Book Review: The Mind's Eye (SYNSK #1) by K.C. Finn

*If this review is a bit jumbled, it's because I'm still recovering from my surgery and am on pain pills. That is all*

Goodreads description (x):  

At fifteen, Kit Cavendish is one the oldest evacuees to escape London at the start of the Second World War due to a long term illness that sees her stuck in a wheelchair most of the time. But Kit has an extraordinary psychic power: she can put herself into the minds of others, see through their eyes, feel their emotions, even talk to them – though she dares not speak out for fear of her secret ability being exposed.

As Kit settles into her new life in the North Wales village of Bryn Eira Bach, solitude and curiosity encourage her to gain better control of her gift. Until one day her search for information on the developing war leads her to the mind of Henri, a seventeen-year-old Norwegian boy witnessing the German occupation of his beloved city, Oslo. As Henri discovers more about the English girl occupying his mind, the psychic and emotional bonds between them strengthen and Kit guides him through an oppressive and dangerous time.

My rating: 4 out of 5 hoots  

I think we all know by now of my interest in war books--especially when it comes to anything related to WWII.

K.C. Finn's The Mind's Eye does a great job of going back and forth between both being a war story and focusing on the life of a young girl and her personal (fictional) story.

I didn't know how well I would become immersed in a young adult book considering I hadn't read one in a while, but overall, I really enjoyed myself and the book apart from a few hiccups here and there.

Kit, the main character of the story, has both a disability (juvenile arthritis), and psychic powers. So it's no surprise that I fell in love with her right away. I mean, someone I can finally relate to AND who has some cool ass attributes? Sign me up!

I definitely sympathized with Kit and how much pain she was constantly in. I easily felt anger towards her doctor, Bickerstaff. How he treated her with such disdain took me back to memories of doctors of my past. UGH!
Kit's feelings of being a huge burden on everyone because of her disability was like a smack in the face for me. Whether you have a physical or mental disability, you know what it's like to be helpless and feel like you're being a burden--even if you're really not. It's a struggle and I completely understood Kit's emotions. The author did a great job of describing what the main character was going through.

As for Kit's psychic powers, they definitely took over the story, which was nice because then the book didn't focus mainly on Kit's disability. Being able to see through the eyes of Kit's..."target"...was interesting and I was surprised that I never became confused when Kit was in the head of someone else. Everything was written in a way that was easily understood.

Some of the minor characters--even if you didn't get in their heads from Kit's perspective--were easy to care about. This isn't always something a writer achieves, and I really appreciated that with Finn. Sometimes I don't even feel for the main character in a story! But I remembered and had feelings for almost every single character in this book.

Speaking of characters...
I enjoyed the romance between the two main characters. But I also didn't. 
It was just overplayed a bit. You knew what was going to happen, basically, and I didn't like that. I wish there had been more ZING to what they experienced, although what they went through together at the beginning was definitely exciting! The rest of the book had a lot of great twists and turns; it was a bit disappointing to see the romantic sub-plot go a bit flat.

It's no secret that I suffer from a chronic autoimmune disorder.
Or...chronic Lyme disease.
So when I read that the author, K.C. Finn,  had  M.E./CFS, it struck a chord with me and made the book even more special. I realized Finn could lend a piece of herself towards the main character. Yes, Kit had a severe disability in the book, and yes it plays a major part, and yes it is discussed heavily. But that's not the part she plays. She's not just the token disabled kid. She's so much more, and I love that.

(I did have a weird feeling about the ending, but that's neither here nor there in this review.)

So, cheers! Praise, praise, praise! Go read, read, read!
(BTW, the Kindle edition is free on Amazon so.....)