jenna's struggling to remember something of her past before the coma and there's nothing there. Her parents and grandmother aren't very forthcoming either. Though her grandmother comes off a little cold and resentful towards Jenna, we at least get the meaning behind that.

We get a little more added zest when Jenna convinces her mom to let her attend school. There she makes some new friends and a possible love connection with a boy named Ethan. Though, to be honest, I really didn't feel the love here either. It was so quick and fast, they go from being friends to something more in a blink of the eye!

I struggle to even write this review because I don't want to rehash the entire story here. But suffice to say, that I felt like the pacing was also very slow. It dragged as Jenna tried to her self-discovery thing. Everyone around her seemed to know more than she did, but no one seemed to want to clue Jenna in on her own life.

When we get to the big reveal of what happened, I still felt let down, and confused. Science was never my best subject and this gets a little sciencey, especially in the future sense because I think this  takes place in the future-ish. Another thing that was kind of unclear. But based on some of the technology used and mentioned, I feel like it's a safe bet to say it's a dystopian type read, just take out the uber depressing times. It's more confusing and whatnot, because I couldn't even pinpoint our big bad. Was there even a big bad? I remain a little clueless on this one.

Overall this one sadly didn't live up to my expectations. I'm not sure I'll be continuing the series either. I actually started the next book in hopes of being hooked into that one, but after 30 pages I already found myself drifting away. But should the TV show actually happen, then I still might check that out in hopes for a better explanation or even a better mystery vibe. I guess I was just expecting more mystery or conspiracy going on here but there really wasn't much of that at all.

But do still check this read out if you're curious! It's got some mysterious vibes going on, but I still feel like a lot was left unexplained. Not to mention what was up with some of the other side characters who appeared in Jenna's life. Oh well.


Overall Rating 2/5 stars--again, this is NOT a bad rating! For me 2 stars means it was okay. Pay no attention to Amazon's meaning behind the star ratings!