Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Language:  There were some references to swearing like, “adding a few colorful swear words.”

Violence:  Some kids witness a very violent murder where a man has his head cut off with a sword.  It is described in detail.  Christy feels like she is being followed.  She is drugged and then taken to FBI headquarters for interrogation.  There is a raid with shooting and a drug bust at a restaurant.  People are hurt.  Christy chases a man through the city.  Kids are taken out of a dance to a safe house to avoid being captured by the bad guys.  They learn to fight with self defense classes.  The safe house is under attack and there is shooting, running and hiding.  An FBI agent is shot in the back.  There are dead people and blood everywhere.  Christy is in the hospital with injuries from the attack.

Sexual Content:  There are some kisses and hand holding.  There are some couples making out.

Adult Themes:  Kids are repeatedly sneaking out of their hotel, disregarding rules.  They sneak out to a club where there is under-age drinking.  Government corruption, a mole in the FBI, betrayal.

Synopsis

When Christy wins a school trip to Washington D.C. she is sure this is just the thing that will change her life.  Christy longs to be accepted and popular instead of stuck in the smart, poor girl category and this trip is her chance to be with the crowd she longs to be a part of.  Things don’t go exactly how Christy imagined and when she witnesses a horrible murder, her life is definitely changed, and not for the better.  Christy and her friends are being hunted by evil men who want them dead.  Can the FBI protect them?  Can Christy make it out of Washington D.C. alive?

I haven’t really read many YA suspense novels and I found myself really enjoying this one.  Watched was fast paced and exciting.  It had the tension that moves the story along and a bit of teenage romance too.  Christy is definitely a typical teenager with all the insecurities and desires I think many fifteen-year-old girls have.  Her plight to fit in and find acceptance was relatable, even to me as an adult.  I pushed through it so quickly because I just had to know what would happen.  I suspected everyone, my heart was pounding, I forgot to write my review notes.  That’s some good story!  It sure was left wide open in the end, so I’m hoping for an exciting sequel to come.