Review: Paranormalcy

Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Synopsis: 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.

Review: 
*sigh* Where do I even start?? Oh, I know! How about with the fact that I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep, give or take a few minutes, since I stayed up until 3AM finishing this book? I just could. NOT. put. it. down! I'll try to leave you relatively spoiler free in my review but if a few happen to slip out, I apologize in advance.

Evelyn (or, as she's mainly referred to in the book, Evie) is a sixteen year old girl who can see through the glamours of any and all paranormal creatures - vamps, faeries, werewolves, etc. This is such a rare skill - she's the ONLY person who is able to do this - that when she was found by, the now defunct, APCA (American Paranormal Containment Agency) she was the reason for the forming of IPCA (International Paranormal Containment Agency).

She lives in the main IPCA center and when not out performing her normal "bag and tag" (with the help of her trusted pink taser, Tasey) on paranormals, she's daydreaming of being a normal teenage girl; one that has a locker, a driver's license, and yes, parents. See, Evie was found wandering around at three years old and before APCA/IPCA found her (and her skill) when she was eight, she had been passed around from foster home to foster home. At the Center she fills her time with visiting her best friend (who just happens to be a mermaid) Lish, interpreting the Center's head hauncho Raquel's different sighs, trying to avoid he ex-boyfriend (who is also a faerie) Reth, and shopping online.

That all changes one night when there's a situation at the Center and a secretive shape-shifting paranormal, later known as Lend, shows up in Raquel's office (looking exactly like Raquel) rifling through her things. Soon, paranormals start mysteriously dying and no one can figure out who - or what - is causing their untimely ends.

As the novel progresses, the need to find whoever is murdering the paranormals grows more urgent as more and more are showing up dead and as Evie starts dreaming of and hearing haunting lines of a poem she doesn't know, that seem to describe her. This is also a romance so predictably, although most definitely not in a boring way, Lend and Evie's relationship grows from a friendship into something more - but not without some interference from the ever so hot (and really bad tempered) Reth. And that's all I'm going to say about the plot as I don't trust myself not to say something horribly spoilery and ruin it for all of you!

On the character front: I really connected with Evie. She's just one of those characters that you want to hug or have a sleepover with or something - you want to be her best friend. I don't really know how to explain why I had the compassion that I did for her throughout the novel; maybe it's because I can relate to the feeling of not quite fitting in or because she never had a chance at a "normal" life and that made me sad for her. I'm not sure what it was but it pulled on my heartstrings and I loved every minute I "spent" with her in her world.


Finally, if you choose to pick up this book, be prepared to laugh out loud, tear up a bit (or even cry), fall in love and enjoy the crazy ride Kiersten White has provided. It's a fantastic book and I'm definitely going to pick up the planned sequel that I've read will his shelves next Autumn. :-)

Rating:

5 out of 5 C's!

The end was a bit rushed, in my opinion, and there is a cute little cliff-hanger that makes you long for the next book. However, I fell in love with the characters and the plot was intriguing and kept me on my toes, so it deserves my highest rating!

Favorite Quotes:
He smiled. "Besides, how could I ever be afraid of someone who wears so much pink?" - Lend

"Evelyn, my love. Finally we dance." - Reth

"Bleep stupid bleep bleep faeries and their bleep bleep bleep obsessions. He had better stop bleep bleep bleep the bleep bleep rules or I will bleep bleep bleep the little bleeeeeeep." - Lish

I might not have been dead, but if anything had happened to that dress, someone was going to be. - Evie