Review: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

It's been a while since I've finished a book. Ten days to be exact. Wow... just seems weird. I'm currently in the middle of four other books, and while they are all actually amazing books that I am loving so far, I was just in the mood for something else. So... I picked up The Body Finder yesterday and decided to test that out. I had borrowed it from a blogging friend and decided it needed to get read soon anyways. Man oh MAN am I glad I decided to read this. I've been wanting to for like 5 months anyways, but you know there's always something going on. Read on for my review! :)

The Body Finder

By Kimberly Derting

Published by HarperTeen

Publication Date March 16th, 2010

Source: Borrowed(Monica at Bibliophilic Book Blog)

Summary from Goodreads:

"A serial killer on the loose. A girl with a morbid ability. And the boy who would never let anything happen to her.

Violet Ambrose can find the dead. Or at least, those who have been murdered. She can sense the echoes they leave behind... and the imprints they leave on their killers. As if that weren't enough to deal with during junior year, she also has a sudden, inexplicable, and consuming crush on her best friend since childhood, Jay Heaton.

Now a serial killer has begun terrorizing Violet's small town... and she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him."

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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 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."

My review: ***** = 5 Stars

Little Minor Spoilers, Nothing Major :)

The Body Finder starts out with an intense scene of a young Violet finding a body. It helps get the reader into the idea of what Violet has the ability to do, which is sense bodies, hence the title. Right from that one scene, I was locked into this book. Violet Ambrose is a standout female main character. Some authors write their heroines to be either mucho macho or far from it. Violet was a nice mix of both and that made me love her. She was innocent yet strong willed, caring yet capable of telling lies. She knew what she wanted but she didn't just assume she could get it or go after it just to prove she could have it. She's very likeable. Who's even more likeable?! Jay Heaton, Violet's best friend. He was absouletly perfect. So many young adult books these days focus on the swoonworthy bad guy, and while I don't mind that one bit, it was nice seeing the nice guy win out. He was kind, sarcastic and  charming... did I mention good-looking??? I found myself rooting for the two of them, and cheering them on. The romance in this book is just about perfect too. Not too much, not too little. I don't think there's anything in this book that I would complain about. The mystery kept me intrigued and the suspense near the end was nervewracking and exciting. It has everything that I look for in a YA book and am so very happy that I read it. I borrowed a copy but I will be getting my own soon so that I can add it to my favorites shelf. I've read a lot of 5 star books this year, but this goes right into my top 3.

I recommend this to everyone who can handle some murder and dead bodies. Other that that theres nothing too sexual besides some awesome kissing scenes and one minor alcohol scene.

I even emailed Kimberly gushing about how much I loved this, which was a first for me.

If you haven't read this yet, then you should!!!

Sherry <3