Book Review: Supernaturally by Kiersten White

Release Date: July 26, 2011
Publisher: HarperTeen
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 352

Source: My local library.

Summary:
A lot has changed in the six months since Evie escaped from the International Paranormal Containment Agency with her shape-shifter boyfriend, Lend. She finally has the blissfully normal life she’s always dreamed of, including
1) A real live high school
2) A perfectly ordinary after-school job
3) Her very own locker (and by the way, rusted metal is every bit as awesome as she imagined)

But Evie’s not-so-normal past keeps creeping up on her...and things get pretty complicated when you factor in:
1) A centuries-old, seriously decaying vampire stalker
2) A crazy faerie ex-boyfriend who is the perpetual bearer of really bad news
3) A major battle brewing between the faerie courts where e prize in question happens to be...Evie herself.

So much for normal. (From Kiersten White's website.)
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Paranormalcy--the first book in this series--was pink, sparkly fun, and I am pleased to announce that the laughs--and the pink--are still present in the second book of the trilogy, Supernaturally. Evie, the main character, has come a long way from page one of Paranormalcy, in which she takes down paranormals such as vampires with Buffy-esque wit and Tasey, her pink taser, while longing for a normal high school life.

The beginning of Supernaturally finds our spunky heroine living a fairly normal life. Her roommate is a vampire, and her boyfriend is an immortal shapeshifter, but her high school is normal. (Read: boring.) And, since she no longer works for IPCA, the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she is free to focus on the terrors of real life, like girls' gym, a boyfriend who's in college and can only visit on the weekends, and the fact that her favorite teen drama is in reruns.

Normalcy is overrated.

So when Raquel shows up with an offer for side jobs with IPCA, and an impish, annoying new assistant named Jack, Evie says yes, even though Lend--her boyfriend--and her other new friends disapprove. Author Kiersten White combines this disagreement with mysterious faerie attacks, the reappearance of Evie's ex-faerie-boyfriend Reth, and some startling revelations about Evie's origins to create an intricate, interesting tale.*

While I recommend reading this series in order (readers who do not will likely be confused), Supernaturally stands enough apart from Paranormalcy to be a good story in itself. White avoids a potential snoozer or simple bridge to the last book in the novel by adding characters like Jack and building more complexity into the characters readers already know.

Supernaturally is a breezy read, but, as with Paranormalcy, I didn't find it impossible to put down. I like Evie and Lend and the other characters, but I wasn't emotionally attached to them. White's writing, on the other hand, is fantastic. She turns on a dime from funny to profound, and in the end her plot threads all come together beautifully. I recommend Supernaturally to readers of paranormal romance, contemporary and realistic fiction (despite the paranormal twists, Supernaturally deals with surprisingly common teen drama, like the horrors of college applications), and readers who like sweet, clean romance. And laughing. Because anyone who reads one of Kiersten White's books will be doing a lot of that.
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*Evie isn't completely normal; she has some special abilities. But you can read all about those in Paranormalcy.