Once Dead, Twice Shy

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.

from harpercollins.com

Beth says 4 stars...

This book was really cute. The concept was interesting, once I finally was able to figure it out. That was my issue with the book. Things didn't really move along very fast. It took too long to figure out what was going on, and why things were the way they were. Also, some of the characters didn't really get developed. They remained rather flat. Despite these failings, the book managed to be tons of fun to read. I loved the originality of the ideas; I hadn't ever read anything that felt the same. Although I love faerie and vampire books, this was a very nice change of pace. This book is fairly short, and I finished it in a couple of hours. This is a great little paranormal read for the summer. Although it deals with some weighty matters, don't really expect a great deal of philosophical thought. The book leaves at a good place for a sequel to pick up, but who knows. Perhaps that would solve the problem of the underdeveloped characters.

Nathan says 4 stars...

I really liked this one. It was original and pretty fascinating. I found it to be pretty quickly paced, but it did have some awkward lulls. The writing is very nice. Nice vocabulary and good structure, make it easy, but interesting to read. I do have to say that I was really disappointed with some of character development, or lack thereof. I occasionally wanted to throttle Madison, but I generally forgave her. I like the supporting cast, particularly Grace-hilarious. It is pretty light, but watch out for sudden moral heaviness near the end. I mean stuff philosophers have dealt with since there was philosophy;however, the audience making a choice isn't requirement, so it can remain airy. I would like to say that the cover of this book is much "girlier" than its actual contents, so guys, don't be frightened of the fuchsia. Overall, it's a nice preternatural summer read.