Death, and the Girl he Loves (Darklight #3)

By Darynda Jones

About the book:
The fate of the world is not something a girl wants on her shoulders, and that is especially true for Lorelei McAlister. Unfortunately for her, that is exactly where the world’s fate has decided to take up residence. Lorelei has seen firsthand the horrors that lie beneath our everyday world. And those horrors are getting her friends killed. Because of this, she agrees to leave the sanctity of her hometown and is sent to a different world entirely. A boarding school. But even here she is being watched. Someone knows what she is. What she carries inside her soul. And on top of that she’s seeing visions. This is nothing new for Lorelei. But these visions are something more: death, destruction, and the end of the world. Lorelei must face the fact that there are people who want her dead, and no matter where she goes, no matter how far she runs, the lives of her friends and family are in mortal peril. Lucky for her, her friends and family include the handsome Angel of Death, a fiercely protective half-angel, and a ragtag group of loyal supporters who aren’t afraid to get a little dirty in the name of fighting pure evil.

Review
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After reading the first books in the series, of course I jumped at the chance to be part of the third book's blog tour. (You can see my review of book two, Death, Doom and Detention here.) Darynda Jones keeps all of the wonderful elements that the second book has, plus adds more. Death and the Girl he Loves is definitely my favorite book of the series.

Lorelei has had an eventful and a complicated life--especially in the past few months. Can you jump in and read the third book first (or by itself)? Yes, but I really don't recommend it.  The first two books of the series set the story up and add lots of drama. This third book is basically do or die time. Darynda does a good job of filling in the important details of what has happened in the previous book and she catches readers up, but there is just so much extra info that you miss if you skip to the third book.

The story was rolling along smoothly (or as smoothly as can be with Lorelei trying not to be killed while also trying to unravel the prophecy). Then, about 2/3 of the way through, the story completely flips and changes direction. Like it literally flipped. I thought I was at the climax (and I was), but Darynda was sneaky. You never see the actual entire war, but the aftermath of it (sort of). Characters who were supposed to be dead weren't dead anymore. Main characters barely knew who Lorelei was. It will have readers scratching their heads as they and Lorelei learn what is going on. I definitely have to say that these few chapters were my favorite as I tried to guess what was actually going on.

Reader are told that Lorelei will stop the war before it starts (oooh, how possibly cryptic does that seem?). Throughout the series, I've tried to guess how Lorelei will accomplish this. There has to be a logical way, right? I'm pretty good about guessing plots, but Darynda got the best of me. The solution is/was very logical.  All the clues where there and some readers will figure it out. I wasn't one of them this time and I loved it!

I have to be honest. I have a love/hate relationship with the ending. It ended so good, but I want more.  I want an epilogue or something. And the last page of the book will have you dying to figure out more about what will happen.

Fans of the paranormal genre (both adult and teen) should definitely give this series a try. It has an original story line, plenty of action scenes and a touch of romance.

***SPOILERS***
There were some questions that Darynda left unanswered.
What about Malak Tuk?  Really.  You can't end it like that!!
What really did happen between Cameron and Glitch?
Did Tabitha get her justice regarding the guy?
What about Jared and Loreli? How did her family/friends take the news?


About author Darynda Jones:

NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling Author Darynda Jones has won numerous awards for her work, including a prestigious Golden Heart®, a Rebecca, two Hold Medallions, a RITA ®, and a Daphne du Maurier, and she has received stellar reviews from dozens of publications including starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and the Library Journal. As a born storyteller, Darynda grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike, and she is ever so grateful for the opportunity to carry on that tradition. She currently has two series with St. Martin’s Press: The Charley Davidson Series and the Darklight Trilogy. She lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband of almost 30 years and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys. She can be found at www.daryndajones.com.

Find Darynda:   Website   Facebook   Twitter

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Death, Doom and Detention (Darklight #2)

By Darynda Jones

The normal part of Lorelei MacAlister’s life didn’t just slip away quietly the day Jared Kovach came to town. Nope. The normal part of her life shattered. It exploded. It burst into a gazillion shards of fleeting light.

It went out with a bang.

Goodbye normal.

Hello dark and eerie.
While her best friend, Brooklyn, is focusing all of her energy on helping Lorelei hone her abilities, Lorelei is dealing with the reality that Satan’s second in command has taken up residence inside her body. Oh, and the fact that she has a crush on the Angel of Death. But what a beautiful death it is. If those weren’t bad enough, something sinister has come to town and it wants nothing more than to hear Lorelei’s dying breath as it strangles it out of her. Thank goodness the gang has a supernatural champion. But what happens when the only being who can save them switches sides midstream? How can a group of misfits capture one of the most powerful beings ever created? And will they find out how to bring Jared back to them before it’s too late?

Review:
A lot of time the second book in a trilogy can be a let down. The first book introduces readers to the characters and the world while the third book contains the climax of the series. Second books tend to be transition books and a bit of a let down.  Luckily Darynda Jones didn't follow suit. Instead she adds momentum while continuing to build the plot for the third book. Basically, this is the delicious appetizer before the main course!

Though this is the second book in the series, readers can enjoy it without the first book. It can be a stand alone story, but why enjoy one slice of cake when you can eat the whole thing! Jones continually fills in the gaps if the characters reference something from the first book. If you want the whole back story, then definitely check out book one, Death and the Girl Next Door. Scratch that. Check out book one whether or not you want the back story. I doubt you will be disappointed, and best of all, no calories will need to be consumed!

I love that Lorelei has guts. Sure she has people around her (two hot guys in particular) that try to protect her, but she doesn't just accept that. Lorelei is a modern teenage girl and wants her independence. She doesn't want to cower, but rather she wants to stand up and defend herself (or run) from danger. She doesn't want to hide and let the bad guys come to her. She wants to go out and bait them and then let her super-powered boy toys handle the rest.  Many teen novels have girls that become useless when they like a boy, so this one really stands out. I love the girl power!

Jones does a good job bringing the sarcasm and wit that's found in her Charley Davidson series to her new Young Adult audience. I love some of the statements Lorelei made throughout the book.  Some of them even had me laughing out loud. This helps readers to better connect with her characters and makes them seem very realistic.

If you enjoy paranormal action along with mystery and a touch of romance, then you are really going to enjoy  Death, Doom and Detention. And don't forget to checkout book three Death, and the Girl He Loves when it comes out October 8, 2013.

PURCHASE DD&D: Amazon Barnes & Noble and Audible

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Want More?  Check out this excerpt from the book

FUZZY EDGES

“Is this class ever going to end?”

My best friend, Brooklyn, draped her upper body across her
desk in a dramatic reenactment of Desdemona’s death in Othello.
She buried her face in a tangle of arms and long black hair for
effect. It was quite moving. And while I appreciated her freedom
to express her misgivings about the most boring class since
multi-celled organisms first crawled onto dry land, I wondered
about her timing.

“Miss Prather,” our Government teacher, Mr. Gonzales, said,
his voice like a sharp crack in the silence of study time.

Brooklyn jerked upright in surprise. She glanced around as
our classmates snickered, either politely into their hands or more
rudely outright.

“Is there something you’d like to share with the class?”

She turned toward Mr. Gonzales and asked, “Did I say that
out loud?”

The class erupted in laughter as Mr. G’s mouth formed a long
narrow line across his face. As though a miracle from heaven,
the bell rang and Brooklyn couldn’t scramble out of her seat fast
enough. She practically sprinted from the room. I followed at a
slower pace, smiling meekly as I walked past Mr. G’s desk.
Brooklyn stood waiting for me in the hall, her face still frozen
in surprise.

“That was funny,” I said, tugging her alongside me. She fell
in line as we wound through the crush of students, fighting our
way to PE. I wasn’t sure why. I didn’t particularly enjoy having
my many faults and numerous shortcomings put on display for
all to see, so why I would fight to get there was beyond me.

“No, really.” She tucked an arm through mine. “I didn’t mean
to say that out loud.”

I couldn’t help but smile despite the weight on my chest, a
weight that seemed to be endless. “Which is why that was funny.”
I did that a lot lately. Smiled. It was easier than explaining
why I wasn’t.

“You don’t get it,” she said. “This is exactly what I’ve been
talking about. Everything is weird ever since . . . you know.”

I did know. Ever since Jared Kovach came to town. Ever
since he’d saved my life after a huge green delivery truck
slammed into me. Ever since we’d found out he was the Angel
of Death and he had been sent not to save my life but to take it.
To tweak the timing. To take me sooner than nature— or a huge
green delivery truck— had intended.

And ever since I found out I’d been possessed by a demon
when I was six years old.

Still, that wasn’t the worst part of that day all those years ago.
The worst part was the fact that my parents were gone. Vanished
in a whirlwind when some guy— we still had no idea who—
opened the gates of hell. And I’d led them straight to it. The fact
that a demon—Malak-Tuke, to be exact, Lucifer’s second in command—
escaped from his fiery pit and decided to crash at my
place was just the icing on the cake. But I didn’t know any of
this until two months ago.

I’d been living with my grandparents since the disappearance,
but my semi- normal existence changed forever when I was
knocked into the street by a skateboarder and hit by that truck.
That near- death experience taught me a valuable lesson:
Never get hit by a huge green delivery truck if I can help it. But
if I hadn’t, if my life hadn’t almost ended that day, then Jared
Kovach would not have been sent. And oddly enough, Jared Kovach
was definitely worth the risk.

The events that followed were both terrifying and life changing.
I learned that there really was a heaven and a hell. That
there really were angels and demons. That I was a prophet, the
last prophet in a long line of incredible women, descended from
a powerful woman named Arabeth. And I’d learned that I had a
demon inside me, that I’d had him inside me for years.

Even Jared had never seen anything like it. Most people possessed
by evil spirits were lucky to survive. People possessed by
demons— a rarity, from what I’d been told— never survived more
than a month. Ever. And yet here I stood. As possessed as a girl
with a demon inside her could be.

And, yes, things had been weird.

About Author Darynda Jones:

NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling Author Darynda Jones has won numerous awards for her work, including a prestigious Golden Heart®, a Rebecca, two Hold Medallions, a RITA ®, and a Daphne du Maurier, and she has received stellar reviews from dozens of publications including starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and the Library Journal. As a born storyteller, Darynda grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike, and she is ever so grateful for the opportunity to carry on that tradition. She currently has two series with St. Martin’s Press: The Charley Davidson Series and the Darklight Trilogy. She lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband of almost 30 years and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys. She can be found at www.daryndajones.com.