Calculated
Set in Shanghai and Seattle, Calculated is a gritty, modern day blend of The Count of Monte Cristo and Mission Impossible.
She has many names – Octavia, Double 8, Phoenix, Josephine. She’s a math prodigy, a calculating genius and everyone wants her.
In seventeen-year-old Jo River’s complicated world of numbers, there’s no such thing as coincidence. When she is betrayed by someone she loves, kidnapped by the world’s most wanted smuggler, and forced to use her talent to shore up a criminal empire, Jo deems her gift a curse—until she meets Red.
Fellow captive and unlikely sage, Red teaches Jo to harness her true potential, so she can do more than just escape. Before he dies, Red reveals a secret about her enemies and makes her vow to right his wrongs. But Jo has a vow of her own. With help from Chan, a bitter billionaire, and Kai, his off-limits son, Jo rises into a new role, ready to take down those who ruined her life. Until a mathematical error comes back to haunt her with a threat much more dangerous than the criminals on the loose.
To beat the odds, Jo must decide who she really is and if risking everything is worth it.
After all, history is not made—it’s calculated.
About the Author:
Nova McBee, a Seattle native, is a helpless nomad and culture nerd who has lived nearly half her life in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. She writes fast-paced mission-impossible-type YA (action, fantasy and contemporary,) with deep themes and hearty characters. She loves complex plots, coffee, people and languages. Her debut, Calculated, was recently optioned for film.
Reading Calculated was like reading the perfect book for me. Growing up books like these always captured me and took me into a world that I could never picture. I loved getting to learn what it was like to be a child prodigy, because for some reason I always wanted to be one. As a child I would write stories of what it would be like to be a prodigy, but nothing would be able to compare to McBee’s story.
Calculated was my favorite read of this past month. Now when I said there would be a review coming soon, I had hopped to get right on writing it, but as you know God has a funny way of showing you that you cannot control the things around you. It has been a busy couple of weeks, but yet I still find time to read. That is the one thing I always find time for. To read this story all it took was a long car ride.
The fact that I could not stop reading this book made it even better. So much so that I read it in two hours! It has been awhile since I allowed myself to sit and read a book that fast. This year I am trying to slow down and enjoy the story, but I just could not wait to see what happened next! I spent all of my time sucked into this story reading and rereading it. I could not get enough of it. I craved the action and for a short time I was able travel into a world of adventure. While Jo wanted to disappear and get away from the action, my heart wanted to run head first into the action.
Reading this book allowed me to travel to a place I have never been to before. While, I have traveled between America and Brasil (Brazil) I never have traveled anywhere else. Books such as Calculated, allow me to travel to places beyond these two countries. The picture in my head might be vastly different from the actual place, but in my heart I have traveled all over the world while never leaving my room.
I think the thing I enjoyed the most was how McBee was able to take this story and turn it into such a real story. I felt so broken for Jo, but as she healed I healed. I love when that happens. There is no better feeling that a reader can get from a book. As soon as my emotions come into play, I cannot help but become apart of the story. While Jo story might not be fully true, it is able to hit some of the hard parts of this broken and dying world. Thank McBee for such an amazing book unlike anything I have ever read before!
Note***There are some hard topics such as trafficking, prostitution, drug references but nothing in detail. There is no violent imagery. It is completely safe for your teen readers or even tween.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My
