I also realized the extent of how unrealistic the story itself is. By the end, I could not even pretend to be interested and shocked because the story was too oversaturated with “plot twists” that were just extremely forced character relationships. It seems like everyone had a secret sibling, a forbidden romance, a parent who turned out to be a murderer, a relative who was a victim of a crime, in a cult, or both, etc.

It felt like every character in the story was somehow involved with one another to a ridiculous point. Unfortunately, this was REALLY prominent in book four. One of my biggest issues with this series is the heavy reliance on “connections” – I adore discovering unexpected links threaded throughout a story, but I can’t stand it when the plot transforms into nothing but surprise connections. I feel if the spotlight fell on ONE that received all the development, it would have been a lot more effective. It was really confusing and after finishing, I still have little to no grasp on the rules, history, and motivation of these cults.

With two different cults taking the front of the story, it was extremely difficult to follow. Unfortunately, I did not love the way it was written in the final book. Throughout the series, the focus shifts a bit to include a mastermind cult, which I still found to be an interesting direction to explore. I loved reading about teens investigating serial killers and getting too deep into some heinous situations.

Part of the reason why I fell in love with The Naturals was it is all about crime. I'm not sure I could find that answer unless I were to reread the first three books as an adult.ĬW: murder, torture, mention of rape, child abuse, abduction, cults I’m unsure if this particular book was a bizarre disappointment, or if it’s just that my taste has matured in the last 3 years where this series is no longer satisfying. The Naturals was a FAVORITE of mine as a late teen, though I put off reading the final installment for a few years. Unfortunately, I was pretty let down by this conclusion.

The naturals by jennifer lynn barnes