Once Dead, Twice Shy Review

Once Dead, Twice Shy
by Kim Harrison
Madison Avery #1
Madison's prom was killer—literally. For some reason she's been targeted by a dark reaper—yeah, that kind of reaper—intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away.

Now she's stuck on Earth—dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to toe the line between life and death. She still doesn't know why the dark reaper is after her, but she's not about to just sit around and let fate take its course.

With a little ingenuity, some light-bending, and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys! Maybe . . . ), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison's ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all, before it takes control of her.

Well, if she believed in that stuff.
The reading of this book has been three years in the making for me. It was one of those "I want to read it, but I want to read that book more" kind of a thing. The concept was great but I was kind of disappointed. It's a quick read, but not a fast paced one.

WARNING: There will be spoilers in this review. 
The book starts sometime after prom and I found myself wishing that it had started at prom because the flashbacks to those events pulled me out of the story.  


Madison feels younger than she's supposed to be. Part of it is her language. She says things like "puppy presents on the rug" and "big-butt van." Her actions are also really contradictory. One minute she'll be begging Nakita to take her to Kairos and the next she's screaming at her to leave her alone. Then she'll be going on and on about her plans to trade the amulet for her body back but when she finally gets to see Kairos, her first reaction is to run away from him.

The plot was a little muddled. The secrets were dragged on forever in a way that was more confusing than mysterious. I almost quit twice -- once when I was almost two-thirds through and again when I was fifteen pages from the end -- but I was so close that I just really wanted to finish it.

Overall: 6.5/10 I wanted to like it but I couldn't. Probably won't continue on to the next installment.

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