Review: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Body Finder
Author: Kimberly Derting
Pages: 329
Publisher: HarperTeen
Series: The Body Finder #1
Released: March 16, 2010
First Line: "Violet Ambrose wandered away from the safety of her father as she listened to the harmony of sounds weaving delicately around her."
From Goodreads: "Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself."

My Thoughts:

 I was so excited to read The Body Finder, but I'm sad to say that I was disappointed with this book. I was hoping for so much more, but this book didn't meet the high-expectations I'd set after seeing the great rating on Goodreads and all of the raving reviews. I guess this is one of those books that is over-rated.

I was drawn to this book by its title: The Body Finder. Sounds creepy and interesting, right? The idea of a psychic girl who senses dead bodies sounded really cool. The story starts out strong with an attention-grabbing scene of an 8 year-old Violet discovering a body in the woods. But unfortunately the story was lacking and by the end of the book I found myself skimming. There wasn't a whole lot of body-finding going on as much as there was boy-pining.

There was just too much romance in my opinion--it took over the story. Violet pines for her best friend Jay, who she suddenly discovers she has feelings for. What really irritated me about this romance is that she developed romantic feelings for him because he had 'developed into a man' and now he was 'hot' and she and every other girl in the book were now taking notice. Come on. Why couldn't she have fallen for him because he was an awesome guy? I know she liked him in part because he was nice, but the author talked about Jay's physical attractiveness sooo much that that got overshadowed and Violet began to feel shallow to me.

The romance just didn't work for me. Which sucks because it took up 2/3 of the story. I think the reason why was because of the characters. They were all underdeveloped and forgettable, and I didn't feel attached to them. Jay was nice but boring. Violet was alright, but Jay was always saving her which got annoying fast because, #1 Why couldn't she save herself for a change? and #2 Every time Violet got into a bad situation it became predictable that Jay was going to save her which killed the suspense.

But what irked me the most was the first kiss scene where the author switched back and forth between the killer's POV and Violet's and wrote it in a way that made it seem that Jay was the killer. And Violet was kissing him. I was so confused that I didn't even care that they had finally kissed. I didn't figure out Jay wasn't the killer until the next page, but by then I was irritated with the author and had totally given up on the romance.

It is true that a romance either works well or falls flat, and unfortunately in this case it was the latter for me.

Recommendations:

Overall, the book was just meh for me though there were some scenes that kept me on edge. The writing was average and could use more strengthening, and the initial concept was great but for me failed in execution. I don't think that I would recommend this book to a friend, and I won't be reading the sequels. Borrow it from the library if you have to read it.

My Rating: 

Writing: 3/5
Characters: 2/5
Plot: 2/5
Creativity/Originality: 4/5 (for initial idea)
Kept me interested: 2/5

Review: Until I Die by Amy Plum

Title: Until I Die

Author: Amy Plum

Pages: 357

Publisher: HarperCollins

Series: Revenants #2

Released: May 8, 2012

First Line: "I leapt, drawing my feet up beneath me, as the seven-foot quarterstaff smashed into the flagstones where I had been standing a half second before."

From Goodreads: "Kate and Vincent have overcome the odds and at last they are together in Paris, the city of lights and love.

As their romance deepens there’s one question they can’t ignore: How are they supposed to be together if Vincent can’t resist sacrificing himself to save others? Although Vincent promises that he’ll do whatever it takes to lead a normal life with Kate, will that mean letting innocent people die? When a new and surprising enemy reveals itself, Kate realizes that even more may be at stake—and that Vincent’s immortality is in jeopardy.

In Die for Me, Amy Plum created a captivating paranormal mythology with immortal revenants and a lush Paris setting. Until I Die is poised to thrill readers with more heart-pounding suspense, spellbinding romance, and a cliff-hanger ending that will leave them desperate for the third and final novel in the series."

My Thoughts:

 I'm not going to lie, I was a little disappointed with this book. I still really enjoyed it and the idea of the revenants is awesome, but I think that Die For Me was definitely better, and I felt that Until I Die was missing something.

In a lot of YA romances, the second book is typically where the main love interests are torn apart, broken up, etc. and the plot revolves around them trying to get back together. Thank goodness Amy Plum avoids this cliche! Instead, she spends the book developing Kate and Vincent's relationship. Yes, they do have issues, mainly how they're going to make their relationship work when she is a human and he is a revenant, but they actively search for ways to make it work instead of breaking it off. There is plenty of romance in this book with several "awww" moments, and the Paris setting makes it all the more romantic.

However, I wish there would have been more action. I'm a hopeless romantic and I'm all for romance, but I need some action too! Die For Me had memorable scenes that stuck with me--Jules leaping in front of the subway, Charles diving into the river, Vincent saving Kate in the cafe, Kate discovering Vincent's body--but Until I Die was lacking these. The plot's main focus was on Kate and Vincent finding a way to make their relationship work. With the way Die For Me ended, I had been expecting more action and conflict and fighting between the revenants and the numa. But the numa don't show up until half way through, and their appearances are brief. But when they do show up they sure make things interesting! I wish Amy Plum had added more of that into the plot.

I have the unfortunate talent of being able to predict where a story is headed. I saw the plot twist in this book coming really early on, and I don't know if it was because it was poorly done or because I'm good at predicting things. (Honestly I thought it was a little obvious). Either way, the twist in this book failed to surprise me. This made it somewhat boring for me at times because I knew what was coming while I was reading, but I don't think everyone will be able to predict it, I'm just weird haha :P

One of my favorite parts about Until I Die was the characters. I especially love Jules and Georgia, and Kate is a great heroine. I liked how she took matters into her own hands and is active in the story instead of sitting by--she takes defense lessons from Gaspard and searches on her own for a way to help her and Vincent. Vincent is sweet and a gentleman, but I would like to see him developed a bit more.

Recommendations:

 Overall, this book kept my attention and I devoured it in a few days. And with that intense cliff-hanger ending I wish I could get a hold of the next book right now! I would recommend this book to fans of Die For Me, and to lovers of paranormal romance. The whole idea of the revenants is really cool, and is what really drew me into the story. I can't wait for the last book!

My Rating:

Writing: 3/5

Characters: 4/5

Plot: 4/5

Creativity/Originality: 5/5

Kept me interested: 5/5