Once Dead, Twice Shy By Kim Harrison

"My name is Madison Avery, and I’m here to tell you that there’s more out there than you can see, hear, or touch. Because I’m there. Seeing it. Touching it. Living it.

Madison’s prom was killer—literally. For some reason she’s been targeted by a dark reaper—yeah, that kind of reaper—intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away.

Now she’s stuck on Earth—dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to toe the line between life and death. She still doesn’t know why the dark reaper is after her, but she’s not about to just sit around and let fate take its course.

With a little ingenuity, some light-bending, and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys! Maybe . . . ), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison’s ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all, before it takes control of her.

Well, if she believed in that stuff."

Overall: 3.5/5

I've never read Kim Harrison before, but I've heard good things about her books and I love her choice of genre. So of course when I hear that Harrison is writing a YA book, I'm pretty excited. I read the short story that she did in Prom Nights From Hell so I at least had the background for the story (I definitely reccomend that you read the short story before the book. It doesn't clearly state in the book that there is a back-story, but other reviewers who figured it out the hard way were nice enough to share the little hint with the rest of us. It made the story much less confusing).

I was a little discouraged when The Story Siren, who I trust for almost all things YA, gave the book only 2 stars out of five. I was also a little hesitant when I saw the book had only 232 pages (I usually don't pick up anything under 300 pages just because, anything less and I feel like you don't get to know the characters well enough before the story is finished).

Fortunately, I decided to read it anyway. It surpassed my expectations-which, granted, weren't terribly high-and turned out to be a very well-thought and action-packed story. Still not quite as good as I would have thought from such a highly-acclaimed author, but worth the read.

Characters: 3/5

Plot: 5/5

Writing: 3.5/5

Ending: 4/5

Cover: 5/5