Title: PARANORMALCY
Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: August 31, 2010
Number of Pages: 335
How I Got It: Bought the Hardcover
I had heard this debut title many times in the past few months, and then I saw it on a lot of Best I’ve Read lists for 2010, so I finally picked it up to read because I was in the mood for a girly, light-hearted book. PARANORMALCY totally fit what I was looking for. It is a really cute, flirty book about a sassy girl who thinks her life is one way, and finds out it’s not exactly what she thought, all while falling for the new boy in the picture and dealing with paranormal creatures. Although the cover is somewhat dark, the book itself deals with the paranormal in a humorous way with lots of jokes about them, along with the serious plot of what’s happening to Evie.
Evie just wants to be a normal teenager going to school and prom, unfortunately, she isn’t. She works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency because she is special – she is the only human who can see through the “glamours” of paranormal creatures (it has faeries, vampires, werewolves, hags, banshees, trolls, mermaids…any paranormal you can think of) so she is put to work tracking them down. She finds them when they’re causing trouble, verifies that they are paranormal, and then tags them and tells them they have to report to the closest IPCA office. She’s good at her job, although, she doesn’t have a family and she lives in the IPCA headquarters. She has her own area and all-access to the facilities, but her best friend is a mermaid and she never gets to leave without special permission and someone accompanying her. Then the weird dreams start, and the cute boy who is almost invisible breaks in, and her ex-boyfriend faerie won’t leave her alone – and everything changes for Evie and the IPCA.
I really loved how fun this book was. Although it was dealing with a main conflict that was serious, the overall mood of the book was fun. The plot moved the book forward quickly, in fact I read this book in just two days. It was hard to put down because I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. It had a bit of a mystery aspect to it in trying to figure out what Evie’s dreams meant and wondering who was really the good faerie trying to help her or the bad faerie out to get her – if a faerie even can really be good. Now about character: Evie is just a normal teenager with wanting to have her first kiss, go to prom, be at a normal high school, and rebelling in her subtle ways along with all of it; but she also has this crazy paranormal world she’s dealing with and all of the politics that play a part in it – along with struggling with basically being the center of that world because of what she can do. So, there’s a lot of pressure for her, but she handles it all in a kick-butt girl fashion with her sassy humor and flirty ways. However, the way she is written, it’s so easy to relate to her and what she wants and what she’s struggling with. There is a fun romantic plot to this story as well, with a bit of a twist as Evie isn’t sure what her powers might be, if any, and Lend has powers that may be difficult for any girl to deal with. All of the characters are written in a fun, relateable way, and overall, it’s a really cute book that I highly recommend. I’m glad it’s going to be a series as I would love to go back and live in this world and see what happens to Evie next.
4 STARS for PARANORMALCY
I’m glad this is going to be a trilogy series. I’m really looking forward to reading book two, Supernaturally, in September 2011, and untitled book three sometime in 2012 as well!
