Review of Prophecy Girl by Cecily White

Publisher: Entangled Teen
Format Read: PDF
Source: from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 2, 2013
Buying Links:  Amazon  Barnes & Noble  The Book Depository

Blurb:

  Amelie Bennett. . . . Ending the world, one prophecy at a time.

I was born to slay Crossworld demons. 

Big black flappy ones, little green squirmy ones. Unfortunately, the only thing getting slain these days is my social life. With my high school under attack, combat classes intensifying, and Academy instructors dropping right and left, I can barely get my homework done, let alone score a bondmate before prom.

Then he shows up.  

Jackson Smith-Hailey. Unspeakably hot, hopelessly unattainable, and dangerous in all the right ways. Sure, he’s my trainer. And okay, maybe he hates me. Doesn’t mean I’ll ignore the wicked Guardian chemistry between us. It’s crazy! Every time I’m with him, my powers explode. Awesome, right? 

Wrong. 

Now my teachers think I’m the murderous Graymason destined to bring down our whole race of angelbloods. Everyone in New Orleans is hunting me. The people I trusted want me dead. Jack and I have five days to solve the murders, prevent a vampire uprising, and thwart the pesky prophecy foretelling his death by my hand. Shouldn’t be too difficult.

Getting it done without falling in love. . . that might take a miracle.

Bea's Thoughts:

When I read the blurb for this book, it immediately reminded me of the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. Since I loved that series, I decided to give this a try, even though I really don't read very much YA. While it does have similarities to Vampire Academy, it's not as well-written.

Let me start with what I liked: "Monkeycrud" may be my new favorite swear phrase :D; Amelie, often called Ami, is smart-mouthed and fast with the quips; there are some good descriptions; and while the book is overly long, it held my interest most of the time. This description particularly caught my eye:

"By the time Smalley wrapped up, the vibe for most folks had returned to a tense little corner of normal. For me, however, normal was at least three buses and a cab ride away."

Things I didn't like: the pacing was uneven; "twists" were telegraphed in advance, sometimes with a flashing neon sign; the characters were not fully developed nor was the world; some things were not adequately explained (I am still confused about how bloodlines work in this world).

Initially I liked Ami's attitude; sassy, independent and gung ho, but it grated after a while. For example:

"I picked up my pace as the door swung closed behind him. If I could just catch him, maybe I could make him understand I wasn’t the child he thought I was. Maybe he’d see that I could help him."

"You’re dangerous. Not to mention impulsive, immature, and too selfish to understand that people get hurt when you’re around."

Ami was behaving childishly and impulsively and by the end of the book, she still was. There was little growth on her part during the book, or on Jackson's part. In fact, Jackson is inconsistent all through out the book. Some of it is explained later but some of it is not and he blows hot and cold. I had a hard time believing in their romance; on Ami's part, it read and felt more like a teenage crush and for Jackson's part, well he alternately shoved her away and kissed the stuffing out of her but we never really saw what attracted them to each other or why they mattered to each other. Oh, we're told that they feel a bond but I never felt it. Jackson was, at different times, an experienced warrior, a hunk with attitude, a jerk, a charmer, etc and it often felt disjointed.


About halfway through the book, the flashing neon sign goes off announcing/trumpeting/yelling a "twist" and I was rolling my eyes and muttering at it's obviousness. The fact that Ami didn't see it until much, much later had me rolling my eyes and muttering again. It annoyed me, particularly that the author as so ham-handed about it.

Looking at what I've written, it sounds as I didn't enjoy the book. I did, but it's flawed, and I didn't love it. There were some laugh out loud moments, and I'd love to see more of the werewolves and vampires, both of whom made late appearances in the story. They belatedly become important to the plot, leaving me scratching my head. Despite that, I was intrigued by what we saw of them. White does have a way with words; once she gets the hang of world building and character development, and finding and fixing plot holes, she could be a very good writer.

Some favorite quotes:

That was the plan, anyway. Unfortunately, plans and vampires go together about as well as Kleenex and hot tubs.

As soon as we’d stepped to the curb, the vampire’s car squealed away, leaving two lines of black rubber against the pavement. As first introductions to a species went, it wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. Sure, he was arrogant and stunning and rude, but so are male models…and they pass for human all the time.

This from the girl who arranged for six tons of personal lubricant to magically appear on the volleyball court during gym class last year? 

The vamp-mobile had vanished at some point during the wee hours, replaced by a huge pickup truck I could only assume belonged to a werewolf. Or a Republican from north Louisiana—hard to tell the difference.

ETA: Apparently Entangled changed the cover so here's the new cover, which I like better -