You Scorched Me

Expected Publication: September 25th, 2012

Scorch (Croak # 2)

By: Gina Damico

Graphia

ISBN-13: 9780547624570

Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby is a teenage grim reaper with the bizarre ability to damn souls. That makes her pretty scary, even to fellow Grims. But after inadvertently transferring her ability to Zara, a murderous outlaw, Lex is a pariah in Croak, the little town she calls home.

To escape the townspeople’s wrath, she and her friends embark on a wild road trip to DeMyse. Though this sparkling desert oasis is full of luxuries and amusements, it feels like a prison to Lex. Her best chance at escape would be to stop Zara once and for all—but how can she do that from DeMyse, where the Grims seem mysteriously oblivious to Zara’s killing spree?

Review

   In the first novel in the series, Croak, Lex found out that she is a teenage grim reaper and thought she'd finally found where she belonged.  Until her twin sister Cordy was murdered by a fellow reaper-in-training, Zara, and she discovered she has the ability to damn souls.  Oh yeah, Zara also stole that ability and is now on a murderous rampage with an illegally obtained scythe!  Lex returns to Croak with her Uncle Mort after the devastation of her twin's funeral, only to find that Norwood and Heloise (who hate the junior reapers) have turned the wholed town against her and are trying to oust Uncle Mort as the town's Mayor and leader.  The town is attacked and bombed, Lex's abilities begin to get beyond her control, her Uncle is foiling her alone-time efforts with boyfriend Driggs and Zara threatens to kill innocent people every day until Lex gets Groton's notorious book for her.  A very dangerous and illegal book that could lead to the destruction of the Grim way of life.  Can Lex stop Zara before it's too late?  And will the biggest surprise of all end up being the greatest secret weapon yet?  I loved the humor in this book even more than the first one.  The fact that Cordy ends up hooking up with King Tut in the afterlife is absolutely priceless! :)  Uncle Mort's determination to cock-block Lex and Driggs made me laugh constantly.  But this book also has a very serious side to it as well.  I felt like some of the big reveals in the damning/Groton/Heloise & Norwood take over storyline were pretty obvious.  I didn't feel like I got too many surprises - except for the city of DeMyse and the death of someone that was accidental and very angering.  I also liked the addition of junior reaper Broomie from the aforesaid city.  Excited to see what part he'll have in the next book.  I did not like the over-villaining of Norwood and Heloise.  It felt almost cartoony to me at some points.  The way the situation with Lex's parents is left after a disastrous Thanksgiving dinner is pretty annoying to me as well.  Overall, a fun follow-up to Croak but it does suffer from sophmore syndrome and being the second book in a trilogy.  Recommended to fans of the first book for absolute sure! :)

VERDICT:  3.5/5  Stars

*I received this book as part of Around the World ARC Tours, run by the lovely Princess Bookie. No favors or money were exchanged for this review. It will be available for purchase on September 25th, 2012.*