I read the first half of the very long blurb and enjoyed the first person viewpoint, so requested it – though I hadn’t appreciated it was a novella.
BLURB: Truth time. I go to a Learning Squirrel High School. Don’t judge. On second thoughts, judge away. Learning Squirrel is one step above attending class in a junkyard. But what do you expect? 
Everything’s made out of garbage these days. At least, I have my freelance work to keep Mom and me housed, clothed, and fed. How? I’m your regular high school science geek for hire… only my work manipulates space-time. These gigs pay really well, but the government wants people like me dead. Good thing I’m super careful about hiding from their detection systems. Then I screw up a job. Badly. My house slips into two-dimensional space-time. It only lasts for a few seconds, but the move still sets off about a dozen government alarms. If they track me down, Mom and I are good as dead. Long story short, I need to pay someone off, hide the evidence, and keep us safe.
I would advise you to skip the rest of the blurb, given this isn’t a very long book and the whole blurb gives away an appreciable chunk of the initial, unfolding plot. I thoroughly enjoyed the protagonist’s chirpy voice, which is just as well, because she does spend quite a chunk of the book chatting to the reader. As I’m a soft touch for an engaging first-person character, it didn’t particularly grate, but I’m aware that some readers have found it a tad annoying. I liked the world and the premise – and the fact that while our nerdy girly spends a fair amount of time explaining the sciency bits, she allows the world to unfold around it.
I wasn’t quite so engaged by the appearance of the alien, but the writing and pacing worked well, until the rather abrupt ending. This is a prequel, so that isn’t the dealbreaker it might have been, and I zipped through this one fast as I wanted to know what would happen next. It was an entertaining, escapist read when I really needed it, and it comes recommended to fans of sci fi adventures featuring human/alien romance and plenty of adventure. The ebook arc copy of Scythe was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest opinion of the book.
7/10
Apr25
Brainfluff 
The part of the blurb you quoted looks more than enough to engage a potential reader’s attention, and in my opinion they should have left it at that to ensure that people would be interested in seeing how the story goes… The cover is very interesting as well, and speaks of a very dynamic story 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
I agree about the blurb – it’s a shame so many publishers insist on sharing so much of the story, these days.
What is it with blurbs these days – sometimes they’re positively spoilery (ahem, making up words).
This sounds like it provided a little bit of escapism for you.
Lynn 😀
I love how casually she throws in that she manipulates space time — that right there won me over! Great review!!
That’s a shame about the blurb. I liked to be teased but not spoiled before I’ve ever read the first page. I do like the first person narrative though. The protagonist sounds like quite the character.
Yes, the first-person narrative was very lively with an entertainingly chatty style. It was this point of view that snagged me in the first place:).