PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White



Before I bought the book, I'd read several great reviews about it and spent a good amount of time eyeballing the beautiful cover.  What?  Can you blame me?  Just look at it, you know I'm right J The title was great--GREAT.  Knowing how big paranormal is, I can't believe someone hadn't thought of it before (hats off to you Miss White).  Being a YA paranormal with a fun/original plot, Paranormalcy seemed to be right up my alley.

Here's a quick rundown: Sixteen-year-old Evie has worked for the International Paranormal Containment Agency all her life.  Her ex is a fairy (literally), her best and only friend lives in a fish tank (again, literally), her job involves clapping tracking devices on vamps, weres and other paranormaly beings, but Evie still insists that she's normal--or at least not 'paranormal'--despite her rare talent for seeing through paranormals' glamours.  Then someone (a boy, naturally...or in this case supernaturally since he can shape-shift) breaks into the Agency, paranomals start dying left and right, there's talk of a prophecy, and Evie finds out that she's not as normal as she'd once thought.

Annnnd after all those run-on sentences I'm pretty tired. *takes a moment to regroup*

Phew...okay, now I'm good.  So, the book started out great.  Fast pacing, a light tone and relatable heroine who for once wasn't depressed, suicidal, or obsessed with sparkly vamps sporting the funky I-love-you-but-I-want-to-kill-you stare 0___o (Yes, I'm looking at you Swan).  I honestly thought it was really good.  The action kept the story moving, and the plot was interesting.  Lend and Evie's relationship in contrast to hers and Reth's (the possessive fairy ex) was actually kind of refreshing.  Their budding romance was innocent and moved at a far more believable pace than most of the YA I've read.  And Lend, though not the tortured/bad boy love interest I typically go for, was sweet and courageous.  I can appreciate a bit of nice guy charm J

I did have a slight problem with Evie, though.  As the novel went on, more and more bad things happened, and she just didn't feel the impact as much as I thought she should have (don't worry, no spoilers).  I'll just say that although I didn't want her to turn weepy and weak for keeps, there are times when 'weepy and weak' is exactly what a character should feel.  She'd think about this tragic event one moment and then be laughing/shopping the next.  Her emotions just didn't run as deep as they should have, or at least that's how it felt to me.

Overall, I really liked it.  Not loved but liked.  Lend was a good guy, and I'm glad to see one of them finishing first for once (As you can tell, I'm totally Team Jacob J  But I didn't think Bella deserved him anyway...but I DEFINITELY didn't think Nessy did either.  Just...ewww.  WTH was Meyer thinking???  Twilight rant over!).  Another thing I enjoyed was the fairy slant.  I do love me some fairy stories!  But if I were to recommend any, I'd go for Tithe by Holly Black or the Wicked Lovely series by Melissa Marr.  Darker than Paranormalcy but ultimately more satisfying I think.

Good book, but I'm not sure about buying the sequel.  Any thoughts?

Ninja Girl