Title: Driven
Author: Eve Kenin
Publishing Date: September 2007
Genre: Futuristic
Rating: A-
Sensuality: Hot
Raina Bowen is a truck driver. I know, an unusual occupation for a romance heroine, but trust me, it works. It is 70 or 80 years into the future (I am not sure of the exact year) and the world as we know it no longer exists. There have been a couple of nuclear wars that have wiped out most of the population. Most of which now reside in the barren northern wasteland. Raina is in a race to be the first to deliver goods to Gladow Station. If she succeeds, she will win a nice fat prize of fifty million interdollars, enough to provide safety for her and her sister Beth. She is counting on a man named Wizard to provide her with special passes to allow her access to the only road to Gladow Station. She is waiting to meet this Wizard at a truck stop. Wizard finally does appear, he ends up in a nasty confrontation and Raina comes to his rescue and has to change her plans. Now Wizard and Raina will pair up together to outsmart the bad guys.
Wizard is quite an interesting hero. I have never read one quite like him. At first I wasn’t sure what to make of him. As the story progressed, I found myself falling in love with him just like Raina did. Wizard is genetically enhanced. He was raised in the most inhuman way possible and has no understanding of human emotions. Think of him as a walking and talking computer. Yet he is not a droid; he is completely human. Little by little, as Raina’s humanity surrounds him, he finds himself experiencing emotions. It is very fun to watch him discover feelings such as fear, humor and passion.
Raina is just the opposite of Wizard. She is very emotional, expressive and passionate about everything. She tries to hides a very soft core behind a wall of hard armor. She has been on the run her whole life unable to trust anyone and it is the only was she knows how to protect herself emotionally. She is a very compassionate person but tries so hard not to be. It’s a battle she inevitably looses.
If I had to have a complaint, I would say the villain was one-dimensional. He was very evil, but we don’t know why. I guess evil doesn’t need a reason to be evil, it just is. Driven is not your typical romance novel. At least not the ones I have been reading. If you are tired of the same old thing definitely give this one a try.
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9 comments:
Isn't this one great?? I was lucky enough to just finish Hidden too and it's another great book!
Oh well, when will I be able to stopt adding new books to my TBB??? when? when???
Jill, I'm glad you liked this one. :) Don't miss Hidden, a commendable sequel to this story.
I loved this book. it reminded me of the first Mad Max- film.( I had a huge crush on Mel Gibson then.) I'm anxious to get my hands on HIDDEN.
Hmm, seems like I'm the only who disliked it... I just didn't like the heroine. Found her annoying.
DRIVEN was one of my favorite books of 2007. It was one of those impulse purchases at the bookstore last summer... the different cover, out of the box setting and premise. I was so surprised how compelling a story it turned out to be. Awesome action... and a sweet love story. =)
I like how the setting is in the freezing cold rather than the global warming view of the future. My next book is the sequel Hidden.
Very different type of book that didn't disappoint.
I just want to thank everyone for the great recommendation. I would never have picked up this book if not for all the talk around blogland. Strangely enough, I am not all that interested in the next story Hidden. I will get to it eventually and I will probably love it, but for some reason I feel doubts creeping up. I have no idea why.
Katie and I are planning a duo review of this one - and maybe something else thanks to Katie. Hopefully you will tune and (at least from my part) you may change your mind. I enjoyed Hidden just as much as Driven ;~)
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