Jessica Mastriani (or Jess as her friends call her) is a teenage girl, but most definitely not an ordinary one. She spends her leisure time picking fights with the hunks of the school football team, to defend her best friend or her brother (If they think they are going to mess with her and get away with it, they’re wrong), and end up in detention. Other girls her age, on the other hand, join the drama club or go shopping or cheerleading. But Jess however, does not mind sitting in detention, why, you would ask, well……. It has something to do with whom she sits at detention ─ Rob Wilkins, the hottest senior in her opinion.
But one day after detention, when Jess agrees to walk the 2 miles home with her best friend, Ruth for a bit of exercise, she’s in for trouble. She’s not psychic, or at least she wasn’t. How was she to know that the Indiana thunderstorm is brewing up and just around the corner! Yes, Jess was hit by a bolt of lightning, and MIRACLE, MIRACLE ─ she’s alive! Hooray! Legend has it that if you are struck by lightning, you get a star shaped mark for both the entrance and the exit. She has it. But wait……… she only has the entrance mark, what about the exit mark, nope, she can’t find it. And if that’s not enough, she realizes that she’s has powers, not Bat Man superpowers, but psychic powers (sounds cool, but totally creepy if you are the one having powers). She’s able to find missing children and reunite them with their parents. Good thing, right? Wrong, the US army have taken her to their army base and basically trapped her (although they claim they are very nice, typical). Even worse, she had found a kid Sean (with a very big appetite), who is actually in hiding with his mom in order to protect himself from his abusive father (how was she to know).
Jess is now in hot water, she’s trapped at the army base (along with Sean), Sean’s mother is in jail, and her house is surrounded by media. She has very few people whom she can depend on, and one of them is Rob (she doesn’t mind really). She has to get out of the army base, get Sean’s mother released, and convince the US force she has lost all her powers, although she hasn’t. No problem, she can manage it, or can she?
One of the most enjoyable books written by Meg Cabot. When Lightning Strikes is most definitely a good book. This book also teaches us that we are our own individual and ought to fight for our own right. In a world where several struggle to make themselves heard, this book portrays a young girl fighting for what she believes is her individual right. Mixed with lots of crazy ideas, troubles, and not to mention humor, it not only compels children, but adults as well to read and finish the book. Hope you read it. Enjoy!