Review: Croak by Gina Damico (Croak #1)

Title: Croak by Gina Damico

Published: March 20^th, 2012 by Houghton Miffin Hartcourt

Source: Library

Format: Paperback

Challenge(s): Debut Author, Support Local Library

Grade rate: A

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.
He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.
Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.
Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?

My Review

Amazing! Croak was SO awesome.  Do you want to know how awesome?  Let me count the ways:

Great characters: Lex is hilarious, pragmatic, confident (most of the time), brave and loyal. I fell instantly in love with Driggs, he was also funny, handsome, and loyal.  All the ‘juniors’, Lex’s family, especially uncle Mort; and all the people of Croak are amazing!  These characters become alive within the pages of the book.

Great story:  The story is so original and unlike anything I’ve read before.  The plot is wonderful, including enough background information that you understand what is going on and with many twists and turns, although I have to confess that I had my suspicions on who the ‘bad guy’ was.  Yes, the story is a little creepy, but just enough to keep it interesting.

Great writing: Ms. Damico is hilarious!  She writes an amazing story that is performed by amazing characters.  The pace of the story was great too, with enough action to keep me on the edge of my seat.

The ending was a big surprise to me and somewhat painful to read, but that is just a testament to the great writing.  I cannot wait for Scorch, the sequel, due to be published in September of this year.

About the cover:  I have to say that if I didn’t read the synopsis of Croak, I would have never picked it up. Even hubby and ‘A’were a bit surprised when they saw me reading it.  The cover is silver metallic (reflective even) and is just bizarre and creepy (and Lex looks like a guy too!)

Review: Angelfire (Angelfire #1)

Title: Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
Published: February 15,  2011 by Harper Collins / Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Library


When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

Review
What a debut!  This is the best book I have read so far this year.  It has romance, action, angels and reapers (sort of demons.)   Ellie is our kick-ass heroine.  Initially it takes her a while to believe what Will tells her, but I admire her make-lemonade-with-lemons attitude, even when she is scared witless.  I found infuriating that Ellie can't remember what she is, why she is that way, and most of her past.  I mean, how can anyone forget Will.  Another thing is that she is constantly trying to balance her school, and social life from what is really important (saving the world, duh!)  Since she can't remember what she did before, I honestly don't know why this 'awakening' can't happen when she is 18 and has more freedom and is out of high school.
Ah, Will (*sigh*) I love Will and I really understand and appreciate his pain, his struggle, his impossible love and his complete devotion to his beliefs, and to the cause .  All I can hope for is that Ms. Moulton is not cruel enough to make their love truly impossible.  I have my suspicions about Ellie's dad, but will see soon.
I can say that I didn't see this ending coming and that is is a bit of a cliffhanger.  I will eagerly (and not too patiently) await for 'Wings of the Wicked', sadly due next year.
About the cover:  I like the cover, although I am not in love with it.  There is something off-putting by the girl in the cover, but I can see Ellie's spirit of awesomeness too.  For a trully amazing art check Ms. Moulton's website  (see sample below :)