Once Dead, Twice Shy

Once Dead, Twice Shy (2009) is the first Fantasy novel in the Madison Avery series. It is set somewhere in the USA within the contemporary timeframe. Seraphs are the angels in charge in Heaven (but there is no Hell). Below Seraphs are reapers and lower still in the hierarchy are guardian angels. Reapers come in two varieties: light and dark. Both are angels of death, but they have political differences. Dark reapers work on the side of fate and light reapers work on the side of free choice. Dark reapers kill persons who are destined to commit evil and light reapers try to protect such persons. In this novel, Madison Avery is now living with her father after her mother kicked her out for numerous arrests for loitering and curfew violations. She is a strange person and doesn't quite fit any of the usual cliques. Now she has another problem: she is dead, but appears alive due to Seth's amulet. Josh Daniels is the son of a coworker of Madison's father. He took her to the prom, but she walked out after learning that his father had suggested the date. He followed her when she left with Seth and witnessed the accident. Kairos Seth is a leader of the dark reapers. After killing Madison, Seth showed up at the morgue to take her soul. Instead, Madison took his amulet. Barnabas is a light reaper. He is assigned to Madison. Charon is a leader of the light reapers. Ron is Barnabas's boss. Guardian, Reaper-Augmented Cherub Extinction Security number one-sevenry-six is a first level guardian angel and new to the job. Madison calls her Grace. In this story, Madison survived an auto accident -- she was wearing her seatbelt -- but her date then killed her with a blade. After Madison took his amulet, he vanished and Madison appeared to be alive. Her father was pleased, but quite surprised. Barnabas is trying to teach her reaper skills, but she is having problems learning to communicate through her aura. One difficulty is her inability to SEE an aura. She has been sort of trying for six months and has never exchanged a thought with Barnabas. Since Barnabas is reluctant to let her out of his sight, he takes her on an assignment. He doesn't know who the victim will be, but he warns her to be alert. They go out on the lake in two boats, Barnabas riding with the boys and Madison with the girls. Bill falls off his skis and strikes his head. While everybody is looking at Bill, the female boat driver draws a sword and attacks Susan. Madison pushes Susan out of the way and then grapples with the dark reaper. Barnabas comes to help her and they drive off the other reaper. Then Barnabas wipes memories of the incident from the minds of bystanders and Madison drives the boat back to the pier. Bill is put into an ambulance and taken to the hospital. Barnabas calls a meeting with Ron. Although Ron tends to talk over efforts by Barnabas to explain, they eventually establish that Madison has the amulet of Kairos Seth and that her soul is in

Madison's prom was killer--literally. For some reason she's been targeted by a dark reaper--yeah, that kind of reaper--intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away. Now she's stuck on Earth--dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to toe the line between life and death. She still doesn't know why the dark reaper is after her, but she's not about to just sit around and let fate take its course. With a little ingenuity, some light-bending, and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys! Maybe), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison's ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all, before it takes control of her. Well, if she believed in that stuff. Things I liked: -I loved this whole book, it was a little confusing at times because it was a new concept and it's not all explained at once but I actually kind of liked that. It kept me guessing. It may have been less confusing had I read the intro short story in the 'Prom Dates From Hell' collection. -Barnabas..lets just say he is my new literary crush..can we say hottie angel..I've always had a thing for wings. Reaper is another name for angel basically, in this book anyways. (I think he may win out over Patch from Hush, Hush for me, I'm half way through that and I still like Barnabas better) -Nakita, while she is technically a "bad guy" she's hard not to like, I love a strong female character that kicks ass. -The reapers use these colored swords, and the whole colored swords thing reminded me of star wars..and it did kind of have that kind of that feel to it minus being in space. -Madison, I loved reading from her POV. Anyone who knows me well knows that I prefer reading in 3rd person, but reading from Madison's POV was quite enjoyable for me. -I loved that this book was about choice vs. fate..I don't really want to say what this means in relation to the book because it will kind of give it away but it was a refreshing to read about something new. -I read a few reviews that said the writing in this book was dumbed down, but I didn't feel like that at all, I liked the writing style and the dialog etc. Things I Disliked: -I was a little annoyed by the character Grace, but I kind of warmed up to her near the end. Overall this was a really fun read, action, adventure, sword fights, martial arts, hot angels, a twist at the end..what more could you ask for? I've never really gotten into Kim Harrison adult novels, but this was a solid book for her break through into the YA genre and I look forward to a sequel. I give this 5 out of 5

I thought that this was a really good book for the first in a series. In the first book there is so much groundwork to lay and back story to form. I think that Kim did a great job of this in this 1st book of a new series. I LOVE the Rachael Morgan series with the rich and interesting characters and the richly drawn world, really, that she has created. I love to visit that world whenever she opens the door to give us that opportunity.

My name is Madison Avery, and I'm here to tell you that there's more out there than you can see, hear, or touch. Because I'm there. Seeing it. Touching it. Living it. Madison's prom was killer--literally. For some reason she's been targeted by a dark reaper--yeah, that kind of reaper--intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away. Now she's stuck on Earth--dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to toe the line between life and death. She still doesn't know why the dark reaper is after her, but she's not about to just sit around and let fate take its course. With a little ingenuity, some light-bending, and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys! Maybe . . . ), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison's ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all, before it takes control of her. Well, if she believed in that stuff. Well written, enjoyable characters kept me interested until the very end. I am excited to see where Madison ends up next. I have been a fan of Kim Harrison's Hollows series for a while which made this story an auto buy for me. I am not disappointed in the least. Ms. Harrison has a talent for storytelling that shows in everything she does so I suppose it was only a matter of time before she gave us a YA series. I am confident that I will enjoy Madison Avery for many books to come just as I have enjoyed Rachel Morgan. Highly recommend this book for any fans of The Hollows series.

Madison's dead. Well, sort of. See, there was this dark reaper who scythed her, for reasons she still hasn't figured out, and technically she should be long gone. But when he came back to destroy her soul as well as her body, she was able to steal an amulet from him that's allowed her to keep walking around and breathing (even though she doesn't really need to), and appearing alive to anyone who doesn't know any better. Unfortunately, the owner of that amulet wants it back - badly. And the light reaper assigned to help Madison adjust to her new pseudo-life may not be able to protect her from him. As Madison struggles to hold onto her life and to save those she cares about who end up targeted as well, she discovers there's a whole lot about this life and death thing she doesn't know, and uncovering those secrets may be the only way she can hope to survive. ONCE DEAD, TWICE SHY is a fast-paced and engaging read from start to finish. Madison makes an enjoyable narrator, stubborn and sarcastic but with a lot of heart, and enough smarts to get her through some very sticky situations. Harrison has created a fascinating and unique world of reapers and other afterlife figures, though at times readers may find all the information a little hard to follow. With plenty of suspense and humor and a little romance, this book will appeal to paranormal fans of all ages. Reviewed by: Lynn Crow