Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
borrowed from library
Description from Goodreads:
Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is 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
My thoughts:
There has been a lot of hype around this book. I've had it on my YA to be read list for a while and I finally got around to reading it this weekend. As with many YA books, it is a fast read. Personally, I like a fast read every once in a while.
The main character is Evie and she is cute, smart and funny. She also has the unique ability to be able to see through all the glamours of paranormals. This makes her extremely useful for the International Paranormal Containment Agency. Evie has grown up within the IPCA and this life is all she has known even though she wants to go to high school and have a (somewhat) normal life. She thinks she understands what the IPCA is about and why she works for them. Things are called into question when a shapeshifter appears in the agency and events cause Evie to begin questioning what she has always accepted as the truth. I was happy to see that Evie is able to learn from her mistakes and takes her friendships seriously. When Evie is presented with the opportunity to attend a high school for a day, she is downright giddy with the lockers, classes, the students, etc. It was quite amusing and endearing.
I thought the way Evie's perceptions of the various paranormals is called into question and how she manages to start changing how she thinks about them is well done. Since this is the first book in a series, I am hoping that exactly what Evie is and her role will be explained in the next books. The story is interesting enough and Evie is a charming enough main character that I will read the next book. I am curious to find out where White is going with the plot line as well as what she plans to do with the paranormals.
This book is pretty tame regarding boy/girl relationships and language and I would have no problem with my daughters reading it. In fact, one of the funny and endearing things is the way curse words are replaced by "bleep" and why. It is quite cute.
