Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air (The Frost Files, #2)

Teagan Frost's life is finally back on track. Her role working for the government as a psychokinetic operative is going well. She might also be on course for convincing her crush, Nic Delacourt, to go out with her. And she's even managed to perfect her paella recipe.

But Teagan is about to face her biggest threat yet. A young boy with the ability to cause earthquakes has come to Los Angeles - home to the San Andreas, one of the most lethal fault lines in the world. If Teagan can't stop him, the entire city - and the rest of California - will be wiped off the map.

Rating:

Many thanks to NetGalley and Orbit for an eARC in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Quotes are taken from an unfinished version and may differ from the final product.

I’ve been absolutely dying for this book since the first book ended and at the very end, there was the title of this book, and I immediately knew I had to have it. Just yes. So I’ve waited for just shy of an eternity for this, and was it worth it? No, okay? No, it was not because now I have to wait for another eternity and IT’S EVEN WORSE THIS TIME. *screams in cliffhanger*

Random Sh*t Flying Through the Air combines my love for natural disaster books with my love for sarcastic protagonists, ramped up the action, and packed a whole lot of feels in, just for good measure.

Don’t get me wrong, there were feels at the end of The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind, but they didn’t really get me. I sort of saw them coming and it was okay. This was just one thing after another, things I didn’t see coming, and it was a ride. Buckle in, folks. It’s about to get rocky … which that pun will make so much more sense if you read the book.

This book may contain spoilers for book one, The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I’ve missed Teagan and her sarcastic voice.

The very first line of this book instantly felt like coming home to an old friend. One who probably badmouthed you while you were gone (not that you didn’t deserve it), is only mildly thrilled to see you again, and is likely to accidentally get you in trouble and/or bodily harm shortly after you arrive. But hey, what are friends for, am I right?

I’ve always thought Teagan was such a relatable character, especially as a reluctant hero, and this book just made her even more so, as she really struggles with PTSD and trust issues stemming from what happens in the first book.

I mean, being betrayed is hard. It obviously messes with your brain. I really liked how this affected Teagan, and thought it was well done. You can’t trust someone whole-heartedly with every part of your being and not have repercussions after they betray you. She’s also kind of got a lot going on right now, thank you very much for noticing, between her failed romance, her dead-end job she hates, and fear of being turned into a government experiment.

I particularly enjoyed Teagan’s arc in this, because it felt like she had a chance to come into her own a bit more and decide, once and for all, who she wants to be.

Sure, maybe she hasn’t completely figured it out yet, because growing up is hard, and who ever really knows who they want to be? I still haven’t given up the dream that maybe one day, I’ll grow up to be a necromancer. So there’s still time for Teagan. I enjoyed her growth, and I can’t wait to see what she becomes in the next book.

Not only are all the old characters back (okay, most of the old characters because … you know), but there’s some new ones to fall in love with this time around.

There’s obviously the old Chop Shop crew that was of course going to be in this book, but their dynamic has changed now, with the loss of Carlos and everything that’s happened. There’s much more of a team vibe going on, but a tenuous one, because now there’s the whole “trust no one” thing that happens in the aftermath of betrayal. So yet again, team’s keeping secrets from each other. Because they never learn. And they’re supposed to be smart.

My favorite addition to the cast was easily Schmidt, the super sexy (in my head, at least, cut a girl some slack) German billionaire, who happens to be really bad at being rich.

Perfect match for the spy who’s really bad at being a spy, hmmm? Even though there’s not really any romance in this book for Teagan, I ship this. I may be the only one, but I will go down with this ship, if need be. And play an appropriate funeral dirge, like the musicians on the Titanic, because I am both dedicated and dramatic. Also, the author totally said my fangirling is fine, so we’re fine, guys. It’s fine.

There’s new powers introduced in this, and the main one will have you quaking in your boots.

It might have a bit of a rocky start, but you’re in for a definite shock when you realize the extent of this power. It’ll definitely make you tremble.

… it’s earthquakes, guys. This book has an earthquake. Yes, I am proud of my puns. I have no shame. My kid devoured it, along with my soul, when she was still a toddler.

As a major fan of natural disaster movies and books, I was 100% into having the West Coast destroyed by an earthquake.

I also live on the East Coast, so eh, not my problem. This delivered all the best parts of natural disaster movies that I absolutely love (like the community coming together, the threat, the high stakes, the shocking aftermath) without coming across as totally cheesy and overdone.

Since this is book two, you might think you know what to expect, but trust me, the feels are dialed up to an 11 here.

I’m assuming 11 is a high setting. I don’t really know. Math was never my thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Regardless, I was smacked in the face, over and over again, with so many unwanted feels. I just wanted to laughs, guyssss. Why are my eyes leaking? Ugh, so disgusting.

There are so many obvious ways that a book like this can tug at the heartstrings, especially given the obvious earthquake scenario, but it touched me in surprising ways.

I mean, there’s the-thing-that-shall-not-be-named, which obviously devastated me. But more than that, natural disasters suck, guys. Bad things happen during and after them. That was the setting, and that was still even the least of the feels. Don’t get me wrong, the book is still funny, and I laughed the whole time. I just didn’t expect it to be as much of an emotional roller coaster as it was.

I really wanted something more from the Big Bad in this. Especially since he was really a Minor Malevolence.

Literally. He’s a minor. Oh, sure, his evil was on a grand scale, but it was super hard to reconcile the fact that this is a little kid with the fact that he’s clearly a genius psychopath. Because … eh? Just because? I know, I know, psychopaths don’t need a reason, and that’s good and fine, but it makes for a really unsatisfactory villain for me, because he sounds like an adult, and I had to keep reminding himself that he wasn’t. And then every time I thought that, I got mad at the people surrounding him like neutralize the threat, guys! He’s maybe 60 pounds soaking wet. You could sneeze and take him out. Just blow really hard and he’d probably fall over and hurt himself.