Supernaturally by Kiersten White (REVIEW)

Supernaturally (Paranormalcy #2)  by Kiersten White

Genre: YA paranormal -- Publication date: July 26, 2011 -- Publisher: HarperTeen -- Pages: 336 -- Source: Library

Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees.

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.

So much for normal. (Goodreads.com)

I put off writing this review for a few days because I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to say about it. I've come to the conclusion that Kiersten White's highly-anticipated sequel was...not as great as I had thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I slurped it all up in one sitting, but I had higher expectations. Usually, sequels are supposed to be, like, the climax of a trilogy. Leave you desperate for more and all that. At least, in my opinion that is how it is supposed to be. And Supernaturally just sort of flopped for me.

Evie's character digressed. I figured she would have been working on her honesty and selfish issues, but it only seems to have gotten worse! She spends the entire book lying to Lend, who she claims she is in love with, and all of her other friends who have been nothing but good and helpful to her. When she's not lying, she is whining! "Wah, school is so boring." "Wah, nobody has tried killing me." "Wah, my boyfriend is too good for me." "Wah, I'm all alone." Seeing a trend here? That's not the Evie we all know and love. I mean, I don't even remember Tasey actually coming into play once in this book. I mean, at least in Paranormalcy Evie almost always came up with solutions herself. She used her FREAKING BRAIN! And in this book all she does is depend on Lend. Where she wants to go to college, what she's going to do with her life. It drove me insane!

And Lend. I would have loved to see him a lot more in this book. The times that we did get to see him, Evie just destroyed the whole experience by lying to him and wondering if she should tell him the truth. I felt so bad for him, because he's so sweet and it's obvious how much he loves Evie, and here she is, lying and sneaking around with IPCA. I've read a lot of reviews that say that all Lend did was nag, and that may be true, but could you blame the kid? Look at his girlfriend! Not to mention, I mean, where did all his witty snark go? It;s like all the spunk and funk and spark deflated from the two of them.

Not a lot actually happened in this book. I feel like it could have easily been compressed into half of its length and then added to. White's writing was just as good as before, and Evie definitely still provoked quite a few chuckles from me, but I feel like the whole thing could have been so much better! One of my favorite parts of the first book were Evie's kickass moments when she would deal with the paranormals. She was like a girlier Buffy with all of her cute banter with the paranormals. That only happened, like, once in this book. It was upsetting, to say the least.

I think my favorite part of this book was Jack. I know that a lot of people don't like him all that much, but I feel like he really brought the book to life. He was goofy and fun and more than a little messed up. What I don't understand is how Evie put up with him and why she decided to just always follow him in the first place. It was pretty damn obvious that he would bring about trouble. The Evie I remember would definitely stay away from him, and if he tried to mess with her, she would taser the crap out of him! I mean, there were several instances when she would walk into her room and he was just hanging out. Puhlease. Taseyyyy! Where are you!?

This book was pleasantly fast-paced, which was good. And Kiersten white brought in even MORE awesome paranormals to the table! And I feel like this review has been so negative thus far, but there is just one more thing that needs complaining about.

The ending.

I wasn't that impressed. I'm not going to give it away, but I will mention that it is focused ultimately on the power of love. And while that is an excellent theme for a book, it just didn't seem to fit for Supernaturally. I'm still not exactly sure how it even saved Evie, but I'm hoping that will be explained in the next novel. I guess I just had higher hopes for White and I thought that the ending was cheesy.

Just like Paranormalcy, this book was cute and quick and a very good distraction.

• The faerie realms. We get to learn a lot more about the realms and the doors and how it all works and it was pleasant.
• The scarce Reth. Okay, okay, before you chop off my head, let me state that I do love Reth's character. Which was why I loved his few appearances. I felt like having him in the book at every corner would get infuriating, and the little that he did show up made me want to see more of him and not groan when he popped in.
• Bleep. I don't think I mentioned this in my review for Paranormalcy, but I love how Evie says bleep instead of cursing, and I love that she still does it even after what happened to Lish. Usually something like that would bother me, but it just seems to fit in with Evie's character all too well.
• More Arianna. For some reason I just love her! And I love seeing more of her, and a slightly more kind version of her than we got to see in the first book. Plus, the little bits with Arianna about her video game made me crack up! I loved learning more about her past and how she became a vampire.

If you liked...

The Hex Hall series by Rachel Hawkins

The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

The Fallen series by Lauren Kate

then you'll ADORE Supernaturally!