Review of "Paranormalcy" by Kiersten White

 Finally I got my hands on a copy of this. And I'll say it, I rather like the cover thank you very much.

Disclaimer: This book has been borrowed by the reviewer (me!) from her local library system. No money or incentive was given in exchange for a positive review.

Type: Young Adult, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Faeries, Shifters, Government organizations, Elementals, Wanting to be Normal, Lockers

Why this book?: Obviously I love young adult fiction. I also love a good paranormal story. I kept seeing reviews of this book, and I know I wanted to read it.

About the book: Evie works for IPCA, bagging and tagging paranormal creatures. See, Evie can see past glamours; seeing the corpse beneath a vampire's smooth skin, or the wolf eyes beneath a werewolf's human face. But other than that, Evie is perfectly normal, or so she thought. After a particularly eventful day at the IPCA center, Evie discovers a strange creature wearing her boss' skin. This creature turns out to be a boy, near her age, named Lend. As the two begin to spend time together, Evie realizes her feelings for Lend have grown beyond friendship. But how can she even try to have a normal relationship when she is beginning to realize she is more paranormal than she thought...

So.. the cover, and every synopsis of this book I read, made the story seem a lot darker than it came across. Yes, there are some heavy moments, some dark and daunting trials Evie must deal with. But at the same time, there are just as many, probably more, times when all that darkness is brightened up by Evie's bouncy personality, and the absolutely adorable relationship that is growing between her and Lend. Instead of some dark, haunting tale, I would say "Paranormalcy" is more a tale of an abnormal girl wanting a normal life and relationships more than anything else. Reading about Evie's life in the Center was almost depressing, so you feel for her character - you want her to be able to get out and experience the real world.

I really enjoyed the world this story was set in. The creatures were fascinating, and the way the different government systems dealt with these creatures was equally so. And even better, there are private groups working within and even against these government organizations, trying to make life safer for not just humans, but the paranormals too - giving them a real life instead of practical forces slavery and obediance under IPCA. I especially enjoyed the role of the faeries not as some elegant, perfect being... but as the tricksters they are. They're not necessarily evil, not necessarily good.. just "other."

I did wish for a little more description during the action scenes. I think I wanted them to pack a little more punch - the real, normal life scenes had so much bop and vitality to them, I would have liked to see an equal yet opposite amount in regards to the big action sequences. And I can definitely say I prefered Lend's character more when he was a prisoner in the Center, as opposed to him in his regular life. In the Center, Lend seemed to know what he was doing. He was a strong, mysterious, interesting character, but he lost a little of that glamor when he and Evie left. However, in the end, I still enjoyed them both, and I look forward to seeing more of them in the next installment in this series - Supernaturally, which is supposed to come out fall of 2011. Can I wait that long? We'll see.

So, in conclusion, I'm going to give "Paranormalcy" by Kiersten White a FOUR out of FIVE (4/5). I had a friend coming over, and I risked not having enough time to clean because I wanted to continue reading. Despite this book not being what I originally expected it to be, I was more than pleasantly surprised. I highly suggest checking out her blog ( kierstenwrites.blogspot.com ), as she seems to be quite hilarious.. or maybe just overly caffeinated. This is definitely a book I'm planning on picking up - and oh look! There's such a good price on Amazon.com!

Have you read "Paranormalcy"? Share your thoughts in the comments! Want to read it? Find it at Amazon.com  via the link at the left.

Happy Reading! I'll be back tomorrow with a slightly wimpy version of "Whatcha Got Wednesday."
~!~ Amanda, aka Morning Glow ~!~