Paranormalcy by Kiersten white
The wit and the humor of Kiesten White, really keeps this afloat. Even though the story is relatively predictable, there are two large twists that happen mid-way along the in the story. What I really enjoyed about this story was the humor, as I said it kept it afloat but it is a very specific type of humor, and if you don't share that humor, very dry and sarcastic the book would become less enjoyable. One thing that was glaringly frustrating to me, was Evie's obsession with Pink, and being overly girl. To me it came across that Evie couldn't possibly be a strong female character without enjoying pink, it made her overly girly and it was completely unnecessary, it didn't add to the characterisation of Evie I'd even go so far to say that it was actually detrimental to her characterisation. But there are many saving graces to this story. The lore behind each of the supernatural characters was very well researched, which is always appreciated because nothing will stand out more to supernatural readers, than incompletely formed lore, or characters that follow the existing lore incorrectly, it really is one or the other with us, and I was honestly impressed with the imagination and use of lore by White. What I would liken this too is the SyFy TV show, Sanctuary with an evil twist, the only thing it is really lacking is Samantha Carter (with an English accent).
Embrace by Jessica Shirvington
Think Mortal Instruments, but less Harry Potter esqu. When reading the Mortal Instruments series, because of the authors history writing Harry Potter Fanfiction the way it is written reminds me constantly of Harry Potter, but to be honest I loved Harry Potter, so I always enjoyed that from Cassandra Clare. And Back to the topic, Embrace is great. Lots of action and mythology, and the eternal struggle of Good and Evil, with the popular theme of a young girl trying to decide whose side she is really on. What I really enjoyed was Violet, I find that when I read a book it is really the character that makes or breaks it for me, (even just last week I gave up on a book because I hated the main character) and Violet who is a non-bella, (major plus) but also questions everyone around her and everything. Sure there were moments where I thought the character was being daft, BUT I made my normal mistake of reading the ending before I finished the book, so I kind of knew the ending whilst reading it. For Shirvington the best decision she could have made was to keep Violet indignant, angry and upset, which leads her to make some not so great decisions, but the trade off is that she is a very real character which girls will connect with.
So I liked Embrace and connected with the characters and REALLY like the twist at the end, (there may have been a vocal expression at the reveal). Embrace is Definitely worth a read.
So to wrap it up! If you want humor read Paranormalacy, if you want realism tempered with the supernatural than read Embrace.
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