Pull
by Anne Riley
♦publisher: Spencer Hill Press
♦release date: February 2nd, 2016
♦paperback, 424 pages
♦intended audience: Young adult
♦standalone
♦source: won from author
Rosie Clayton witnesses a mugging on her first night in London—and then the scene rewinds itself.
She finds herself standing in the same place again, with the mugging happening just like before, except this time a stranger steps in and stops it. There's no way the same incident can have two outcomes. Rosie thinks she’s losing her mind, until just a few days later, the stranger saves her.
The stranger, Albert, and his band of misfit crime-fighters, have the special ability to Pull, which allows them to rewind just enough time to undo a recent event. Someone is hunting Albert and his crew– and now that Rosie’s been seen with them, she’s a target too. Rosie is left with no choice but to trust Albert to keep her safe.
As Rosie learns more about this unbelievable ability and the people – if you can call them that – who want them dead, she discovers that the group’s desire for her blood might be more than mere coincidence. Each step into this magical side of London introduces Rosie to a family history that she never knew existed, and dangerous forces that could unravel her world in an instant.
Her family may be the reason they’re all being hunted—and she may be the only one who can figure out how to save them. Sure, between the lot of them, they have a few shots to get it right. The thing about Pulling, though, is you have to be alive to do it.
She finds herself standing in the same place again, with the mugging happening just like before, except this time a stranger steps in and stops it. There's no way the same incident can have two outcomes. Rosie thinks she’s losing her mind, until just a few days later, the stranger saves her.
The stranger, Albert, and his band of misfit crime-fighters, have the special ability to Pull, which allows them to rewind just enough time to undo a recent event. Someone is hunting Albert and his crew– and now that Rosie’s been seen with them, she’s a target too. Rosie is left with no choice but to trust Albert to keep her safe.
As Rosie learns more about this unbelievable ability and the people – if you can call them that – who want them dead, she discovers that the group’s desire for her blood might be more than mere coincidence. Each step into this magical side of London introduces Rosie to a family history that she never knew existed, and dangerous forces that could unravel her world in an instant.
Her family may be the reason they’re all being hunted—and she may be the only one who can figure out how to save them. Sure, between the lot of them, they have a few shots to get it right. The thing about Pulling, though, is you have to be alive to do it.
Review: Pull was one that I very much enjoyed! When Rosie and her troubled family arrive in London to visit her ailing grandfather, they are shocked when they suddenly have to rush to the hospital just in time to say their last goodbyes. Her grandfather whispers something in Rosie’s ear that seems like delusional gibberish at first, but she soon learns she’s been bequeathed a gift that will change her—and put her in mortal danger.
There is a huge cast of such varied characters, some of them not very likable, but they are very much meant to be that way, I think. I had mixed feelings about the beginning. On one hand, I liked that so much time was focused on the Rosie’s family dynamic, because their different troubles had much to do with how the story unfolded. However, there was eventually a feeling of wanting to get to the action and find out more about Rosie’s new gift and “pulling”. Once we got into that and she met Albert the story sped along with at an exciting pace. There’s a little bit of suspension of disbelief required in the fact that all of these bizarre incidents happen right where Rosie’s new friends happen to be, and also a bit of backstory to where the gift comes from that I felt was a little muddled.
The connection between Rosie and Albert grew pretty naturally, and I loved how she was slowly and cautiously brought into the confidence of his friends and sister. The ending was quite a twist, very unique and unexpected in how it played out, but who the main villain turned out to be was, admittedly, a bit predictable.
Still, I really enjoyed the story as a whole. I recommend it for a fun read and look forward to the possibility of a sequel!
*ABOUT THE AUTHOR*
Anne Riley is an author of young adult fiction cleverly disguised as a high school Spanish teacher. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama, with her family.
Anne began writing at the ripe old age of nine, when she penned a literary classic about… well, she doesn’t really remember what it was about, but she’s pretty sure the main characters were ferrets.
These days, she writes stories about teenagers instead of ferrets.
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