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The Naturals #1
The Naturals
Seventeen-year-old Cassie is a natural at reading people. Piecing together the tiniest details, she can tell you who you are and what you want. But it’s not a skill that she’s ever taken seriously. 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.
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. Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.
Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. 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.
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. Sarcastic, privileged Michael has a knack for reading emotions, which he uses to get inside Cassie’s head—and under her skin. Brooding Dean shares Cassie’s gift for profiling, but keeps her at arm’s length.
Soon, it becomes clear that no one in the Naturals program is what they seem. And when a new killer strikes, danger looms closer than Cassie could ever have imagined. 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.
309 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 5, 2013
About the author
Jennifer Lynn Barnes
39 books37.1k followersJennifer Lynn Barnes (who mostly goes by Jen) was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been, in turn, a competitive cheerleader, a volleyball player, a dancer, a debutante, a primate cognition researcher, a teen model, a comic book geek, and a lemur aficionado. She's been writing for as long as she can remember, finished her first full book (which she now refers to as a "practice book" and which none of you will ever see) when she was still in high school, and then wrote Golden the summer after her freshman year in college, when she was nineteen.
Jen graduated high school in 2002, and from Yale University with a degree in cognitive science (the study of the brain and thought) in May of 2006. She'll be spending the 2006-2007 school year abroad, doing autism research at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
Jen graduated high school in 2002, and from Yale University with a degree in cognitive science (the study of the brain and thought) in May of 2006. She'll be spending the 2006-2007 school year abroad, doing autism research at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 24,648 reviews
August 30, 2024
4.5 stars! Honestly bordering on 5 stars. I can 100% see the rest of the series being 5 stars now that I'm so invested in the characters & the world.
First of all the plot is so fun! Teens with special abilities recruited by the FBI! Love it!
And the love triangle😫 Love triangle tropes can be either meh or amazing to me but Jennifer Lynn Barnes always does amazing love triangles. Reading this book took me right back to reading The Inheritance Games for the first time & how much I loved the entire plot, especially the romance.
ALSO THE ENDING/MYSTERY! I never saw the ending coming!! It was so twisty!! Reading book 2 asap
First of all the plot is so fun! Teens with special abilities recruited by the FBI! Love it!
And the love triangle😫 Love triangle tropes can be either meh or amazing to me but Jennifer Lynn Barnes always does amazing love triangles. Reading this book took me right back to reading The Inheritance Games for the first time & how much I loved the entire plot, especially the romance.
ALSO THE ENDING/MYSTERY! I never saw the ending coming!! It was so twisty!! Reading book 2 asap
August 21, 2023
Criminal minds + teenagers = a great time
September 28, 2023
THIS SERIES IS SO FUN!! READ IT!!
November 10, 2013
This book is Criminal Minds fanfiction, for the under-15 crowd. It takes a great deal of suspension of disbelief to read this book; and I'm not talking about the preposterousness of the idea that children---teenagers, can be FBI criminal investigators. The necessary suspension of disbelief from the reader's part is required in order to swallow the fact that a bunch of utterly incompetent, petty teenagers are capable of looking beyond their egotistical, self-centered noses.
There's this show I love called Criminal Minds. It features a team of FBI profilers at the Behavioral Analysis Unit. They take on difficult cases, involving mainly serial killers. The special agents make psychological profiles about the potential suspect, then using that information, narrow down the field of suspect until they get the right one. The show is entertainment, there is no argument on my part about that. Behavioral analysis is a bullshit art, at best. Criminal profilers have rarely been right, it's more of a matter of throwing a rock into the darkness in the hopes of eventually hitting someone in the face. It rarely happens, but they get it right sometimes. More than anything, it is a show with likeable, complex characters, and a wonderful team who puts their personal problems and quirks aside to work together like a well-oiled machine in order to solve a case.
Well-oiled machine is not the word I would use to describe the characters in this book and their cohesiveness. The teenagers in this book work together as well as an AK-47 that's been left to rust for 50 years in the mud of a long-forgotten battlefield; the parts do not function, and the damn gun might blow up and shoot you by accident in the face at any given moment.
Still, this book is based on that premise. It is a team of teen profilers who use the word "UNSUB" to describe an unknown subject. The word UNSUB is strictly a TV-based term, and it was Criminal Minds that popularized the use of the word. To me, this is nothing more than adolescent Criminal Minds fanfiction, without the likeable, complex characters.
Summary: 17-year old Cassandra (Cassie) lives with her large extended Italian family, working part-time as a waitress. Her mother has been murdered 5 years ago, and her father is out of the picture (see what I mean about parents in YA fiction? Dead or gone 90% of the time). Cassie has always had a skill for reading people, for predicting what they want. Right now, her skills are being used for nothing more than to predict what her customers are going to order next from the menu. A boy, a sexy boy appears from nowhere, well-dressed, too handsome for his own good, and asks her to predict how he prefers his eggs:
“What kind of eggs?” I asked.Over easy eggs! Clearly, Cassie is a genius worthy of the FBI. Just like that, she is drafted to join a special unit in the FBI. The Naturals. She lives and trains with four other teenagers, each with their own special skills. They may be kids, but they're soooooooooo much better than the real FBI agents.
“You tell me.” The boy’s words caught me off guard.
I stared at him through the wisps of hair still covering my face. “You want me to guess how you want your eggs cooked?”
He smiled. “Why not?”
And just like that, the gauntlet was thrown.
“Not scrambled,” I said, thinking out loud. Scrambled eggs were too average, too common, and this was a guy who liked to be a little bit different. Not too different, though, which ruled out poached—at least in a place like this. Sunny-side up would have been too messy for him; over hard wouldn’t be messy enough.
“Over easy.” I was as sure of the conclusion as I was of the color of his eyes. He smiled and closed his menu.
No matter how long they did this job, or how much training they had, these agents would never have instincts as finely honed as ours.Teen
The kids, and they are kids---try to solve old cases for practice, they do training on random everyday subjects at malls, food courts. The teenagers in the prorgam play games, they flirt, they kiss. And there might be a serial killer out there who wants to collect Cassie as his prize.
Let's get this straight, this is Criminal Minds fanfiction, but it does not have an iota of the enjoyability.
Criminal Minds has amazing, complex characters
The teens in the Naturals are teenagers. For better or worse. They have special abilities, there is no doubt of that, but I have serious doubts as to their judgment and their competence to actually fulfil their purpose when 90% of the times, they act like---well, really immature teenagers. The characters are teenagers who act positively juvenile; they have special abilities, but that is the limit to my interest towards them. There is nothing about the characters that make them stand out, that make me sympathize with them, that make me like them, despite the author's attempt at giving them sad backstories. They are merely teenagers who get on my nerves.
We have Dean, who is the James-Dean-esque weightlifting, bulky teenaged deliquent who looks ready to punch someone in the face at any second. Dean is a profiler, like Cassie. We have Lia, the sexy Asian girl, who wants to slither onto Michael's lap at any given second. Her specialty is lying, at detecting liars. We have Michael, the wealthy, (multiple) Porsche-owning trust funded, blue-blooded, smug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug son-of-a-bitch whose sole purpose in life is to make Dean lose control and to make Cassie want to rip his head off (when she's not kissing him, that is). We have Sloane, the duller than dull factoid spouter who is boring, and who's pretty much useless. I mean, anyone can spout off random-ass facts. I would be a much better Sloane. I mean, I have personality.
Cassie herself is boring, without personality. Cassie reminds me of geniuses who are so brilliant in one category that they are completely lacking in everything else in life. Life skills. Personality. Cassie is a good profiler, not great, I have a lot of skepticism where her skills are concerned, and I have to accept the fact that her natural talents are that---natural, inside her, because there is no explaining her talents otherwise. Frankly, Cassie never exhibits many signs of intelligence besides for her Natural Profiling skill.
The rest of the characters are largely unlikeable in one way or another, they are either surly, or selfish, or bitchy, or snarky, or else they blend into the shadow so much I hardly remember they're there. I think that's why Sloane spouts off so many random facts. If she didn't speak up once in awhile to say something completely random like "Less than point-five percent of the words in the English language contain all five vowels,” I would completely forget that she has ever been there.
Criminal Minds does not concern itself about their team playing petty mind games with each other, nor do they play Truth-Or-Dare
There is so much antipathy between the characters. Dean and Michael are ready to strangle each other at any given second, and while Dean keeps quiet and stay true to his bad-boy-loner trope, Michaels is the Naturals version of The Simpson's Nelson Muntz, pointing his finger in Dean's face, going HAW-HAW!!!!!!
“Have you ever seen The Bad Seed?” he inquired politely. “The movie.”**note: Dean's father is a serial killer, hence the Bad Seed joke. The Bad Seed is a movie where the child turns out to be an evil, murdering monstrosity.**
A muscle in Dean’s jaw twitched. “No.”
Michael grinned. “I have.”
Dean stood up. “I’m done here.”
Criminal Minds does not concern itself with a fucking love triangle
There's Cassie! Who will she fall for?! Is it bad-boy loner Dean? The surly boy who never, ever, EVEEEEEEEEER lets anyone close to his heart---until Cassie comes along! Or will Cassie fall for Michael! Michael with his movie-star good looks and multiple Porsches who hides his nonchalance behind a snarky exterior, never letting anyone see the warm, melty, oozing, cheesy (sorry, I haven't eaten dinner yet), fluffy interior. Over easy, indeed!
Or will it be Lia! Lia with her constant flirtation with Michael! Or does Lia love Dean instead?! Noooooooooo!
Fucking gag me, please.
Criminal Minds never has a fucking touching romantic moment right after leaving a crime scene with dead bloodied bodies and a killer on the loose
When Agent Starmans glanced in the room, all he saw was [him] and me.Self-explanatory.
Kissing.
The kiss in the pool was nothing compared to this. Then, our lips had barely brushed. Now, my lips were opening. Our mouths were crushed together. His hand traveled from my neck down to my lower back. My lips tingled, and I leaned into the kiss, shifting my body until I could feel the heat from his in my arms, my chest, my stomach.
Criminal Minds has Reid. Sloane is no Reid
Really, Sloane is the most useless character in the world. She does absolutely nothing besides spouting off random facts:
Sloane on coffee was a bit like an auctioneer on speed. The numbers poured out of her mouth rapid-fire, a statistic for every occasion. For eight hours.Oh, and she's a really good hugger. Because every FBI investigative team needs a hugger. For hugs.
“Sixteen percent of American men have blue eyes,” she informed me blithely. “But over forty percent of male TV doctors do.”
Sloane slipped an arm around my waist. “There are fourteen varieties of hugs,” she said. “This is one of them.”Criminal Minds does not try to slut-shame a girl
Lia. Poor Lia. She is sleek, she is Asian, she is sexy, she is tall. She also has a special ability to lie. She wears barely-there clothes. She makes numerous sexual innuendoes.
Agent Locke added, meeting Lia’s eyes, “she’s a very good liar.”Naturally, she's to be shamed for the way she dresses. Naturally she hits on the guys. Naturally, she eats ice cream for breakfast (in a sexual manner) and wears silk pajamas that leaves nothing to the imagination. Can we not do this, please? Can we just have normal characters who just happen to like dressing that way without writing it in a way so that the reader hates them?
Lia didn’t seem to take offense at the agent’s words. “I’m also bilingual,” she said. “And very, very flexible.”
The second very was aimed directly at Michael.
If you want to read books about serial killers, I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga is a good book. Alternately, you can just go watch Criminal Minds itself. Either way, I can guarantee you will get more enjoyment from either than you will ever get out of this book.
January 11, 2024
— 4 stars ✰
5 teenagers. 5 teenagers with an extraordinary ability. 5 teenagers with an extraordinary ability who are living together. 5 teenagers with an extraordinary ability who are living together and solve crimes.
fun times, let me tell you that.
the naturals by jennifer lynn barnes is a young adult novel that follows cassie, who has a talent for profiling people. she is recruited by the FBI to join a program called the naturals where she will be trained and tasked with solving cold cases.
i could go into more detail about the characters but that won’t convince you to read it. what will tho is the fact that you’ll get some mystery, some suspense, some romance. and when i say romance i mean a love triangle 💅🏻 JLB really knows how to write those because i still can’t figure out who i’m rooting for.
“i can be a patient man. a devastatingly handsome, roguishly scarred, heartbreakingly courageous, patient man.”
i felt a hand, warm and steady, on the back of my neck. “you’re fine,” he said. “it’ll pass.”
well, who are we rooting for, folks?
it’s giving jameson and grayson core…
but besides that, you will grow on each character & root for them to become more than just roommates. each character has an unique ability, a strong personality and a twisted background. you will learn to love each, the one more, the other less.
i really really want to be lia. she ate and left no crumbs.
i wish we would get all pov’s because istg it would be so mind blowing but reading from cassie’s pov is interesting nonetheless. her analyzation of peoples behavior and their motives is so freaking captivating like, i want to be able to do that 😤😤 i would say this was a pretty decent start into 2024
5 teenagers. 5 teenagers with an extraordinary ability. 5 teenagers with an extraordinary ability who are living together. 5 teenagers with an extraordinary ability who are living together and solve crimes.
fun times, let me tell you that.
the naturals by jennifer lynn barnes is a young adult novel that follows cassie, who has a talent for profiling people. she is recruited by the FBI to join a program called the naturals where she will be trained and tasked with solving cold cases.
i could go into more detail about the characters but that won’t convince you to read it. what will tho is the fact that you’ll get some mystery, some suspense, some romance. and when i say romance i mean a love triangle 💅🏻 JLB really knows how to write those because i still can’t figure out who i’m rooting for.
“i can be a patient man. a devastatingly handsome, roguishly scarred, heartbreakingly courageous, patient man.”
i felt a hand, warm and steady, on the back of my neck. “you’re fine,” he said. “it’ll pass.”
well, who are we rooting for, folks?
it’s giving jameson and grayson core…
but besides that, you will grow on each character & root for them to become more than just roommates. each character has an unique ability, a strong personality and a twisted background. you will learn to love each, the one more, the other less.
i wish we would get all pov’s because istg it would be so mind blowing but reading from cassie’s pov is interesting nonetheless. her analyzation of peoples behavior and their motives is so freaking captivating like, i want to be able to do that 😤😤 i would say this was a pretty decent start into 2024
August 23, 2023
behavior. personality. environment.
as a true crime addict, i didn’t know if a YA fictional crime book would be enough for me. BUT this book was everything. sometimes i love being wrong.
this was very addicting and i cannot wait to read the rest of this series! the plot was well done and the characters were even better. and there’s just something about ✨short chapters and fast pacing✨ that makes a book so much more enjoyable.
add these books to your tbr for Spooky Season (or any season, really) immediately!! 😌
as a true crime addict, i didn’t know if a YA fictional crime book would be enough for me. BUT this book was everything. sometimes i love being wrong.
this was very addicting and i cannot wait to read the rest of this series! the plot was well done and the characters were even better. and there’s just something about ✨short chapters and fast pacing✨ that makes a book so much more enjoyable.
add these books to your tbr for Spooky Season (or any season, really) immediately!! 😌
Read
December 9, 2023❥12/09/23
𝓅𝓇𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌:
❝you came after me,❞ i said.
❝i’ll always come after you,❞ he said.
i think i regret hoping for an actual love triangle😀dean? michael? i seriously don’t know😩✋🏼
so far…this is WAY better than the inheritance games, no one can tell me otherwise😩rtc sometime soon hopefully…i’m in a review slump, i’m sorry🥺
❥12/04/23
please tell me there’s an ACTUAL love triangle in this series😩the team i choose better win this time 🔪
𝓅𝓇𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌:
❝you came after me,❞ i said.
❝i’ll always come after you,❞ he said.
i think i regret hoping for an actual love triangle😀dean? michael? i seriously don’t know😩✋🏼
so far…this is WAY better than the inheritance games, no one can tell me otherwise😩rtc sometime soon hopefully…i’m in a review slump, i’m sorry🥺
❥12/04/23
please tell me there’s an ACTUAL love triangle in this series😩
August 3, 2024
finished on 08┆︎2┆︎24 - shouldn't have finished this at night, please pray for my sleep.
ᝰ.ᐟ ⊹ started on 07┆︎24┆︎24 - all my moots loved this so i'm reading this for them!
ᝰ.ᐟ ⊹ started on 07┆︎24┆︎24 - all my moots loved this so i'm reading this for them!
August 11, 2024
2.75 Stars rounded up for now.
╰┈➤˗ˏˋ 𝓠𝓾𝓲𝓬𝓴 𝓢𝓾𝓶𝓶𝓪𝓻𝔂
Years ago, Cassie's mother was killed, but her body was never found. This has haunted Cassie through childhood and into her teens, and she misses her mother very much. She lives with her grandmother but feels she doesn't belong. So, when the FBI recruits Cassie because of her "natural" ability to gauge people's emotions and background information just from looking at them, she jumps at the chance to change her life.
She ends up living in Virginia with a group of other teens who have special abilities (e.g., pathological lying, mathematical deductive reasoning), whom the FBI believes will help solve cold murder cases. While solving a major case, Cassie hopes she also can find the answers to her mother's murder.
╰┈➤˗ˏˋ 𝓜𝔂 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼
The concept is kind of interesting, but it didn't fully work for me for a few reasons.
╰⪼ The big one: It's hard to accept the premise that the FBI would hire a bunch of kids (who aren't even attending high school) to solve crimes, especially ones involving serial killers. At one point, Cassie wonders if the FBI even knows the "Naturals" program exists, except for the two agents who recruited her.
You can suspend disbelief for the sake of pure entertainment, but the novel's all over the place. It's predictable and full of cliches (a love triangle, insta-love, missing parents) and has unlikable characters.
╰⪼ Don’t get me wrong, I do like the book. The murder mysteries and little snippets into the serial killer’s mind had me flipping the pages quickly.
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. Although, in the Naturals’ cases, they were born with such talents.
I didn't feel that there was much character development though and they're all really pretty flat. The only area they actually seemed to have any growth in was in the romantic angle of the story - not a big fan of that either.
I am a huge fan of Criminal Minds, not a huge fan of tweens running around solving murders- and yet, I keep trying to make fetch happen. Going to keep going with the series as I've heard it improves with each installment.
╰┈➤˗ˏˋ 𝓠𝓾𝓲𝓬𝓴 𝓢𝓾𝓶𝓶𝓪𝓻𝔂
Years ago, Cassie's mother was killed, but her body was never found. This has haunted Cassie through childhood and into her teens, and she misses her mother very much. She lives with her grandmother but feels she doesn't belong. So, when the FBI recruits Cassie because of her "natural" ability to gauge people's emotions and background information just from looking at them, she jumps at the chance to change her life.
She ends up living in Virginia with a group of other teens who have special abilities (e.g., pathological lying, mathematical deductive reasoning), whom the FBI believes will help solve cold murder cases. While solving a major case, Cassie hopes she also can find the answers to her mother's murder.
╰┈➤˗ˏˋ 𝓜𝔂 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼
The concept is kind of interesting, but it didn't fully work for me for a few reasons.
╰⪼ The big one: It's hard to accept the premise that the FBI would hire a bunch of kids (who aren't even attending high school) to solve crimes, especially ones involving serial killers. At one point, Cassie wonders if the FBI even knows the "Naturals" program exists, except for the two agents who recruited her.
You can suspend disbelief for the sake of pure entertainment, but the novel's all over the place. It's predictable and full of cliches (a love triangle, insta-love, missing parents) and has unlikable characters.
╰⪼ Don’t get me wrong, I do like the book. The murder mysteries and little snippets into the serial killer’s mind had me flipping the pages quickly.
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. Although, in the Naturals’ cases, they were born with such talents.
I didn't feel that there was much character development though and they're all really pretty flat. The only area they actually seemed to have any growth in was in the romantic angle of the story - not a big fan of that either.
I am a huge fan of Criminal Minds, not a huge fan of tweens running around solving murders- and yet, I keep trying to make fetch happen. Going to keep going with the series as I've heard it improves with each installment.
July 29, 2024
꒰ 4.5 ✧₊⁺ ꒱
❝ If looks could kill, she would have been dead on the floor, and I would have been on trial for murder. ❞
♫ vigilante shhh by taylor swift
someone told his white collar crimes to the fbi
for a 2013 contemporary with a love triangle and heaps of teenage angst, this was amazing.
it hooks you from the beginning, with very little filler or drag. You’re immediately curious at how the story will unfold— but let me tell you, you will probably never guess what is going to happen next. My advice is, don’t even try to guess, because you’ll probably just end up looking stupid like me.
this is just one of those books— where every single character is smarter than you, and you’re just doing your best to keep up.
the characters themselves are cute! very found family, I-don’t-like-you-I-love-you kind of vibes. Like every single other series with a love triangle, I got spoiled for who the main character ends up with (from a no-spoiler review for the first book, AFTER I read the first book… *sob*) but before I found out who is endgame, I was team dean, and I’m staying that way. That’s all I’ll say 🤐
now I have a new series to obsess over! Good day for me. I’ll have to wait a little while to read the next book though, so I don’t overdose on the creep hehe.
⤿ overall,
this book is going to have me looking over my shoulder for weeks. but, like, in a good way.
💙 ~ to my love
buddy read with the best girl hanna! It was so much fun reading this with you and spamming you about it! ilysm <3
⤿ hanna's review 🫶
❝ You came after me. ❞
❝ I’ll always come after you. ❞
❝ If looks could kill, she would have been dead on the floor, and I would have been on trial for murder. ❞
♫ vigilante shhh by taylor swift
someone told his white collar crimes to the fbi
for a 2013 contemporary with a love triangle and heaps of teenage angst, this was amazing.
it hooks you from the beginning, with very little filler or drag. You’re immediately curious at how the story will unfold— but let me tell you, you will probably never guess what is going to happen next. My advice is, don’t even try to guess, because you’ll probably just end up looking stupid like me.
this is just one of those books— where every single character is smarter than you, and you’re just doing your best to keep up.
the characters themselves are cute! very found family, I-don’t-like-you-I-love-you kind of vibes. Like every single other series with a love triangle, I got spoiled for who the main character ends up with (from a no-spoiler review for the first book, AFTER I read the first book… *sob*) but before I found out who is endgame, I was team dean, and I’m staying that way. That’s all I’ll say 🤐
now I have a new series to obsess over! Good day for me. I’ll have to wait a little while to read the next book though, so I don’t overdose on the creep hehe.
⤿ overall,
this book is going to have me looking over my shoulder for weeks. but, like, in a good way.
💙 ~ to my love
buddy read with the best girl hanna! It was so much fun reading this with you and spamming you about it! ilysm <3
⤿ hanna's review 🫶
❝ You came after me. ❞
❝ I’ll always come after you. ❞
April 7, 2024
4.5 ⭐️* that ending got me good
January 29, 2024
3.75 stars ✶ ࣪˖࿐⋆
I was in the worst reading slump, and I came to this book literally desperate for something that would take me out of it, and I guess this book did it for me.
I really loved the short chapters and the fast-paced story. I won't say that there were crazy things happening at first; there was barely anything happening in the first half of the book. It became more of a thriller in the second half, but nonetheless, it was really enjoyable. I really liked the teen vibes, and the characters were very likeable for me (lia just a little, tbh), and I loved their vibes together. and I also liked this little touch of romance.The love triangle was torture though
I had so many theories about who'd be the killer, but I'll gladly say that I was so shocked. I loved that, because I really hate when I predict the plot twist, but I'm still waiting for better plot twists in the next books.
There's not much to say actually, it so enjoyable with this teen shows vibes.
And I think if you don't like this teen show, this one won't be for you.
⟣┄─ ˑ ◌ ִ 💙 ፧ ּ 🫐 ִ ݊ ʚ ɞ ׁ ֢ ㇴ ۫
like really how could anyone not love him?😭😭
∘•········ʚ ♡ ɞ ········•∘
My first thriller book, hope it'll gets me out of my reading slump
Thanks for Sabrina, Sophie, Maram and manju for their advice 🤍
I was in the worst reading slump, and I came to this book literally desperate for something that would take me out of it, and I guess this book did it for me.
I really loved the short chapters and the fast-paced story. I won't say that there were crazy things happening at first; there was barely anything happening in the first half of the book. It became more of a thriller in the second half, but nonetheless, it was really enjoyable. I really liked the teen vibes, and the characters were very likeable for me (lia just a little, tbh), and I loved their vibes together. and I also liked this little touch of romance.
I had so many theories about who'd be the killer, but I'll gladly say that I was so shocked. I loved that, because I really hate when I predict the plot twist, but I'm still waiting for better plot twists in the next books.
There's not much to say actually, it so enjoyable with this teen shows vibes.
And I think if you don't like this teen show, this one won't be for you.
⟣┄─ ˑ ◌ ִ 💙 ፧ ּ 🫐 ִ ݊ ʚ ɞ ׁ ֢ ㇴ ۫
❝ Maybe I don’t want to be profiled because I don’t want to know what you’d see. What little box I fit in. Who I really am.❞
❝ A lot has happened. You have a lot to figure out. I can be a patient man, Colorado. A devastatingly handsome, roguishly scarred, heartbreakingly courageous, patient man.❞
❝ So take whatever time you need. Figure out how you feel. Figure out if Dean makes you feel the way I do, if he’ll ever let you in, and if you want him to, because the next time my lips touch yours, the next time your hands are buried in my hair—the only person you’re going to be thinking about is me.❞
like really how could anyone not love him?😭😭
∘•········ʚ ♡ ɞ ········•∘
My first thriller book, hope it'll gets me out of my reading slump
Thanks for Sabrina, Sophie, Maram and manju for their advice 🤍
July 10, 2024
꒰🪪꒱ જ⁀➴ 5 stars
— “you came after me”
“i'll always come after you”
⤿ as someone who is obsessed with criminal minds, law and order, monk, nancy drew, etc... i knew i was going to love this. this book was everything i needed, esp during ap season (pretend i'm not writing this review two months later!!) 🤭
had the most fun buddy reading with my bsf lydia <33 just go ahead and read her beautiful review rn!! 🫶
⤿ lydia's review <3
꒰🎧꒱ now playing ... no body no crime — taylor swift
also just going to put this here, but TEAM DEAN 🩷🩷
୨# ꒰🧩꒱ plot
cassie has an ability to profile people. one day she is invited to join the FBI, along with 4 other teenagers also with special abilities. together, the 5 of them are known as the naturals. they begin to work on a case, and cassie's life could be in much more danger than imagined.
୨# ꒰🔍꒱ character breakdown
➳ cassie - profiler #1
i honestly didn't feel super connected to cassie, but i definitely still liked her. i definitely want to give her a hug because she's been through so much <3
➳ michael - emotions reader
michael omg 🤭🤭 i'm team dean for cassie, but team michael for myself 🤞🩷 he reminded me of jameson from the inheritance games, and he also has a really sad past (all of them do 💔💔)
➳ dean - profiler #2
i adore dean so much too honestly <33 he def has a LOT of trauma too and you can see why he acts the way he is because of it :(( still, i love him and cassie, and i think they go perfect together <3
➳ sloane - math girlie
sloane is seriously the cutest and after reading the entire series, there's so much she's been through too ☹️🫶 i just love her so much and she reminds me of penelope garcia from criminal minds
➳ lia - lie detector
i honestly didn't love lia that much in this book, but after the rest of the series, i definitely love her now 🤭 she's mean to cassie at first but they def open up to each other later and i'm glad she's apart of the team fs
— “sometimes,” he said, “when i’m in a social pickle, i like to ask myself, WWJAD?” i raised an eyebrow, and he explained. “What Would Jane Austen Do?
we love you michael we all say in unison!! 🫶
— “there are fourteen varieties of hugs, this is one of them.”
જ⁀➴ overall this is my new favorite series <3 i finished all the books so fast, and i wish i could experience it all for the first time again ☹️🩷 also maybe unpopular opinion(?) but i love this sm more than the inheritance games <33
— “you came after me”
“i'll always come after you”
⤿ as someone who is obsessed with criminal minds, law and order, monk, nancy drew, etc... i knew i was going to love this. this book was everything i needed, esp during ap season (pretend i'm not writing this review two months later!!) 🤭
had the most fun buddy reading with my bsf lydia <33 just go ahead and read her beautiful review rn!! 🫶
⤿ lydia's review <3
꒰🎧꒱ now playing ... no body no crime — taylor swift
also just going to put this here, but TEAM DEAN 🩷🩷
୨# ꒰🧩꒱ plot
cassie has an ability to profile people. one day she is invited to join the FBI, along with 4 other teenagers also with special abilities. together, the 5 of them are known as the naturals. they begin to work on a case, and cassie's life could be in much more danger than imagined.
୨# ꒰🔍꒱ character breakdown
➳ cassie - profiler #1
i honestly didn't feel super connected to cassie, but i definitely still liked her. i definitely want to give her a hug because she's been through so much <3
➳ michael - emotions reader
michael omg 🤭🤭 i'm team dean for cassie, but team michael for myself 🤞🩷 he reminded me of jameson from the inheritance games, and he also has a really sad past (all of them do 💔💔)
➳ dean - profiler #2
i adore dean so much too honestly <33 he def has a LOT of trauma too and you can see why he acts the way he is because of it :(( still, i love him and cassie, and i think they go perfect together <3
➳ sloane - math girlie
sloane is seriously the cutest and after reading the entire series, there's so much she's been through too ☹️🫶 i just love her so much and she reminds me of penelope garcia from criminal minds
➳ lia - lie detector
i honestly didn't love lia that much in this book, but after the rest of the series, i definitely love her now 🤭 she's mean to cassie at first but they def open up to each other later and i'm glad she's apart of the team fs
— “sometimes,” he said, “when i’m in a social pickle, i like to ask myself, WWJAD?” i raised an eyebrow, and he explained. “What Would Jane Austen Do?
we love you michael we all say in unison!! 🫶
— “there are fourteen varieties of hugs, this is one of them.”
જ⁀➴ overall this is my new favorite series <3 i finished all the books so fast, and i wish i could experience it all for the first time again ☹️🩷 also maybe unpopular opinion(?) but i love this sm more than the inheritance games <33
December 2, 2023
i love this book, i literally devoured it. team michael, he's tew cute
"i can be a patient man, colorado. a devastatingly handsome, roguishly scarred, heartbreakingly courageous, patient man."
i mean how can you not love him he's such a cutie patootie
"i can be a patient man, colorado. a devastatingly handsome, roguishly scarred, heartbreakingly courageous, patient man."
i mean how can you not love him he's such a cutie patootie
July 11, 2024
જ⁀➴3.75 stars ꒰♟️꒱
➳thriller/mystery ┆ 14+ ┆no spoilers
very solid 3.75 stars. i lowered a bit my rating (at first i rated it 4.25) because I feel like the next books are going to be better and i dont want to have this feeling that I rate this one too high.
ᯓ★the plot: basically, this story follows cassie, who has this special ability for profile people based only on their behavior. one day, a guy in a restaurant leaves her a message with a phone number to FBI. she calls this phone number, where a man says that she's invited to be part of a project. this project is like a band of teenagers solving coldcases for the FBI.
➷my thoughts: i picked it up, not knowing what it is about. I was expecting a book similar to the inheritance games trilogy, but it ended up being something completely else. I really liked the short chapters and the way they were so fast-paced. it's a perfect book for a reading slump! the first half was more like practicing, so there were no crazy things happening. personally, I loved that practicing, but it was like 60% of the book, which is a bit too much for me. by that first half, I couldn't put it down! the plot twist at the ending was so good, I didn't expect that!
ᯓ★characters: I can't wait to know them more! I'm obsessed with characters in books. I love to know their personality, their past, etc. so, because these characters were already perfect, I don't know what will be in the next books.
꒰ cassie ꒱ sometimes reminded me of Avery from the inheritance games a bit too much. I didn't hate her, but I didn't live her either. I have neutral thoughts about her
꒰ michael ꒱ he's the reason why I hate love triangles. like how can I choose between him and Dean. he was so cute he gave me these kina golden retriever vibes. I can't wait to know more about his parents and past. ALSO, HE READS JANE AUSTEN.
꒰ dean ꒱ my poor baby. I loved this scene when cassie finds out about his father and immediately runs to him. but not to blame him, just to say that he's not like his father. this scene is my roman empire. btw I'm team Dean like Cassie and him are so perfect together
ᯓ★overall: it was so enjoyable and fast to read. I recommend it, especially if you are in a reading slump!
➳quotes
⟶ I looked at Dean, and suddenly, I could breathe. - I cannot relate. I wouldn't breathe If I was looking at him
⟶Sometimes,” he said, “when I’m in a social pickle, I like to ask myself, WWJAD?” I raised an eyebrow, and he explained. “What Would Jane Austen Do? - I understand why people are team Michael 😭
⟶There was nothing to ruin. - NOOO MY BABY, DONT SAY THAT YOU MAKE ME CRY
⟶So take whatever time you need. Figure out how you feel. Figure out if Dean makes you feel the way I do, if he’ll ever let you in, and if you want him to, because the next time my lips touch yours, the next time your hands are buried in my hair—the only person you’re going to be thinking about is me. - THIS QUOTE IS SO PERFECT
⟶No expectations, no disappointments.- again I understand why people are team Michael
⟶"There are fourteen varieties of hugs," she said. "This is one of them. - that's cute
━━━━━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━
₊˚🧿✩ pre-read
AHHH I'M SO EXCITED TO START THIS SERIES OMG. i LOVED the inheritance games trilogy and this one has been on my tbr for soo long! also i've seen lots of good ratings abt it, so my excpectations are quite high <3
➳thriller/mystery ┆ 14+ ┆no spoilers
very solid 3.75 stars. i lowered a bit my rating (at first i rated it 4.25) because I feel like the next books are going to be better and i dont want to have this feeling that I rate this one too high.
ᯓ★the plot: basically, this story follows cassie, who has this special ability for profile people based only on their behavior. one day, a guy in a restaurant leaves her a message with a phone number to FBI. she calls this phone number, where a man says that she's invited to be part of a project. this project is like a band of teenagers solving coldcases for the FBI.
➷my thoughts: i picked it up, not knowing what it is about. I was expecting a book similar to the inheritance games trilogy, but it ended up being something completely else. I really liked the short chapters and the way they were so fast-paced. it's a perfect book for a reading slump! the first half was more like practicing, so there were no crazy things happening. personally, I loved that practicing, but it was like 60% of the book, which is a bit too much for me. by that first half, I couldn't put it down! the plot twist at the ending was so good, I didn't expect that!
ᯓ★characters: I can't wait to know them more! I'm obsessed with characters in books. I love to know their personality, their past, etc. so, because these characters were already perfect, I don't know what will be in the next books.
꒰ cassie ꒱ sometimes reminded me of Avery from the inheritance games a bit too much. I didn't hate her, but I didn't live her either. I have neutral thoughts about her
꒰ michael ꒱ he's the reason why I hate love triangles. like how can I choose between him and Dean. he was so cute he gave me these kina golden retriever vibes. I can't wait to know more about his parents and past. ALSO, HE READS JANE AUSTEN.
꒰ dean ꒱ my poor baby. I loved this scene when cassie finds out about his father and immediately runs to him. but not to blame him, just to say that he's not like his father. this scene is my roman empire. btw I'm team Dean like Cassie and him are so perfect together
ᯓ★overall: it was so enjoyable and fast to read. I recommend it, especially if you are in a reading slump!
➳quotes
⟶ I looked at Dean, and suddenly, I could breathe. - I cannot relate. I wouldn't breathe If I was looking at him
⟶Sometimes,” he said, “when I’m in a social pickle, I like to ask myself, WWJAD?” I raised an eyebrow, and he explained. “What Would Jane Austen Do? - I understand why people are team Michael 😭
⟶There was nothing to ruin. - NOOO MY BABY, DONT SAY THAT YOU MAKE ME CRY
⟶So take whatever time you need. Figure out how you feel. Figure out if Dean makes you feel the way I do, if he’ll ever let you in, and if you want him to, because the next time my lips touch yours, the next time your hands are buried in my hair—the only person you’re going to be thinking about is me. - THIS QUOTE IS SO PERFECT
⟶No expectations, no disappointments.- again I understand why people are team Michael
⟶"There are fourteen varieties of hugs," she said. "This is one of them. - that's cute
━━━━━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━
₊˚🧿✩ pre-read
AHHH I'M SO EXCITED TO START THIS SERIES OMG. i LOVED the inheritance games trilogy and this one has been on my tbr for soo long! also i've seen lots of good ratings abt it, so my excpectations are quite high <3
July 3, 2019
1.) The Naturals ★★★★.5
2.) Killer Instinct ★★★★
3.) All In ★★★★.5
4.) Bad Blood ★★★★.5
--------------------------------------------------
REREAD OCTOBER 2017
Wasn't as good as the first time because obviously I knew who the killer was, but still, this series is so good!
JANUARY 2016
*4.5 STARS*
WOW. What a way to start off my reading year! This literally is a YA version of Criminal Minds with a tiny paranormal twist. The FBI has found and recruited some teenagers who are 'naturals' at certain abilities that the FBI want to trial in a new program that could help to solve some cold cases. The main character Cassie is a natural profiler and ever since she stumbled across the scene of her mother's murder (although her body was never found), she's felt like something in her life was missing. She meets these new people and learns all about profiling and victimology and it's just SO exciting I literally read this book in ONE sitting! There is a love triangle introduced which at first had me real angry, but thankfully the characters realised they had more important things to worry about so that was really put on the back burner while they were trying to find a particular serial killer that WAS SO CRAZY. I literally did not see anything coming, which let's be honest, is kinda rare these days in a YA book. I absolutely LOVED this and I can't wait to continue on with the series!
Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge Notes:
- 31. A YA book
2.) Killer Instinct ★★★★
3.) All In ★★★★.5
4.) Bad Blood ★★★★.5
--------------------------------------------------
REREAD OCTOBER 2017
Wasn't as good as the first time because obviously I knew who the killer was, but still, this series is so good!
JANUARY 2016
*4.5 STARS*
WOW. What a way to start off my reading year! This literally is a YA version of Criminal Minds with a tiny paranormal twist. The FBI has found and recruited some teenagers who are 'naturals' at certain abilities that the FBI want to trial in a new program that could help to solve some cold cases. The main character Cassie is a natural profiler and ever since she stumbled across the scene of her mother's murder (although her body was never found), she's felt like something in her life was missing. She meets these new people and learns all about profiling and victimology and it's just SO exciting I literally read this book in ONE sitting! There is a love triangle introduced which at first had me real angry, but thankfully the characters realised they had more important things to worry about so that was really put on the back burner while they were trying to find a particular serial killer that WAS SO CRAZY. I literally did not see anything coming, which let's be honest, is kinda rare these days in a YA book. I absolutely LOVED this and I can't wait to continue on with the series!
Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge Notes:
- 31. A YA book
May 22, 2023
4.5 ⭐️ IM SO OBSESSED I COULD CRY.
these characters, this team, the plot, the lil bits of romance!!!
yes. just YES.
these characters, this team, the plot, the lil bits of romance!!!
yes. just YES.
September 20, 2023
OH MY GOD ??? HOLY SHIT ???
March 23, 2024
if you love true crime, you’ll love this. teenage profilers say lessssss
![Profile Image for skye (cardan’s ver.) ꩜ .ᐟ [semi-hiatus].](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1722233310i/159007189._UY200_CR0,0,200,200_.jpg)
March 8, 2024
�� ⌗
”no expectations, no disappointments.”
ᝰ.ᐟ
⋆˚✿˖° the naturals by jennifer lynn barnes
➜ ┊: (5 stars) ᵎ ✰
— ⌗ ”did this place ruin you?” / “there was nothing to ruin.” ᝰ.ᐟ
⌗ !! ꒰ 🎧 ꒱ playlist…
⊹ ࣪ no body, no crime — taylor swift
⊹ ࣪ hayloft — mother mother
⊹ ࣪ swim — chase atlantic
⊹ ࣪ I did something bad — taylor swift
⊹ ࣪ matilda — harry styles
⊹ ࣪ invisible string — taylor swift
⊹ ࣪ daddy issues — the nbhd
⌗ !! ꒰ 💮 ꒱ tropes…
╰ strangers to friends to… maybe something more?
╰ love triangle (;-;)
╰ found family
╰ dark and troubled past (every mc)
╰ group of misfits
trigger warnings: please look them up! there’s quite a lot for this one, including and not limited to— homicide, abuse, anxiety, trauma, ptsd, etc. and please know that this ^ is not all just what the book is about <3
— ⌗ ”there are fourteen varieties of hugs. this is one of them.” ᝰ.ᐟ
𖦹ׂ SPOILERS INCLUDED (the spoiler is clearly mentioned before the spoiler paragraph, otherwise it’s all spoiler-free🫶)!
— ⌗ ”you came after me.” / “i’ll always come after you.” ᝰ.ᐟ
₊˚꒰🪦꒱‧ plot…
hello?? jlb, WOW. I went into this expecting an inheritance games kind of thing, but I was blown away very soon. the first book in a four-book murder and mystery series follows a girl named cassie who’ssound surprised now: not normal. she’s one of the few people who has been cultivating a natural talent since childhood. she soon meets four others who are like her in some aspects: naturals, at what they do. cassie gets roped into a case that hits closer to home than she thinks it would.
₊˚꒰♟️꒱‧ thoughts…
the way I ate this up in just five hours from start to finish was beautiful lmao. if the inheritance games books and any of agatha christie’s novels had a baby and agggtm was the godmother of the baby, this book would be it. the only thing I wish was different was if cassie had some other ‘talent’ (not lie detection/emotion reading/stats/profiling), it would’ve been more fun <3 however, the secondary romance genre paired w the primary murder mystery genre was so perfect, I doubt anyone else could write this as good as jlb did <3
— ⌗ ”we all had our crosses to bear.” ᝰ.ᐟ
₊˚꒰🪪꒱‧ favourite scenes…
michael mentioned? I love. dean mentioned? I love. sloane mentioned? I LOVE. safe to say, I do have favourites among their group. the emotional trauma dump and trauma bonding sessions were my favouriteofc they were, i’m an angst girlie through and through and I especially loved the final reveal. the shock, the jaw drop, the EVERYTHING, even if I saw it coming a few pages before.
MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW, PLEASE DON’T READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH UNLESS YOU’VE READ THE BOOK ‼️
₊˚꒰🖥️꒱‧ ending…
wtf. no because, what the FUCK. I had a feeling it was lacey/locke/whatever and I was still shocked. I usually almost always guess the right endings and plot twists a few chapters in advance of the reveals in mystery books, but the fact that I only had a small hunch about what was happening, and that was a mere few pages before the reveal? jlb. ma’am. you have my utmost respect. and the chapter before the reveal omfg. when she shot those two, I swear I almost cried- if anything permanent happened to them, I would’ve thrown hands fr.
END OF SPOILERS!! feel free to read on for more spoiler-free thoughts <3
— ⌗ ”we saw things that other people didn’t—things that people our age should never have to see.” ᝰ.ᐟ
₊˚꒰🧩꒱‧ cassandra hobbes…
⤹ ⊹ the profiler | ‘colorado’ by michael ₊˚๑
i’m sorry to say this but… she was definitely my least favourite out of the five ;-; I never pick favourites in groups (except leo from pjo. that guy’s my favourite no matter who enters the riordanverse <3) but in this book, I could. and it wasn’t cassie. she came off as a little annoying and confused for quite a while, and while I see where she’s coming from, I didn’t really love her character as much as I wanted to. but it’s okayyy <3 bc all characters have their flaws and strengths, and cassie’s also smart, and brave <3 and bby, it’s not your fault. literally no one knew who the killer was — not even the trained fbi agents — so please don’t beat yourself up about it omg 3
₊˚꒰🔍꒱‧ dean redding…
⤹ ⊹also the profiler ₊˚๑
deannnnnnn <33 I feel like i’m a sucker for boys childhood trauma (also read: cardan greenbriar. also read: aaron warner. also read: leo valdez. should I go on? ;-;). I didn’t like his stand off-ish attitude the first moment I met him, but I immediately understood his situation and realised that it was just part of his personality to build walls and keep new people away thinking it would keep them safe. he grew up in a toxic householdunderstatement of the millennium and he is definitely what his past made him. at a young age like that, and exposed to stuff like that especially? god, I can’t even imagine the extreme level of daddy issues this guy has.
₊˚꒰🍻꒱‧ michael townsend…
⤹ ⊹ the emotions reader ₊˚๑
this man. UGH. strode in with his cheshire cat grin, dean winchester personality (please tell me at least one person who reads this watched supernatural or i’ll cry), and walked out w my heart fr. I really wanted to know more about his past and parents, which wasn’t that much of a discussion point in this book. i’m hoping we find out more in the next three tho! and your honour, he reads fucking jane austen <3333 the one thing I didn’t really like about his character was his on/off thing w lia since initially it was just to rile dean up, but now i’m getting the sense that it’s more to put on a show for cassie and playing hard to get, or whatever. just no, bro. do not be a dick, pick one.
₊˚꒰☕️꒱‧ sloane tavish…
⤹ ⊹ the statistician ₊˚๑
this girl owns my soul. she is the entire embodiment of my existence, and my spirit book character. I could relate to her on so many levels ): firstly, it’s obviously the fact that i’m a math girlie bc i’d die without that subject(pls don’t come at me i love you all 😭). numbers are definitely my forté, and I loved reading about it. secondly, you can just tell she grew up as the neglected child and the ‘second choice’ person yk? she comes off as bubbly and happy, but you can js see the fact that she’s really grateful for her friends and is always scared about losing something as precious as their friendship. third, is definitely the caffeine addiction and coffee rush. do not ever give me coffee, or i’ll yap your head off. lastly, she doesn’t know how exactly to comfort someone and rambles off statistics to show she cares (the ‘fourteen hugs’ quote yk) bc same- I couldn’t console a person even if my life depended istfg ;-; basically, sloane is me, I am sloane, we are one <3
₊˚꒰🍾꒱‧ lia zhang…
⤹ ⊹ the lie detector ₊˚๑
is it weird I loved her but also disliked her at the same time? I don’t have much to say about her except I could relate to her ability lmao. I can tell if someone’s lying about 70% of the time and I def don’t know how my brain works for that. also, how is she the only asian character bye- jlb, please bring in more rep ;-; what I didn’t like about lia was, again same as michael, her on/off relationship. while we all know michael was in it originally to annoy dean, it’s clear lia’s trying to boast it in cassie’s face ):
₊˚꒰🕯️꒱‧ cassie x dean…
hear me out: team dean. why? because michael’s my bby 😌 for those who have reads this series/book already lmk if you’re: team dean or team michael (and why 🫣)? <3 AND TELL ME WHY I GOT A GRAY-JAMIE PARALLEL FROM DEAN-MICHAEL OMFG.
— ⌗ ”I didn’t know if I was capable of really letting someone else in. I didn’t know if I could fall in love.” ᝰ.ᐟ
₊˚꒰🗡️꒱‧ pre-read…
so so excited for this! my other cr is sort of boring, so I wanted something fast paced and a thriller, so here we are. I have such high hopes bc it’s a jlb book <3 praying for this to be as good as inheritance games, if not better ((:
₊˚꒰🩸꒱‧ pre-review…
did I just devour this in 5 hours and give it 5 stars? YES, I DID. JLB, HOW DO YOU DO THIS TO ME W YOUR BOOKS?? also, I just found out that jlb’s a psych professor now? and majored in psychology, I think? that’s so cool~ i’ll be studying psychology for the next two years, starting in july, and this was just SO fascinating.
— ⌗ ”I didn’t know what I wanted or who I wanted to be with.” ᝰ.ᐟ
⋆˚✿˖° the naturals by jennifer lynn barnes
➜ ┊: (5 stars) ᵎ ✰
— ⌗ ”did this place ruin you?” / “there was nothing to ruin.” ᝰ.ᐟ
⌗ !! ꒰ 🎧 ꒱ playlist…
⊹ ࣪ no body, no crime — taylor swift
⊹ ࣪ hayloft — mother mother
⊹ ࣪ swim — chase atlantic
⊹ ࣪ I did something bad — taylor swift
⊹ ࣪ matilda — harry styles
⊹ ࣪ invisible string — taylor swift
⊹ ࣪ daddy issues — the nbhd
⌗ !! ꒰ 💮 ꒱ tropes…
╰ strangers to friends to… maybe something more?
╰ love triangle (;-;)
╰ found family
╰ dark and troubled past (every mc)
╰ group of misfits
trigger warnings: please look them up! there’s quite a lot for this one, including and not limited to— homicide, abuse, anxiety, trauma, ptsd, etc. and please know that this ^ is not all just what the book is about <3
— ⌗ ”there are fourteen varieties of hugs. this is one of them.” ᝰ.ᐟ
𖦹ׂ SPOILERS INCLUDED (the spoiler is clearly mentioned before the spoiler paragraph, otherwise it’s all spoiler-free🫶)!
— ⌗ ”you came after me.” / “i’ll always come after you.” ᝰ.ᐟ
₊˚꒰🪦꒱‧ plot…
hello?? jlb, WOW. I went into this expecting an inheritance games kind of thing, but I was blown away very soon. the first book in a four-book murder and mystery series follows a girl named cassie who’s
₊˚꒰♟️꒱‧ thoughts…
the way I ate this up in just five hours from start to finish was beautiful lmao. if the inheritance games books and any of agatha christie’s novels had a baby and agggtm was the godmother of the baby, this book would be it. the only thing I wish was different was if cassie had some other ‘talent’ (not lie detection/emotion reading/stats/profiling), it would’ve been more fun <3 however, the secondary romance genre paired w the primary murder mystery genre was so perfect, I doubt anyone else could write this as good as jlb did <3
— ⌗ ”we all had our crosses to bear.” ᝰ.ᐟ
₊˚꒰🪪꒱‧ favourite scenes…
michael mentioned? I love. dean mentioned? I love. sloane mentioned? I LOVE. safe to say, I do have favourites among their group. the emotional trauma dump and trauma bonding sessions were my favourite
MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW, PLEASE DON’T READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH UNLESS YOU’VE READ THE BOOK ‼️
₊˚꒰🖥️꒱‧ ending…
wtf. no because, what the FUCK. I had a feeling it was lacey/locke/whatever and I was still shocked. I usually almost always guess the right endings and plot twists a few chapters in advance of the reveals in mystery books, but the fact that I only had a small hunch about what was happening, and that was a mere few pages before the reveal? jlb. ma’am. you have my utmost respect. and the chapter before the reveal omfg. when she shot those two, I swear I almost cried- if anything permanent happened to them, I would’ve thrown hands fr.
END OF SPOILERS!! feel free to read on for more spoiler-free thoughts <3
— ⌗ ”we saw things that other people didn’t—things that people our age should never have to see.” ᝰ.ᐟ
₊˚꒰🧩꒱‧ cassandra hobbes…
⤹ ⊹ the profiler | ‘colorado’ by michael ₊˚๑
i’m sorry to say this but… she was definitely my least favourite out of the five ;-; I never pick favourites in groups (except leo from pjo. that guy’s my favourite no matter who enters the riordanverse <3) but in this book, I could. and it wasn’t cassie. she came off as a little annoying and confused for quite a while, and while I see where she’s coming from, I didn’t really love her character as much as I wanted to. but it’s okayyy <3 bc all characters have their flaws and strengths, and cassie’s also smart, and brave <3 and bby, it’s not your fault. literally no one knew who the killer was — not even the trained fbi agents — so please don’t beat yourself up about it omg 3
₊˚꒰🔍꒱‧ dean redding…
⤹ ⊹
deannnnnnn <33 I feel like i’m a sucker for boys childhood trauma (also read: cardan greenbriar. also read: aaron warner. also read: leo valdez. should I go on? ;-;). I didn’t like his stand off-ish attitude the first moment I met him, but I immediately understood his situation and realised that it was just part of his personality to build walls and keep new people away thinking it would keep them safe. he grew up in a toxic household
₊˚꒰🍻꒱‧ michael townsend…
⤹ ⊹ the emotions reader ₊˚๑
this man. UGH. strode in with his cheshire cat grin, dean winchester personality (please tell me at least one person who reads this watched supernatural or i’ll cry), and walked out w my heart fr. I really wanted to know more about his past and parents, which wasn’t that much of a discussion point in this book. i’m hoping we find out more in the next three tho! and your honour, he reads fucking jane austen <3333 the one thing I didn’t really like about his character was his on/off thing w lia since initially it was just to rile dean up, but now i’m getting the sense that it’s more to put on a show for cassie and playing hard to get, or whatever. just no, bro. do not be a dick, pick one.
₊˚꒰☕️꒱‧ sloane tavish…
⤹ ⊹ the statistician ₊˚๑
this girl owns my soul. she is the entire embodiment of my existence, and my spirit book character. I could relate to her on so many levels ): firstly, it’s obviously the fact that i’m a math girlie bc i’d die without that subject
₊˚꒰🍾꒱‧ lia zhang…
⤹ ⊹ the lie detector ₊˚๑
is it weird I loved her but also disliked her at the same time? I don’t have much to say about her except I could relate to her ability lmao. I can tell if someone’s lying about 70% of the time and I def don’t know how my brain works for that. also, how is she the only asian character bye- jlb, please bring in more rep ;-; what I didn’t like about lia was, again same as michael, her on/off relationship. while we all know michael was in it originally to annoy dean, it’s clear lia’s trying to boast it in cassie’s face ):
₊˚꒰🕯️꒱‧ cassie x dean…
hear me out: team dean. why? because michael’s my bby 😌 for those who have reads this series/book already lmk if you’re: team dean or team michael (and why 🫣)? <3 AND TELL ME WHY I GOT A GRAY-JAMIE PARALLEL FROM DEAN-MICHAEL OMFG.
— ⌗ ”I didn’t know if I was capable of really letting someone else in. I didn’t know if I could fall in love.” ᝰ.ᐟ
₊˚꒰🗡️꒱‧ pre-read…
so so excited for this! my other cr is sort of boring, so I wanted something fast paced and a thriller, so here we are. I have such high hopes bc it’s a jlb book <3 praying for this to be as good as inheritance games, if not better ((:
₊˚꒰🩸꒱‧ pre-review…
did I just devour this in 5 hours and give it 5 stars? YES, I DID. JLB, HOW DO YOU DO THIS TO ME W YOUR BOOKS?? also, I just found out that jlb’s a psych professor now? and majored in psychology, I think? that’s so cool~ i’ll be studying psychology for the next two years, starting in july, and this was just SO fascinating.
— ⌗ ”I didn’t know what I wanted or who I wanted to be with.” ᝰ.ᐟ
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 22, 2024
“I’d given him a truth, and he’d given me one.”
➳ 4 ✩ ⋆｡ﾟ𓂃
buddy read with meg 💙
THIS WAS SUCH A FUN READ! What kind of drugs did Jennifer but into this book because my gosh it was so addicting I. COULD. NOT. PUT. IT. DOWN. I literally read this so quick too (thanks to meg cause she’s a FAST reader) it was such a page turner and I loved everything about this book! The characters, the mystery, the SUSPENSE i was so intrigued by everything! I also just loved mystery books and solving murders type of plots and WOW did we guess it from the start! It was so obvious it was you but I have to give it to you cause wow you was pretty smart ngl! I can’t wait to continue the series because there is still one question left unanswered that I need to know!!
⋆ ˚｡⋆ · ˖ ࣪
the naturals
➳ cassie
I could not find a quote for my girl Cassieeee but I really liked her character! Her mind was really easy to follow and know what she’s thinking! I can’t wait to see her grow and catch you ;)
➳ micheal
“Maybe I like being tall, dark, and mysterious”
“You’re not that tall”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re cute when you’re annoyed?”
“I don’t get jealous,” “I get even.”
OKAY… I like Micheal! He is HILARIOUS and FLIRTY and a lot of his lines ate ngl especially at the end! I loved his banter with Cassie and he did have me smiling a little bit when it was a scene of the two of them and him reading Jane Austen really surprised me HAHA BUTTTTT… idk…
➳ dean
“There was nothing to ruin.”
“He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, it was like the two of us were the only two people in the room.”
“Don’t apologize,” “Just tell me what you need.”
SAYING IT HERE AND NOW I AM TEAM DEANNNNNN! Closed off, past trauma, morally grey character? Yup that’s it for me! Him and Cassie are literally perfect for each other and you cannot convince me otherwise like come on they UNDERSTAND each other so well in a way that others don’t and they’ve both been through such similar things and THEY JUST GET EACH OTHER! I just know Cassie is gonna be the one to bring down his walls later on! Team Dean!! :)
➳ lia
No quote for Lia haha… idk how to feel about her tbh she kinda annoyed me throughout this whole book and miss girl does not know what privacy is! Idk how Cassie did it because Lia would’ve driven me insane! Maybe she’ll grow on me in the other books but for now I’m iffy about her.
➳ sloane
“There are fourteen varieties of hugs,” “This is one of them.”
I LOVE SLOANE! I WANT TO SEE MORE OF SLOANE! I NEED MORE OF HER! She’s just an interesting character and so adorably nerdy MORE OF SLOANE PLEASEEEE!
⋆ ˚｡⋆ · ˖ ࣪
➳ 4 ✩ ⋆｡ﾟ𓂃
buddy read with meg 💙
THIS WAS SUCH A FUN READ! What kind of drugs did Jennifer but into this book because my gosh it was so addicting I. COULD. NOT. PUT. IT. DOWN. I literally read this so quick too (thanks to meg cause she’s a FAST reader) it was such a page turner and I loved everything about this book! The characters, the mystery, the SUSPENSE i was so intrigued by everything! I also just loved mystery books and solving murders type of plots and WOW did we guess it from the start! It was so obvious it was you but I have to give it to you cause wow you was pretty smart ngl! I can’t wait to continue the series because there is still one question left unanswered that I need to know!!
⋆ ˚｡⋆ · ˖ ࣪
the naturals
➳ cassie
I could not find a quote for my girl Cassieeee but I really liked her character! Her mind was really easy to follow and know what she’s thinking! I can’t wait to see her grow and catch you ;)
➳ micheal
“Maybe I like being tall, dark, and mysterious”
“You’re not that tall”
“Anyone ever tell you you’re cute when you’re annoyed?”
“I don’t get jealous,” “I get even.”
OKAY… I like Micheal! He is HILARIOUS and FLIRTY and a lot of his lines ate ngl especially at the end! I loved his banter with Cassie and he did have me smiling a little bit when it was a scene of the two of them and him reading Jane Austen really surprised me HAHA BUTTTTT… idk…
➳ dean
“There was nothing to ruin.”
“He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them, it was like the two of us were the only two people in the room.”
“Don’t apologize,” “Just tell me what you need.”
SAYING IT HERE AND NOW I AM TEAM DEANNNNNN! Closed off, past trauma, morally grey character? Yup that’s it for me! Him and Cassie are literally perfect for each other and you cannot convince me otherwise like come on they UNDERSTAND each other so well in a way that others don’t and they’ve both been through such similar things and THEY JUST GET EACH OTHER! I just know Cassie is gonna be the one to bring down his walls later on! Team Dean!! :)
➳ lia
No quote for Lia haha… idk how to feel about her tbh she kinda annoyed me throughout this whole book and miss girl does not know what privacy is! Idk how Cassie did it because Lia would’ve driven me insane! Maybe she’ll grow on me in the other books but for now I’m iffy about her.
➳ sloane
“There are fourteen varieties of hugs,” “This is one of them.”
I LOVE SLOANE! I WANT TO SEE MORE OF SLOANE! I NEED MORE OF HER! She’s just an interesting character and so adorably nerdy MORE OF SLOANE PLEASEEEE!
⋆ ˚｡⋆ · ˖ ࣪
June 26, 2024
･:*:･ﾟ⁀➷ 4.25/5 ★
Ahhh this was literally sm fun! 🤭🤭 The perfect ya murder mystery- I definitely get the hype now 💙✨️
Tropes:
🧩 Ya murder mystery
🧩 Love triangle
🧩 Teenagers in the FBI
🧩 Found family vibes
I've been hearing amazing things about this series for ages, and I'm so glad I finally gave it a try! It definitely lived up to the hype 🫶
⤹ Tw: death, blood, violence, gore, torture, abduction, mental illness, psychopathy (this isn't everything so pls stay safe & look at a more in depth list!)
Let’s get into my thoughts! 🔍
ೃ⁀➷ Writing & plot:
I have read the Inheritance Games trilogy and the Brothers Hawthorne, so this wasn't my first Jennifer Lynn Barnes book. However, I can already tell I'm going to like this series a lot more than inheritance games! 🥹🥹 Her writing is so perfect for ya mysteries- soo bingeable and easy to read. The short chapters in her books are my fav thing ever, they make them so easy to fly through ✨️
As for the plot, I really enjoyed it! I lovee a good ya mystery and the mystery in this book was so good. It was so fascinating to me how they got into the head of serial killers to solve the crimes and I thought the chapters from the killer's pov were so chilling in the best way possible 🤭🤭 The final solution wasn't the best I've ever seen, but it was still very satisfying to me! And I'm so intrigued to see how the story continues in the rest of the series.
ೃ⁀➷ Characters:
The characters were pretty good! I like all of them so far & I'm excited to get more connected to them over the rest of the series 🥰💘
➵ Cassie: I really liked her as our fmc! 🫶🫶 She was super smart and resourceful and I enjoyed seeing her be introduced to the naturals program.
➵ Dean: what can I say, I'm a sucker for the tortured bad boy trope 🤭🤭 It gets me every time ✋️ I really enjoyed learning about his backstory and I need more Cassie & dean scenes!! TEAM DEAN 👊
➵ Michael: I think he's a really fun character and he's definitely the comedic relief of the series. However, his rivalry with Dean and the way he constantly tried to get back at Dean was kinda annoying to me.
➵ Sloane: everyone loves her sm, so I'm excited to find out why! I like her a lot so far 🥰🥰
➵ Lia: she was kinda annoying…. Idk she just got on my nerves sometimes 🫣
ೃ⁀➷ Romance:
‼️ potential spoilers in this section ‼️
It is very rare for me not to hate a love triangle, but I don't think I hate the one in this series so far?? I am definitely Team Dean tho- I think he and Cassie had really good tension!! 🤭🤭 I don't hate Michael & Cassie together tho, so I'm intrigued to see how the romance goes 💙✨️
‼️ spoilers have ended ‼️
ೃ⁀➷ In conclusion:
Such a fun, fast-paced read! 🥹🫶 I would highly recommend if you're looking for:
✔️ Ya murder mystery
✔️ Soo easy to binge + short chapters
✔️ Intriguing mystery
✔️ Fun romance
✔️ Teens in FBI!
I'm sooo excited to continue the series 💙
《 2024 Challenge: Book 71 of 115 》
ೃ⁀➷ pre-review:
➷ OMG this was so good 🤭🤭 I totally get the hype now- it was the perfect ya murder mystery! 💙✨️
rtc 🔍
Ahhh this was literally sm fun! 🤭🤭 The perfect ya murder mystery- I definitely get the hype now 💙✨️
Tropes:
🧩 Ya murder mystery
🧩 Love triangle
🧩 Teenagers in the FBI
🧩 Found family vibes
I've been hearing amazing things about this series for ages, and I'm so glad I finally gave it a try! It definitely lived up to the hype 🫶
⤹ Tw: death, blood, violence, gore, torture, abduction, mental illness, psychopathy (this isn't everything so pls stay safe & look at a more in depth list!)
Let’s get into my thoughts! 🔍
ೃ⁀➷ Writing & plot:
I have read the Inheritance Games trilogy and the Brothers Hawthorne, so this wasn't my first Jennifer Lynn Barnes book. However, I can already tell I'm going to like this series a lot more than inheritance games! 🥹🥹 Her writing is so perfect for ya mysteries- soo bingeable and easy to read. The short chapters in her books are my fav thing ever, they make them so easy to fly through ✨️
As for the plot, I really enjoyed it! I lovee a good ya mystery and the mystery in this book was so good. It was so fascinating to me how they got into the head of serial killers to solve the crimes and I thought the chapters from the killer's pov were so chilling in the best way possible 🤭🤭 The final solution wasn't the best I've ever seen, but it was still very satisfying to me! And I'm so intrigued to see how the story continues in the rest of the series.
ೃ⁀➷ Characters:
The characters were pretty good! I like all of them so far & I'm excited to get more connected to them over the rest of the series 🥰💘
➵ Cassie: I really liked her as our fmc! 🫶🫶 She was super smart and resourceful and I enjoyed seeing her be introduced to the naturals program.
➵ Dean: what can I say, I'm a sucker for the tortured bad boy trope 🤭🤭 It gets me every time ✋️ I really enjoyed learning about his backstory and I need more Cassie & dean scenes!! TEAM DEAN 👊
➵ Michael: I think he's a really fun character and he's definitely the comedic relief of the series. However, his rivalry with Dean and the way he constantly tried to get back at Dean was kinda annoying to me.
➵ Sloane: everyone loves her sm, so I'm excited to find out why! I like her a lot so far 🥰🥰
➵ Lia: she was kinda annoying…. Idk she just got on my nerves sometimes 🫣
ೃ⁀➷ Romance:
‼️ potential spoilers in this section ‼️
It is very rare for me not to hate a love triangle, but I don't think I hate the one in this series so far?? I am definitely Team Dean tho- I think he and Cassie had really good tension!! 🤭🤭 I don't hate Michael & Cassie together tho, so I'm intrigued to see how the romance goes 💙✨️
‼️ spoilers have ended ‼️
ೃ⁀➷ In conclusion:
Such a fun, fast-paced read! 🥹🫶 I would highly recommend if you're looking for:
✔️ Ya murder mystery
✔️ Soo easy to binge + short chapters
✔️ Intriguing mystery
✔️ Fun romance
✔️ Teens in FBI!
I'm sooo excited to continue the series 💙
《 2024 Challenge: Book 71 of 115 》
ೃ⁀➷ pre-review:
➷ OMG this was so good 🤭🤭 I totally get the hype now- it was the perfect ya murder mystery! 💙✨️
rtc 🔍
December 23, 2017
You know what astounds me about these MCs in YA literature??
Their level of self-confidence which easily, and almost always, borders on the self-centered/self-delusional-ness territory.
I truly can't imagine anyone would hurt other people for my sake at all, let alone to actually end their lives.
But nope, not a problem for our Cassie here. Cassie who almost casually stated "I knew suddenly that he could pull the trigger. He wouldn’t hesitate. If he thought I was in danger, he would put a bullet in the other guy’s head.”
And all this after they had known each other for what? A decade? Ha! If only. No, she met him a month / few months ago. There was no solid timeline from what I remember. But i’m sure those were the most ‘epic’ weeks of their lives *eyeroll*
A lot of times, the book feels overreaching with all the incredibly unnatural 'naturals' abilities. While the writing and mystery/story were decent enough, the book would have benefited so much from not having this perplexing, pointless love triangle in it - just felt like adding another layer of unbelievableness to an already unrealistic book to me.
rating: ★★
====================
The cover is so simple and so effing creepy!!
Is that a promise??
I'll hold you to it, Book.
Their level of self-confidence which easily, and almost always, borders on the self-centered/self-delusional-ness territory.
I truly can't imagine anyone would hurt other people for my sake at all, let alone to actually end their lives.
But nope, not a problem for our Cassie here. Cassie who almost casually stated "I knew suddenly that he could pull the trigger. He wouldn’t hesitate. If he thought I was in danger, he would put a bullet in the other guy’s head.”
And all this after they had known each other for what? A decade? Ha! If only. No, she met him a month / few months ago. There was no solid timeline from what I remember. But i’m sure those were the most ‘epic’ weeks of their lives *eyeroll*
A lot of times, the book feels overreaching with all the incredibly unnatural 'naturals' abilities. While the writing and mystery/story were decent enough, the book would have benefited so much from not having this perplexing, pointless love triangle in it - just felt like adding another layer of unbelievableness to an already unrealistic book to me.
rating: ★★
====================
The cover is so simple and so effing creepy!!
Is that a promise??
I'll hold you to it, Book.
August 20, 2024
˗ˏˋ 4.25 ★ ˎˊ˗
i’m hurt, i’m speechless, i’m in shik shak shock, and most importantly, i feel BETRAYED. never see that coming at all 😭
———
˚₊‧𐙚 ꒰🎁꒱ 𝐩𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 ⋆𖦹.✧˚ ‧₊
my ENTIRE BEING is prepared for this book. wish me luck 🤞
i’m hurt, i’m speechless, i’m in shik shak shock, and most importantly, i feel BETRAYED. never see that coming at all 😭
———
˚₊‧𐙚 ꒰🎁꒱ 𝐩𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 ⋆𖦹.✧˚ ‧₊
my ENTIRE BEING is prepared for this book. wish me luck 🤞
January 21, 2024
repeat after me.. TEAM…. DEAN… FOR… LIFE 👏😍
August 16, 2024
|| 3.0 stars ||
This was a simple story with not much meat to it, but it was still pretty fun and entertaining. People say it’s kind of like a YA Criminal Minds, but I really think it wasn’t anywhere near that quality to be even remotely compared to it.
The actual profiling the characters do here isn’t particularly extensive or cleverly put together, but I am willing to give credits for the effort. I mean, the execution really isn’t anything special, but I like the idea.
The main mystery plot was pretty interesting and kept me hooked at trying to figure it out. The reveal was a little awkward, though. I get why the author chose to go this route because it was shocking and impactful, but it was also very dumb since it seriously made me question all of “The Natural” kids’ abilities. The whole point is that these kids can perfectly read people and catch serial killers, but none of them noticed anything off about the killer living right under their noses? They’re clearly not very good at something they’re supposed to be super talented at… It’s a little embarrassing. Truthfully, all this book did with that was show their complete and utter incompetence.
Of course, there’s also an instant love triangle that comes straight out of nowhere. Cassie doesn’t truly know either boy, but she’s inexplicably drawn to one of them and the other is inexplicably drawn to her. In the end, she has two boys fighting over her even though she has the non-existent personality of a cardboard box. It’s the same old, same old.
It’s very clear that Michael is just an obstacle, though; I’m willing to bet Cassie is going to end up with Dean. Michael is fun and flirty and actually shows interest in her, but Cassie doesn’t think or care about him like she does Dean, who is broody and self-loathing and tries to fight his attraction to her at all costs. Michael would be the obvious choice for any well-functioning, normal person, but it’s always the Dean-types who get the girl in books, so I am pretty sure this series won’t be any different. That said, I really don’t dislike either of the boys, and I kind of just want both of them to be happy, so I hope the author will find a way to make them happen.
'The Naturals' series:
1. The Naturals - 3.0 stars
2. Killer Instinct - 3.5 stars
3. All In - 4.5 stars
4. Bad Blood - 4.5 stars
This was a simple story with not much meat to it, but it was still pretty fun and entertaining. People say it’s kind of like a YA Criminal Minds, but I really think it wasn’t anywhere near that quality to be even remotely compared to it.
The actual profiling the characters do here isn’t particularly extensive or cleverly put together, but I am willing to give credits for the effort. I mean, the execution really isn’t anything special, but I like the idea.
The main mystery plot was pretty interesting and kept me hooked at trying to figure it out. The reveal was a little awkward, though. I get why the author chose to go this route because it was shocking and impactful, but it was also very dumb since it seriously made me question all of “The Natural” kids’ abilities. The whole point is that these kids can perfectly read people and catch serial killers, but none of them noticed anything off about the killer living right under their noses? They’re clearly not very good at something they’re supposed to be super talented at… It’s a little embarrassing. Truthfully, all this book did with that was show their complete and utter incompetence.
Of course, there’s also an instant love triangle that comes straight out of nowhere. Cassie doesn’t truly know either boy, but she’s inexplicably drawn to one of them and the other is inexplicably drawn to her. In the end, she has two boys fighting over her even though she has the non-existent personality of a cardboard box. It’s the same old, same old.
It’s very clear that Michael is just an obstacle, though; I’m willing to bet Cassie is going to end up with Dean. Michael is fun and flirty and actually shows interest in her, but Cassie doesn’t think or care about him like she does Dean, who is broody and self-loathing and tries to fight his attraction to her at all costs. Michael would be the obvious choice for any well-functioning, normal person, but it’s always the Dean-types who get the girl in books, so I am pretty sure this series won’t be any different. That said, I really don’t dislike either of the boys, and I kind of just want both of them to be happy, so I hope the author will find a way to make them happen.
'The Naturals' series:
1. The Naturals - 3.0 stars
2. Killer Instinct - 3.5 stars
3. All In - 4.5 stars
4. Bad Blood - 4.5 stars
August 15, 2024
ya mystery| 13+| 270 pages
✦ from: 08/06/24
✦ to: 08/10/24
✧₊⁺꒰🫐꒱ story
"The Naturals" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes revolves around our main character Cassie Hobbes, who has the ability to profile people. One day she get's invited by the FBI to join a program that focuses on solving cold cases. Along with four other teenagers, who also have special abilities, they are known as The Naturals. But with a new case to solve, Cassie'old wounds are about to be ripped open again and her life may be more in danger than she thought…
✧₊⁺꒰🫐꒱ characters
⟢ Cassie Hobbes - profiler #1
I liked Cassie but there wasn’t a strong connection to her character. I emphasized with her a lot though. She’s been through so much :( But I can definitely see liking her more in the following books.
⟢ Dean Redding - profiler #2
To be honest I wasn’t the biggest fan of him in this book. Thought my view on him changed a little bit with the ending. Dean also has a LOT of trauma that definitely explains the way he is. But I am certain that he will grow on me in the other books. Also how he supported and helped Cassie! 🥹😍
⟢ Michael Townsend - emotions reader
Michael was really closed of and he tried to hide is true self between so many walls. We didn't get to know him this well in this book but I'm sure is past is heartbreaking as well. But other than that I really liked him. The things he said to Cassie at the end of the book, omg 🤭 Also him reading JANE AUSTEN, oh my days 😻
⟢ Sloane Tavish - math expert
I LOVE Sloane. She's the sweetest!! And the hug scene with Cassie, ugh 😕 She's adorable and I am sure I will love her even more with the series going on. Also we love a smart girlie in STEM
⟢ Lia Zhang - lie detector
I am sadly so far not the biggest fan of her. She kinda annoyed me and I also found her really mean towards Cassie sometimes. But her ability is super cool tho! And I just know she has a great fashion sense.
✧₊⁺꒰🫐꒱ thoughts
I think this book was a great start into this series and I can't wait to get into it more! This was my first JLB book and her writing style was super easy to get through. Though this book really confused me in the beginning with the whole "You" thingy but once that was explained everything was fine. I wish I could give this more than 3 stars because my expectations were high but I was kinda bored with the story in the beginning. Only after being 60% in I really got invested. But I can definitely see me loving the other books more!! One thing that also played a role was that I didn’t feel super connected to our main character. But I really liked the other characters and other than that this book was super enjoyable and entertaining! 💋
I tried a little bit of a different format than the one my other reviews have. Let me know what you think!! 🫶🏼
✦ ────────────✦──────────── ✦
✧₊⁺꒰🫐꒱ pre-read: my first Jennifer Lynn Barnes book and I have high expectations!! 😌 hoping that this book will deliver all of the Ruby Redford vibes 🤭🧩🔪
✦ from: 08/06/24
✦ to: 08/10/24
✧₊⁺꒰🫐꒱ story
"The Naturals" by Jennifer Lynn Barnes revolves around our main character Cassie Hobbes, who has the ability to profile people. One day she get's invited by the FBI to join a program that focuses on solving cold cases. Along with four other teenagers, who also have special abilities, they are known as The Naturals. But with a new case to solve, Cassie'old wounds are about to be ripped open again and her life may be more in danger than she thought…
✧₊⁺꒰🫐꒱ characters
⟢ Cassie Hobbes - profiler #1
I liked Cassie but there wasn’t a strong connection to her character. I emphasized with her a lot though. She’s been through so much :( But I can definitely see liking her more in the following books.
⟢ Dean Redding - profiler #2
To be honest I wasn’t the biggest fan of him in this book. Thought my view on him changed a little bit with the ending. Dean also has a LOT of trauma that definitely explains the way he is. But I am certain that he will grow on me in the other books. Also how he supported and helped Cassie! 🥹😍
⟢ Michael Townsend - emotions reader
Michael was really closed of and he tried to hide is true self between so many walls. We didn't get to know him this well in this book but I'm sure is past is heartbreaking as well. But other than that I really liked him. The things he said to Cassie at the end of the book, omg 🤭 Also him reading JANE AUSTEN, oh my days 😻
⟢ Sloane Tavish - math expert
I LOVE Sloane. She's the sweetest!! And the hug scene with Cassie, ugh 😕 She's adorable and I am sure I will love her even more with the series going on. Also we love a smart girlie in STEM
⟢ Lia Zhang - lie detector
I am sadly so far not the biggest fan of her. She kinda annoyed me and I also found her really mean towards Cassie sometimes. But her ability is super cool tho! And I just know she has a great fashion sense.
✧₊⁺꒰🫐꒱ thoughts
I think this book was a great start into this series and I can't wait to get into it more! This was my first JLB book and her writing style was super easy to get through. Though this book really confused me in the beginning with the whole "You" thingy but once that was explained everything was fine. I wish I could give this more than 3 stars because my expectations were high but I was kinda bored with the story in the beginning. Only after being 60% in I really got invested. But I can definitely see me loving the other books more!! One thing that also played a role was that I didn’t feel super connected to our main character. But I really liked the other characters and other than that this book was super enjoyable and entertaining! 💋
I tried a little bit of a different format than the one my other reviews have. Let me know what you think!! 🫶🏼
✦ ────────────✦──────────── ✦
✧₊⁺꒰🫐꒱ pre-read: my first Jennifer Lynn Barnes book and I have high expectations!! 😌 hoping that this book will deliver all of the Ruby Redford vibes 🤭🧩🔪
September 8, 2023
* 2.5 stars💫
August 1, 2024
₊‧ ୨୧ 4 stars ★
꒰📁꒱ “𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝”
the plot twist of this book? just insane. i never thought it would end like this. but anyways, i devoured this book, it was one of my fastest reads (im a slow reader) but the story grabs you so you want to keep reading and find out who the killer is. this author never fails.
characters ˎˊ˗
cassie: i really like her character and it’s so fascinating the way she thinks. she is the profiler of the naturals - apart from dean. i was so interesting in her mother’s story and what happened to her
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ “𝐢’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐢’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮”
sloane: one of my favorite characters by far. the way she always knows all the facts fascinates me. the chapter where they give her coffee and she starts saying random facts? i love that girl
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐭. “𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐬” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝. “𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦”
michael: he read jane austen. that’s all.
no but seriously, he is the best. i always love the funny and flirty characters so i love him 🤭 aslo he can read emotions which is so interesting too. he always cares for cassie and for now im team michael in this kind of love triangle
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ “𝐧𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬”
dean: the first member of the naturals and a profiler. okay i have mixed feelings about him. at first he was a little bit cold character but as the story progressed i began to like him more and more but i still don’t connect with him completely. anyways, i know i’m going to like him more in the next books and im so excited to read more about him!
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ “𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧”
lia: she is so annoying. every time she spoke, she made me angry. although it is true that at the end of the book when she spoke to cassie i thought what she said was very nice. i hope she has some character development in the next books. anyways i love the fact that she can detect lies, such a good skill.
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ “𝐢’𝐦 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝. “𝐛𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝”
all in all, this is one of the best thrillers i have read and i totally recommend it! i’m so excited for reading the next book and see how the story and the characters develop 🫂
꒰📁꒱ “𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝”
the plot twist of this book? just insane. i never thought it would end like this. but anyways, i devoured this book, it was one of my fastest reads (im a slow reader) but the story grabs you so you want to keep reading and find out who the killer is. this author never fails.
characters ˎˊ˗
cassie: i really like her character and it’s so fascinating the way she thinks. she is the profiler of the naturals - apart from dean. i was so interesting in her mother’s story and what happened to her
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ “𝐢’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞. 𝐢’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢’𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮”
sloane: one of my favorite characters by far. the way she always knows all the facts fascinates me. the chapter where they give her coffee and she starts saying random facts? i love that girl
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐭. “𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐯𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐮𝐠𝐬” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝. “𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦”
michael: he read jane austen. that’s all.
no but seriously, he is the best. i always love the funny and flirty characters so i love him 🤭 aslo he can read emotions which is so interesting too. he always cares for cassie and for now im team michael in this kind of love triangle
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ “𝐧𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐧𝐨 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬”
dean: the first member of the naturals and a profiler. okay i have mixed feelings about him. at first he was a little bit cold character but as the story progressed i began to like him more and more but i still don’t connect with him completely. anyways, i know i’m going to like him more in the next books and im so excited to read more about him!
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ “𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐧”
lia: she is so annoying. every time she spoke, she made me angry. although it is true that at the end of the book when she spoke to cassie i thought what she said was very nice. i hope she has some character development in the next books. anyways i love the fact that she can detect lies, such a good skill.
⋆ ˚｡⋆୨ “𝐢’𝐦 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬” 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝. “𝐛𝐲 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝”
all in all, this is one of the best thrillers i have read and i totally recommend it! i’m so excited for reading the next book and see how the story and the characters develop 🫂
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