Undeadly Blog Tour: review and giveaway

Undeadly (The Reaper Diaries, #1) by Michele Vail

YA paranormal*Paperback & e-book 272 pages

Expected publication: November 20th 2012 by Harlequin Teen

Purchase: Amazon 

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.

About the author:

Website | Twitter

Michele Vail writes young adult paranormal fiction about zombies and reapers. 

She likes reading, dogs, cats, board games, ghost-hunting shows, and Halloween. She believes in magic, in the impossible, and in the restorative powers of chocolate. 

Michele lives happily-ever-after with her Viking and their family.

This type of review is always hardest to write. I was really excited about getting my hands on a copy of Undeadly. I mean, c'mon, look at that cover, read that synopsis. Sold! But...once I began the story I found myself not crazy about it. Why? I can sum it up in one word: Molly. First, she hit me with this terminology about herself and her world. Then I heard about necromancers and the dead being reanimated into zombies. Oh, and Molly's sixteenth birthday is approaching and she's special.  Too much backstory+interesting zombies+cliched "chosen one" status=I'm in trouble.

As our heroine, Molly's narration really got on my nerves. Her smugness and attempts at sounding cool annoyed me. Her snarky attitude and use of slang got old fast, very fast. She was not the brightest bulb in the package and there were times I wanted to smack said bulb and smash it into pieces. But I kept reading, always wanting to believe in characters changing.

Unfortunately, Molly did not change for me. I did not feel one iota of connection to her. Her lack of intelligence, hooking up with a guy after meeting him, her melodramatic way of handling things didn't bode well with me.

Personal taste in characters aside, I did enjoy the beginning scene with her boyfriend. I also thought the world of ghosts, zombies, ghouls, reapers and such the author created was interesting--I especially liked the soul being in five pieces and the Egyptian terminology had a very 'cool' factor to all of it. The splitting of souls is a unique idea and it was fascinating as was learning about the gods Anubis and Set and how they fought for control of the Underworld. 

I've been reading YA paranormal for years (many of the titles I've read are NOT listed in the archives since I began my blog almost three years ago) so I know when a character or her story isn't up to par with others I've read. The mythology that Michele Vail created intrigued me; unfortunately, the execution of the story didn't catch my attention the way in which I hoped it would and the reason is clear--I would enjoyed Undeadly more if Molly wasn't the narrator. Some readers may like Molly so please read this review, chuckle, and pick up a copy if the summary grabs you.

Rating: 3 for the story's potential (the Egyptian mythology and such)

Cover comment: Cool

Book source: Received from Netgalley. I thank Harlequin for the opportunity to read this title.

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