Review: Clutch

I want to thank SupaGurl Tours and J.A. Huss once again for letting Rumor Has It join in on the fun and for providing an ARC of Clutch.

Clutch by J.A. Huss

Genre: New Adult/ Adult 

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads Says: How long can you lie to yourself before it all comes apart?

In 2152 the avian race is on Earth looking for something stolen from them decades ago – their genetics. At the center of the search lies the Rural Republic; a small backwards farming country with high hopes of military domination and a penchant for illegal bioengineering.

19 year old Junco Coot is the daughter of the Rural Republic’s ranking commander. She’s the most foul-mouthed, wildly unpredictable and ruthless sniper the Rural Republic has ever trained. But when her father’s death sparks a trip into forbidden places, she triggers events that will change everything she knows to be true.

As an elite avian military officer, Tier’s mission is to destroy the bioengineering projects, kill Commander Coot’s daughter, and return home immediately. There’s just one problem. Junco isn’t who she claims to be.

With no one to trust, not even herself, Junco must confront the secrets of her past and accept her place in the future, or risk losing herself completely.

CONTENT WARNING The I Am Just Junco series is NOT YOUNG ADULT. This series contains foul language and graphic violence.
First: This is NOT a YA book. The author has stated as much. There is mention of sex/sexual acts, there is violence, and there are all sorts of stuff that a parent should okay if you are under the age of 18. Just saying.

Clutch is action packed from the beginning and you are literally thrown in, head first, into this world. The author did an incredible job in maintaining things interesting. I’m going to go with the likes and WHAT THE HECK MAN on this one, but honestly, you have to experience this read for yourself. So much is going on that anything I say here could be seen as a spoiler. It’s just that type of read.

I liked:

*Junco- She’s fearless in the weirdest of ways. She’s a trained military assassin. She knows her weapons and heck she knows how to decapitate you within seconds, with the tiniest of weapons ever. Yes, fearless…that is until you put her in the dark or sleeps or hears nightdogs.

*Aren- He’s this long lost childhood friend who used to be a little more than friends with Junco. I thought he was hilarious at first. He just was. Then I didn’t like him AT ALL. Enough said.

*This world J.A. has created- I liked it. A lot. It is full of mystery and intrigue. Anything and everything is a truth or a lie and most definitely a conspiracy. Every being is unique. Heck, I think this entire world was unique. It is all Sci-fi and Urban Fantasy! It was also fast paced which worked but didn’t work. (See WHAT THE HECK MAN for clarification.)

*ACTION- There is a bunch of action scenes in this one and they were executed quite nicely. You won’t walk away thinking “what was that?” but more like “I can’t believe that just happened! Holy Cow!” I promise this won’t disappoint.

*Moju- I just liked him. I think you will too.

*The mythology- This is another one that will have you wondering if it was truth or lie but I like how it’s unfolding and I’m glad that it was included.

Had me at WHAT THE HECK MAN…

*Tier- I think his accent was supposed to be kind of Scottish. In my head it was Scottish because I love all things Scottish. OOO or maybe Australian. Yumm. Anyway. He is part man and part something that resembles birds but is not because… well, you have to read the story to find out why. He is ALL warrior though. No question about that! I wanted to like this guy 100%. I really did but he has me confused. I’m not entirely sure if he is a good guy or a bad guy. There were some really tender and intense moments where he shows how much he cares for Junco and I appreciated those feelings. But then he’s talking about how he has a mission and it’s not a picnic for Junco. He is trippy. So I’m on the fence about him and like Junco, I’m just going to go with it for now.

*This world J.A. has created- As I mentioned before, you are thrust into this world and there is a lot of new terminology that is thrown at you and you don’t really have a point of reference to decipher what they mean. I would have liked this to be fleshed out a bit. I also mentioned that this world was fast paced and it worked but didn’t. It worked because there is NEVER a dull moment in this read. It didn’t at times because new info is thrown at you literally from nowhere and you are left thinking “did I miss something?”

*The romance- There is definitely some romance in this book but not a lot. I personally didn’t mind that it was far and in between because I for one was in it for the story and not the romance. What had me feeling all sorts of weird was how quickly it developed on Junco’s part especially once something was revealed as the story progressed. It felt inconsistent and off.

With that said, after reading this book and taking all of the above into consideration, the positives are still positives but my WHAT THE HECK MAN’s are positives too. It made this world of chaos work because it is definitely a situation of chaos. You'll have to read it to understand why and I do think you should read it. Be prepared for a wild ride. You are going to be alert at all times, entertained at all times, and at the end feel like you haven’t even scratched the surface. I am very much eager to see where Fledge, book two of the series, takes me on this journey I've started with Junco!

Other books in the series. Click on cover for more information.