The love angle had nothing to do with the story and by adding it in, it felt like the author wanted to put pickles in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. This novel had the perfect example of an unnecessary and lousy love angle. The romance, however, would make the character-development seem spectacular in comparison. What were their likes and dislikes? Habits? Hobbies? They were flat as pancakes. Cassie, Micheal, Dean and the rest of the characters were only defined by their abilities, ‘haunting pasts’ and nothing else. The character-development in The Naturals was practically nonexistent. The plot was genuinely going so well but in comes the characters and romance. Although, in the Naturals’ cases, they were born with such talents. Moreover, the training for Cassie and the other Naturals was undoubtedly interesting and got me wondering whether that was how the FBI worked on murder cases in real life – with people trained to be perceptive towards human behavior, emotion and being analytical with probabilities, patterns and statistics. The murder mysteries and little snippets into the serial killer’s mind had me flipping the pages quickly. However, the lackluster characters involved and horrid romance really dragged it down.ĭon’t get me wrong, I do like the book. Revolving around the MC, Cassie, who was supernaturally good at deriving information about people by their behavior, hence getting ‘hired’ by the FBI, and whose mother had also been brutally murdered (or was assumed to be) when she had been twelve-years-old, The Naturals had much potential to be a great read. Yes, like/hate not love/hate because I wouldn’t go as far as to say I love it although some aspects of it were pretty enjoyable. I have a like/hate relationship with this novel. Caught in a lethal game of cat and mouse with a killer, the Naturals are going to have to use all of their gifts just to survive. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.

Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head-and under her skin. What Cassie doesn’t realize is that there’s more at risk than a few unsolved homicides-especially when she’s sent to live with a group of teens whose gifts are as unusual as her own.

That is, until the FBI come knocking: they’ve begun a classified program that uses exceptional teenagers to crack infamous cold cases, and they need Cassie. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously.

Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people.

The naturals by jennifer