Death and the Girl Next Door

By: Darynda Jones

Narrated by: Lorelei King

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Darynda Jones, author of The New York Times best-selling series that began with First Grave on the Right, brings us Death and the Girl Next Door, a thrilling young adult novel garnering high praise and early buzz from major authors.

Ten years ago, Lorelei's parents disappeared without a trace. Raised by her grandparents and leaning on the support of her best friends, Lorelei is finally beginning to accept the fact that her parents are never coming home. For Lorelei, life goes on. High school is not quite as painful as she thinks it will be, and things are as normal as they can be.

Until the day the school's designated loner, Cameron Lusk, begins to stalk her, turning up where she least expects it, standing outside her house in the dark, night after night. Things get even more complicated when a new guy - terrifying, tough, sexy Jared Kovach - comes to school. Cameron and Jared instantly despise each other and Lorelei seems to be the reason for their animosity. What does Jared know about her parents? Why does Cameron tell Jared he can't have Lorelei? And what will any of them do when Death comes knocking for real?

Thrilling, sassy, sexy, and inventive, Darynda Jones' first foray into the world of teens will leave readers eager for the next installment.

©2012 Darynda Jones (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Cute Paranormal YA story

This book was cute. I'm not a huge fan of YA, but I really liked this author and narrator. The first thing that took me a while to get over was that I kept associating the voices to the voices from Charley Davidson. For example, this new boy in school named Jared uses the same voice as Reyes. Glitch, the main character's best friend, his voice is a lot like Uncle Bob's. In my mind, I kept wanting to put the characters in the wrong place.

The story starts off a little slow. It takes a long time to figure out who is what. Everything is explained, but not until the very end.

The jokes were cute, but they weren't the LOL funny of the adult series, but then this does not surprise me. I think the author did a great job of staying funny while staying in the YA appropriateness (I can't believe I just spelled this word correctly the first time. I wasn't even sure it was a word.). It is great if you want some light reading while still getting some humor. Definitely funnier than most YA books.

Stop insulting women and girls!

I am so tired of female terms being used as insults. For a female writer to do so is just that much more insulting. Ms. Jones is obviously not alone in this regard but this happens to be the book I am currently listening to. In this book the main female character uses "girl" to insult herself. The character is put forth as an intelligent, determined, caring person yet to show weakness the only insult that the author could come up with was to call her "such a girl". In addition "bitch" is often used to insult the male characters. I am sure there are other examples this book, since it is so prevalent in our culture, but I am not willing to listen to this book again just make a stronger point. I know it is about time that we as a culture stop accepting this in our language. Why do men and boys believe they are better than women and girls? Because our culture, through our language tells them so. It is about time women stand up and stop this. Women and girls are not lesser! Here's a challenge, write one book that does not use this insulting language, just once.

Recommended

First, Lorelei King does a wonderful job, as always, as narrator. I think I could listen to her read almost anything!
I really like the Charley Davidson series, and was curious as to how Darynda Jones would do in a book for younger readers. I was ~not~ disappointed! During the first chapter I was worried this book would be along the same story line as Charley's, but very quickly found out that she only took the same ideas of Death and the Grim Reaper and Angels, and wrote a very different story.
There is a lot of humor, some of it aimed at us no-longer-teenagers. The characters didn't get very well developed, but at the end of the book I had that awful and wonderful feeling of having just read the first chapter of a long story. "Awful" only because none of the next books have been written yet. There is plenty of time in the story ahead to get to know the characters better - that is the wonderful part. I'm just not very patient.
The one part I'm having trouble with is how a very old supernatural being can be mistaken for a high school student. This did not detract from the story while I was reading it, but after I was finished and trying to figure out where the story would go next, it occurred to me that the situation will get interesting. Knowing Darynda's style, I'm sure she will have a good answer for me in book 2.
Overall, this was very good entertainment and a well-written story. I look forward to the rest of the series, and would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates the YA genre.

Just awesome!

Would you consider the audio edition of Death and the Girl Next Door to be better than the print version?

Yes definitely!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Death and the Girl Next Door?

too many to pick just one

Which scene was your favorite?

Charley and Reyes

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yep, only took me about 2 days

Any additional comments?

I just discovered Darynda Jones a few months ago. I went to RWA 2012 and I kick myself for not knowing about her then cuz I would have totally been all fan girl all over her. After RWA I read their website about who won certain category awards. As always I was interested most in who won the PNR category and wouldn't you know it, it was Darynda Jones. I figured that was a good enough endorsement to read her books. So I picked up the first Charley Davidson book, First Grave On The Right and OMG I found a new fave!!! I gobbled them up but that was before my blog, so I never reviewed them on here, sorry. I did read before I blogged but there's too many books before my precious blog to go back and review them all. Anywho, I'm totally getting sidetracked. So when I found out that Darynda Jones was coming out with a new YA series also (what is with everyone starting YA stuff this month) I was totally excited because out of everyone, she probably writes the best dialog and it would totally fit for teens and guess what, I was right! I totally love this new series even though it deals with Angels and stuff of that sort rather then my beloved Vampires, Shapeshifters and Zombies but I digress, I did actually love this book. After reading so many YA recently that I was almost rolling my eyes at having to read another one and thinking "what more can they bring to the genre?" Darynda Jones brings a fresh take on it. There is still a teen girl and hawt guys and of course the ever present BFF but other then that it's fun and fresh. There is no love triangle for our main characters, which is refreshing but possibly one for our secondary characters. Each character is a living breathing entity all their own and the story moves flawlessly through them. The word play is witty and very realistic to the characters, seeing as how they are teens. Some YA books you read the characters come off as more adults trapped in teens bodies but not here, these characters truly come off as teens or at least teens from what I remember being (ah the memories or horrors, how ever I choose to view them, LOL). I definitely recommend this book to all teens and adults. I did not see any issues that I'd put an age limit on with this one. There's only a few kisses and that's it. I do have to say though, I'm a little creeped out by the main hero Jared and our heroin Lorelei being an item but I won't go into more then that. When you read the book, you'll understand. Other then that, which I'm sure I'll get over, the book is a must read! Love, love, loved it!!!

Fun Story

I loved this story and I'm excited to listen to the next book in the series. Loralie King is an awesome narrator and makes the book that much more fun to listen to.

Younger version of Charlie

The book is definitely Darynda Jones. Same Charlie vernacular, “blood pooped in my abdomen”, very similar to the Charlie series. It was a good listen but it didn’t have the same “stay up all night” to finish the other series had. Overall, form me it was ok. I missed the memes at the beginning of each chapter. This is my opinion based on my knowledge of the Charlie series.

Worth the read!!

Very much worth the read. Kept me guessing what was next. On to book 2.

Great Book

I really love Darynda Jones she is my favorite author by far! I would and will read everything she has done!

Pleasantly surprised

I looked at the reviews and decided to try this book. I wasn't sure if I would like teenagers but this book is actually very good. I'm planning to purchase the other 2 books in the series.

Great Book!!

If you liked the "Twilight" saga, then I think you will also like this one. While this is not about vamipres or werewolves, it does remind me of Twilight. One girl caught between 2 guys and which will she pick. It is a different look at Archangles and the Grim Reaper. I like that Darynda Jones has combined them into the same being. Ms. Jones has developed an interesting story and a great supporting cast. While this book is in the first person (Lorelei) it does not take away from the story. I eagerly await the next book in this story as well as the next in her "Grave" series.