Supernaturally by Kiersten Whitepublisher: HarperTeen
release date: July 26th, 2011
hardcover, 352 pages
intended audience: Young adult
sequel to: Paranormalcy (my review)
rating:
source: from publisher for honest review
Warning! Description and review may contain slight spoilers for book 1, Paranormalcy. If you haven't started this series, stop reading now!
description: Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.
But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.
So much for normal.
Review: What on earth is that breath of fresh air in the YA section? Why, it's Supernaturally---one of the only books that is the second in a series and doesn't end with a break-neck cliffhanger!! Not that I hate cliffhangers, it's just that after coming across so many first and second books that practically left me with vertigo, I read the ending of Supernaturally with a sign of relieved satisfaction.
But I'm started backwards. Actually, this one got off to a bit of a slow start for me. Evie has finally gotten her wish and is getting a taste of normal teenage life: high school, gym class, and, yes, Evie finally has her own locker. Unfortunately, she is finding out that real high school is nothing like her favorite high school TV drama, Easton Heights. She's having a hard time fitting in, has found her way onto the gym teacher's torment list, and is pretty bored with the rest of it. After the first book with Evie's fun, sometimes naive, spirit and all the paranormal craziness---reading about her being bored and mundane was just not as fun. The story really picked up further in though.
This one is a little darker than the first---Evie is going through some pretty big emotional conflicts with Lend, leaving and being drawn back into what used to be home to her at the IPCA, worrying about her future, and her in-dream relationship with her new-found sister, Vivian. She's torn in trying to decide how she feels about what Lend's dad does to protect paranormal compared to what the IPCA does to monitor them. We get to find out some pretty juicy bits of info about where she came from, what she is, and what she was "created" for. There's a new face, Jack, who is even more playful than Evie herself. While he was fun sometimes, his actions were just a little too childlike and I kept picturing him as a hyper 11-year-old, jumping on the bed, and pulling silly pranks. Still, an entertaining addition and he's an important part of the story!
On the whole, another great adventure for Evie! Even though the villain was not a huge surprise to me, I still enjoyed the ride very much. With a good amount of closure on most of the storylines that were introduced in book two, the next book can basically go anywhere it wants! I can't wait to see what's next for Evie and Lend in Endlessly!
Visit Kiersten's site here. (Her blog is one of my favorite author blogs---she is so funny!)
Purchase Supernaturally at: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository • Indiebound
