Clutch - J. A. Huss
Series: I Am Just Junco #1
Published by: Science Future Press, on 1 October 2012
Genres: Science Fiction
Pages: 320, Format: eBook
Source: Kindle Purchase
Reading Challenges: 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge, 2015 TBR Pile Reading Challenge, Bookish Resolutions Challenge 2015,Winter COYER 2014 2015

How long can you lie to yourself before it all comes apart?

In 2152 the avian race is on Earth looking for something stolen from them decades ago – their genetics. At the center of the search lies the Rural Republic; a small backwards farming country with high hopes of military domination and a penchant for illegal bioengineering.

19 year old Junco Coot is the daughter of the Rural Republic’s ranking commander. She’s the most foul-mouthed, wildly unpredictable and ruthless sniper the Rural Republic has ever trained. But when her father’s death sparks a trip into forbidden places, she triggers events that will change everything she knows to be true.

As an elite avian military officer, Tier’s mission is to destroy the bioengineering projects, kill Commander Coot’s daughter, and return home immediately. There’s just one problem. Junco isn’t who she claims to be.

With no one to trust, not even herself, Junco must confront the secrets of her past and accept her place in the future, or risk losing herself completely.

Junco is brilliant! And Clutch is so well done! Aliens, clones, war, fights, doubts, lies, amazing characters, it’s all there!

My Clutch review:

Clutch is really all I could wish for in a sci-fi novel. The world is slowly shown to me, Junco is a great character, even if both she and I were quite confused at the beginning of the story. Tiers intrigued me form the beginning, and I really enjoyed the fact that he truly let Junco have choices – it’s not like that really happened very often where she was concerned. Between being raised both as a killer and an acrobat on a horse, it took a while for me to reconcile both parts of her personality.

As I already said, the character development is really well done, and getting to know Junco and Tiers made Clutch pretty spectacular to read. I am really regretting not reading it sooner – I’m not going to make the same mistake with the next books in the series! The complicated intrigue and plot-line appealed to me, especially because I love reading a story where it’s impossible to figure out anything that might happen. Huss managed to keep me on my toes throughout the whole book, and I loved that even if it’s written in first person point of view and present tense, Junco didn’t let me guess what she was up to either.

If you enjoy a heroine who knows how to fight, how to plot, and how to just keep on going, Clutch is a story you should definitely read very soon if you haven’t already! The prose is really good, too, this author always amazes me with her way with words, because I’m always pleasantly surprised by how the characters express themselves, their feelings and how the show me their surroundings. If you’re already a fan of Huss but haven’t read Clutch yet, know that this is very different from her contemporary NA series, it’s sci-fi all the way, and it’s extremely edgy.

Some of my favorite Clutch quotes:

In the end I didn’t need to waste all this time in front of the gate. It was never a question of if I would go. Only when.

The night isn’t as black as it could be and for that I’m grateful. The moon has fully risen in the time it took me to free myself from the Goat and hitch up my arm, and while it isn’t anything near full, neither is it a sliver of hopelessness.

“Yet. You said yet,” I growl. 
“Correct, I’m not gonna kill ya yet. Perhaps I will one day. Perhaps that day will never come. But right now I’m interested in keeping ya alive.”
“And that’s OK with you?”
“Yes, I’m OK with not killing ya. Yet.”

“I could almost love you right now for doing this, you know.” “That’s pretty much the point Junco.”

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• 2015 Reading Assignment Challenge
• 2015 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
• Bookish Resolutions Challenge 2015
• Winter COYER 2014 2015