Review
Name: Undeadly
Author: Michele Vail
Publisher: HarlequinTEEN
Release Date: November 20, 2012 (US)
Pages: 272, Paperback
Source: For Review for blog tour
Rating: 4 Teacups
The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...
Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper-and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she’s shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath. Who seems to hate her guts.
Rath will be watching closely to be sure she completes her first assignment-reaping Rick, the boy who should have died. The boy she still wants to be with. To make matters worse, students at the academy start turning up catatonic, and accusations fly-against Molly. The only way out of this mess? To go through hell. Literally.
[summary taken from Goodreads]
Jen's Review
Necromancy, zombies,
ghosts, reaping, and ghouls?! What more could you ask for? Undeadly was a funny
paranormal read that has a very sarcastic main character, plenty of laugh out
loud moments, and great creativity. Undeadly was overall a very enjoyable read.
The concept--er, concepts--were very well done. The paranormal
creatures were all dead in some way, and
I don't think it was disorganized at all! Each supernatural element complemented the
other very well! At first it was a bit confusing but Vail is able to ease the
reader in comfortably. Plot-wise, it could have had more variation; the entire
book was pretty evenly-paced, but it's definitely acceptable.
Goodness, the humor
had to be my favorite part in the entire novel! Molly's voice is just so
humorous and sarcastic, I fell in love with her character instantly. It
definitely kept the story light while the ideas
and conflicts of the novel were more dark and serious. It was a great
balance! While Molly was a great
character herself, I found that her relationships with the other characters in
the story were weak. For example, there was definitely romance involved, but
there was so little of it after the beginning that I found myself wondering if
it's really necessary at all. This totally could have just been a paranormal YA
novel…
4 Teacups for Undeadly!
*Thanks to Michele and Shane for providing me with a copy to review!*
Excerpt Time!
*This excerpt was taken from an advance reader copy. Text is not final.*
"Mina and I are
over. I don't want her or her poison." He drew me into his arms, right
there in front of everyone (including Mina… nyah, nyah), and leaned down.
"I like you, okay?"
I nodded.
Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds
started to play. Dad! He'd gotten that damned song into the mix, after all.
Rick smiled. "Wow. This is old school, Mol."
He held me closer
and I lay my head on his shoulder as we swayed to the music. Someone turned off
the living room lights. The lamps on the end tables were on, but their muted
glow barely pierced the darkness.
Still, I could see
Rick lean down, his nose almost touching mine. I'd brushed my teeth twice and
refrained from food and drink. Because I wanted our first kiss to be
perfect--you know, without the Doritos taint. (63.)
His lips ghosted
across mine. My belly pulled tight with excitement. I was chest to chest with
him. Oh, gawd.
"Sweet
Molly," he murmured. He angled his mouth against mine and I opened for
him. My eyes fluttered closed. Tentative, I met the gentle thrust of the
tongue. I felt electrified. I clung to him, completely unsure about what I was
doing.
He drew away, just a
little, took a shuddering breath, and returned. I was pressed so close to him
that I could feel how his heartbeat matched the ferocity of mine. I felt
awkward and amazed and--
The lights snapped
on. I opened my eyes, blinking, horrified that Dad might have come down to
checkup on us crazy teenagers and freaked to see me lip-locked with Rick.
"Mina!
No!" Rick tried to push me out of the way, but he ended up projecting me
right into Mina's path.
GIVEAWAY
Now that I have you guys all excited after reading that excerpt, I know you'll want to win a copy!
Happy reading,
Jen xxx
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I really enjoyed this book! I had an e-galley, so I would love to win a signed copy for my shelf!! Thanks for being a part of the tour!
ReplyDeleteThe majority of reviews I've read have been most unfortunately negative :( But I'm glad you found this enjoyable overall :) Hopefully I'll get to it soon!
ReplyDeleteMost of the reviews - actually, all of them - are very negative, so I'm glad to see that you liked it :) The concept of the story is still very fascinated and I will read my eARC. Hopefully, I will enjoy it as much as you did!
ReplyDeleteI've only started paying attention to this book in the last few days, I wouldn't have thought that it could be such a fun book by just reading the blurb alone. I'm glad you had fun with this Jen and thanks for sharing this fab excerpt with us! :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks amazing! Great review, Jen. I can't enter because it is US only (sob) but good luck to everyone else! The excerpt is amazing <3
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed this one, Jen! I've heard mostly negative reviews concerning it, so I haven't been inclined to pick it up although I have a copy, but perhaps I'll check it out after all. I also LOVE that excerpt! ;) Great review!
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Jen! I am SO psyched for this one - probably because the MC shares my name. I love a funny MC. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteMolli | Once Upon a Prologue
Good review & excerpt. Thanks for participating.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Jen! I'm glad you enjoyed this. I have to admit, Molly really annoyed me, but I thought it was pretty decent overall. :) I'm hoping for a better sequel!
ReplyDeleteFantastic review Jen! I'm also on the blog tour for this one, and while I enjoyed it like you did, I'm afraid I didn't enjoy as much as you did! I did love the concepts woven in throughout the book though, I thought that was so wonderfully done. And I was also surprised that I wasn't confused a lot throughout the book! I totally agree with the fact that Vail did a great job making everything easy to understand. =)
ReplyDeleteHowever, while I did like Molly's voice, it got a little annoying at times. But, the sarcasm was fun to read. =) And I definitely felt like the character relationships were weak as well! Not only the romance, but the friendships as well. Everything seemed poorly developed, which I hope will be fixed in the sequel.
Fantastic review as always Jen! <3
sounds like a great book and review. totally going to read- oa behindthestagebeauty.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good book, great review too! Thanks for visiting my site. :)
ReplyDeleteMorgan
http://castlesmadeofbooks.blogspot.com
Initially I saw only negative reviews for this, but I've been seeing some more positive ones lately. Glad you enjoyed this! I love the idea of zombies and everything that's going on. Wonderful review, Jen! :)
ReplyDeleteI have to echo Aa'Ishah's statement above. I kept seeing negative reviews on this on and now I'm seeing some positive ones show up. It gives me more of a reason to pick this up now. I love books with a lot of humor and the Egyptian mythology sounded very interesting too. Great review Jen.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of this one-the humour from the extract is quite up my street, and your review makes me want this even more. Thanks for the review :)
ReplyDelete