Supernaturally by Kiersten White and a GIVEAWAY

     Supernaturally by Kiersten White

     July 26th 2011 by HarperTeen

     More at:
     Goodreads
     Website

     From Goodreads: Evie finally has the normal life she’s
     always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that      being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.

So much for normal.

If you haven't read Paranormalcy, the first book in the series, stop NOW and go and do so or you will be the most ungrateful wicked person and the angels will weep for you.

You would think that after single-handedly saving the paranormal world from destruction everything else would pretty much be cake. For Evie, life hasn't exactly been normal. Nowhere near normal- not even in the same dimension as normal (the world of the fae can really suck you in). So when she left her job at the International Paranormal Containment Agency to try her hand at "normal" life, high school sounded like a welcome retreat. Who knows, it might have been if it wasn't for the fae suspiciously lurking about and a freaky human boy with the ability to create faery pathways randomly popping up in the girls locker room. The IPCA desperately needs Evie's help and with the increase in local paranormal activity she couldn't help but agree. Now she's juggling fighting evil, her after school waitress job, her full time relationship with Lend oh and constantly trying to suppress the urge to suck out the occasional paranormal soul, and it's still impossible to weasel out of gym class?? Bleep.

First, how awesome is Evie? I mean seriously? How many times have you thrown up your hands and begged the YA gods to give you a strong, competent, kick-ass, "Homey don't play that", can-and-will-take-on-the-whole-bleeping-world, lead female character? So many appear that way at first but then you get to a point in the book or the series where for some stupid reason the author decides that her character needs to be "saved". Not our Evie. She gets helped along the way, sure, but you never once forget just who is in charge. She can kick anything's ass and is still smart enough to know that even she is no match for the power of shoes. That's my girl.

As a sequel, Supernaturally is a very good extension of the story. I liked that she didn't leave the first book behind, and there were no drastic changes in storyline or in Evie's world. It was a nice continuation of the original story, and you weren't beat down with recaps meant to bring you up to speed if you hadn't read or have forgotten what happened in the last book (I hate when sequels do that).

Evie goes back to work for Raquel at the IPCA, thank goodness. I don't know if I would have liked it as much if the story was just about a paranormal girl trying to make it in a normal world (boring). Evie's "bag and tag" assignments with the IPCA are what's fun and what I wanted more of in the sequel. Thankfully, White delivered. It's really interesting how her relationship with Lend is playing out. He's such a nice guy and you know as well as I do that there aren't that many of those, especially in YA.

A large chunk of Evie's time is spent either in the faery realms or in the passages between them. Jack is a human boy, who having been raised by faeries, has learned the secret of opening their doorways. Raquel has sent Jack to drive Evie around so to speak, making it quicker for her to get to her assignments. He also makes it quicker for her to get into trouble- a whole other world of it. You'll like Jack- even when you don't like him.

We get a lot of questions answered in this book, but only enough that I'm already itching for the third book. Exactly who and what is Evie, and what, if any, are the extents of her powers?

Oh....and.....maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm just sick and twisted. Maybe I just have a thing for bad boys. But I'll say this and you can grab your pitchforks and come after me if you must: Team Reth.

     After a frustrating half hour, I finally caught sight of the glamoured corpse head in the middle of a crowd waiting for the Ferris wheel. He had his arm around a pretty young thing in an incredibly weather-inappropriate outfit that showed off her very slender, very blood-filled neck. She stared at him in that vapid, intoxicated way employed only by women under a vamp's control. Or the way I sometimes got when faced with cupcakes.
     Mmm. Cupcakes.

Want my ARC? You can have it!

In the story, Evie jokingly mentions that only a faerie apocalypse could keep her from doing something. Now we all FEAR THE FORTHCOMING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (the end is nigh) but just what would the Faerie Apocalypse entail?

Use this handy-dandy form to tell me: FILL OUT THE FORM

Open to peeps 13 or older, living in the US of A or Canada. Ends August 9th at midnight CST. You don't have to be a blogger or a follower but you do have to answer the question. I'll randomly select a winner but you still have to describe the end of the world, faerie style.


*Quote taken from an ARC of Supernaturally and may differ in the finished copy.