Review: Croak by Gina Damico

Title: Croak
Author: Gina Damico
Published: 20th March 2012
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Series: Croak #1
Source: eArc thanks to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure.

He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.

Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.

Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in? - From Goodreads

I was a massive fan of the Series Dead Like Me and I felt hollow and alone when it finished, not to worry though this new series of books looks like it might just be the ticket to fill the void. I have always thought the idea of being a teen reaper was cool so I was eager to jump right in and get started!!

Lex has become a problem child in the last couple of years. After punching out another pupil at school her parents decide that the best course of action is to send Lex to stay with her uncle Mort to "work on his farm". As soon as Lex arrives in Croak she finds out that her uncle Mort is not really a farmer, but is actually a grim reaper. Soon Lex starts to learn the trade and finally find a place where she fits in, but is what she is doing right and is Lex prepared to stay in Croak indefinitely?

Lexington or Lex for short makes bad decisions and has a very short temper. I really enjoyed this about her, she did not back down from a fight and when it came to dealing with her partner Driggs she held her own. At one point this did result in both of them having a black eye, but I thought this was really funny! I enjoyed Lex as a character and how she interacted with others, that may be because I could be difficult myself as a teen. Driggs was similar to Lex in that he is a headstrong character who often does or says the wrong thing, I thought they complimented each other well and that made for a good read.

The other cast of characters in this book were also complimentary to the story and I liked how they all worked together in this unusual town. The characters I felt we didn't get a chance to know very well were Lex's twin sister and her parents. They always felt like they were on the edge of Lex's life, even during the times she was at home and this made it a little difficult to understand their actions.

I really liked this book and I enjoyed the exploration of the themes of good and evil. When the reapers take a soul and can see a murderer standing by, should the reapers do something or should they just leave the situation. Lex struggles with this concept for the whole book and to what extent she should get involved, but there is always humour to keep the story fun and engaging. Also the details describing the town of Croak were well written with nice details and touches to make the town come alive for me.

I really liked the story in this book and I finished it really quickly. I can't wait to pick up the next in the series and see what happens next for the reapers.

Review: The Lying Game by Sara Shepard

Title: The Lying Game
Author: Sara Shepard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Published: 7th December 2010
Series: Lying Game #1
Source: Own copy on kindle

I had a life anyone would kill for.
Then someone did.

The worst part of being dead is that there’s nothing left to live for. No more kisses. No more secrets. No more gossip. It’s enough to kill a girl all over again. But I’m about to get something no one else does—an encore performance, thanks to Emma, the long-lost twin sister I never even got to meet.
Now Emma’s desperate to know what happened to me. And the only way to figure it out is to be me—to slip into my old life and piece it all together. But can she laugh at inside jokes with my best friends? Convince my boyfriend she’s the girl he fell in love with? Pretend to be a happy, carefree daughter when she hugs my parents good night? And can she keep up the charade, even after she realizes my murderer is watching her every move?
From Sara Shepard, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Pretty Little Liars books, comes a riveting new series about secrets, lies, and killer consequences.
Let the lying game begin. - From Goodreads

So my reasons for picking reading this book were exactly the same as the reasons I had for picking up The Nine Lives of Chloe King, Pretty Little Liars and The Secret Circle. I started watching the new TV series and I  wanted to know what was going to happen without having to wait out a whole season! Well the joke is on me as right away the book differs from the TV show in one significant way that I knew I was not going to learn any of the plot points from the series of books!

Sutton and Emma are twins who were split up at birth and ended up in 2 very different situations. Sutton lives a life of privilege and Emma has been bouncing around foster homes all of her life. After some investigation into her birth mother Sutton finds the twin she never knew she had. When they arrange to meet each other Emma leaves her life and travels to Arizona to meet Sutton, however when she turns up Sutton is nowhere to be found and she ends up taking Sutton's place. When she is told that Sutton is dead and she could be next she decides to try and find out what happened to the sister she never knew.

So the story begins with Sutton dead as a ghost that is watching her twin sister Emma. This sounds a bit weird, but it totally works in this book. We have the live sister, Emma, walking around and trying to fit in to Sutton's life with Sutton commenting on what she is watching. I really enjoyed how this worked. Now at this point you could be saying to yourself "Then where is the mystery? Why does Sutton not just say who killed her?" Well Sutton can't remember anything and only starts getting flashes once Emma starts living her life. We see some of these flashes in the form of "flashback" chapters in the book.

Emma is a good character and you can understand her struggles at stepping into someone else's life where everyone thinks nothing has changed and expects you to behave as you should. She struggles with the little things, like remembering who her friends are and their quirks, where her locker is and her combination, even how to behave in different situations. Saying this, I do love a mean girl, so I really enjoyed the nasty Sutton portions, however I did feel they slowed the pace of the book slightly.

I am looking forward to following this story and seeing how it progresses for Emma. I hope she can make it work as Sutton. She needs a good family, as she has never had one, and the Mercers seem to be the perfect family on the surface. I can't help but wonder how the story will progress in comparison to the TV show with the significant difference that one of the main characters in the book is dead!! What will happen to Emma and Sutton next?