
Author: Kiersten White
Publication Date: 7/26/11
Publisher: HarperTeen
Blurb (GR): Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees. But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.
So much for normal.
Review:
Hello, and welcome to Irrelevant Book Cover Redo, Part Deux! (Part Un was my Paranormalcy review) In this second installment of the Paranormalcy series, Kiersten White picks back up with Evie and the gang after the gaggle of events that occurred at the end of book one. Look at the cover. Okay, now read this the following paragraph where I set up the plot for you…
Evie is living out in the real world after Lend’s father falsifies papers for her. She is living the dream—er, well her dream, to attend a real high school while her boyfriend is away at college. But things are not fine and dandy in the paranormal world (are they ever?) and there is an unexplained influx of paranormals in town, some of the elementals are disappearing, Evie’s sister is appearing in her dreams, and a weird boy who can navigate the Faerie Paths shows up out of seemingly nowhere. What’s a girl to do?
Alright, so it makes perfect sense to have a girl in a red dress prancing in some poppies (or daisies), right? NOT. To the left, you'll see my cover redo of questionable quality.
I mean, right? I didn’t even include everything! (in answers to your already budding questions: the guy is doing a flip off the bed, the gnome is a chef, Evie is wearing her gym suit because she seems to always be in gym class, the cloud is alive, the vampire is on her laptop, and the doorway is open to Faerie) Phew! The plot of this edition is just as fun and full of interesting events as the last one, but I felt like it was not as successfully sewn up. So many storylines and characters are added in and I do not feel like I got to spend enough time with any of them. The Lend/Evie relationship fell flat to me, which was a huge disappointment as I was rooting for them in Paranormalcy. Several of their problems were Evie’s fault (well, all of them) and those of you who are worried about her becoming TSTL—it’s not a complete transition but she certainly makes several ridiculous decisions in this installment. (almost all of them involve not communicating effectively with those she is closest to. Frustration City, population ME.)
My other largest gripe came from Jack’s character. He is the flipping boy in the new cover. He seems to always be effing flipping all over the place and frankly, if I was Evie, I would’ve done a super dramatic eyeroll at him. (at the very least) He was beyond immature, which was weird considering the writing was leading him to be Lend’s competition and Evie’s friends found him attractive. Um, not really. I keep thinking to myself that I might not be the target audience for this book but the thing is—I kind of am. I read buttloads of YA books. Kiersten White impressed me with her sense of humor, fun storyline, and consistent writing in Paranormalcy. She still entertained me in this one but just not to the same extent.
I will definitely continue to read this series. Several new storylines and characters are introduced in this one and the anticipation builds throughout the narrative. I am really excited to see where the plot threads that felt irrelevant to THIS book will lead in the NEXT book—because obviously that is why they are there. A few people have given this 5 stars so maybe you’ll fall on that side. But if any of the same things that bother me irk you, you’ll probably fall with me around 6-7 out of 10.
3/5 stars