Review: Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones

Title: Death and the Girl Next Door
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Darklight, Book 1
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal
Release Date: 2 October 2012

Things get turned upside down for sophomore Lorelei MacAlister when the Angel of Death starts high school in her small town. What she doesn’t know is that she has been slated to die. It’s simply her time. And Death has been sent to do the deed.

But when he touches her, when he peers into her eyes and reaches into her heart, he realizes she is more than what he was led to believe, and he disobeys his orders. He brings her back from the brink of death when he was supposed to push her into it. Because of this, he gets trapped on this plane.

And that’s when all hell breaks loose.

Literally.

This review is a long time in coming, and I'm sorry for that. I'd honestly forgotten that I had it to write; went through a bit of a reviewing hiatus for a while at the end of last year. I'll also apologize because I don't remember most of the specifics about this book - only general feelings now.

Because I have such weird responses to Darynda Jones hit series, Charley Davidson, I thought I'd give something else of hers a try. Everyone (I swear it feels that way) but me is getting on with her style, humor, and books. I've come to the conclusion after this book that she's just not for me.

This is Charley Jr. The snarky, constant, humor is there - just like in Charley; the somewhat campy/mysterious relationships feel like they could come out of the same thing. The paranormal elements even feel the same (though they are, IIRC, slightly different).

I persevered with this book mostly because I wanted to know if she was going to throw in a crappy love-triangle - is that bad of me? - but lo and behold! Ms. Jones didn't!! In fact, the only other character that could have qualified seems to be interested in the MC's best girlfriend - that's right she has a friend that's a GIRL and she doesn't constantly berate/snark about her.

Honestly, the above is a huge plus for me, and made me consider reading forward to see if something different came up for the characters and their development. I feel like I have a better chance of that happening in this series because it's only a trilogy, I think, instead of the never-ending saga that is Charley Davidson.

I can't honestly recommend this, but I think that's more a case of me and my issues with Darynda Jones writing. If you loved the Charley Davidson series, it's highly likely that you're going to like this as well. Conversely the same is true if you disliked Charley...

Grade: C-

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