Stefanie's Thoughts: Reaper by Kyra Leigh

Sixteen-year-old Rosie Wolf is sure when you die, you go straight to Paradise, until she wakes to discover she has died in an accident and that Paradise isn’t what she thought it would be.

Rosie Wolf was sure that when her dad died, he went to Paradise. After all, isn’t that where everyone went? But when Rosie wakes up in a strange hospital bed and finds out that she’s died in an accident, she learns things aren’t always what you think they will be.

Now her father feels further away than ever, and Rosie is left to deal with the Grim Reaper, who isn’t a man in a black cloak, but a beautiful woman with a bad attitude. The Grim Reaper tells Rosie that before she can move on to Paradise, she has to go back down to Earth and collect three souls. But Rosie quickly realizes it’s not so simple.

To complicate matters, Rosie meets Kyle, a boy who is different than anyone she’s ever known. He’s cute, smart, and funny. Rosie’s been warned to stay away from the living, but she doesn’t want to. What will happen if she doesn’t?

Hi everyone, 

Today I'm going to be reviewing a book I discovered while browsing the shelves at my local library: Reaper by Kyra Leigh. I love everything about the Grim Reaper mythology, and this book will add to the non-overly saturated market. I think there has been only one other Reaper themed YA book I've read, which was years ago. 

The concept reminded me a bit of the TV show Dead Like Me, but a toned down version. If you haven't watched it, please do! I highly recommend it and I love it! It's very dry, dark humor. Going into Reaper, I wasn't sure I would be able to connect with the main character because she's only sixteen, but I was able to. I'm finding that as I get older certain young adult books just annoy me as I just find the MC complains too much or the pages are filled with teen angst, which to be honest, I thought this book would have. But, it didn't.

The first couple chapters introducing the After Life were my favorite part. Meeting the Grim Reaper, herself (yes, she's a woman!) was excellent. She's portrayed as pretty much a bad-ass and I loved that. Her fellow staff were fun to read about as well, Brandy was my favorite of them. 

This is where Rosie is told she'll have to collect three souls to move on, or be stuck in the After World forever. Rosie chooses to reap the three souls and hopefully move on. Each newly deceased gets a personal makeover to change their appearance, I really enjoyed this part of the world, as I saw it as completely starting fresh.  

The chapters altered between present time and then flashbacks into Rosie's past. I generally don't like this and find it confusing to follow, but I found this added a layer into Rosie's characterization. Reading about her friendship with her friend Carrie added depth to Rosie. One thing I noticed was Rosie tended to drink a lot of apple cider or had that made for her and I enjoyed knowing those little details about her past. 

I loved the ending. I actually starting tearing up when I reached the final page. I'm also finding I'm getting emotional faster than I used to in regards to fictional characters. 

My only negatives are that I felt this didn't add anything new to the Reaper mythology. This is a not- regularly used trope in young adult and I was really excited to be entering into a world that made me see it differently. A couple questions were left unanswered as well, and that never sits well with me.

Overall this is a quick paced, short novel I read in two evenings. I'll keep an eye out for any future novels by this author. I think I enjoyed this one more too because I have been reading a ton of chick-lit back to back and picking up something paranormal was a good switch. I'll probably go back to a chick-lit, as I went on a huge library spree and checked out fifteen books at once. 

I'm giving this a 3.5 stars out of 5.

Until my next review,

Stefanie