Book Review: The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Paranormal
Series: Book 1
Publisher: Orbit (June 18, 2019)
Length: 496 pages
Author Information: Website
A literary tour de force this was not (but I mean, you’ve probably gathered that from the title already), but still most definitely a ton of fun (again, the title). The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with her Mind by Jackson Ford is the perfect book to read for pure irreverent and action-packed escapism.
Meet Teagan Frost, a young woman who possesses incredible psychokinetic powers, something that the government is all too willing to exploit for its own purposes. Under the cover of a moving company, Teagan and the other members of her team are dispatched on various top-secret missions by their handler Tanner to deal with threats to national security.
However, things go spectacularly wrong on their latest mission, when the only way they could get away was with Teagan taking a flying leap out the window of a skyscraper with one of her freaked out teammates in tow. Only by using her PK was she able to save them both. After that fiasco was over, all Teagan wanted was to sleep for a year, but no sooner had she settled down than she was woken up by an urgent phone call demanding her return to headquarters. In a panic, Teagan arrives expecting everything to be in a state of emergency. What she did not expect was to be accused of murder, with her teammates in a fury and ready to arrest her. Back at the site of their bungled mission, it appears that the body of their original had been found, killed by a length of rebar wrapped around his neck. As far as everyone was concerned, only someone with Teagan’s powers could have done something like this, and since there’s no one else like Teagan in the world, she had to be guilty.
But Teagan knows the truth: there had to be someone else out there with PK powers, an idea that both excites her and scares her. Now she has less than 24 hours to prove her innocence, and the first step towards clearing her name is to track down the real killer.
I confess, this was a purely indulgent read for me; I wanted something fast-paced and fun that read like an action-comedy movie and The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with her Mind gave me exactly that. Despite all the comics and comic book character related references, this isn’t really a superhero novel, but it sure as hell reads a lot like one, incorporating themes like secret identities, uncanny origin stories and a super scary evil villain. Its freewheeling plot starts off running and doesn’t take a break for anything, so be prepared to keep up.
Fortunately, books like these are usually pretty simple and straightforward, though that being said, they don’t often give the reader anything or special too unique either, for all that they are full of humor and well-timed and engaging banter. But that’s where the characters come into the picture. Here, the narrative unfolds by alternating between following Teagan and Jake, the out-of-control PK she’s trying to track down and capture. At first, I felt that the reveal of the target so early on might have been a misstep, but my mind was quickly changed as Ford gradually allowed us to go deeper into Jake’s complicated and twisted psyche. His actions, behaviors and origins suggest a deeper mystery to be solved, adding an extra layer of intrigue to the plot. Teagan herself is also a formidable protagonist and a joy to follow, and her determination and optimism is admirable, considering the impossible challenges she must face and all the hardships she’s had to endure in the past.
To tell the truth, there’s not much left for me to say int his review, but that some books are just plain fun to read. And if fun is what you’re looking for, then The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t with her Mind is the exactly kind of novel you’ll want to take to the beach or to curl up with in your favorite reading nook after a long day—the perfect blend of action, humor and sci-fi to fulfill all your needs of escapism and entertainment.
The BiblioSanctum 
the beach! I want to go to the beach and read it
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And a great beach read this is!
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That is a really offputting title. It combines two horrible trends that don’t seem to stop. The whole “the girl who…” “the girl in..” “The girl with…” stuff and the sh*t and f*ck in titles stuff. I would never buy this on the basis of the title alone.
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Sorry to butt in, but…
Thank you Jeroen for putting into words EXACTLY how I have felt about this as well.
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You’re welcome! I hope I wasn’t too harsh.
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You put it much nicer than I was feeling.
The titles with profanity strike me as an immature 6year old striking out at his dad because he can’t have that extra cookie for dessert. It just comes across “wrong”. I’d have to sit down and write a post and just “think” about the specifics of WHY it makes me think of that.
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To me it feels like a false sense of being extra serious. Like other books don’t have titles like they really mean it.
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I’m not gonna read this, but I think the title is fantastic in its deadbeat wordplay.
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If I ever write a book, I’ll call it Crazy Rich Girl with the Dragon on the Train who got the f*ck out of fairyland.
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It does make people talk about it, I will say that 😀
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Oh I hear ya. I am also totally noticing this growing trend of curse words in book titles these days, and it drives me nuts. If you’re going to put a naughty word in the title just to censor it, then what’s the point anyway? Just to be edgy? For the attention? Either way, it’s such a cringey gimmick!
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Title doesn’t bother me so much as bore me. I *keep* hearing about this book, but it doesn’t really appeal.
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That’s fair, and it’s very much your standard fun-but-forgettable “popcorn” read anyway, so you’re probably not missing much 🙂
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I’m hoping my library gets a copy of this one soon. I’m really curious about it. Great review.
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It’s great for a quick, fun read. I hope your library gets it!
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I personally love the title, which doesn’t take itself too seriously. And I agree, I thought the characters were a lot of fun, especially Teagan😁
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I will say I adored Teagan’s determination! Whereas some characters would wallow in self pity, she refuses to take life’s punches lying down!
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This is getting a lot of decent reviews and I can see why as a fun read inbetween weighty tomes is sometimes just what you need.
Lynn 😀
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Absolutely. I always like to read books like these right after “blah” books just to get me pumped up again 🙂
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It looks nice to have a good time
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Definitely a good time!
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This book sounds super fun! Like you said, not everything has to be a literary masterpiece, so I can totally imagine this being an entertaining ride. Sometimes, you just want fast and superhero-like entertainment that offers fun characters and a compelling mystery – as long as it’s well done, I’d totally read it. 😊 Terrific review!
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For sure, books like these have their place in my repertoire. I’d fall into a slump pretty quickly if all books had to be serious and weighty 🙂 I love mixing in these “popcorn” reads in between longer books, or if I just had a disappointing read. Something fun like this always gets me feeling energized again 🙂
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I’m always on the lookout for “easy” books to read between more demanding (and, let’s face, sometimes slightly depressing) tomes, and this looks like it fits the requirements very nicely 🙂
Thanks for sharing!
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Yep, same here! I have quite a few of these “easy” books waiting in the wings whenever I feel the need for a pick-me-up!
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I’ve had my eye on this one–I love simple and fun reads, especially in between bigger, more intense things. I think I’ll probably give this a try!
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