Darynda Jones – Death and the Girl Next Door

The first book in the Darklight series, published October 2, 2012.
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Cover: interesting



Sophomore year was never supposed to be this complicated.
Ten years ago, Lorelei McAlister’s parents disappeared without a trace, and she is finally beginning to accept the fact that they’re never coming back. Life must go on. She’s got her grandparents and the support of her best friends, and high school is not quite as painful as she thought it would be.

But this is what happens when you fall for the Angel of Death.
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.

Life as she knows it is about to change forever.
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?


Those of you who have followed my blog for a while, know I don’t really like YA books, with a few exceptions. And this series just might be one of those exceptions.

Every year around the time of her parents’ disappearance, Lorelei gets depressed. So her two best friends, Glitch and Brooklyn, as well as her grandparents, try to keep her distracted from her grief. But this year, strange things happen. Cameron, the loner boy Lorelei has known since kindergarten, seems to be stalking her. Suddenly he is everywhere, in their favourite coffeeshop, and at night watching her house. Should she be afraid? Should she just confront him? Tell someone, well, besides her best friends ofcourse.
Then Lorelei bumps into someone in the small dark hallway leading to the bathrooms at the coffeeshop, and gets one of her visions, only a very strange one. She sees this gorgeous boy battling a monster, and winning. She only catches glimpses of his face, but his body is perfection.

The next day at school, the boy of her vision shows up! And he is drop dead gorgeous, super nova hot! But Cameron seems ready to kill him, why? If not for the principal appearing, they would have started a big fight in the hallway. And did he just pick a name from the posters hanging there, when the principal asked for it? Really? But Jared seems to like her, and Lorelei wouldn’t mind getting to know him better.
At lunchbreak Cameron and Jared almost start another fight, right there in the cafeteria. Why do they hate each other? Brooklyn seems to have a crush on Cameron though, and Lorelei never saw that before! Is she such a bad girlfriend that she did not notice? And Glitch is jealous of Cameron, he is sweet on Brooklyn? Should she tell her? But it could also ruin their lifelong friendship if she did.

Then after school, the strangest things happen. While on her way to the library, Lorelei gets hit by a van, did she really die, or did Jared safe her? Or did he just cause her to almost die first? Time seems to be stopped, while Jared and Cameron get into a huge fight, with Cameron shooting Jared point blank, but with no result whatsoever. She has to stop this, before bystanders get hurt. Or the police shows up.
Finally she gets Cameron behind the wheel of his truck, and Jared who is now wounded and unconscious, in the back. Cameron really is acting strange, like Jared would killer her? What is going on, who or what are they?
The boys just keep fighting, and when Jared disappears, Lorelei knows she has to find him, and pulls in Glitch and Brooklyn to help her search for him.


Many surprises and twists in this very well written story. And unlike the cover suggests, there is NO love triangle. Cameron is not a love interest, he just wants to protect Lorelei from Jared. But the why and how of it all was surprising, and original, and I enjoyed it all very much. It does have Darynda’s custom humor, though a bit toned down of course for YA. Still, I liked especially the interactions between Lorelei and Brooklyn and Glitch. I wish I had friends like that growing up.

I do recommend this book to all paranormal YA lovers.

9 stars.

© 2012 Reviews by Aurian