Chapter by Chapter

I fell in love with the angel of death, guys. In Death and the Girl Next Door a novel by author Darynda Jones (First Grave on the Right) we find ourselves experiencing main character Lorelei’s encounters with Mr. Tall, Dark and dangerous: Jared Kovach who has a dark secret that will change Lorelei’s world forever.The title of Death and the Girl Next Door instantly caught my attention, it made me immediately assume that the novel would be unique and action-packed. Not only was it, but I got a lot more than I assumed I would from the novel. While I came expecting a story about (basically) death coming for the main character, I ended up learning that novel is a lot more than what the title provides. Death and the Girl Next Door is a story with romance, action and the supernatural. Can I get an awesome-sauce?The novel begins with an introduction to our main character, Lorelei, as well as her friends. I got a quick feel for the novel as being playful and dangerous. Right off the hop, I enjoyed Lorelei’s friends since they managed to remind me a lot of my own friends and being a teenager myself, I loved how Jones made the dialogue pretty realistic since we don’t talk wealthy, intelligent, aristocrats 24/7. You know what I mean, when YA authors have teen characters who sound really mature, when in reality (and depending on the age group) teens don’t sound anything like the way the author portrays them.So I give Darynda Jones a pat on the back for realism.As the novel progressed, I found myself falling for Jared Kovach a.k.a. the Angel of Death, Azrael. Since I’m a DC comics nerd, I immediately imagined him as Azrael from the Order of St. Dumas. Ignore my nerdy moment, but the way Jared speaks in the novel and is described as this badass, avenging, condemning angel had me imagining the character and placing him as Jared.The novel centers mostly on the reasons why Jared has come to Earth as well as what it has to do with Lorelei and her parent’s disappearance. I personally felt that the novel moved way too quickly and that you would go from one fast paced situation to another with no place for breaks, which as you can imagine, left me a bit confused. But put that aside, I think it’s really the characters in the novel that make it so genuine and great.Death and the Girl Next Door is Hush, Hush with the angel of death and a main character who has experienced her fair share of the supernatural world. I’d recommend the novel to readers who want to read a novel with a romance between a sexy-pants dangerous angel and a mortal girl. Fans of novels like Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush will fall hard for Death and the Girl Next Door and if you love supernatural romance’s I would point you in the direction of Death and the Girl Next Door.