Book Review: Toxic

Toxic by Jus Accardo
October 16, 2012
Entangled Teen
400 pages
Source: Personal Purchase

Goodreads Summary:

When a Six saved Kale's life the night of Sumrun, she warned there would be consequences. A trade-off. Something taken for the life they gained. But Dez never imagined she'd lose the one thing she'd give anything to keep... And as if it's not enough Dez finds her immunity to Kale fading, the Six brought in to help Kale learn to control his killer touch starts drooling on him the moment they meet. Worse than that? Jade can touch Kale. But bimbo Barbie is the least of Dez's problems.

After Dez and Kale got away at Sumrun, her father lost not only his most powerful weapon but an important piece of the Supremacy project. Forced by Denazen to remedy the situation, he poisons Dez and offers her a choice--surrender to Denazen for the cure...or die. Determined to find a solution that doesn't involve being bagged and tagged--or losing someone she loves--Dez keeps the poison a secret. But when a rash of Denazen attacks hit a little too close to home, Dez is convinced there's a traitor among them. Jade.

Sacrifices, broken promises, and secrets. Dez will have to lay it all on the line if there's any hope of proving Jade's guilt before they all end up Residents of Denazen. Or worse, dead...

My Review:

This is the second book of the Denazen series, the first novel being Touch, which I loved. There is actually a novella taking place between books called Untouched, which I recommend, because what happened in that novella is referred to in Toxic, and although you don't have to have read it, it'll help you understand things even better. Plus, Untouched is from Kale's POV, so it is extra special.

Toxic starts out with a bang with the whole terrifying crane scene and Dez finally finding out the consequences for her actions for saving Kale before. The main drama of the novel is two-fold. One, Denazen is trying to capture Dez and Kale as usual, but their methods this time around are very different (I won't spoil it for you). Dez's father's cryptic behavior leaves Dez questioning the truth in his propositions as well as considering there may me a spy among the other Sixes. Two, Jade is introduced as the one who is going to help Kale control his gift, so while Dez can barely touch Kale, Jade is all over him, making Dez realize she may have a jealous side and question if she can still be with Kale.

Honestly, Dez is a little crazy for me sometimes, a little rash, a little over-the-edge. Perhaps its her authority issues, her daddy issues, whatever. But at the start of Toxic she's the same crazy Dez we expect and love. Fast forward through the novel, and Dez becomes a bit of a mess. She admittedly behaves very un-Dez-like, keeping secrets and being jealous (for obvious reasons). She's dealing with the obvious Jade issues, but also her own secret issues. I enjoyed reading about her struggles to a degree, but then found myself wanting to snap her out-of-it and get her to open up to Kale. She had her reasons, claiming to be protecting Kale, but it got to be a bit much at times.

Kale, on the other hand, is still the same "innocent" death machine that I loved in Touch. I love that he's a straight-shooter and speaks his mind, doesn't lie, and loves Dez with all his heart. But he's been in the "real world" for months now with Dez, so when she suddenly has a personality transplant and Jade is all over him like white on rice, I think he could have taken a few more extra steps and dug a little deeper with Dez, maybe removed the velcro grip Jade had on him once in a while, because he obviously knew something was up with Dez. He can't be a parkour ninja without some mad observation skills. Plus, I understand his reasoning with what he did toward the end of the book, but I hope he learned his lesson that that behavior should not be considered or excused again. He can't claim naivete forever.

Jade is an annoying, leeching, piece-of-work. I don't entirely trust Ginger or her reasons for doing things, especially as she claims to not interfere with the future even though she can see it. So I'm very curious about where Ginger found Jade, where Jade's storyline will go, and if helping Kale is her true purpose, or if there's something else there, like her ridiculous attempts to lure Kale in. Many questions.

Alex also plays an interesting role in the story. I have mixed feelings about him, partially not trusting him due to his past actions, partially feeling bad for him that he messed up so bad. The tension between Kale and Alex is actually a lot of fun. But, Ginger's little prediction about Alex isn't exactly encouraging.

Kiernan, Able, Aubrey, Dax, Ginger, Shanna, and Cross, among others, all play very exciting roles in the storyline. I liked the twists, turns, and surprises. I liked that not everything was predictable, despite my many attempts to guess what would happen next. Plus, Jus announced that books 4 and 5 for the series ave been sold, so there will ne much more Dez and Kale to look forward to.

 

4 STARS

Memorable Quotes:

She might be impervious to harm, but she still might feel pain.

Slamming her face through the furniture might ease some of the tension I felt.

No. Bad Dez.

“What can I do? She's here to help Kale."

"Sure she is. And I'm Ke$ha.” 

After a few moments of silence, she asked, "Was anyone hurt?"

"Sadly, no," Kale mumbled. He folded his arms and looked toward the door with a sulky expression. "I'll have to try harder next time."

 

"My heart only beats like this for you. No amount of touching, no other girl, nothing will ever change that."