Paranormalcy by Kiersten White (Paranormalcy Series, Book 1)

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Completion Date: May 9, 2011

Reason for Reading: Fun!

Evie’s always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, 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 Evie’s about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

Darla, at Books & Other Thoughts, reviewed this book and said it would like make her list of favourite young adult reads for the year. I was intrigued, so even though I said I wouldn't read anymore new paranormal series I requested it from the library. I am getting very tired of the 'same ole same' in books, so I was hoping for a fresh perspective on a popular sub-genre. I mostly received that with this book. It wasn't perfect, and I had a few minor problems with it, but overall it wasn't that bad. I didn't love it, but I did really like it.

First up, I have to talk about something entirely random. What is with the popularity of the name Evie and other similar names? This book had Evie. Then, I read The Beauty Chorus and there was another Evie. Then, last night I finished The Rose Garden and there was Eva. All three books came out recently and they all choose the same name, or a variation on it, for their main characters. It just seemed rather strange to me, so I had to comment on it. It was particularly noticeable because I read the other two books right after each other.

Okay, back to the book. This is a young adult novel about a teenage girl that always thought she was normal, but just had a strange ability. She has been surrounded with paranormal creatures her entire life, but always thought that they were different from her. The truth is, no one is quite sure what to make of her. She is an entirely new breed of paranormal. When she looks at someone that is paranormal, she can see through their glamours. Vampires may look really young and good-looking, but she sees the rotting corpse underneath. With werewolves it is just seeing their eyes as yellow. As a result of this ability, she has a job hunting down paranormals that are terrorizing the 'normal world'. She is the only one that can see them for what they really are.

She has never been entirely happy, but she thinks that she is where she belongs. Then things begin to change in her world and it makes her question her place in it. She finds that she has a lot of questions about who she is and no one seems able to answering them. When paranormal creatures start being killed in a giant spree, though, she finds that she has a lot more to who she is than she thought. Overall, it made for a page-turning novel and I am curious about what will happen in the next book.

I could speak to my problems with the book, but they are mostly spoiler-type problems. I still recommend reading the series and other people loved it, so it is mainly just me that was not a huge fan.

This book counts for the Once Upon a Time Challenge.

***NOTE*** Short Story Monday got moved this week. I believe we will be back on Wednesday.

Series:

Paranormalcy

Supernaturally (Out later this year.)