Review: Death and the Girl Next Door

Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones
Release Date: October 2, 2012
Review Copy: From Netgalley.

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Summary:

Darynda Jones, author of The New York Times bestselling series that began with First Grave on the Right, brings us Death and the Girl Next Door, a thrilling Young Adult novel garnering high praise and early buzz from major authors

Ten years ago, Lorelei's parents disappeared without a trace. Raised by her grandparents and leaning on the support of her best friends, Lorelei is finally beginning to accept the fact that her parents are never coming home. For Lorelei, life goes on.

High school is not quite as painful as she thinks it will be, and things are as normal as they can be. Until the day the school's designated loner, Cameron Lusk, begins to stalk her, turning up where she least expects it, standing outside her house in the dark, night after night. Things get even more complicated when a new guy—terrifying, tough, sexy Jared Kovach—comes to school. Cameron and Jared instantly despise each other and Lorelei seems to be the reason for their animosity. What does Jared know about her parents? Why does Cameron tell Jared he can't have Lorelei? And what will any of them do when Death comes knocking for real? Thrilling, sassy, sexy, and inventive, Darynda Jones's first foray into the world of teens will leave readers eager for the next installment.

♥ ♥ ♥

Team Cameron FTW!

…I love this book. Like loved it to the point where I need to take it and draw pink fluffy hearts around it for all time. The book starts off with Lorelei, Brooke, and Gidget, yes I call him that even though it’s only his nickname, hanging out at one of their local haunts and right off the bat, we’re pretty much thrown into the story, which I absolutely love Daryda Jones for. I am probably one of the most impatient people in the world, so reading a dozen chapters before getting to the action or the point annoys me. It’s like dude, take me and toss me into your world and make me love you and that’s exactly what Jones did.

Within the first chapter we learn that Lorelei’s parents mysteriously disappeared ten years ago and she has visions. VISIONS. How cool is that? While I love my vampires and witches, don’t get me wrong people they are the best, it is so incredibly refreshing to see a paranormal novel about something else! And in the words of Buffy, boy howdy, this freaking awesome. Archangels, Prophits, and Nephilim oh my!



The best part about this book though aside from the storyline, which I thought was well put together, is the characters. There is not one character in this book that I dislike, though Tabitha tweaked me a bit. Which, is normal since I like Lorelei and Brooke. Let’s put aside the hot guys for a second, believe me I’ll come back to that, and focus on my favorite relationship in the book, Lorelei and Brooke. They totally and completely remind me of me and my best friend.

I’m convinced Jones took these two in charge, snarky, fantabulous females and slapped them together for my enjoyment. I love snark. I’m a big believe that it’s the best thing in the world, so their dialogue is easy the best part of this book. It’s like I hopped into an old school episode of Gilmore Girls, before April Nardini came in and sucked the life out of the show. It’s brilliant and the way Jones writes them, the connection they share is clear as day. They’re really there for each other no matter what.

Coughs. Now onto the boys. I adore them both, because they are actually more alike than either one of them want to admit and seeing two grown men, two very hot and very strong grown men act like five-year-olds amuses me. Especially since Lorelei and Brooke always have to break up their fights. I can’t tell you how many times this book made me snicker, and my Mother mocks me when I laugh at books so you know it’s serious if I laughed out loud.

While I love Lorelei and Jared or Azreal, whatever works for you, I think I love Cameron and Brooke just as much. Poor Cameron I just want to hug his stupid, brooding, stubborn ass. I feel so bad about his Mom and there were a few times where I wanted to yell at Lorelei and be like hello, he’s protecting you jeez be nice to the guy, haha. But I digress. I would love to see Cameron and Brooke’s relationship grow.

I totally think Jones should explore that right along with Lorelei and Jared, mostly because she made me fall in love with both couples and I desperately need to know what happens.

That being said, yay for romance and friendship and family. Ready for the twist? It was like the best twist ever and I have seen some twists. I’m not going to tell you what it is because I think you should buy this book and read it and hug it and love it as much as me, haha but I will say I didn’t see it coming and it leaves the first book off at a perfect point to start the next one. All in all I was incredibly impressed with not only the plot for this story, but the way it was written. Jones has an amazing grasp of her characters and she brings us into their lives in almost a natural way.

Her writing isn’t forced or too detailed or not detailed enough. It’s literally perfect. I mentioned the part where I want to draw pink fluffy hearts around this book right? I highly recommend this book for people who like the show Supernatural or who just like a really great paranormal read. Also I’m putting in my request for my very own Archangel and Nephilim so I can watch them fight half naked for fun. Someone get on that.