Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones

Death and the Girl Next Door (Darklight, #1)

by Darynda Jones

Ten years ago, Lorelei's parents disappeared without a trace.  Raised by her grandparents and leaning on the support of her best friends, Lorelei is finally beginning to accept the fact that her parents are never coming home.  For Lorelei, life goes on.

High school is not quite as painful as she thinks it will be, and things are as normal as they can be.  Until the day the school's designated loner, Cameron Lusk, begins to stalk her, turning up where she least expects it,  standing outside her house in the dark, night after night.  Things get even more complicated when a new guy—terrifying, tough, sexy Jared Kovach—comes to school.  Cameron and Jared instantly despise each other and Lorelei seems to be the reason for their animosity.  What does Jared know about her parents?  Why does Cameron tell Jared he can't have Lorelei?  And what will any of them do when Death comes knocking for real? 

Reviewed by Melanie on

3 of 5 stars

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Listening to audiobook.

I love this narrator and author. Let's see how I handle them in YA.

This book was cute. I'm not a huge fan of YA, but I really liked this author and narrator. The first thing that took me a while to get over was that I kept associating the voices to the voices from Charley Davidson. For example, this new boy in school named Jared uses the same voice as Reyes. Glitch, the main character's best friend, his voice is a lot like Uncle Bob's. In my mind, I kept wanting to put the characters in the wrong place.

The story starts off a little slow. It takes a long time to figure out who is what. Everything is explained, but not until the very end.

The jokes were cute, but they weren't the LOL funny of the adult series, but then this does not surprise me. I think the author did a great job of staying funny while staying in the YA appropriateness (I can't believe I just spelled this word correctly the first time. I wasn't even sure it was a word.). It is great if you want some light reading while still getting some humor. Definitely funnier than most YA books.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 22 July, 2013: Finished reading
  • 22 July, 2013: Reviewed