Review: The body hunterby Kimberly Derting

Plot: Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes that the dead leave behind in the world... and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find the dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer... and becoming his prey herself. (Summary from goodreads.com)

Cover: Although I don't think it's eye-gripping, I don't mind it either. It's just kind of... mah. 

First sentence: "Violet Ambrose wandered away from the safety of her father as she listened to the harmony of sounds weaving delicately around her."

My opinion: This novel has been sitting on my bookshelf for a few weeks now, but I haven't picked it up for some reason. Big mistake! Because if there ever was a unique premise to a YA paranormal romance, this was it. A girl who "feels" the echoes of the dead and their killers, it's entirely new to me. This novel definitely hooked me right from the start. Too often, I feel that prologues don't add to the story, but this one captivated me. To speak movie: it had me at 'hello'. 

I've been complaining a bit about the relationships and lack of me 'feeling it' lately, but this romance was right up my alley. There was some great romantic/sexual tension as there usually is when one - and sometimes both - is acutely aware of their own feelings but at the same time completely oblivious to the other person's and is afraid to spoil a wonderful friendship by putting emotions into the mix. I felt this love!

All in all, I really enjoyed this novel. It is one of the best I've read in some time now. It was unique, romantic and downright creepy. Good thing I have the sequel sitting on my shelf too...