Review & Contest: She Smells the Dead by E.J. Stevens

Summary: It's the beginning of senior year and Yuki's psychic awareness of ghostly spirits is threatening to ruin her life. Her ability to sense spirits of the dead isn't glamorous like the ghost hunting on television.

SHE SMELLS THE DEAD.

The smell impressions are becoming stronger. Yuki is being visited in her dreams, and she suspects that her friend Calvin is involved in something strange. To make matters worse her crush on Garrett is going unrequited, Yuki's friend Emma is on a rampage against bee oppression, and annoying Calvin Miller mysteriously disappears.

Will Yuki be able to focus her powers in time to save the lost soul who is haunting her? Meanwhile, who will save Yuki from following the spirits into the light?

Review: First off, I want to say that I think the cover of this book is beautiful. Everyone says "you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover", but I think most of us do, we can't help it. I really love this cover, it caught my eye months ago and had me interested, so when Stevens sent out a request for bloggers to read and review her book (and hold a contest), I was all over it. Just based on the cover alone. So well done on that front.

As for the book, there were parts that I loved and few little things that irked me. Let's get the "meh" parts out of the way quickly and move on to the love, shall we? Biggest thing I didn't like was over and done with in the first few chapters, so in the long run, not a huge deal, but it stuck with me. In the book, Yuki repeatedly reminds us she smells the dead. Over and over again- I found myself rolling my eyes and thinking "I get it, you smell the dead, you don't need to remind me, I won't forget". To me, it was too much. It's not a hard concept to understand, so I dind't feel like I needed to be reminded about Yuki's ability. As the book moved forward, the references stopped and I thought the book was better for it. Other minor "meh"? The ending totally drops off. I get a cliff hanger, but geez, this really leaves you hanging! Thank goodness Stevens has a sequel coming, because I really wanted to know what will happen on Halloween! So there you go, my big "meh", now I can move on.

Things I loved- Yuki. Admittedly I love the whole idea of smelling the dead. (Not that I want that ability, but it's something new and different and therefore = love) I like that she uses the scent as a sort of "getting warner, getting warmer, colder!" detection device, and even uses it as her own personal Ouija board. She has this oversensitive sniffer, and it kind of sucks, but she does with it what she can to help the dead find peace. I also loved Yuki's style. She is most definitly true to herself and that is refreshing. I was also pretty happy with the fact that she has told her best friends about her ability- too often we see the main charecter hide their supernatural gifts, and become isolated, but here she hads friends who know whats going on and stand by her and even help her. Both Emma and Calvin are great charecters and great friends.

Speaking of Calvin- totally down with his supernatural gift as well. I'm not going to give it away, but I like that it was something familiar, but twisted in a new way. His relationship with Yuki and what he has to be for her was a good way of tying them together. It made their friendship so much more without jumping into the generic and sterotypical love triangle, which is pretty played out.

Like I said, the book ends rather abruptly, but that doesn't neccessarily take away from the story itself. This book lays good goundwork for the remainder of the Spirit Guides series, which I'm looking forward to reading when they come out.

About EJ Stevens:
Spirit Guides series website
From the Shadows website
Twitter
Goodreads

Rating:

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Check out this awesome book trailer!

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CONTEST!!!
So now I have a contest to go with this book. Up for grabs are 2 bookmark/postcard sets. This contest will be international and will run starting now and closing on Friday 10/15 at 11:59pm. With the exception of this being an international contest, all other contest policies apply.

simply fill out the form below to enter:

In My Mailbox

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren. The idea is to share what books you got your hands on in the last week. This week was pretty good to me, with a few books from the library, a few that I won in contests and one on review!

Contest Wins:
The Twin's Daughter by Lauren Baratz- Logsted (ARC)

Lucy Sexton is stunned when a disheveled woman appears at the door one day... a woman who bears an uncanny resemblance to Lucy's own beautiful mother. It turns out the two women are identical twins, separated at birth, and raised in dramatically different circumstances. Lucy's mother quickly resolves to give her less fortunate sister the kind of life she has never known. And the transformation in Aunt Helen is indeed remarkable. But when Helen begins to imitate her sister in every way, even Lucy isn't sure at times which twin is which. Can Helen really be trusted, or does her sweet face mask a chilling agenda?

Filled with shocking twists and turns, The Twin's Daughter is an engrossing gothic novel of betrayal, jealousy, and treacherous secrets that will keep you guessing to the very end.

The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen. As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron Fey, iron-bound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her. Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's alone in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

Stork by Wendy Delsol

Sixteen-year-old Katla has just moved from Los Angeles to the sticks of Minnesota. As if it weren’t enough that her trendy fashion sense draws stares, she learns to her horror that she’s a member of an ancient order of women who decide to whom certain babies will be born. Add to that Wade, the arrogant football star whom Katla regrettably fooled around with, and Jack, a gorgeous farm boy who initially seems to hate her. Soon Katla is having freaky dreams about a crying infant and learns that, as children, she and Jack shared a near-fatal, possibly mystical experience. Can Katla survive this major life makeover and find a dress for the homecoming dance? Drawing from Norse mythology and inspired by The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, debut author Wendy Delsol conceives an irreverent, highly entertaining novel about embracing change and the (baby) bumps along the way.

For Review:

She Smells the Dead by EJ Stevens
It's the beginning of senior year and Yuki's psychic awareness of ghostly spirits is threatening to ruin her life. Her ability to sense spirits of the dead isn't glamorous like the ghost hunting on television.

SHE SMELLS THE DEAD.

The smell impressions are becoming stronger. Yuki is being visited in her dreams, and she suspects that her friend Calvin is involved in something strange. To make matters worse her crush on Garrett is going unrequited, Yuki's friend Emma is on a rampage against bee oppression, and annoying Calvin Miller mysteriously disappears.

Will Yuki be able to focus her powers in time to save the lost soul who is haunting her? Meanwhile, who will save Yuki from following the spirits into the light?

From the Library:

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder - much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing - not even a smear of blood - to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know....

Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.

*All descriptions from goodreads.com*