Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, 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 Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

(YA - paranormal)

Review:

Loved.     Loved.      Loved.

My friend Bella just read Paranormalcy and this quote from her review pretty much sums up my feelings about the book.

“Paranormalcy is ... much like feasting on a ray of sunshine, with several side-helpings of fluffy cloud. Oh ... and garnished with sparkly stuff ... sparkly PINK stuff!” (Bella - Obsessed!)

I absolutely did not want to start another YA paranormal series. In fact I turned down offers to borrow this book 3 times. Then I read a couple of reviews from my favorite bloggers and they promised me it was worth reading. I stand corrected.

I’m going to diverge from my usual format of describing the plot. One of the things I loved so much about Paranormalcy was that several times throughout the story I was surprised by the many twist and turns. That just doesn’t happen very often.

I’ll just say that I loved Evie! She’s smart, funny and brave but not in the typical pretentious way that you often find in YA. She has a healthy dose of respect for her elders mixed with just the right amount of skepticism. She is completely relatable even in this crazy paranormal world.

Her boyfriend Lend….perfect.

The plot is expertly paced. I don’t recall being bored or distracted even once.

Although there isn’t one specific “bad guy” there are a few contenders and I actually feared for Evie and her friends. The villains were written with depth of character. Their motivations weren’t always clear and it wasn’t always a simple case of good or bad. They didn't just walk around laughing evil-ly (is that a word?) mwahaha....they were creepy.

Oh yea – there are Vampires, Werewolves and Faery’s Oh my! And an occasional Hag or Elemental creature.

My favorite quotes:

“Cresseda shook her head, water droplets raining down in front of her. “You have the answer with you.” She smiled, and her eyes, insubstantial as they were, seemed to bore straight through me. “What a lovely balance. Lend shows whatever he wants the world to see and you see through whatever the world wants to show you.”

And for a little humor…

He smiled. “How would you like to come to school with me tomorrow and see a real, live locker?"

I’m pretty sure I squealed

* you'll understand just how cute that is when you read the book!

White has taken the very popular premise of paranormals, government agencies and romance & made it fresh and original. There aren't any convoluted plots or strange love triangles. People actually have conversations and DO things. See! I knew it could be done!!

This book was wrapped up nicely, but it leaves room for a sequel which was my WoW pick this week - Supernaturally will be out in the fall of 2011.

I guess I’m just asking you to take my word on this one. Go read it!

Rating: 4 out of 4 Great book for all ages! Sweet, funny but with a twinge of danger and darkness to keep you on the edge of your seat!

*For a more detailed review of Paranormalcy you can use link above to read Bella's review or Tiger Holland's review on All Consuming Books.

Authors Website: http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com/
Follow Kiersten on Twitter: @kierstenwhite
Buy the book! Paranormalcy

And thank you to Julie of My 5 Monkey's for loaning me the book! <3 ya!! Her review is HERE