Freeks by Amanda Hocking ARC #BookReview

Title: Freeks
Author:  Amanda Hocking
Publisher: St. Martins Griffin
Published Date:  January 3rd 2017
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Paranormal, Historical Fiction
Page Count:400
Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★.5

Goodreads Summary: 

Welcome to Gideon Davorin’s Traveling Sideshow, where necromancy, magical visions, and pyrokinesis are more than just part of the act…

Mara has always longed for a normal life in a normal town where no one has the ability to levitate or predict the future. Instead, she roams from place to place, cleaning the tiger cage while her friends perform supernatural feats every night.

When the struggling sideshow is miraculously offered the money they need if they set up camp in Caudry, Louisiana, Mara meets local-boy Gabe…and a normal life has never been more appealing.

But before long, performers begin disappearing and bodes are found mauled by an invisible beast. Mara realizes that there’s a sinister presence lurking in the town with its sights set on getting rid of the sideshow freeks. In order to unravel the truth before the attacker kills everyone Mara holds dear, she has seven days to take control of a power she didn’t know she was capable of—one that could change her future forever.

Bestselling author Amanda Hocking draws readers inside the dark and mysterious world of Freeks.
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 My Review:

"As soon as we crossed the line into town, the air seemed even colder than before. That's when I realized the chill wasn't coming from outside- it was coming from within me."

Mara is a young woman who has lived a life on the road traveling around with a carnival sideshow. While she herself doesn't yet do anything in the show. Her mother does as a fortune teller, and Mara runs around being everyone's help. Because of this type of life though Mara has lived a very different life then most people her age and would rather spend her free time reading or admiring real houses.
Things are a bit different for the carnies though in this new town, something isn't quite right and the the 'powers' they normally have aren't working properly. Between one of the people going missing and anther being viciously attacked none of them are sure what to do. Do they stick it out until the end of the week in order to get payed or should they all pack up and leave before anyone else gets hurt.
With the help of a townie Mara and the rest of the carnies just might be able to stop what is happening to them and keep it from happening in the future.

"After spending the past decade living in a motor home, one of my guiltiest pleasure was looking around actual houses, and I'd never been in one quite as nice as this."

This is my third book by Amanda Hocking so I really enjoyed her writing and her world building. This book takes place in the late 1980's but it isn't one that is purely focused on things from that era. Instead it just briefly mentions music and record players and instead is mostly focused on supernatural and the powers that the carnies possess. I did like Mara and I thought she was a good character. The friendships she had with the other carnies were real and believable, you could tell that they all really did care for each other, and because of that when one of them did get hurt, it wasn't easy to read. 
As for the romance in this book, I wasn't thrilled with it. Mainly because even though Mara could tell something was off with the guy she still went on multiple dates with him. Thankfully it turned out to be okay, but what if it hadn't. I mean come on most of the time when you have a gut feeling so strongly about someone, it's something that you should listen to.

"The wicked glint lingered in his eyes- a permanent remind that there was something about him I shouldn't trust."

Overall I did think this was a pretty good book, and I can't wait to read more by Hocking in the future and see what world she can come up with next.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-arc of this book in exchange for my honest review.