Book Review: Zenn Diagram by Wendy Brant

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Synopsis:

Eva Walker is a seventeen-year-old math genius. And if that doesn’t do wonders for her popularity, there’s another thing that makes it even worse: when she touches another person or anything that belongs to them — from clothes to textbooks to cell phones — she sees a vision of their emotions. She can read a person’s fears and anxieties, their secrets and loves … and what they have yet to learn about calculus. This is helpful for her work as a math tutor, but it means she can never get close to people. Eva avoids touching anyone and everyone. People think it’s because she’s a clean freak — with the emphasis on freak — but it’s all she can do to protect herself from other people’s issues.

Then one day a new student walks into Eva’s life. His jacket gives off so much emotional trauma that she falls to the floor. Eva is instantly drawn to Zenn, a handsome and soulful artist who also has a troubled home life, and her feelings only grow when she realizes that she can touch Zenn’s skin without having visions. But when she discovers the history that links them, the truth threatens to tear the two apart.

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My Review:

When I first started reading this book, I wasn’t sure I was going to like it, but boy was I wrong.

Eva is a mathematical genius with the ability to see people’s emotions, fears and anxieties. She is one of the best female characters I’ve come across. I love how nerdy she is. She counts sidewalk squares and hops over the ones that are prime numbers. She’s smart, hilarious but also flawed. Eva’s ability means that she can’t touch anyone or anything and I can only imagine how frustrating that is for her to not be able to touch a loved one.

Zenn is artistic, hardworking and sweet. He may be a cliché character, but I absolutely adored him from the moment we first get to meet him. It absolutely broke my heart when you see what he’d been doing with the rocks.

All the characters felt real and I felt close to them. You really got to know them throughout the book, none of them was perfect and that made it even better. Brant didn’t create perfect characters, she created real characters; flaws and all.

The romance was a slow-build and while Eva did have major crush feelings for Zenn, it wasn’t insta-lovey. Brant takes time to develop the friendship between the two characters and allows it to build into a romance.

The story did start slow, and I wasn’t too sure I was going to like the story. I persevered and fell in love with it. The pacing picked up after the opening chapter and Brant’s writing style is simple, but not boring and I loved the humour within it. I do wish that the story was longer as it did feel like it ended to quickly.

This is is cute romance with witty banter and I really enjoyed reading it. I would recommend this and will be interested in reading more from this author.

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