Paranormalcy
Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: HarpterTeen
Young Adult
335 pages
Summary:
Once again, there Evie is: a dreary cemetery, her fully-charged pink Taser (conveniently named “Tasey”), and another paranormal to take care of. Work is never done for this sixteen year old IPCA (International Paranormal Containment Agency) operative. Since the program found her wandering around through foster care, she’s been living in their underground Center talking with her mermaid best friend, being stalked by her determined faerie ex-boyfriend, and saving the world from destructive paranormals… all the while wondering what it would be like to be normal.
Evie isn’t just some ordinary girl whisked into the world of the supernatural; she has powers that no other humans possess. She can see through paranormal’s glamour, down to the corpse beyond the vampires and the illusions created by the faeries. IPCA had been harnessing her gift and keeping it secret from the rest of the world. If paranormals knew that Evie could spot them in any crowd and capture them effortlessly, she’d become a target.
Who knew that the sight of a peculiar paranormal boy would cause Evie to put caution to the wind. The life of this new boy, Lend, becomes fascinating to Evie, much to add to her dull normal everyday routine of “bag and tag”. She watches as his appearance shifts, becoming different people, until embarrassingly he lands on her likeness…but one thing’s clear. He can’t get her eyes right. He’s never been stumped copying anyone else, except Evie.
While Evie is busy with life: sneaking into Lend’s room to talk, watching her favorite show Easton Heights, run-ins with Reth her ex, and nabbing more paranormals, a new threat lurks, one that has everyone terrified. With the help of Lend, Evie tries to figure out how to save all of the paranormals from this unkown force killing them while dealing with the fact that IPCA classifies her as a level seven unknown paranormal (she always thought she was human). As the force comes closer, a poem surfaces that puts doubt on Evie’s character and even Evie questions herself. Is she the one causing these deaths or is there someone else?
“Eyes like streams of melting snow,
cold with the things she does not know.
Heaven above and Hell beneath,
liquid flames to hide her grief.
Death, death, death with no release.
Death, death, death with no release."
Is this Evie’s doing? Or does fate have something else in store for her? What is Lend? Will Reth get Evie at last or will Lend stand in the way?
My Rating: 4 ½
Recently I decided to do some research into the world of faeries and other paranormal creatures. As a young writer and hope-to-be YA author, I thought that it was silly to read so many fantasy novels without really understanding the complexities of the different varieties of creatures. After doing said research and then picking up this novel, I was delighted when I didn’t even require Kierstan White’s description for a Huldra… I even knew something that Evie didn’t mention, let alone know about. Huldra’s are either pictured as a woman with the tail of a cow or fox or a backless creature like in Paranormalcy, that values politeness and hates when you mention that their tail is showing ( I was just anxiously waiting for Evie to let it slip and then realize her mistake).
As lovely as it was to get a break from reading about all things fae, I wasn’t completely thrilled about the descriptions of the vampires underneath their glamour. Usually when you think of vamps you think pale gaunt men in capes waltzing around and biting necks, not actually ugly walking corpses. Leave the undead corpse facade to the zombies! I prefer my vampires: cold, dead, and sparkly (Edward Cullen style). I’m sure Evie would agree that she’d rather the blood suckers at least be pleasant to look at.
Welcome the creepy stalker ex-boyfriend, Reth, who sneaks into her room at night and wants to fill her with glowing liquid. Now doesn’t that sound charming? He is also known to throw the guy she truly loves up against the wall a few times, but who wouldn’t want to be manipulated and man-handled by a faerie!? I sure wouldn’t and neither does Evie. I hope you women out there agree that Reth better shape up if he wants any cooperation from Evie. He also needs to give her a little privacy; the fact that he can pop up just about anywhere is more than a little disturbing. Locking your door will serve as no obstacle against him. Throughout this novel all I could think about Reth was “What are his motives?” and “Why the heck is he such a determined little creep!?”
And like any good book, the deprived heroine gets to do normal girly stuff that she’d always dreamed of, like going to Prom and being able to see a real-life locker and high school… that’s one very deprived heroine! Sadly for her it isn’t as scandalous and drama-filled as Easton Heights, her favorite show that she debates with her fishy-best friend, Lish, about which character is going to end up kissing who! And we all know that they always end up kissing someone that’s either A.) Not their boyfriend/girlfriend B.) Their boyfriend/girlfriend’s best friend in the whole entire world or C.) Their boyfriend/girlfriend’s arch-enemy. And sometimes they just end up kissing the one they are supposed to, but that’s boring.
Overall this was a fabulous mix of: romance, heroism, girl power, survival, paranormals, death, and stalkers. Please take a look. It’s simple you just open up the cover and sit in a very comfy chair and stay there until you reach the last page (I read it in one sitting…with a few snack breaks and having to take my puppy for a walk), or like many of the technologically-advanced wizards nowadays you can read it on your Kindle (I WANT ONE!).
What will happen for Evie in Kiersten’s next book in the trilogy: Supernaturally? Will Reth creep his way back into Evie’s heart or will Lend prevail and end up being her first kiss? Until next time…let the reading commence!
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