Review: Aries Rising- Bonnie Hearn Hill

Aquarius Logan McRae is a high school sophomore in Terra Bella Beach, CA and has been working all semester to impress her teachers in order to get into the summer writing camp she desperately wants to attend. But when this ordinary girl finds an extraordinary book, Fearless Astrology, her life is changed forever. Applying what she’s learned about the zodiac, she lands her own column in the school paper and a date with the hottest guy in school!

But when Logan threatens to catch the members of a secret society called The Gears, who have been vandalizing school property by reading the stars, she quickly learns that she is in over her head. Will Logan be able to catch The Gears, save her love life, keep her newspaper column, and get into the writing camp of her dreams all through the use of astrology?

I ordered this into my local Waterstones after winning book two, Taurus Eyes, from The Undercover Book Lover. Even though I’m not a fan of full-face models on covers, I kind of liked this one—it was simple, but the curls were fun. Plus, it’s just a really good photograph, and my inner photographer appreciated that.

The plot is fairly unique—girl uses astrology to catch a bunch of bad guys. Although I do think that the qualities for Pisces match up with me in an eerie fashion (Dreamer? Check. Defensive? Check. Creative? I hope so) I’m going to say up front that as quite a scientifically minded person, I found the use of astrology to nail some criminals to be a little far fetched.

The main character, Logan, was quite average, and her motivation seemed a little forced: she desperately wants this writing fellowship, but the only pieces of writing she produces are essays for class. Her friends, although sweet, were also quite cookie cutter and not completely developed; neither was Nathan, the love interest.

That said, it was still a lot of fun—I enjoyed learning bits and pieces about Astrology, and the mystery was played out quite nicely. If you go in looking for something that will cling to your interest with every dying breath, you’ll be disappointed. Take it as a light beach/airplane read, and you won’t.