I hugely enjoyed book one and two in this series, so I
eagerly awaited the third instalment; Defective. We find Allira two years on
from the end of the second book. She is working with her aunt in a clinic,
helping defective patients who increasingly find themselves the victims of hate
crimes. Allira is wracked with guilt that overthrow of the institute didn’t
lead to greater tolerance; instead it left defectives vulnerable to attacks.
Two years later she is also still mourning the death of her boyfriend Chad. She
has agreed to live with Paxton James and his daughter Nuka, once things became
difficult at home; her grieving has pushed the once closest to her away. Paxton
is running for president and Allira agrees to play his ‘girlfriend’ in order to
help his campaign. Life for Allira is shaping up to be all about duty, until
tall handsome psychology student Jayce walks into the clinic. The pace of this
book is initially a bit slow as Allira struggles with duty versus what she
really wants, but then things hot up as the past is catching up with her and
she realises what she thought was the truth proves to be otherwise. There are a
good few surprises towards the end of the book, and the final chapter sets it
up nicely for a sequel. Judging by the ending, book four I imagine, will have a
few comedy moments. I think Jayce is one of Kayla Howarth's best characters yet.
He is comfortable leaving all the heroics and ass-kicking to Allira and sister
Jenna, just providing moral support and a shapely shoulder to cry on. Who needs
a hero when you are perfectly able to kick any ones butt? I’m happy she has
found the brains to her brawn.
