Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

This would be one of the books I bought on the Fierce Reads Tour in New York at Books of Wonder.  It truly was a lovely affair where I got to meet so many amazing and talented writers, one of them being Jennifer Bosworth.

The Synopsis:
Mia Price is a lightning addict. She’s survived countless strikes, but her craving to connect to the energy in storms endangers her life and the lives of those around her.
Los Angeles, where lightning rarely strikes, is one of the few places Mia feels safe from her addiction. But when an earthquake devastates the city, her haven is transformed into a minefield of chaos and danger. The beaches become massive tent cities. Downtown is a crumbling wasteland, where a traveling party moves to a different empty building each night, the revelers drawn to the destruction by a force they cannot deny. Two warring cults rise to power, and both see Mia as the key to their opposing doomsday prophecies. They believe she has a connection to the freak electrical storm that caused the quake, and to the far more devastating storm that is yet to come.
Mia wants to trust the enigmatic and alluring Jeremy when he promises to protect her, but she fears he isn’t who he claims to be. In the end, the passion and power that brought them together could be their downfall. When the final disaster strikes, Mia must risk unleashing the full horror of her strength to save the people she loves, or lose everything.

My Thoughts:
I was really excited to read this book once I read that lovely synopsis and looked at the eye-capturing cover.  You can see the Lichtenberg marks covering her arms and you can see all the destruction around Mia, our main girl in this book.  It's one heck of a cover, if you ask me.
Mia Price is not exactly a natural introvert, but she's learned that people don't accept a person whose been struck by lightning numerous amount of times.  They think she's weird.  A freak.  So, to avoid the hurt, she's used to keeping quiet and covering up who she really is.  In all actuality, her character was very strong and courageous.  She'd do anything to keep her already loose family together, even if that means risking her health or making her brother or mother unhappy.  And after the devastating quake, she's been working harder than ever to scrape by.
I thought that the idea for the book was very original.  I mean, who's a lightning addict?  It's not something you don't normally see on the shelves nowadays.  There wasn't exactly a lot of action--what I normally enjoy in books--but there was plenty of action and danger that kept me hooked right from the very start.  Like, who really is Jeremy?  Where did he come from?  Why does he totally rock?  What's up with this supposed storm that's coming?  Is it really going to happen?  Questions like those.
Alright, here's the toughie I'm going to tackle here.
Jennifer Bosworth and I chatted a little bit before I read the book.  She told me that there was a religious controversy involving this book, and I made it my own mission to decide that for myself.  If you've read my review for Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman, you'd know that I also tackled the religion topic.  In BoBS, it's got a lot of history in it that ties into present situations.  I said that you cannot have an accurate talk about history, especially the Medieval Times without at least briefly discussing religion.  It's impossible.  But for Struck, it's a little different.
So, here's the deal.  A ginormous earthquake has practically eaten up all of LA.  People are dying, people are sick, people are dead.  There's no money, no food, no water, no homes.  There's no way things are going to be going back to normal for a very long time.  And in a time like this, people are desperate.  People have heard of this one man, Prophet, who predicted the major earthquake and also accurately predicted other events.  People originally didn't believe--I mean, who would?  He's a crack job, right?  But, when people are desperate, and Prophet has been right about many things, offers God's forgiveness, and you haven't been to Church ever since your parents stopped driving you there for Sunday School, don't you think you'd want to believe?  Believe that there is some type of larger force out there pulling the strings?
I'm not saying that this is what I'd do; I'm just making a point here.  But a lot of people, especially once they're desperate and think that they will be breathing their last breaths in the next few days would.  It's human behavior to act rash and come up with answers to things we can't explain, to solve the unknown, even if it the answer is outlandish and doesn't make complete sense.
In all, I do not believe that this book in any sense is religious.  If anything, you'd get more of a religious feel from books if they were about angels.  I'm not saying that they are all like that, but it is more likely for angel books to incorporate more religion.
I thought that Struck was a very beautifully written and thought out book.  Constantly, I was noting how knowledgeable Jennifer was on the topic of lightning and storm--other things, too.  She definitely did her homework on this one.  Plot-wise, I thought it was genius.  I didn't doubt for one second what might happen because I trusted Mia and the writing.  Especially towards the end, I was either puling out my hair or sitting at the edge of my seat.  It was great.  I absolutely loved it.  It was fierce.
See what I did there??
Overall, I gave Struck four out of five stars.  No, actually 4.5 stars would be more accurate.  I think the reason only being that I'm not one for end-of-the-world kind of books.  It was a bit out of my comfort zone, this book, but I don't mind, especially since I really enjoyed it.  So I suggest you all go hunt down this book and read it.
Happy reading, everyone!