Review: Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Synopsis:

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.




Review:

I'm sure everyone already knows this, but Paranormalcy is the first book in Kiersten White's Paranormalcy trilogy. It's a young adult paranormal romance, and I'm sure that I'm the LAST person on the planet to read this. But... if you didn't already know, it revolves around 16 year old Evie. She doesn't know who or what she is, and she has been living at the International Paranormal Containment Agency for most of her life. She is the only one that has the ability to see through the glamours of paranormals. It's this ability that leads her to capture a shape-shifting paranormal that Evie later develops feeling for.

Sadly, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with this book. I'm not sure what I expected but I've only heard great things about this book so I think that set my expectations too high. I guess I expected an amazing romance for one thing. There weren't really even any sparks. The character of Lend, who Evie falls for, is a nice guy but lacks something... I felt like he was a weak character, and there wasn't really much storyline for him. He was stuck in a room throughout most of the book and that was a little bit boring.

Evie is a typical teenage girl, except for the fact that she traps vampires instead of going out with friends on a typical night. The author did a good job at setting a teenager tone throughout the book. Actually, I thought it was a little bit on the cheesy side but I guess I was probably a little bit cheesy when I was 16 too. I feel like I'm being way too hard on this book. I guess since I am 30, it feels weird to read from a teenage point of view. Many young adult books seem to have an older tone throughout, but this book sticks to the age group it was intended for.

I think Evie is a character that lots of girls can relate to. I would have no problems with my young teenage daughter reading this (though I don't have a young teenage daughter yet, I'm just saying). Overall, this is a well written and well structured book. Even though it didn't quite live up to the hype in my opinion, I am still interested to know where the story goes and I will soon be reading the next.

Find this author here at her blog:
http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com/

Find this book at the following places:
Amazon (paperback)
Amazon (Kindle)
Barnes & Noble