Supernaturally (Paranormalcy #2)

Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy series is completely unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It’s funny, light, cute, and surprisingly heartwarming. The pace is fast and the narrative voice is wholly engaging. Except for a few slight issues, this series is as close to perfection as I’ve seen in the paranormal genre, though I do admit that it has multiple glaring issues and zero literary value (I overlook those, though, based on overall impression).

So this book starts out with Evie, our main character, enjoying her “normal” high school life. Except her roomate is a vampire, her boyfriend is a shapeshifter, and she works partime at the local supernatural creatures’ watering hole. So not really all that normal.

And then all of a sudden in pops this really psychotic boy, Jack, who’s basically awesome. Jack is a human raised by faeries, and he’s pretty…weird. In the beginning stages of this novel, I was seriously laughing out loud every time he made an appearance, especially in the scene where Jack finds Evie in the locker room and compares her gym teacher to Aphrodite. Very funny stuff, and great comedic relief.

But of course, Evie’s personality is comedic relief in and of itself. And while I totally admit that she’s not the most three-dimensional of characters, she’s so funny and girly and sassy that I couldn’t care less.

All that humor was good, though, because Jack’s appearance sets off this whole wave of craziness that has to do with faeries and the prophecy about Evie and suchlike. And also some drama with Evie’s awesome boyfriend Lend, since Evie doesn’t think their relationship will work out due to the fact that he’s immortal and she has a very short lifespan.

Overall, Supernaturally’s plot was probably a bit more “serious” than Paranormalcy, and I didn’t really mind that, because it felt a lot more fitting, given the circumstances. And between the hilariousness that was Jack and the mushiness that was Evie/Lend, White seemed to find a really good balance in her narrative. The big reveal of the “mystery antagonist” was slightly disappointing, but it matched the rest of the book so I have no huge issues.

My only other complaints would be that at times the plot seemed a bit rushed—but I’m a fan of long books so that’s just me. And also that White doesn’t do her secondary characters as much justice as her primary. Raquel, for instance, is Evie’s second mother, but I can never tell if White wants the reader to like her or not. Not a lot of depth there.

Verdict: If you were a fan of Paranormalcy, you’ll most likely love Supernaturally. There’s definitely no sign of “second book sydrome” here, and Evie is just as funny and endearing as ever, and the plot is just as fast-paced and cute.