Paranormalcy
by: Kiersten White
About the book: (From inside jacket flap)
Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals’ glamours, but still. Normal.
Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie’s dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.
So much for normal.
My thoughts:
I purchased this book before heading to a young adult lit conference at the end of September. Kiersten White was going to be there and I wanted to get it signed. I didn’t have a chance to read more than a chapter or two before heading down but I was hooked! The conference was on a Saturday and Kiersten was going to be at a local bookstore again on Sunday. I met her and thought that she was delightful. I knew that I wanted to see her (and Sophie Jordan and Claudia Gray!!) again on Sunday. They were such lovely people and fabulous authors! Meeting them just added to my love for their books… and
I loved this book. A lot. I’m going to limit my reasons why to FIVE:
1. Evie (pronounced as a short version for Evelyn NOT like Eve.) Since she can see through glamours she’s the girl they send out to “bag and tag” paranormals so that humans won’t learn of their existence. Also, I totally have a girl crush on her. I mean, I kinda want to be her! She’s tough and can take down a vampire/werewolf/gremlin/whatever but totally girly too. She loves the color pink and bad TV. How can you not love her? For those of us who are tired of female characters being simpering and girly OR tough and anti everything girl Evie is a welcome change. Plus she’s funny. Which is, you know, a bonus.
2. Actually, pretty much all of the characters. Shapeshifting Lend is oh so crushworthy. Bad boy faery Reth gets under Evie’s skin for some seriously enjoyable dialog. (Umm, did I just type “bad boy faery?!?” Somehow that phrase seems wrong!) And Lish, oh Lish, with her bleeps and well, all around mermaidness. What’s not to love?
3. The vampires don’t sparkle. Enough said.
4. The variety of paranormal characters. Sure, you’ve read plenty of books about vampires, werewolves, and faeries (all are also in this book.) You may even have read a few mermaid books. But gremlins? Hags? Seriously underrepresented in literature today!
5. It’s just plain good. It’s smart, funny, addictive AND totally clean! I can give it to my middle school students and know they’ll love it and that there isn’t anything I have to warn them about (except Reth!) The same can be said for giving it to high school students. It’s rare that I find a truly good book (especially a paranormal one!) that both middle school and high school students can enjoy. Thank you Kiersten White.
GMR
Wow…sounds like you’re having a fangirl moment…love it when that happens, don’t you? Haven’t had the pleasure of reading this one quite yet, but it is slowly emerging from the TBR pile…chalk another great review up for this title. Thanks for sharing…and happy reading! (Oh and um…I like sparkly vamps though…not all the time, but at the right time and place. Just sayin’… ^_^)