A review by shauniesbookshelves
Charisma by Jeanne Ryan
4.0
From the author of Nerve comes Charisma, the tale of Aislyn Hollings. Aislyn has crippling anxiety and her brother, Sammy, has cystic fibrosis, which leaves a lot of pressure of their mum. Sammy's condition has put the family in cahorts with a lead Genetic Engineering company, where one of the scientists has been testing an experimental drug called Charisma. It is offered to Aislyn, and as a way to get rid of the anxiety and give her a life, she snaps up the opportunity. Almost instantly, Charisma works. But then the headaches come, and the fainting. Soon, people are falling into comas, and worse. Is there any way to cure this 'miracle' drug?
I was as impressed with Charisma as I was 'meh' about Nerve. This book kept me up reading until close to midnight, and I couldn't put it down! Some plot twists I couldn't have foreseen really took me by surprise, and I was hooked on it from page one. Everyone gets anxious at times about things, and this book really made me evaluate how far I would go to face that anxiety, and how someone who suffers from anxiety might react when faced with this in real life. As a self confessed biology nerd, understanding how this DNA splicing could be possible made the story more real, and really made me stop to think. There's even an element of romance, in case action, risks, angst and genetic editing weren't enough for you!
I was as impressed with Charisma as I was 'meh' about Nerve. This book kept me up reading until close to midnight, and I couldn't put it down! Some plot twists I couldn't have foreseen really took me by surprise, and I was hooked on it from page one. Everyone gets anxious at times about things, and this book really made me evaluate how far I would go to face that anxiety, and how someone who suffers from anxiety might react when faced with this in real life. As a self confessed biology nerd, understanding how this DNA splicing could be possible made the story more real, and really made me stop to think. There's even an element of romance, in case action, risks, angst and genetic editing weren't enough for you!