Paranormalcy: A review

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.

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
borrowed from library
Summary from Goodreads:
Could you survive on your own, in the wild, with every one out to make sure you don't live to see the morning?

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before—and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that will weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

My thoughts:
This book was a very pleasant surprise. Not the subject, mind you, but the book.  The Hunger Games is set in a dystopian world called Panem and the children must enter a lottery to be part of the Hunger Games -- a fight to the death between the chosen boy and girl from each district. Katniss is the heroine of the books and she is a strong, independent girl trying to take care of her family when she volunteers to take her sister's place in the Hunger Games. Peeta is the boy chosen from her district to be part of the games. Will they work together to survive or each go their own way? Gale is Katniss' lifelong friend - and maybe something more - who is left back home when she goes off to the games.  Suzanne Collins has written a wonderful story that really pulls you into the world. There is quite a bit of violence in the book --kids fighting to the death and all. But it does make the reader think about this world and what could have caused things to go so horribly wrong.  I highly recommend this book.

You can also read my review of The Hunger Games at my main book blog ABookGeek.

The second book in the series is Catching Fire.
The third book, Mockingjay, should be released August 24, 2010.

Life As We Knew It

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
book received through a giveaway
Summary from Goodreads:
It's almost the end of Miranda's sophomore year in high school, and her journal reflects the busy life of a typical teenager: conversations with friends, fights with mom, and fervent hopes for a driver's license. When Miranda first begins hearing the reports of a meteor on a collision course with the moon, it hardly seems worth a mention in her diary. But after the meteor hits, pushing the moon off its axis and causing worldwide earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes, all the things Miranda used to take for granted begin to disappear. Food and gas shortages, along with extreme weather changes, come to her small Pennsylvania town; and Miranda's voice is by turns petulant, angry, and finally resigned, as her family is forced to make tough choices while they consider their increasingly limited options. Yet even as suspicious neighbors stockpile food in anticipation of a looming winter without heat or electricity, Miranda knows that that her future is still hers to decide even if life as she knew it is over.

My thoughts:
I thought this book was very easy to read and the story really pulled me in. It is written in diary form so this makes the story flow easily. I had a hard time putting the book down because I wanted to find out what happened next and if they survived.  I found nothing objectionable in the book. This story about a major catastrophe and the possible results will make the reader think about how much we take for granted and what can be necessary for survival in an emergency.

There are two more books in The Last Survivors series: The Dead and the Gone  and This World We Live In.




I haven't read the second or third book yet, but they are on my TBR list.
You can also read my review of this book at my main book blog  ABookGeek.