Review: Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones!

Title: Death and the Girl Next Door
Author: Darynda Jones
Series: Book One in the Darklight Series
Published By: St. Martin's Press (Oct. 2, 2012)
Source: ARC Provided by the Publisher (in exchange for an honest review)
Genre: YA Fantasy
My Rating: 4 Stars

Goodreads Description:
 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? 

My Review:

I absolutely love Darynda's adult paranormal series Charley Davidson so when I saw that she had written something in the YA genre there was no way in heck I was going to pass up the chance to read it early. I just knew it was going to be fantastic.

And while I really did enjoy this, it wasn't quite as enjoyable as the Charley Davidson series.

There is still some witty banter and nice one liners but it lacks the snarkiness of Charley that I love and was really hoping this one would have (although it does have some, it isn't completely without the snark, Darynda wouldn't dare do that to us and lets face it, it is hard to find anything that can live up to the greatness that is Charley!).

Does it mean that I didn't like this series? Absolutely not! In fact this was a really fun read.

There were lots of twists and turns and a new spin on Death and the Reapers and other things I don't want to give away that I really enjoyed. It was nice not to get the same ole' same ole' when it comes to the nature of this story.

Lorelei was a great strong heroine. She was curious and fierce, loyal and just kick butt.

Her two best friends Glitch and Brooklyn were just as great. I really loved the fun banter between them. They are loyal and supportive and just made of awesome.

Jared and Cameron? Even better. Two hot guys who are as different as can be in some ways but both protective of Lorelei (in different ways) and both have their good and their bad. Again, something I won't get into because I don't want to give anything away but know this, I think they are both very swoon worthy.

Are you rolling your eyes because now you are wondering about the love triangle? Well don't. Trust me when I say there is some super sweet romance in this one but thankfully (for you triangle haters), it does not involve three people, at least not in the way you are thinking.

But there very much is a romance and one that I absolutely loved!