Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

Spoiler alert! I loved every single freakin’ word.

Seraphina is YA fantasy at its best. There’s a whole new world (Aladdin!), dragons, humans, and dragon-human hybrids. The dragons and humans coexist under a tentative peace treaty that is threatening to fall apart. Seraphina looks like just an ordinary, mild-mannered 16 year old music tutor, but she’s harboring a dangerous secret. And…DRAGONS!

Hartman has built a world that was an absolute pleasure to visit. I wanted souvenirs! The two societies have just enough in common to really make their tenuous dealings thrilling and the reasons they are on the brink of war believable. Seraphina herself is the single most delightful teenage protagonist I’ve read this year and might have saved my wavering feelings towards YA. Sometimes I even forgot she was a teenager. That’s not to say she’s really written as an adult masquerading as a kid – not at all. She’s still learning and growing in all the ways teenage girls do, just with additional complexities that allow her some perspective. Loved that.

I’m fairly certain Hartman’s writing doesn’t need any additional gushing from me. She’s won a ton of awards, and I can hardly believe this is her first novel. I read an interview where she stated it took nine years for her to pen Seraphina, and she’s fully admitted to being a writer who can’t write one book a year. Thank goodness. I hate when authors feel so pressured to manufacture subpar works just to satisfy publishers and an audience. I understand that capitalizing on the feedback of the prior book is essential to sales…but it still sucks.

What also pleased me was how the initial main conflicts in Seraphina were mostly resolved by the book’s end leaving me satisfied. I imagine you could read this book as a standalone and be fine. However, her world and Seraphina herself are so engaging that I can’t wait for book two and to see where the dragon/human conflict leads. For once, I’m dying for the sequel. And I’m thrilled to report that Seraphina’s love interest didn’t bother me in the slightest. The love story was a secondary plot line that happened organically and at the slower pace I adore. Kudos!

If you’ve become a bit skeptical of all the formulaic YA out there, pick up Seraphina immediately. It reminded me how amazing literature for youth can be – how inventive, creative, and freeing stories can be. Believe the hype on this one, guys. Don’t be the only one missing out!

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

The premise to Beauty Queens sounded right up my alley. A bunch of teenage beauty queens crash land on a deserted island (or is it?) and have to use their wits to survive. Snarkiness, mayhem, and catfights promised to reign supreme. I could not wait to dive in.

And at first I wanted to throw the book out the window similar to Pat’s episode with Hemingway in Silver Linings Playbook. The girls were one beauty queen stereotype after the next and so incredibly over-the-top with their girly campy-ness. I couldn’t find a single character worth my while and rolled my eyes so many times I got a headache. The only thing that truly kept me reading was Bray’s narrative creativity. The story is told via traditional narrative, commercial breaks, contestant questionnaires, and other random interludes that were a complete pleasure in this satire.

Somewhere around page 100 or so, something magical happened and I started to adore Bray’s every word. The girls began showing honest character development, they were managing to survive and prosper brilliantly, and all of my judgement was thrown back in my face. I realized guiltily how complicit I had been in my own prejudice and preconceived notions about pageant contestants and teenage girls in general. I see what you did there, Ms. Bray, and I loved it!

All of the girls were amazing and I loved each of them individually by the novel’s end. They represented and dealt with an entire range of complex issues such as body image, sexuality, and self-identity. Miss Texas was particularly amazing. I loathed her at the beginning more than any other and she ended up my absolute favorite character. The girls were fierce, strong, capable, and the fact that they loved nail polish and shiny dresses couldn’t (and shouldn’t) lessen their courage and poise.

The best YA I’ve read all year.

Bonus:

There are pirates…ARRRGG!!

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

I guess I just have a cold, dead heart because I thought this book was terrible. Pretty much everyone and their mom thinks this book was super cute and sweet. I wanted to throw it against a wall in anger. What is wrong with me? Or are other people just oblivious?

Anna Oliphant is a high school senior living the normal life in Atlanta, Georgia. She’s got an amazing best friend and a potential love interest so things are looking promising going into her final year of school. All that changes when her writer father decides he’d really like Anna to attend a boarding school in Paris so that he can sound more cultured. Anna is not happy with the decision until she meets her new set of friends, especially St. Clair – a hottie with a British accent.

The Paris setting was superb. I loved walking the streets of France along with Anna. And that’s about the only positive thing I have to say about the book. Now, I understand why young adults would find this little romance swoon-worthy. I get it. But adults? Really?

My biggest problem was that Stephanie Perkins obviously models Anna’s dad after Nicholas Sparks and lets her rage at his formulaic cancer plots shine through rather brightly. And then she goes and does the exact same thing – includes a cancer plot to add emotional depth and suffering to the character of St. Clair. REALLY?

Also, none of the characters are very well flushed out – particularly Ellie, St. Clair’s girlfriend. Yes, you read that right. St. Clair the love interest already has a girlfriend. And yes, there is cheating. I hated that we never got to know Ellie so that we never view her as a character we should sympathize. How convenient. Don’t want Anna and St. Clair to seem like dirty little cheating tramps? Make the actual girlfriend a non-entity.

Don’t get me started on the Atlanta/America-hate that Anna expresses upon her return to the States over Christmas break. Four months in France and Anna’s completely over the shitty country she used to view as home. I know I should let this go because there are probably a ton of teenagers, and hell, adults who would and do act exactly this way, but it still pissed me off. I get a little defensive about Atlanta. I like my home.

As for the romance, blah and yuck. St. Clair isn’t a great romantic lead. He’s a coward who is too afraid to break up with his girlfriend so instead emotionally and then physically cheats on her. How is that sexy? Someone please explain it to me? Several others have complained about how short he is and that shortness is not attractive. SERIOUSLY? And cheating is? Being a complete wuss has you smitten? Now I’m getting all angry and yelling. Please do not be offended if you found St. Clair attractive. I just really did not.

I think I’m getting a little burned out on YA in general so I’m going to read the exact opposite – dull adult non-fiction. Ha! I just need a palate cleanser. YA sucks me in with their shininess and pretty covers, but often fails to deliver anything other than empty entertainment – for me, that is. I’m not knocking those of you who love it. I’m just currently going through a rough patch with my own personal YA feelings. I just wish everything was on Harry Potter’s level. This is quickly turning into an entirely separate post so I’ll stop bickering now!

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

I had high hopes for Anna and all her creepiness. Really high hopes. Some of those expectations were met and others not so much. I hate that I only felt ‘meh’ about this book while so many others adored. I will say that compared to other similar YA novels, this one shines.

In Anna, we meet Cas who is a young, aspiring Dean Winchester. They are the exact same character. And since I loved the first few seasons of Supernatural, I was thrilled with Cas. I even enjoyed the heck out of his cockiness. Anyway, he’s a ghost hunter/slayer with a special knife meant for slaughtering the baddies. He gets wind of a particularly nasty spook dubbed ‘Anna Dressed in Blood’ and heads to Canada with his mom. All of the things go down. The end. Ha!

Now, Anna had the potential to be one bad ass murderous ghost. Our first time meeting her is awesome, gruesome, and exactly what I wanted. Unfortunately, Anna gets neutered far too quickly and that’s when all my problems started. Why did Blake decide to water down Anna so quickly? Such a shame.

(minor spoilers ahead!)

Most of the novel truly does read like a Supernatural episode. What works the most are Cas’s friends – his little circle he comes to know and love. They are fun and not at all the stereotypical group you’d expect from a traditional YA novel. I had some ‘Scooby Gang’ nostalgia going on big time. Even the romantic bits break most of  the normal YA tropes which is a breath of fresh air. Until you realize that Cas and Anna have feelings for one another. That bit lost me as well.

Two things disappointed me more than anything else. Why was everyone so okay with Cas doing what he does? He’s a freakin’ kid whose dad died killing ghosts. Why would his mother so mutely stand back and watch her son continue such violence, particularly at such a young age? Did not ring true to me at all. I know I’m just supposed to suspend belief, but I couldn’t.

Also, why wasn’t this book more frightening? I’m not sure that’s Blake’s fault at all. Maybe I’m just not moved by horror stories? Scary movies are nearly un-watchable, but I haven’t been horrified by a written ghost story in a seriously long time. I want to be scared silly!

I did love the book’s ending. I’m glad that Anna went down with the house – only seems fitting. Blake’s writing was also great, her pacing superb from page one, and she genuinely has some awesome plot moves. I’m mainly thinking of the flashback scene dealing with Anna’s past and how creatively she managed to pull that off. I think I’d have been more impressed if there had been more emotion involved. I wanted Cas’s mom to care more about her son’s well-being. I wanted the town to care more about all the deaths and disappearances – especially of the young kids. And I wanted that damn cat to survive!

Can’t win them all, I suppose. Anna is still a book I’d recommend to fans of YA horror and paranormal stories. There’s enough in Blake’s novel that feels fresh to entice those readers annoyed with so many cookie-cutter, predictable narratives running around in the world today. There’s also a fun amount of blood and gore for the true horror fans and a fascinating mythology.

I’ll gladly read the second Anna story in this duology. I am thankful that there’s only two novels. If Blake had decided to end after the first, I wouldn’t have been disappointed, but I’m interested to see where Anna ended up! Many other readers haven’t liked the second Anna as much which kind of gives me hope. I tend to like sequels when others don’t. Just one of my many weird quirks.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver (And yes, there are spoilers!)

I finished the Delirium trilogy! I feel like I start so many book series and then never finish them. So to finally notch one completely off my list feels good. Plus, there’s a television show being made adapted from the novels. I’m rooting for the show – hoping it even outshines the books.

As many of you know, I wasn’t a huge fan of Delirium, but Pandemonium completely won me over. For the second book in a trilogy to surpass the first is rare – although most people don’t agree with me about Pandemonium’s clear ass-kicking of Delirium. So I had great hopes for an even better ending. But it was not to be.

Not that Requiem was terrible, not at all. I just was in like with it rather than in love. Mostly because of how Oliver managed to force Julian’s character firmly into a mere plot device and send him on his merry way as soon as was conveniently possible. I respected this love triangle until that ridiculous end. But I guess Alex was always going to win – so why bother with Julian?

And really, the end was the book’s biggest problem. So rushed – almost like Oliver wasn’t allowed to go over her 400 page word count without some sort of unfortunate consequences. Everything just ends and feels so forced. I was majorly disappointed that we have no clue what becomes of Hana despite her being one of the two narrative perspectives in Requiem. WHAT THE HAY?

Up until the end, however, I enjoyed most everything a great deal. I loved seeing the post-cure world that Hana was inhabiting and how the cure affected her specifically. And Lena didn’t even get on my nerves much, either. I didn’t see much character growth this time around for her, but at least she didn’t annoy me too much.

The action scenes were well done and suspenseful although a little too far and few between. Not that the novel reads slowly – I read practically the whole thing in a single sitting while I was sick this week. Oliver’s writing has come a long way since Delirium, in my opinion, and I appreciate her talents and hope to see more from her in the future.

Overall, I’d recommend the series if you want something easy and entertaining to read. Beware of the first book, but the next two make up for it! My biggest problems with the series as a whole was the lack of world building – most specifically, the history of this particular world. I’m still not certain how the US got to the point of curing its citizens of love or how the rest of the world fit into the picture. I’d have loved more back story.

Anyway, happy to be done and now ready to start a new series. I’m going to be giving The Mortal Instruments a read. I read Clockwork Angel last year and enjoyed, so now I’m looking forward to starting with TMI and working my way through all of Cassandra Clare’s backlog. With the movie coming out in August, I’ll be fully prepared!

Ten by Gretchen McNeil

Ten was a specifically chosen read this week because the Litwits are meeting this Sunday to discuss Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Gretchen McNeil’s novel is a YA retelling of Christie’s classic. Since I’ve read ATTWN in the past year, I decided to give Ten a go instead of rereading.

The most basic plot description of both books is rather simple – 10 people meet at a house on an isolated island and start to die one-by-one.

McNeil’s version mostly won me over for nostalgia reasons. I could not help but feel this retelling oozed a little bit of R.L. Stine one moment and a whole lot of Christopher Pike the next (he even blurbed the book!). I cannot tell y’all how many books by those two authors I inhaled as a young reader. They were better than candy. And current YA tends to lack so thoroughly in good old-fashioned fast paced horror that I just sat back and let this book happen to me.

As the teens are slowly and bloodily killed off, you won’t find anything literary or even fresh. This story has been told time and time again with all the red herrings and gimmicks barely doing their job. I knew who the killer was before the book was halfway over, but it didn’t really matter. I liked the suspenseful moments and the psychological torment these young people were facing and how they reacted to their situation.

The dialogue is filled with teen speak which many readers have bemoaned, but really, what else should we expect? These are teenagers after all and slang is fairly normal among even the most mature. Hell, I still use slang all the time and so do y’all! So I won’t fault it too much. I did have slight issues with who was using the slang. Certain times a phrase just didn’t sit well with a male character versus as female character – but those gender slants are my own issue.

And the ending? Cheestastic and the only real disappointment – especially compared to Christie’s.

I’m not going to recommend running straight out and reading this YA horror novel. I’m not even going to recommend it to those readers who read and adored ATTWN. But if you enjoyed Stine and Pike at some point in your life, this little gem will take you back to those days in the best of ways. And if you’re young and have never experienced YA horror – give this one a shot. Yes, there’s some gore. Yes, there’s some foul language and sexual situations, but nothing too graphic! It’s just enough to tantalize the younger crowd without going overboard.

I look forward to discussing Ten with the ladies this weekend. Hopefully, I’ll be able to convince someone else to give this a shot. And I’m convinced more than ever that I need to find some Christopher Pike novels and settle in for a nice, lovely visit with ghosts of my childhood past.

For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund

You guys, I’m sick. Curse you, evil germs! Now on to the review:

For Darkness Shows the Stars is a recently released YA novel that tries to fill some pretty big shoes – Jane Austen’s shoes to be exact. Diana Peterfreund sets out to retell the Austen classic, Persuasion, and I could not have been more excited. Thinking back, this retelling might be the only Austen related fiction I’ve ever read outside the purity of her own work. I had high hopes, especially after finishing a reread of Persuasion right before diving into Peterfreund’s re-imagining. The only thing I knew for sure was that the cover was gorgeous. And please forgive me but I’m going to post the Goodreads summary as my own was about three paragraphs too long.

It’s been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family’s estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot’s estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth–an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret–one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she’s faced with a choice: cling to what she’s been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she’s ever loved, even if she’s lost him forever.

What a mixed bag this was for me. The dystopian world Peterfreund builds leaped to life from the very beginning. This new society is richly layered and so complex. The parallels between this future culture and the antebellum Southern society of plantations and slaves is well-done, adding a levity to Austen’s original class discussions that was much welcomed in a young adult novel. Peterfreund has turned the story of Persuasion into something beyond itself, if that makes sense. Let me better explain: Instead of a silly father and older sister, Elliot North has a very cruel and calculating family. Elliot’s just trying to ensure she’s living on an estate that doesn’t beat, rape, or degrade the workers in the same way that so many estates are now run. She’s not just trying to feed herself; she’s trying to feed all the people who live on her property in a world where food is not plenty.

I liked Elliot. She was deeply conflicted and for good reason. Should she try to genetically enhance her grain to feed more people or stay away from the technology that played God and ruined the human race? What a moral conundrum and Peterfreund handles the ambiguity well. We don’t end the novel with any kind of straight answer although you can see society moving in a certain direction. So much to ponder which really pleased me, particularly in young adult literature.

As for the new embodiment of Captain Wentworth, not such a huge fan. Firstly, his new name, Wentforth, was a bit too silly. The manchild himself was harsh and extremely terrible to Elliot upon his return. I didn’t see much of Austen’s Wentworth in Peterfreund’s creation and that saddened me. Also, the recreation of Wentworth’s letter at the end fell flat. I’m fairly certain that no one should ever try to improve upon or even modernize Austen’s romantic letters. That is just simply too impossible a task.

Wentforth aside, I adored everyone else. All the Reduced, Post-Reduced, and Luddites, whether good characters or nasty villains, were handled extraordinarily well. I’ll also add that Peterfreund managed to surprise me with plot twists several times despite giving major clues along the way. I’m not sure if I was just reading brainlessly or if she has quite the talent for sneaking up on readers. I’d like to vote for the latter!

Unfortunately, what plagued me most about For Darkness Shows the Stars was the ridiculously slow beginning. I didn’t feel the slightest bit involved until 100 pages in and didn’t feel entirely gripped until 200. I almost gave up – twice. However, by the novel’s end I wanted a book two badly. I wanted to know what happened in this world and which side eventually wins. The Luddites with their fear of technology or the rapidly increasing Post-Reductionists throwing caution to the wind? Are the Post-Reductionists actually a cured people? What about Elliot and her wheat, her crazy no-good family? WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? Please and thank you, Diana Peterfreund.

 

 

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce

Sisters Red’s author Jackson Pearce and I went to college together. We were in the English program at overlapping times, but I’m not sure we ever properly met. Her face is extremely familiar, but I never knew her in any real way. I remember hearing when she published her first book, but then promptly forgot all about it. I started seeing her fairy tale re-telling novels recommended in various places and decided to give my fellow UGA grad a read. After languishing on my TBR shelf for close to a year, I picked up Sisters Red last week and looked forward to the Little Red Riding Hood re-imagining. Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed by the time I reached the last page.

Scarlett and Rosie are sisters, 18 and 16 years old, respectively, whose grandmother was brutally eaten by a Fenrir (werewolf) before Scarlett managed to slay the wolf and save her and Rosie’s life. They were then taken in by their neighbors, a family of woodsmen. Scarred and missing one eye due to that attack plus her continuing mission to hunt down all the Fenrirs until they are destroyed, Scarlett begins recognizing signs of a strengthening in wolf numbers and wondering what could have them all upping the ante. Together with her sister and Silas (of the woodsmen), they move to the big city, where massive amounts of Fenrirs are gathering, in order to uncover the mystery and kill as many murdering wolfies as possible.

What worked? The darkness. Yes, this book is violent, gory, and apologetically brutal. These werewolves are not sexy and in no way bear any relationship to the likes of Jacob Black. They are blood-thirsty animals looking for a tasty human snack. I loved that. Werewolves SHOULD be scary. Pearce also creates a great sisterhood mythology. Scarlett and Rosie as bad-ass Fenrir hunters was refreshing. Reminded me a lot of Sam and Dean’s brotherly bond in the television series, Supernatural. There’s just something so appealing about sibling relationships and Jackson obviously has firsthand experience in this department – kudos!

What didn’t work? Almost everything else. Sorry. The fact that these wolves only target scantily clad club-going young females – so many things wrong with this scenario. I don’t want to get into a rape culture conversation or feminist theory, but you can hardly avoid it when discussing this plot line. Does it help that the hunters are female slayers? Perhaps, but not enough. I was also disappointed in Pearce’s constant harping on how ugly Scarlett was in comparison to her younger,  un-scarred sister. Scarlett’s scars were mentioned at least every other page. And as for Silas falling for Rosie – the obvious pretty girl – instead of Scarlett, that didn’t work for me either. How boring. It might be far more likely, but dammit – this is a fairly tale. Scarlett would have made the far more interesting choice.

Speaking of the romance plot, Silas is 21 and Rosis 16. Pearce doesn’t much care about this age difference and never even comments on it. And since the sisters and Silas don’t have any actual parental figures in their life, there’s no one to hold them accountable for their actions. It was weird. Why does YA always have these children (because that’s what they are) running around without any parental figures? Why is this a trope? Someone explain it to me. Can people only be interesting when they have absent parents?

Oh, and before I forget, the big twist ending was easily figured out within the first 50 pages. Also, the bit about all the wolves being wolves because they were the seventh son of a seventh son – yeah right. How many wolves could that curse possible produce? There can only be a very few humans born that meet that criteria. Not the thousands that occupy this novel. Insert dramatic eye-roll here, please.

As you can see, not a fan. I won’t be reading Pearce’s other companion novels which makes me rather sad as I had so looked forward to them in theory and wanted to support a home girl. If you’ve read any of her other books, let me know what you thought down in the comments!

Grrr…I forgot to mention something else and don’t want to take the time to properly edit it into the above review because I am LAZY! Something that bothered me – Pearce’s setting. The book takes place mostly in Atlanta which is my home and hers. She should have been able to fully realize Atlanta, but lost me so many times. Big yellow taxis? Last time I checked, that was NYC. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a yellow taxi in Atlanta. I believe ours are mostly white. The subway? Um…also NYC. We have MARTA, but it’s mostly above ground. If she hadn’t mentioned such landmarks as Piedmont Park, Atlanta would have been a complete stranger to me.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Pandemonium is the second book in Lauren Oliver’s Delirium series and not one I was anxiously awaiting. My feelings for Delirium can only be described as lukewarm and it has been over a year since I finished that one. But with the third and final book, Requiem, due to hit shelves in March, I decided to dust off my copy of Pandemonium with hopeful, yet tempered, expectations.

I definitely won’t completely spoil (there are light spoilers sprinkled throughout) the first book for y’all Delirium virgins out there, but the general plot line of this series involves a world where love is seen as a disease and children undergo the ‘cure’ (essentially, a form of lobotomy) by the time they reach 18. Lena lives contentedly in this world until she falls for Alex and he opens her eyes to the truth of the world she has come to know and trust. You can read my full review of Delirium here.

Pandemonium opens in the first few moments following the cliffhanger ending of Delirium. Oliver’s narration has changed a bit, however, in that we now switch back and forth in time from then (immediately following Delirium) to now (a few months into the future). While many non-linear plots can feel more harrassing than pleasantly plot progressing, I must give Oliver props because I thought Pandemonium handled this back and forth quite well. It added a little something extra to the pacing that I felt was lacking in Delirium. I never once felt bored as the scenery was constantly changing and I was learning new things from page to page. Lena, herself, also felt like a much more developed and relevant protagonist.

I was pleased that Lena spends a large majority of this book without a boy by her side. Yes, Oliver does eventually introduce a love triangle of sorts, but the romantic relationship aspect doesn’t overwhelm the plot like so many YA novels, including Pandemonium’s predecessor. As for the love triangle, this one didn’t bother me. Nothing about Lena’s situation with Alex and Julian rings untrue. It’s only natural for Lena to move on thinking that Alex is dead, especially at such a young age and having been with Alex for so brief a time. I appreciated her ability to deal with her grief and move on struggling with her guilt all the while. That being said, Julian wasn’t my favorite character and of everyone present in Pandemonium. I definitely think he was the least well-rounded. He does have excellent potential, however, and I hope that Requiem does a better job garnering an emotional attachment to him.

For once, I actually thought the sequel outshone the first book and I’m eagerly anticipating the third book’s release! I’m glad I kept reading and think that Oliver fixed all the nitpicky problems that bothered me so much in Delirium. What most intrigues me about the next installment is yet another narrative switch – instead of alternating time lines we’re getting to see the trilogy wrap up through the perspectives of both Lena and her best friend Hanna. Can’t wait to see how things play out!

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

More YA! I think I’m sort of addicted or maybe just enjoying short, fluffy reads during this holiday season. I’ve seen lots of positive reviews for this series claiming that Evie is a fun protagonist and that the paranormal creatures are far more original than other similar novels. I do have a paranormal weakness, so it was only a matter of time until I read Paranormalcy. Plus, the cover is absolutely gorgeous. Normally I don’t approve of the overdone pretty girls posing, but this cover actually relates to the story and the colors are magnificent.

Evie works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. Orphaned, the Agency took her in when it became apparent that Evie wasn’t your average, everyday human. She has the ability to see through paranormal glamour. No creature can hide from her – vampires, fairies, hags…you name it. Very handy in a containment facility! At 16, she’s beginning to get a little claustrophobic, cloistered away in the Agency’s facilities and unable to lead the normal life of a teenage girl. Her best friend is a mermaid who can’t leave her tank. All this changes when a new-to-her paranormal teenage boy, Lend, breaks into the compound around the same time that paranormals begin being slaughtered by some unknown menace  Soon, Lend and Evie are on a mission to save the innocents, uncover the truth about the Agency, and free Evie from her prison-like home and perhaps even herself.

I gotta say, White has managed to create a very unique paranormal world in the midst of so many overdone paranormal tropes in the YA genre. The supernatural creatures you’ve come to know and understand are all there, but there’s also a slew of new creations that are fascinating and highly imaginative. Even your run-of-the-mill vampires are made more interesting by getting back to their dangerous roots and not being quite the sex gods literature has decided they should be. I appreciated this on so many levels.

Evie, as our protagonist, was also well done. She’s often whiny and immature which makes sense for a girl locked away from the world. Conversely, she’s also wise, witty, and older than her years since she’s been deprived of a normal childhood. I mean, she’s been bagging and tagging scary creatures since she was 8. This mixture of young and old in Evie’s voice comes off naturally and realistically. White truly understands her heroine and isn’t afraid to paint her as a flawed, strong-willed girl. Kudos, Ms. White.

The overall story was probably the weakest link. Paranormals in trouble, Evie has to save the day, and so on – not terribly original or unpredictable, but a fun ride nonetheless. You’ll turn the pages quickly which is all this sort of novel needs to accomplish anyway. We aren’t reading Paranormalcy to change our lives or learn something brilliant about the world around us. We just want to be entertained and the book manages this task fairly well.

The love interest, Lend, is well written. He’s a very unique supernatural being and his relationship with Evie is believable. They seem like normal high school students entering into their first relationship. Their chemistry is more cute than sexy, but nothing wrong with that. As for her ex, a fiesty fairy named Reth, I loved him so much for all his manipulative, slightly evil, and very sensual characterization. I never knew if we were supposed to love him or loathe him, but I sided on love. I think he’d be a very intriguing character going forward.

As for the end, White has managed to write a YA novel that doesn’t have a cliffhanger!!! This feat alone amazes me, but also has a rather large pitfall. I absolutely don’t feel the need to continue on with the series. Nothing has compelled me to soldier on alongside Evie and Lend. So as much as I complain about cliffhangers and unresolved questions, I do see their purpose in a series. When things get wrapped up, you put the characters away and tend to forget about the remaining novels too quickly. Perhaps the follow-ups, Supernaturally and Endlessly have gorgeous covers as well. Is that enough reason to buy them? Or maybe just to see what kind of evilly delicious trouble Reth can get into? We shall see!