The Body Finder
Kimberly Derting
366 pages
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
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 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 dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.
Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope 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.
My Thoughts:
The first thing that drew me to this book was it’s beautiful cover. The summery only made it sound more interesting. The wonderful Lori at Pure Imagination insisted that I push this book to the top of my to-read list, and I have to say that I was sooo appreciative. It’s one of the best young adult novels that I’ve read in a long while, if not forever. Ms. Derting has written an incredible story with superb writing and insight into teenage world.
I think the thing I love the most about The Body Finder is how Derting adds mystery to a “normal” teenage life. Derting writes the mystery within a wonderful fun romance and “real life” type story of Violet and Jay. At first, I was a little frustrated at how little investigating and pieces to the mystery there were. But the more I thought about it, the story is written from the point of view of Violet. Who, as a teenager, would not have been a main part in the investigation. Derting writes it realistically - Violet only knew as much as her uncle, chief of police, would tell her. She didn’t give me all the pieces to the puzzle, but it made for more intrigue because I only knew as much as Violet, and therefore didn’t solve the mystery (though I did have a thought of who it might be - felt so smart at the end). It made for an awesome young adult mystery.
Ok, so as a girl, I’m totally allowed to love romance stories. So, I’m just going to take ahold of my gender and gush for a bit. I LOVE the Jay and Violet story. It was definitely squeal and sigh worthy. So the basic idea is that Jay and Violet have been best buds since they could walk, but now that they are both teenagers, things are starting to change as they get to know each other as young adults. I love Violet and her wonderful reactions. She gets all nervous and blushes and thinks about Jay at the most awkward times. I love it! And their mutual friends just make it so much more wonderfully funny. It reminded me of the fun moments of high school. I don’t want to say more, but just know that you should go read it, even if it is only for the awesome cute romance that is Jay and Violet.
So here’s a bit of a small tangent. I was browsing twitter while writing this review, as I have a short attention span. I definitely found a review of The Body Finder that starts out with: “Move over Edward, here comes Jay Heaton!” I love it! So true. Though I never really crushed on Edward like some people, I’m definitely crushing on Jay.
Anyway, The Body Finder is awesome. One of the best books I’ve read probably forever. It was a mystery. But filled with sweet cute fall-in-love story with a sweet guy who is honest and protective (incredibly swoon-worthy). Derting wrote an awesome novel that I read in like day and a half - even while working. So instead of getting sleep, I read and only got four hours of sleep in preparation for my 12 hour shift. (I giggled in EKG class because of it, and it wasn’t because I was learning about premature ventricular contractions.) It was that good. I gave it a 5 out of 5 stars, because though it may never become a classic, it was amazing. And I already reread the ending and parts I liked. I can’t wait to read Desires of the Dead! I know that I will continue to read anything that Kimberly Derting writes. Her ideas are awesome, and her writing thoroughly enforces a great idea and makes it a wonderful novel. She’s definitely quickly becoming a favorite writer of mine.
More of The Body Finder and Kimberly Derting:
Goodreads: The Body Finder
Goodreads: Kimberly Derting
Review: Pure Imagination
Review: The Book Vixen
Novel Novice: Book of the Month page
Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.
Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope 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.
My Thoughts:
The first thing that drew me to this book was it’s beautiful cover. The summery only made it sound more interesting. The wonderful Lori at Pure Imagination insisted that I push this book to the top of my to-read list, and I have to say that I was sooo appreciative. It’s one of the best young adult novels that I’ve read in a long while, if not forever. Ms. Derting has written an incredible story with superb writing and insight into teenage world.
I think the thing I love the most about The Body Finder is how Derting adds mystery to a “normal” teenage life. Derting writes the mystery within a wonderful fun romance and “real life” type story of Violet and Jay. At first, I was a little frustrated at how little investigating and pieces to the mystery there were. But the more I thought about it, the story is written from the point of view of Violet. Who, as a teenager, would not have been a main part in the investigation. Derting writes it realistically - Violet only knew as much as her uncle, chief of police, would tell her. She didn’t give me all the pieces to the puzzle, but it made for more intrigue because I only knew as much as Violet, and therefore didn’t solve the mystery (though I did have a thought of who it might be - felt so smart at the end). It made for an awesome young adult mystery.
Ok, so as a girl, I’m totally allowed to love romance stories. So, I’m just going to take ahold of my gender and gush for a bit. I LOVE the Jay and Violet story. It was definitely squeal and sigh worthy. So the basic idea is that Jay and Violet have been best buds since they could walk, but now that they are both teenagers, things are starting to change as they get to know each other as young adults. I love Violet and her wonderful reactions. She gets all nervous and blushes and thinks about Jay at the most awkward times. I love it! And their mutual friends just make it so much more wonderfully funny. It reminded me of the fun moments of high school. I don’t want to say more, but just know that you should go read it, even if it is only for the awesome cute romance that is Jay and Violet.
So here’s a bit of a small tangent. I was browsing twitter while writing this review, as I have a short attention span. I definitely found a review of The Body Finder that starts out with: “Move over Edward, here comes Jay Heaton!” I love it! So true. Though I never really crushed on Edward like some people, I’m definitely crushing on Jay.
Anyway, The Body Finder is awesome. One of the best books I’ve read probably forever. It was a mystery. But filled with sweet cute fall-in-love story with a sweet guy who is honest and protective (incredibly swoon-worthy). Derting wrote an awesome novel that I read in like day and a half - even while working. So instead of getting sleep, I read and only got four hours of sleep in preparation for my 12 hour shift. (I giggled in EKG class because of it, and it wasn’t because I was learning about premature ventricular contractions.) It was that good. I gave it a 5 out of 5 stars, because though it may never become a classic, it was amazing. And I already reread the ending and parts I liked. I can’t wait to read Desires of the Dead! I know that I will continue to read anything that Kimberly Derting writes. Her ideas are awesome, and her writing thoroughly enforces a great idea and makes it a wonderful novel. She’s definitely quickly becoming a favorite writer of mine.
More of The Body Finder and Kimberly Derting:
Goodreads: The Body Finder
Goodreads: Kimberly Derting
Review: Pure Imagination
Review: The Book Vixen
Novel Novice: Book of the Month page
I plan on finishing this one tonight it is really great so far. I do love the real life feel of Violet and Jay's relationship.
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