What's Hot? Books.

Dancing with Death by Andrea Heltsley. 

Title: Dancing with Death
Author: Andrea Heltsley
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal romance
Publication Date: 8th August 2012
Goodreads Summary: Murders have plagued the woods in the past, making them a place of fear. Eighteen year old Wendy and her friends become worried when a new string of murders come to their high school. After a horrible car accident, Wendy returns to school, going from wallflower to popular overnight. As the murderer edges closer to Wendy she realizes things are changing. She is afflicted with nightmares that are all too real and she herself is undergoing unnatural changes. Learning the truth about her past, could be the key to saving her future.





{ Review }

I absolutely love the cover of this book and that's the main reason that I signed up to be part of its book tour; however, I'm not really sure relevance it has to the book. Nonetheless, it is beautiful. The cover; however, is the only thing that I really liked about this book as I was thoroughly unimpressed by the rest of it and here's why:

This book started out great, but as time went on I began to lose interest. The dialogue between the characters was really formal at times and I didn't really feel any emotional connection between them. I thought that the conversations also went round and round in circles repeating the same things over and over again even when the characters were presented with different scenarios. The plot got into a groove quite early on and in the latter part of the book the only thing that really happened was mindless and repetitive kissing scenes and discussions about what outfit to wear to school next day. At the end of the book you find out that there was kind of a purpose to all of this - but not really.

I didn't feel that much emotion whilst reading this book to be honest, and that is why I'm not giving this book a particularly high rating because I read books for the emotional intensity that they bring. At the beginning of the book I felt the usual excitement about which guy she was going to pick and which literary character I would fall in love with, but this feeling did not last. The only other point in the book where I felt anything was when Wendy had a creepy nightmare and I literally felt a shiver down my spine. That for me was the best part, but again, this feeling did not last.

I found the protagonist, Wendy, incredibly irritating as a character because cheating is fundamentally wrong, no matter what the circumstances, and she didn't really seem to feel as much remorse or guilt as much I would've thought one should. Again, the main focus of her day was her wardrobe choice and complaining about her guy issues which just made me really annoyed. The novel climaxes at the end of the book and whilst something (kinda) dramatic was going on, Wendy's decision making and train of thought were just bizarre and incomprehensible.

The guys in this book start out hot. Then they just turn into sappy, repetitive weeds that fall over backwards for Wendy, though I couldn't see why. As I didn't like Wendy much either it meant that the central plot didn't appeal to me much at all. I was much more interested in the love story between Jackson and Hallie which really wasn't part of the plot at all.

Whilst this book had potential, it was ultimately a disappointment. As the book approached the climax, I didn't feel any sense of excitement or anticipation and the characters themselves seemed to glance over major events in their lives. All in all, I wasn't particularly fond of the characters or the plot, but maybe this just wasn't the book for me.