Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes – Review (more like a rant)

Hey and welcome back to another book review! Today’s review is of a book by one of my most beloved authors: Nobody by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. This was a one star read for me. I didn’t like it, and it was sub-par compared to her other books.

Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book about someone with a superpower

Book: Nobody

Author: Jennifer Lynn Banres

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Summary: There are people in this world who are Nobody. No one sees them. No one notices them. They live their lives under the radar, forgotten as soon as you turn away. 

That’s why they make the perfect assassins.

The Institute finds these people when they’re young and takes them away for training. But an untrained Nobody is a threat to their organization. And threats must be eliminated.

Sixteen-year-old Claire has been invisible her whole life, missed by the Institute’s monitoring. But now they’ve ID’ed her and send seventeen-year-old Nix to remove her. Yet the moment he lays eyes on her, he can’t make the hit. It’s as if Claire and Nix are the only people in the world for each other. And they are—because no one else ever notices them.

Quote: “I am everything. I am nothing. I am powerful. I am forgotten.”

The Good:

I didn’t like anything in this book?

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Quote: “You can’t tell me I matter and then leave like I don’t.”

The Bad:

Repetitive. The first 30% was just a rehash constantly of Claire and Nix’s first meeting. Nothing was really happening and I was starting to get bored with the same thing happening over and over again. Did I say it was repetitive? Because the same thing was happening over and over….

Insta-love. As soon as Nix was introduced, I knew it was going to happen. And it did. Suddenly Claire must be totally in love with Nix because he is the only guy ever to realize she exists. I was expecting it but it still didn’t work for me.

Nothing really happens. Nothing really started happening until the 70% mark. I’m surprised I made it through, but then again, I kept starting and stopping and it took me more than two weeks to finish it.

Plot. I knew what was going to happen as soon as Nix couldn’t kill Claire. Nix was going to take down the Society whom he’d trusted his whole life and he wouldn’t want Claire to get hurt, but Claire is stubborn and she gets her way, and everything goes down and Nix and Claire are heroes…. Super predictable. I think this is the plot for every book with an Evil Organization that has being lying to the MC their whole lives.

Implausible? Nix supposedly has been living in “an eight by eight room with no windows and a door that’s padlocked for show.” That’s a direct quote by the way. He doesn’t know what a computer is and I’m seriously doubting he’s seen a TV. The Society (his employers? captors? I don’t know what to call them) only taught him to read so that he can read the files of the people he has been ordered to kill. Yet, he knows a lot of things for a guy who has no contact with the outside world. I would quote, but I suck at taking notes while I read, so I don’t remember where/what he said that made me think that.

Claire. She is constantly wallowing in self-pity because the world ignores her. “Oh God, I’m jealous of farts.” Yup, she said that. I got tired of reading her narrative because after she meets Nix, that’s all she thinks/talks about and it gets annoying.

Nix and his relationship with Claire. Honestly, the way he constantly degrades himself: I don’t deserve to be touched. I don’t deserve to be loved. I don’t deserve to have someone as beautiful as Claire…. is annoying. This review on Goodreads summed up Claire and Nix’s relationship very well:

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(Read the original review by Shambhawi P. on Goodreads🙂

Claire: (touches Nix’s face)
Nix: (jumps away from her touch) I am a vile, vile monster, a killer, I don’t deserve to be touched by someone as pure and beautiful, and wonderful like Claire.
Claire: Oh, No. Nix does not want me to touch him. Nobody ever wants me. I am not beautiful and Nix is so hot. Did I mention Nix is hot? Why would he ever want me. (cries)
Nix: I am a vile, vile monster. Look, I made Claire cry. (touches Claire’s face to wipe her tears)
*more facetouching*
Rinse and Repeat.

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Yup. That’s a very very accurate portrayal of their relationship.

Ending. The ending was the most cliche and Disney-ish thing I’ve ever read in my life. Nix gets hurt and Claire is crying, begging him not to leave her, how dreamy his eyes are, how she’ll never see them again, blah blah blah. And then, *drum-roll please*: he pretty much dies (you know those precious seconds where he has pretty much left the world but hasn’t entirely died? that’s what I mean) and two other characters mix their blood together and drip it on him and he suddenly comes back to life with his body healed and all the pain gone. And they live happily ever after. (Have I said that this is the most Disney-ish thing ever? Frozen ends like that, I’m pretty sure Belle and the Beast ends like that, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ends like that… every Disney princess movie probably ends like that.)

Did I mention it was ridiculously repetitive? Because it is. Did I mention it was super cliche (and Disney-like)? Because it seriously is.

Quote: “How can somebody want me dead when no one knows I’m alive?”

The Wrap:

I’m really disappointed because I love the rest of Jennifer’s books. This was the epitome of cliche and I sooo did not like it.

One sentence summary: A cliche filled book with one-dimensional characters and a very predictable plot.

Overall, one very disappointed star.

Have you read Nobody? Did you enjoy it? Have you read any other book by Jennifer Lynn Barnes? What did you think of those? Let’s chat in the comments!