30 August 2024
Powerful By Lauren Roberts Review & Book Club Questions
Reviewed by: Melissa Ng
Quick Facts
Book Publication Date: 30 April 2024
How I Read It: eBook on BorrowBox - borrowed from my local library
Where You Can Find Powerful By Lauren Roberts: Amazon Australia* | Kobo US* | Kobo Canada*
Trope: Grumpy sunshine
Content & Trigger Warnings: Death
Powerful By Lauren Roberts Book Review
Some housekeeping before we start.
This review of Powerful by Lauren Roberts will spoil major plot lines of Powerless*! Please don’t read this review if you intend to read Powerless and don’t want spoilers.
Set at the same time as Powerful, this novella follows the story of Adena, Paedyn’s best friend and talented seamstress. Adena is the yin to Paedyn’s yang. Sweet, bubbly, and obsessed with sticky buns.
While Paedyn is off facing the Purging Trials, Adena must make it on her own in Loot. However, things change when she crosses paths with Mak, a mysterious and secretive man who enlists Adena’s help on a mission.
The story is told from both Adena and Mak’s point of views and it’s a short and quick read. If you’ve already read Powerless, you know how the story ends.
In typical romantasy fashion, the Adena and Mak spark a romance, despite only knowing each other for two weeks.
The romance is quite sweet. A typical grumpy sunshine trope where the man gets less grumpy as time goes on. It really suits the YA genre.
There are things I could pick apart about the story. For instance:
Mak’s interest in Adena seems confusing at first. He wants Adena to help him rescue/smuggle Hera out of the Purging Trials. He seems laser focused on Hera and it reads like Hera is his romantic partner. But his chapter point of views show him developing a desire for Adena. This gets cleared up later when we find out that Hera is Mak’s cousin, not lover.
Next, the romance feels quite rushed. I don’t know about you, but if I were a young adult, I wouldn’t fall head over heels for a random guy who has lots of secrets and seems a bit dangerous, while I’m trying to survive on the streets without my best friend. But this is a novella, so things need to move quickly.
Additionally, I’m not sure I believe that Adena would keep her romance with Mak a secret from Paedyn. They’re best friends, surely Adena would have said something to Paedyn. Again, this is explained away when Adena says she wants Paedyn to focus on the Trials.
And lastly, the version that I read included a few chapters of Reckless (book two of the trilogy) at the end. When I actually got to the end of Powerful, my e-reader thought I still had a good 10% left, so it felt like it ended abruptly.
Despite all of this, I still rated this book four stars.
Which is surprising, because I only rated Powerless three stars.
The ending really got me. I read Powerless a few months earlier so I already knew Adena would die, but somehow, I still got emotional reading it from her perspective.
I’m not a sappy person, and I don’t typically cry when reading but I did tear up. Who am I?!
Like I mentioned earlier, the book did feel like it ended abruptly. I was left wanting more.
Hopefully we’ll see more of Mak in future books and find out if he plays a greater role in the story.
Do you need to read the Powerful novella?
If you loved Powerless*, I do think you would enjoy Powerful. It’s not an essential read but it does give a different perspective from a side character’s point of view (as most novellas do).
Powerful By Lauren Roberts Book Club Questions
- What do you think of novellas? Did you enjoy Powerful?
- Would you recommend other readers read this novella? Do you think it’s essential as part of the Powerless Trilogy?
- Was there anything in Adena’s storyline that you found interesting or surprising?
- How do you think Adena maintains her positive outlook on life despite her circumstances in Loot?
- Why do you think Adena kept her relationship with Mak a secret from Paedyn?
- Do you think Mak will play a larger role in the storyline?
- Do you think Mak and Kai could be related since they share the same magical ability?
- Do you think there’s anything that could have changed Adena’s fate?
- Do you think Adena could have survived in Loot without Paedyn and Mak?
- Do you enjoy the grumpy sunshine romance trope?
- Did you enjoy the dual point of view style?
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