Review: Once Dead, Twice Shy

Once Dead, Twice Shy, by Kim Harrison. The GoodReads summary:

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 ittakes control of her.

Well, if she believed in that stuff.

This book was kinda meh, but more of a good meh than a bad one. It wasn’t a terrible book by any means, but it didn’t exactly wow me either. And honestly, I only had 5 pages left, but I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything by not being able to finish it until 2 days later.

The main thing I noticed about the book is its simplicity. It’s only 232 pages, so there wasn’t time for a whole lot of development. That was partly a good thing because I feel like if the book had been much longer I would’ve started to get bored, but it was also a bit of a negative because there’s a lot about the world of timekeepers/reapers/seraphs that doesn’t get explained. So I came away with only vague sense of how all those different parts connect. I’m assuming more will get explained in the second book, but I would’ve liked to have it explained in this one.

The length also meant that the relationship between Madison and Josh is fairly shallow. It’s not insta-love, but it is . . . insta-friends-with-potential? I just think that they go from not knowing each other to being BFFs pretty quick. I did really like that although there’s another male character, Barnabas, there isn’t a love triangle.

Madison is pretty likeable. I don’t think we would be friends in real life, but I certainly didn’t mind reading about her. I did like her sense of style though—purple tights and shoes with skulls and crossbones? I vote yes!

Overall, I think the book was pretty okay. I mean, if you see it on sale or at the library, pick it up. Otherwise, I don’t think there’s any need to rush out and buy it.