ARC YA Review: Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones

Death and the girl next door  (Darklight #1)

by Darynda Jones

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin 

E-book 305 pages

Purchase Links: Amazon Barnes & Noble

 

Goodreads

 

Blurb:

Darynda Jones, author of The New York Times bestselling series that began with First Grave on the Right, brings us Death and the Girl Next Door, a thrilling Young Adult novel garnering high praise and early buzz from major authors

Ten years ago, Lorelei's parents disappeared without a trace.  Raised by her grandparents and leaning on the support of her best friends, Lorelei is finally beginning to accept the fact that her parents are never coming home.  For Lorelei, life goes on.

High school is not quite as painful as she thinks it will be, and things are as normal as they can be.  Until the day the school's designated loner, Cameron Lusk, begins to stalk her, turning up where she least expects it,  standing outside her house in the dark, night after night.  Things get even more complicated when a new guy—terrifying, tough, sexy Jared Kovach—comes to school.  Cameron and Jared instantly despise each other and Lorelei seems to be the reason for their animosity.  What does Jared know about her parents?  Why does Cameron tell Jared he can't have Lorelei?  And what will any of them do when Death comes knocking for real?  Thrilling, sassy, sexy, and inventive, Darynda Jones's first foray into the world of teens will leave readers eager for the next installment.

 

 

Death and The Girl Next Door starts out good but then falls short, then gets good then falls short. It is like this through out the book. It was very hard for me to decide if it is 2 or 3 stars. I went with 3 stars because overall I liked the book more then not.

 

What I did not like and left me confused at times there was too much thrown at you with Angels, Demons, Prophets, Ghost and Nephilim. They are not introduce all at once but through out the book. I just felt like too much was going on with all this and really would of liked maybe a few introduce and then later new things added in other books considering this is book 1 in a series. Because of this it leads to a back story which some are better than others and some drag out the book.

 

There is a lack of romance in this book. It starts off sounding and leading to a love triangle with Cameron and Jared both protecting and fighting over Lorelei, but really it has nothing to do with their feelings towards her. It does for Jared but not for Cameron. His fighting over her, has to do something with Jared and his past. The fighting and snide remarks between Cameron and Jared are some of the best parts I loved in this book. Kudos to Darynda Jones for writing some intense and kick butt fight scenes. I loved all the snide remarks and bickering between Jared and Cameron. There is something that makes him dislike Jared. Darynda Jones does a great job at giving you just a little at time through out the book. Wow was I surprised when I found out.

 

I loved Jared and Lorelei together, but for me Jared did not get my heart pounding or my stomach tingly. I enjoy his character but the writing in the romance department was flat.

 

I was hoping for a love triangle but was okay it did not turn out that way. Somewhere through out the book it seemed like Cameron and Brooklyn might have feelings for each other. It is a hard to tell with their bickering moments. Sometimes they seemed to be flirting with each other. I looked forward to their moments together, never knew what they were going to say to each other.

 

All the characters have the same witty and fun personality that I really enjoyed. Usually I love characters more that have their own personality but Darynda Jones does a great job at keeping their bickering moments fun that it worked for me. Oh my goodness there are definitely some LOL moments when Lorelei, Brooklyn, Glitch, Cameron and Jared are together.

 

I was hoping Death and The Girl Next Door ended in a cliffhanger, where I would be so excited and can not wait for book 2, but did not get that. I will continue this series as I loved the friendship between Lorelei, Brooklyn, Glitch and now the added friendship they have with Cameron and Jared. I hope within the series Cameron and Brooklyn will be a couple and look forward to fun times reading all the characters bickering.

 

ARC provided by NetGalley for an honest review