Turning Pages: Book Review: Paranormalcy

Title: Paranormalcy
Author: Kiersten White
Series: Yes, #1.
Pages: 335.
Source: Purchased.
Publisher: Harperteen.
Published Date: 7/31/10.
Links:
Goodreads.
Barnes and Noble.

Summary:

"Evie's always thought of herself as a normal teenager, even though she works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she's falling for a shape-shifter, and she's the only person who can see through paranormal glamours.

But Evie's about to realize that she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures.

So much for normal."

My Thoughts:

Evie is only sixteen years old, works for IPCA (International Paranormal Containment Agency) hunting down and tagging paranormals, she's being stalked by the same faerie that broke her heart and she enjoys spending time with her best friend...that's a mermaid. Sounds pretty normal to me....I do that everyday.

Evie is the only human that can see through the paranormal's glamour, to the true monster inside. Whether its a vampire, which is actually a dying corpse (I'm guessing Bella doesn't have this power...), or any other creature that you can think of. Glamour is what allows a paranormal to go into public, and not be seen in their true form, by the humans surrounding them. She doesn't really remember her parents, or what happened to them, but after jumping from one foster home to the next, and then discovering her power, Evie was adopted into IPCA. But she does crave the "normal" things teenagers do, like going to school with friends, having a locker, and attending prom.

Evie has always done what her job, as well as Raquel (her boss/mom figure), asked of her; never questioning IPCA or what they were doing to these creatures. She's just always felt special and proud, for being the only human with this ability, and for being able to protect her own people. She even put up with (her ex-boyfriend?) Reth, who is a faerie, working for the IPCA and travels Evie through the faerie realms, to any where in the world to do tagging missions. Reth was her first love when Evie came to IPCA, but she learned quickly that faeries are selfish, and did anything to get what they wanted.

But soon Evie discovers that things around IPCA aren't exactly what they seem, and that the person who was the closest to her, Raquel, is hiding something about Evie's identity and who she is. And those doubts start when an invisible boy, who can shape shift, breaks into IPCA and digs around in Raquel's office. Even though the boy claims that he is breaking into IPCA for information but without any real idea of what he was doing, and without a plan to escape, Evie can't help to stare at him. Not only because he is incredibly cute, but also he's the first teenage boy she's seen in a very long time.

After going one another tagging mission, this time to stop a vampire or two, Evie is cornered into a room filled with them. Barely hurting one of them, Evie escapes with the help of her faerie. When she finally gets back to IPCA, she is informed that a large number of vampires were killed, but Evie escaped before she could truly hurt even one of them. Who did this and why?

When more and more paranormals are being killed, and Evie is having nightmares of this yellow-gold shadow, Evie can't help but wonder what is going on. Coming to the realization that Evie is no human at all, but instead a level eight paranormal (basically a unknown sort of paranormal), she can't help to wonder what else Raquel is keeping from her. Maybe the fact that she has a soul-sucker sister, that is killing off a huge percent of the paranormal population!!

AND that it's EVIE'S job to stop her!?!

Yeah...sounds about right.

Final Verdict:

I had no idea what I was getting myself into, when I started to read Paranormalcy. I hadn't read a review, so I jumped right in, with absolutely no expectations or ideas of what roller coaster I was strapping up for and about to ride.

Evie was a phenomenal main character! I loved that she was doing all this paranormal hunting, and taking down these massive monsters, but was a girl and had style at the same time. I liked that she was special and wanted to be normal, but liked being special...you know?! I mean who wouldn't want to have some sort of super power or ability! And how annoying is it, when characters just want to be "normal" and hide their skills?!

And how good does it feel to read a book, that has vampires in it, but the girl isn't falling in love with one, but instead is disgusted by them?? REALLY good! Instead she falls for an invisible boy, that's new! I mean, I still don't get how that works...but its so much better than Edward!

I really enjoyed that Paranormalcy included various paranormal creatures, including Trolls, Hags, and a few others that you don't read about in YA often. I felt that, that set Paranormalcy ahead of many other books, and made it stick out to me.

I absolutely adored the main character, and couldn't get enough of her and Lend together. The story never had a dull moment, and Evie was always under some stressful situation. There were a couple of good twists and a few interesting turns, that came out of nowhere...and that left my mouth hanging open wide. I loved the ending, and while it was satisfying, it did make me excited to start reading Supernaturally.

Not being able to refrain myself from reading it, I started Supernaturally, that same night!