Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison

Madison's prom was killer—literally. For some reason she's been targeted by a dark reaper—yeah, that kind of reaper—intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away.

Now she's stuck on Earth—dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to toe the line between life and death. She still doesn't know why the dark reaper is after her, but she's not about to just sit around and let fate take its course.

With a little ingenuity, some light-bending, and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys! Maybe . . . ), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison's ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all, before it takes control of her.

Well, if she believed in that stuff. [via GoodReads]

Once Dead, Twice Shy is a fast-paced novel that sadly I just did not enjoy. For one, the book starts and you feel like if you missed the first half of it. You just get thrown right smack into the story, or at least that's what I felt like. Now for me it was a little different because I read the short story in Prom Nights from Hell titled Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper which was were I was originally introduced to Madison and what intrigued me enough to make me want to see what happens next with her.

I really liked the premise of the story. I'm a sucker for good vs. bad (or, in this case, dark vs. light) stories and this really sounded promising. But in the end, I just didn't get a true feel for the characters and the story ended up being too predictable for my tastes.

I can definitely see it's appeal and why teens would want to read it (with all the hype for paranormal books nowadays), but it just didn't work for me.