Solid by Shelley Workinger

Publisher:  CreateSpace
Pages:  228

(July 9, 2010)

From the Cover:

Eighteen years ago, a rogue Army doctor secretly experimented with a chromosomal drug on unknowing pregnant women. When he was killed not long after the children were born, any knowledge and evidence seemed to die with him - except for the living, breathing, human products of his work.

Almost two decades later, the newly self-proclaimed "open-book" military unearths the truth about the experiment, bringing Clio Kaid and the other affected teens to a state-of-the-art, isolated campus where they soon discover that C9x did indeed alter their chromosomes, its mutations presenting as super-human abilities. The military kids, who come from across the nation and all walks of life, come into their own as lighter-than-air 'athletes'; 'indies' as solid as stone walls; teens who can make themselves invisible and others who can blind with their brilliance.

While exploring her own special ability, forging new friendships and embarking on first love, Clio also stumbles onto information indicating that the military may not have been entirely forthcoming with them and that all may not be as it seems...

Clio (Calliope Kaid) is a teen with a small difference that she's never known about, but she's always been a bit out of place.  It could have been the traveling, when your mother is a best selling author, you're on the road quite a bit, seldom at home long enough to cultivate lasting friendships.  She's never really known her father, an accident took his life during her infancy.  Or it could be what happened more than eighteen years before... while her mother was pregnant and under the care of a rogue doctor with his own agenda.

Now, Clio is an eighteen year old girl, ready to start the next year of her life when her mother is contact by the Army.  It seems Dr. Heigl, her obstetrician all those years ago, was prescribing more than prenatal vitamins.  When Clio is asked to participate in an Army conducted camp to see the effects on Dr. Heigl's "children", she decides it may not be a bad way to spend part of her summer, as far as she knows, there's nothing different about her than any other teen.

Clio's and her co-conspirators start in their own investigation of the circumstances of their creation when the Army answers don't add up, when they seems to have trouble contacting the outside world. Jack, affable lovable wanna be boyfriend, Garrett, super jock, Bliss, whimsically wise almost sister, Melinda, tigress in the making, and late comer to the group, Alexis, orphaned goth-like teen techie ready for any challenge, take on the Army only way they can, sneaking out to gather evidence.

It would seem that Clio and all her new found friends all have special abilities, dealing with the solidity of their existence.  All are different, but because of Dr. Heigl's mad experiments, all are the same.  Janet, Clio's wanna be mentor and friend, isn't all she appears to be, is Colonel Clark, who seems to know all about Clio, all he says too?  This tight group of friends need to find the answers to their questions and they need to do it quickly.

Solid by Shelley Workinger is a YA fantasy that grabs the reader's attention on the very first page, and holds it until the end.  It's a quick little page turner that I had trouble putting down.  Clio is a likable character who seems pretty confident, who seems pleased with her life for the most part, she's just a little out of step.  In the book, Solid, the teens are divided into basically three categories:  the jocks, the teens that repel others (the goth-like group, always a little angry), and the group who can influence their solidity with their very thoughts.  Clio belongs to the last group, but her friends are a mixed bag of her group as well as the other groups, there's so distinct lines of belonging to only one group or the other, which I very much liked about the book.  Jack, her wanna be boyfriend, doesn't belong to any group or maybe he belongs to them all, but he's likable and fun, and maybe in the next book, he'll play a bigger role or maybe not (I've read the Prologue for the Book Two, Settling.... see the bottom of the post).  The teens in the story all find out the Dr. Heigl, obstetrician, was doing rogue experiments, developed drugs to try out on his patients who he went to great lengths to pick out for his experiments, traveling to different Army bases around the US.  But, he's killed before the experiment can reach it's completion, and the Army claims to have just found out about what he'd been doing to his pregnant patients.  But, would the Army really tell all if they did know?  People have been disappeared, killed, maybe something more is going on there too.


Solid is an attention grabbing story, that YA and adult audience will enjoy, it's a fun little tale of what can happen with a rogue slightly mad scientist does his own thing with or without permission.  And the experiment so far doesn't have any really bad effects yet, all the teens are nice looking, some appear to have adjust issues just like real life, but we're just entering Shelley Workinger's world, so who knows what the future holds.  The ending is good as well, I knew something was up with the bad dude, but never saw the ending coming, and one of the students close to Clio's group is involved too, that kind of surprised me.  I've been reading lots of YA recently, it's one of my favorite genres, and I'm adding Shelley's books to my list.  I don't read many self-pub books or indie books (I know, I need to expand my horizons), and I'm surprised this wasn't pick up by one of the small publishing houses, it's definitely a good read with well developed characters, and the world building was pretty good too, there's lots going on for quick read.  If you enjoy a quick fun/mad scientist/Army secrets/fantasy YA read, pick this one up.  I very much enjoyed this quick read, and I'll be looking forward to the rest of the series!

 (Borrowed from the author website, Prologue follows)

Prologue

By none of my own volition, I abandoned my chair to meet him in his – uninvited maybe, but not unwelcome. One minute I’d been seated, steady; the next traversing the gap between us without touching down. All I knew was that there’d been nothing but air supporting me until I’d climbed into his lap and connected with the solidness of him.

His response to my assault was not immediate, clutching the armrests as long as conceivably possible while waging an inner battle between desire and decorum. His conflict – his need for me held in check by his uncertainty – froze his body as if he were scared of me. Or more likely not so much of me as of us.

Breaking his resistance, I ran my hands up his shoulders to touch his fine hair, prickly soft under my fingertips. On his lap, facing him, I nudged up his chin, making him look into my eyes and see that this was what I wanted, what I needed. Our faces a breadth apart, I felt heady breathing in the delicious scent of him. My heart sped up to match beats with his, my hunger for him an intensity I’d never experienced when I claimed the first kiss.

That first taste was like the first bite of the apple, the one action that opened the floodgates. So this was why Eve was the slandered one, the seductress. And in the same instant that I knew there was no going back, that nothing could tear me away from this forbidden nectar, he stopped fighting and met me there, joined me in the us. His hands smoothly traded the armrests for my waist, his strong fingers spreading across my lower back as he pulled me more securely onto the seat. My knees slid up to his hips, my legs still folded underneath me but now pressing against the outside of his. Now it was he who deepened the kiss, hurtling from concession to conviction, keeping a firm claim on my backside as I bowed deeper against his chest.

Without fully separating, we both inhaled a necessary gasp at the same instant, seeming to breathe in the same pocket of air, resealing our lips with yet more urgency. Where did the air come from when your need for each other was too fierce to even break for a second? More even than just I want you, but I need you - need you more than air?

As if from a distance I heard my own throaty moans, vaguely aware that I should be embarrassed by the near-growling, but his grip only tightened at the sound. The heat climbing higher, his hands followed suit, up my back and sides all at once, over my bursting ribcage, rounding the tops of my shoulders and trailing down to rest lightly on the front of my biceps in an unexpected but tender hold. I wanted the moment to last forever. He was so strong yet safe, soft and vulnerable all at the same time. So intense, so overwhelming, so…not Jack.

As a side note, I'd like to add CreateSpace posted that the Amazon and Penguin are holding a writing comp, more details click here.

I received my copy from Shelley Workinger for review.  All opinions expressed are my own.