By: Tara Fuller
Published By: Entangled Publishing
Released: Available Now
Details: Paperback from library, 314 Pages
RATING: 3.75 INBETWEEN STARS!
Blurb : Goodreads
It’s not easy being dead, especially for a reaper in love with a girl fate has put on his list not once, but twice. Finn’s fellow reapers give him hell about spending time with Emma, but Finn couldn’t let her die before, and he’s not about to let her die now. He will protect the girl he loves from the evil he accidentally unleashed, even if it means sacrificing the only thing he has left…his soul.
This was a great start to the Kissed By Death series.
This is a very clean YA read, which is great.
Finn is a reaper and he has loved Emma aka Allison for twenty seven years.
Emma just can’t remember.
Allison's soul was in the Inbetween with Finn, a place where you stay until you get sorted to Heaven or Hell or you get a second chance at reincarnation. Your expiry time is ten years or you become something that consumes you and isn’t very nice.
You become a shadow.
The shadows shrank back before dissolving into an oily spot on the pavement. She scowled and shoved her scythe back in its holster. “Vermin.”
Vermin. I’d almost doomed Allison to be vermin.
What happened to those fifteen years? Did I miss something? Wasn’t Mauve on the war path in those years too? Why was it only the last couple years that Mauve was a real threat. I understand anybody’s expiry time was ten years in the Inbetween but Mauve had already been there for two years when Allison’s time was nearly up. Which left Mauve with eight years before she was supposed to be consumed by the dark side, but it had been seventeen years since Finn broke the rules sending Allison/Emma in Mauve’s place through the portal. Again, I am befuddled about these times. I may have wrote my notes down wrong.
What am I actually trying to say?
“That I have wasted the past seventeen years of my existence for something that should have been mine in the first place? Well, no more waiting, Finn. "
Finn saved Emma a second time, two years prior from the dastardly Mauve and gave her the nudge she needed to survive.
I think I need someone to clear my misunderstanding up.
The shadows shrank back before dissolving into an oily spot on the pavement. She scowled and shoved her scythe back in its holster. “Vermin.”
Vermin. I’d almost doomed Allison to be vermin.
Finn’s love for Allison had him breaking the rules. The consequences were dire.
Mauve lost her place to Allison.
Mauve wants evil revenge.
Mauve wants Emma dead.
Now I may have missed something, I have been doing the math and I am a bit confuzzed. I am not saying I am right, I may have missed something. For ten years Finn and Allison were together in the Inbetween. Now , for the past two years he has been stalking Emma keeping her safe from the avenging Mauve almost 24/7. Emma is now seventeen years old. So, doing the math, ten years as Allison and seventeen years as Emma equals twenty seven years Finn has loved Emison.
HA!
Mauve lost her place to Allison.
Mauve wants evil revenge.
Mauve wants Emma dead.
Now I may have missed something, I have been doing the math and I am a bit confuzzed. I am not saying I am right, I may have missed something. For ten years Finn and Allison were together in the Inbetween. Now , for the past two years he has been stalking Emma keeping her safe from the avenging Mauve almost 24/7. Emma is now seventeen years old. So, doing the math, ten years as Allison and seventeen years as Emma equals twenty seven years Finn has loved Emison.
HA!
Did you see what I did there? Emma plus Allison. Ok, that isn’t helping Michelle to not confuse everyone. Back to Emma.
For seventeen years Mauve has been pissed off at Finn for Emma living.
After seventeen years of Mauve taunting and harassing me, and me not being able to do anything about it, I was exhausted.
“Mauve knows how I feel about her. She’ll just keep torturing Emma until, one of these days, the ‘accidents’ she causes kills her. I can’t let that happen.”
For seventeen years Mauve has been pissed off at Finn for Emma living.
After seventeen years of Mauve taunting and harassing me, and me not being able to do anything about it, I was exhausted.
“Mauve knows how I feel about her. She’ll just keep torturing Emma until, one of these days, the ‘accidents’ she causes kills her. I can’t let that happen.”
What happened to those fifteen years? Did I miss something? Wasn’t Mauve on the war path in those years too? Why was it only the last couple years that Mauve was a real threat. I understand anybody’s expiry time was ten years in the Inbetween but Mauve had already been there for two years when Allison’s time was nearly up. Which left Mauve with eight years before she was supposed to be consumed by the dark side, but it had been seventeen years since Finn broke the rules sending Allison/Emma in Mauve’s place through the portal. Again, I am befuddled about these times. I may have wrote my notes down wrong.
What am I actually trying to say?
I stood on my tiptoes and found Mauve. She smiled and gave me a little wave. I didn’t know how to be that confident. This was my last year. For souls like me - souls that had done something irreparably wrong, whether they knew what it was or not - there were only ten years before the decay set in. For the madness to take over. For the transition to a shadow to begin.
“That I have wasted the past seventeen years of my existence for something that should have been mine in the first place? Well, no more waiting, Finn. "
Finn saved Emma a second time, two years prior from the dastardly Mauve and gave her the nudge she needed to survive.
I think I need someone to clear my misunderstanding up.
I didn't understand why Allison was in the Inbetween. Now as Emma, her father was good enough to go straight to Heaven. Allison apparently as the quote above states, "For souls like me- souls that had done something irreparably wrong..."
I liked Anaya, Heaven’s reaper and Easton, Hell’s reaper.
Cash was my favorite character in this book.
I liked Anaya, Heaven’s reaper and Easton, Hell’s reaper.
Cash was my favorite character in this book.
Hands down.
His messy black spikes stood straight up on his head, flecks of red and gold paint glinting from the tips.
He has personality.
“You’re no fun.”
I laughed. “If I’m not fun, why do you keep coming back?”
“I ask myself that every day.”
I laughed. “If I’m not fun, why do you keep coming back?”
“I ask myself that every day.”
He wore fun t-shirts.
I peered around his sketchbook to see which T-shirt he was wearing today. This one said, I’m only here because my flux capacitor is broken.
“I thought you didn’t wear those for anybody else.” I pointed to his T-shirt that said, F.B.I. ( female body inspector).
He flashed me a lopsided grin. “Trust me. This shirt is absolutely for me.”
“I thought you didn’t wear those for anybody else.” I pointed to his T-shirt that said, F.B.I. ( female body inspector).
He flashed me a lopsided grin. “Trust me. This shirt is absolutely for me.”
He is the bad boy.
Cash was sarcasm and seduction wrapped up with a gooey artistic center. He didn’t need a T-shirt to get any girl he wanted. All he had to do was look at them. The bad part was that he knew it.
“Well, I have been told that I’m made of awesome.” Cash picked up one of the leftover cupcakes I’d baked the day before for mom’s open house.
“Who told you that?”
“I tell myself every day in the mirror.” He grinned and shoved half of the cupcake in his mouth, then grabbed a clean spoon off the counter and stared into it. “You are made of awesome. You are the master of your own universe. You have a really huge - "
Cash stood up, pulled his T-shirt over his head and dug in his bag for a clean one. I couldn’t help but look. This must have been how Cash got the girls at school to fall for his crap. Make them laugh with a funny T-shirt, then peel it off and make them drool. His chest was a hard sheet smoothed out by a tan skin. The muscles in his stomach stood out as he stretched the new T-shirt over his head. Most girls would have been entranced.
When he pulled out a pair of jeans and grabbed the waistband of his sweats, I tossed the tube back onto the vanity and held my hand up. “Keep it in its cage, Casanova.”
“Who told you that?”
“I tell myself every day in the mirror.” He grinned and shoved half of the cupcake in his mouth, then grabbed a clean spoon off the counter and stared into it. “You are made of awesome. You are the master of your own universe. You have a really huge - "
Cash stood up, pulled his T-shirt over his head and dug in his bag for a clean one. I couldn’t help but look. This must have been how Cash got the girls at school to fall for his crap. Make them laugh with a funny T-shirt, then peel it off and make them drool. His chest was a hard sheet smoothed out by a tan skin. The muscles in his stomach stood out as he stretched the new T-shirt over his head. Most girls would have been entranced.
When he pulled out a pair of jeans and grabbed the waistband of his sweats, I tossed the tube back onto the vanity and held my hand up. “Keep it in its cage, Casanova.”
I loved how protective he was over Emma.
“You’re my family, Em. You’re the only one who gives a damn about me, so I’m asking you to let me in. Don’t try to do this on your own again. We both know it doesn’t work. If you’re going through something, then I go through it, too. Got it?”
I had trouble connecting with Emma and Finn. Finn is a great character but I found it hard to believe their love. I was told he loved Allison/Emma, but I wanted to see that develop.
“You’re my family, Em. You’re the only one who gives a damn about me, so I’m asking you to let me in. Don’t try to do this on your own again. We both know it doesn’t work. If you’re going through something, then I go through it, too. Got it?”
I had trouble connecting with Emma and Finn. Finn is a great character but I found it hard to believe their love. I was told he loved Allison/Emma, but I wanted to see that develop.
It just was.
I know he was doing everything he could not to leave Emma unprotected from Mauve.
I know he was doing everything he could not to leave Emma unprotected from Mauve.
Easton, Scout and Anaya would help him, when he really needed them but they needed to keep off Balthazar's radar.
Balthazar their boss has me a bit confused as to why he was doing a lot of reaps. I understood he was angry at Finn, trying to teach him a lesson, or keep him extra busy or ...??
There seemed a link to events where Emma was. Like the bonfire on the beach. But I am still a bit wishy washy on that part, especially when I read the ending of this book. But hey, when you are the boss of reapers I suppose you can go about organizing deaths of whoever you want.
Balthazar their boss has me a bit confused as to why he was doing a lot of reaps. I understood he was angry at Finn, trying to teach him a lesson, or keep him extra busy or ...??
There seemed a link to events where Emma was. Like the bonfire on the beach. But I am still a bit wishy washy on that part, especially when I read the ending of this book. But hey, when you are the boss of reapers I suppose you can go about organizing deaths of whoever you want.
Not good sportsmanship.
He’s doing this on purpose,” I said to Easton.
My brain was starting to feel like a patchwork quilt of death. Images of bodies stitched together in bloody little square-shaped memories were branded onto my retinas. Ever since the meeting, I’d barely had time to stop my head from spinning between reaps, let alone check on Emma as much as I’d like. I had a feeling that was the point, but was it punishment or a diversion? It felt like both.
“Well if it’s your usual, then you’re lucky a marathon of reaps is all he’s done.”
He’s doing this on purpose,” I said to Easton.
My brain was starting to feel like a patchwork quilt of death. Images of bodies stitched together in bloody little square-shaped memories were branded onto my retinas. Ever since the meeting, I’d barely had time to stop my head from spinning between reaps, let alone check on Emma as much as I’d like. I had a feeling that was the point, but was it punishment or a diversion? It felt like both.
“Well if it’s your usual, then you’re lucky a marathon of reaps is all he’s done.”
Four and five stars are being slapped down and that is awesome. For me I wanted that little bit more from this YA read. I needed to believe Emma and Finn's love.
Cash gets the next book , "Blurred." I have to read it cause it is Cash's.
Plus that ending ... I got to see what is going on.
Michelle
Anaya never breaks the rules, but the night of the fire she recognized part of Cash’s soul—and doomed him to something worse than death. Cash’s soul now resides in an expired body, making him a shadow walker—a rare, coveted being that can walk between worlds. A being creatures of the underworld would do anything to get their hands on.
The lines between life and death are blurring, and Anaya and Cash find themselves falling helplessly over the edge. Trapped in a world where the living don’t belong, can Cash make it out alive?
I am loving the cover art for book 2!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I was sad because I missed the ARC for book 1 from NG. Other reviews I read really liked this and as I'm picky with YA, I think this will be something I may possibly like.
Anyway, Merry Christmas, Matey! Muah!
I do remember the ARC on NG but I didn't get around to reading it :D
DeleteMerry X-mas to you too xxx