Death and the Girl Next Door by Darynda Jones

Title: Death and the Girl Next Door (Darklight #1)
Author: Darynda Jones
Publisher: St. Martin´s Press
Release date: October 2nd 2012
Source: Netgalley
Format: egalley

Rating: 4/5

Buy it at: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

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's first foray into the world of teens will leave readers eager for the next installment.

Lorelei's parents mysteriously disappeared 10 years ago and so far she doesn´t known exactly what happened to them if they´re still alive or if they´re dead. She lives a normal life with her grandparents but the anniversary of her parents death is especially difficult for her, so her best friends Glitch and Brooklyn stay with her during that time. The days before the tenth anniversary of the disappearance of her parents, Cameron Lusk a guy who goes to her school but to which she has rarely ever exchanged a word begins to stalk her. On the day of the anniversary, a new boy comes to her school - Jared Kovach - he is gorgeous,  mysterious and seems to have a feud with Cameron. Jared has a special interest in Lorelei, a fact that Cameron is not very pleased about it. Later an event occurs that will change the life of Lorelei and will introduce her to a paranormal world.

Lorelei and her friends Brooklyn and Glitch are funny, sarcastic and they like to banter to each other. Lorelei is a 16 year-old girl and she has a special gift, sometimes when she touches a person, has visions of their past or future, but it doesn´t  happens all the time and only her best friends know about her gift. Cameron a handsome guy, a major loner from school. Jared is a super-hot guy, mysterious and he is interested in Lorelei, he has a very important role in the book as he is the one who is slowly revealing the plot. I initially thought that these three (Lorelei-Jared-Cameron) would be the love triangle, but I'm glad that there is NO LOVE TRIANGLE!.

Death and The Girl Next Door is a book that is not predictable, in fact I was surprised with each twists and turns because I had a preconceived idea about the book and I liked how the plot was slowly revealed. Death and The Girl Next Door is a YA paranormal romance novel. I liked it very much!.

This book was left with several questions that I hope will be resolved in the next book Death, Doom and Detention.

I want to thank St. Martin´s Press and Netgalley for this review copy.