#TBRChallenge Review: High Energy

High Energy by Dara Joy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

*This is a #TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion. 

Zanita scrunched her shoulders and warily glanced around the room. She had no idea what he had been talking about, and now she had no idea what she had been talking about. But he thought he knew what she was talking about. 

I'm going to start by saying that 97% (admittedly not up to Tyber scientific standards) of this story is goofy fun, which makes the extremely dark moment at 90% whiplash the hell out of you. I'm going to try and recapture the light fun I had reading for most of the story but I can't help but feel that 90% moment as I look back at the story. Buckle your seat-belts, because Mario Cart wishes it had banana peels to make you spin-out the way this book does. 

Tyber stared at her, speechless. Again. When he did speak, his voice held a note of awe. "You are completely non-linear, Zanita." 

Zanita is a reporter for her local paper, in which her grandfather is the editor. She's been regulated to soft stories as her grandpa doesn't want her in any danger. In an effort to break out and maybe get picked up by a bigger newspaper, she decides to go rogue and investigate Xavier LaLeche, a man claiming to be able to heal with psychic energy. However, Zanita is a bit left of center and she mistakes signing up for the psychic seminar with a physics one, taught by the world renowned Tyberius Augustus Evans (I will refrain from always typing out his full name, but know in my heart I am). Tyber is delightfully confounded attracted to her and he's pretty much instaloved from the moment they speak. Zanita's favorite saying at the moment is “Men, boil them in oil!” and wants nothing to do with a relationship, but Tyber is a Chris Hemsworth look-a-like with a PHD, she's only human, folks! Tyber creates situations to get her back in his orbit, a movie night, and a pool party, where she's the only guest!, you sly Dr., you, and when he learns that she's trying to investigate LaLeche, he comes up with a plan to help her, make sure she's safe, and work to lower her guard towards a relationship. 

He was shameless. An unconventional, incredibly alluring, no-holds-barred kook! Zanita really liked him. 

The plot of them investigating LaLeche is definitely there but, it's also kind of loosely strung together. Your enjoyment of this is going to hinge on if you want bananapants additives, Tyber lives in a reworked Victorian mansion that has a labyrinth of mythological topiary creatures and generally sounds like the Winchester mansion, Tyber's bed is a giant oyster, maple syrup is at one point drizzled down into her bush (seriously, this seems more logistically problematic than sexy??), and Zanita can't get any sleep in the beginning because of The Hogs (rogue pack of pigs) and goofy side-characters, Tyber lives with a former scientist that now thinks he's the cook on a pirate ship, talking/acting accordingly, a cat named Hambone, that well, this was Zanita meeting him: "And this is Hambone." The cat raised a chubby paw. Zanita knelt down to shake his paw. "Hi, Hambone, pleased to meet you." She swore the cat grinned at her, an aunt of Zanita's that might just put a Lady Danbury in her place, a little kid that when asked what his father does, he answers with: He replied innocently, "He does women.", and a My-Maggy, which frankly, I'm not totally sure where she came from but she's described as a “battleaxe” once, so welcome to the party. 

For the first time in her life, she lost her inhibitions; she screamed and hollered and had one hell of a time. 

These two had off-center byplay that I enjoyed and you're also going to get some steamy scenes. Can I just say, can we get back to the main female character getting to “screamed and hollered and having had one hell of a time”? I mean: He slid into her like a steel pylon through molten ore., we used to be a proper genre. I really enjoyed their brand of chemistry, sure it's goofy interactions with physics cross-talk at times but there was absolute sweetness in the way Tyber handled Zanita: Zanita never knew if it was Tyber's regular routine to sit on the porch swing at that hour, or if he stopped his work just to wait for her to come home so they could sit and unwind together after the day. All she knew for sure was that she began looking forward to their quiet hour before dinner. And tell me why this goofy little scene had my eyes watering out of nowhere: Courage. She sucked in a deep breath. "Tyber, we need to talk about this—" 

"Hey, look," he interrupted her, "one of the tropical fish is staring straight at you with a strange glint in its eye." 

"Where?" She peered over her shoulder at the tank. 

He swooped across her. "Zanita, really, how could a fish affect a strange glint?" His eyes danced with mirth. And something else. Something suspiciously close to the quarter deck. 

"If they're your fish, they could. Get off!" 

"Know how fish kiss? Like this." His open mouth covered her own. He raised his head, strands of his hair brushing across the peaks of her breasts. "They look like this, don't they?" Pressing his lips together, he sucked in his cheeks, causing his lips to bow out like a fish's mouth. Leaving his mouth tightly closed, he moved his pursed lips up and down while crossing his eyes. It was the funniest thing she had ever seen. Peals of laughter caused her to clutch her stomach. Tyber untied the sash on her robe, bending over to nibble her midriff with his undulating fish lips. Zanita couldn't stop laughing. It tickled and every time he raised his head to stare at her with those crossed eyes and moving lips, she was gone. 

Zanita is about to say that she thinks she should move out of Tyber's house, she feels herself getting too attached and is ready to run, Tyber feels her fear and with a little panic of his own and understanding of her, he distracts her and brings her back to him. You can read manipulation in his actions throughout the book, sure, but this is also romance fiction, so I inherently know (also add in some of those emotional nuances) that Zanita loves him, so you can also read his love and understanding of her. It could read corny but I've been reading some newer contemporary romance that could use a return to some of this sweet and “corny” fun between two people falling in love; fun can have depth, too! 

 "To remove the temptation from you; it's obvious to me, Tyber, you can't help yourself from acting like a boyfriend." 

Think. Think. "You've got this all wrong, baby." 

"I do?" 

"Yes. I'm not acting like your boyfriend. I—" Think! "I'm conducting an experiment." 

"An experiment?" 

Her brows furrowed as she mulled this over. "What kind of an experiment?" 

What kind of an experiment! I'm testing my sanity. "It's… it's an experiment on… High Energy." 

Now, on to that ending, it was a bit rushed in regards to how they find out the way to prove that LaLeche is a fraud and without much fanfare, Zanita writes her article. The article angers LaLeche in a way that has him acting out a villain that felt wildly too dark for this story. 

<spoiler>He traps Zanita in her apartment and physically acts to rape her until she fends him off by saying that the FBI is onto him.<end spoiler> 

Oops, yeah, I forget to say that the FBI is sideline in this. The real fear felt by Zanita in this moment was heavy hitting, made even more so by how the previous 90% of the tone was goofy fun. This dark moment just didn't fit and honestly threw me enough that I lost a ton of the light fun I was having reading this and colored my experience. We get Tyber comforting her and dealing with LaLeche (he does literally dick punch him before the FBI arrests him, so slight return of good feelings) and then Zanita finally making a move, which I loved, Tyber deserved that after all the putting himself out there he did. I did see this has a sequel, with Tyber and Zanita back in action, and if I ever feel like goofy fun again, I'll probably read but I'm not sure I'll be able to fully relax as I'll be on guard for another really dark moment. 

*I was in love with the Tyber tightie whitey book cover but my god, look at that Kindle cover. THE LIGHTENING

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