So much for praise

*THIS IS POST NUMBER 2 OF THE CONTEST. DUE TO A BLOGGER MALFUNCTION, THE CONTEST HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO 10PM PST TODAY*



Paranormalcy
By: Kiersten White

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie’s always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, 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 still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal.

-Summary from Goodreads

The hardest part of being a book reviewer is to review a book that you didn't like, written by an author you love. And I'm not trying to be mean, I don't want to be mean. But I will be honest.

*Disclaimer: An author is NOT he/her's book. I absolutely love Kiersten White as a person. She is funny and awesome, but that, sadly, does not make me like the book. Also, this is entirely my opinion. The majority of readers thoroughly enjoyed this book. Therefore, because I am part of the minority, please do not judge this book based solely on my review.*

As you can already tell, this won't be a positive review. So many people gushed about this book that it had been at the top of my TBR pile for months and months. Finally, I got a chance to get it, and on a whim I bought both Paranormalcy AND Supernaturally.

Not the best idea.

Paranormalcy was just not my cup of tea. I had high expectations for it based on the hype it was receiving and the author's creativeness, but this book just made me want to throw it at someone. Never good. Evie's voice was irritating. A lot of times she just sounds plain immature, and I'd be thinking, "She's sixteen?" Also, there were a lot of out-of-norm word choices that jumped out at me and gave me a major headache. There were a lot of "I'd probably better go...." Probably better? Seriously? This phrase was used so much that I cringed every time I saw it. At first I had resisted the urge to shut the book by telling myself that it was just Evie's immature voice. But, no. Turns out Lend says it, too. I just couldn't stand it. Also, there were a lot of sentences starting with "Still, I----" And while still can--should--be used, overusing it in a TEEN dialogue is just unbearable. I had to practically drag myself through the book because I had already bought it. It would have been much more comforting if the sentence structure had been switched up from time to time to "I still----".

You might think I'm just over thinking the small stuff. But while there were small, irritating spots, there were also problems I definitely had with the overall "whatever, o-kay? Puh-leese" type of voice. There were major overall arc problems that I found very unbelievable. Evie and Lend basically are instantly in love. Maybe as friends at first, but it didn't take very long for that to transition into something more. And it was so unbelievable. Trust me, I love Lend. He's so sweet, I think he's the only reason I survived through the book. But... Evie and Lend are basically only together because: 1) Evie thinks Lend is hot, 2) Lend thinks Evie is hot, 3) They both are humans with a special skill, 4) Neither had been in a relationship before. Goodness sakes, and not to mention the side characters that were very two-dimensional, the people who get mentioned once and never mentioned again, some scenes that were completely unnecessary and dragged on the plot...

It saddens me that this particular review would be the one for the contest, but please do remember my disclaimer. On a brighter note, the cover is gorgeous! And 99.9% of the book's readers like it! Congrats, Kiersten! Also, this book had some funny dialogue lines, which definitely make great quotes.

Do try this book, because it could very well be a different experience for you. And keep guessing, everyone!