Review: Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones

Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones
Publisher: St.Martins Press
Release Date: October 2, 2012
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Darynda Jones, author of The New York Times bestselling series that began with First Grave on the Right, brings us Death and the Girl Next Door, a thrilling Young Adult novel garnering high praise and early buzz from major authors

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?  Thrilling, sassy, sexy, and inventive, Darynda Jones's first foray into the world of teens will leave readers eager for the next installment.

My Thoughts:
This book in my opinion is pure fluff.  I can't think of any other way to describe it, it is just fluff.  The plot took a major backseat to the insta lurve between Lorelei and Jared.  I am all for romance in a book, but when you have demons, reapers, angels, and prophets I expect way more than a story filled with "oh he is hawt" and "I want to kiss him".

Lorelei, after surviving a near death experience gets caught up in a battle between Jared, the guy she thinks saved her, and Cameron, the guy beating Jared up for being something that surely nobody can be.  After finding out the who's who game Lorelei decides to side with Jared and figure out exactly what all this prophet stuff is about.   Joined by her friends she discovers that things in her town are not what they seem and the guy she is falling for could very well bring death upon everybody.  That is in a sense what this book is about.  There are a few twists and turns along the way and something way more sinister working among them but if I reveal that then there won't be any point to reading the book so I am just going to leave it at that.

Honestly the plot of the story is kinda brilliant, but I don't know if I can read 200 pages of nothing just to enjoy 50 pages of brilliance.  The story was so slow and fluffy until the middle of the book where we finally get a glimpse of the hidden plot.  All to soon though we are thrown back into sarcasm, mind numbing jokes, and that all too familiar inst love.  The last 10 pages finally FINALLY showed me what this book is really about and loved those last 10 pages.  The plot jumped out and took hold for the ending and I am a little mad about that.  I wanted the whole book to be this way.  I didn't want to read Lorelei's internal monologue questioning if she was worthy enough for Jared, I wanted to read about the kick arse demons!

So if the next book has more demons and dark I will probably read it but if it continues on being fluff I am going to have to say bye bye to Lorelei and company and hope they all get their HEAs even though I have no idea how that will be possible.

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2.5 Snowflakes