Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison

“ 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.” –Book Cover

Madison has never been part of the “cool crew”, purple hair, yellow thighs under a skirt, sneakers and skulls dangling from her ears. But being an outcast sure doesn’t make for a boring life. Madison is dead, sort of. She was killed on her birthday, the night of the prom, and by some trick (taking the form of an amulet) she is now roaming the earth, not quite alive. Like this state wasn’t troublesome enough, her murderer is trying to finish the job and get rid of her for good.

Harrison created a very special world. World ruled by Seraph (higher angels), Dark Reapers (angels reaping soul fated to do wrong) and Light Reapers (angels believing in freewill, trying to save humans from the dark ones). To make things more interesting, you can also find guardian angels in the mix, but also Timekeepers (humans able to bend time and masters of the reapers). It might seem confusing at first, but everything blends in perfectly to create a completely “out-of-the-box” novel.

I liked the characters a lot, Madison is very unique in her own stubborn way. She is determined to protect her friends at all cost and will put her “not-really-life” on the line. It was great to see her growth as she started the book with poor self-esteem, and found motivations to step it up along the way. Josh, Madison’s new friend, was also nice. He jumped in Maddy’s crazy-wagon very reluctantly at first, but stayed with her for the long ride.

The whole story was action-packed and full of twist and turns. I never knew what to expect chapters after chapters and it kept me on my toes the whole time. I read the book in only a few hours, unable to put it down.

I really can’t wait to read the second book in the series, Early to Death, Early to Rise. The end of the story was really surprising and I’m really thrilled about what’s to come. I can definitely say that Kim’s jump from Adult novels to Young Adult went very smoothly and is successfully =)

Browse Inside the book

Madison Avery series:
Once Dead, Twice Shy
Early to Death, Early to Rise

Book Stats:

Hardcover: 240 pages

Publisher: Tween (tw) (May 25 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0061718173

ISBN-13: 978-0061718175

Book Source: Personal Shelf

Posted by Tynga at 00:44

 Angel, Review, young adult  6 People left their mark

Tynga is a 32 years old mom of two, from Montreal, working as a lab technician in an hospital specialized in heart disease. In her free time, she enjoys reading all things Paranormal and photography.

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