Resistance by Jena Leigh

Title: Resistance

Author: Jena Leigh

Series: Variant Series Book 2

Genre: YA, paranormal, romance

Source: Kindle edition

Rating: 4 stars

Available at:

Amazon.ca • Goodreads • Amazon.com

Blurb: (via Goodreads)

Alexandra Parker might be the most powerful Variant the world has ever seen—but even that won’t get her out of finishing her junior year of high school.

The challenge of keeping her abilities under wraps during class is daunting enough, but throw one surly, sandy-haired Jumper into the mix, and things can get downright complicated.

Declan’s new job? Watch over Alex while she’s at school and do everything in his power to keep her from losing control. But as sparks of every kind begin flying between Alex and her new bodyguard, she's left feeling more unstable than ever.

When avoiding her abilities results in a surprise visit from her parents’ killer, Alex’s worlds collide with a bang that nearly levels Bay View High.

With her freedom now squarely in the Agency’s crosshairs, Alex will be faced with the fight of her life… and a decision that could forever alter the course of her destiny.

My Review:

If you have not read my guest review of book 1, Revival, you can read it HERE on Forever Obsession’s blog.

You know those instances where the sequel is better than the book that came before it? Yeah, well, this is one of those instances. Jena really upped her game with the second book of the Variant series, Resistance. The action was more intense, the plot go thicker, and the writing was even better that we saw in Revival. And, most importantly, most of our questions from Revival are answered. Most. Not all. We have book 3 for that. Long story short, Resistance was well worth the wait.

Starting with what I didn’t like, we see the main antagonist in this novel shift heavily to the Agency rather than Samuel Masterson. Actually, we barely get to see Masterson at all. He has one major appearance, one sneaky appearance, and then there are a few mentions of his name that act more like a warning over the characters head rather than the threat he was made out to be in Revival. I wanted to see more of him and I was a little disappointed that he didn’t get to play a bigger role.

The Agency on the other had… idiots. They keep making threats and promises and never fail to go back on their word at the first opportunity. I found this incredibly irritating. The Agency had no backbone what-so-ever and backed down the second they saw they didn’t have the upper hand. No elaborate plans. No scheming. Just rush it with guns ablazing and run away when you-know-what hits the fan. Is there no honor amongst villains anymore?

Now, where the antagonist was lacking, their constant threat did manage to keep the plot moving. The character development, with an emphasis on Alex and Declan once again, was great. First we see the changes in them just from the first book, but we also see their growth as the novel went on. Alex in particular went through a huge transformation of fear to acceptance to downright bravery and determination. The unraveling of these layers was amazing to watch unfold and I found it incredibly realistic considering everything that had happened to her. This was probably my favourite part of the entire novel.

The plot was also well thought out. What little we saw of the little conspiracy and secrets we saw from Nate in Revival come out to tease and play once more in Resistance. While all the answers here aren’t answered, clues have been laid to foreshadow what happens next. I know that I already have my crackpot theories!! Alex is determined to become better at controlling her power and we see her exposed to a whole new set of abilities in this book. Some she finds easy to control, while others she can barely manage before things get out of hand. It was nice to see that not everything came easy to her; it made her more real as a character.

Now, lastly, can we just talk about the romantic factor? DAMN, the sexual tension, the conflicts, the action… I LOVED IT! It was a perfect blend of intimate moments, almost kisses, and conflict before everything kind of just came together. The role Jessica (Alex’s arch high school nemesis) plays within the whole thing was interesting and fun to watch play out. This was another favourite for me.

Now this was kind of a long review. The ending ended with a cliffhanger, which I did not expect after seeing such a beautiful denouement in book 1, but it definitely had my attention. You can bet that I will have my eyes out for book 3! Stay tuned people; I think it may just be the best book in the series yet!