Croak by Gina Damico

I know that in most book reviews the book is given a rating between 1 and 5, but I'm not going to do that because it seems like a very black-and-white way to describe writing that is not in the least black-and-white.

I just finished reading this book a few days ago. Here's a link to the summary: http://www.amazon.com/Croak-Gina-Damico/dp/0547608322/ref=la_B005HJ023Y_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405099475&sr=1-1

From the summary, I assumed this book would be pretty predictable: Juvenile delinquent girl (Lex) stays with uncle for the summer; uncle is a grim reaper; uncle tells Lex that she's a grim reaper; she has adventures being a grim reaper; her family doesn't want her to live in the grim reaper town; she has to convince them; Lex ends up living happily ever after in GrimReapersVille.

I was so so wrong.

This book was really about the juvenile delinquent girl who uses her powers of destruction (in a figurative sense) for good instead of evil when she finds out she's a grim reaper. Lex learns quickly and finds new friends and a new sense of place in Croak, the grim reaper town. Of course, when she enters the town, many conflicts occur. There is a series of unknown deaths that even the Grims can't explain. One thing leads to another and the thing she loves most is hurt in an attempt to stop the killer.

It's not all sad, though. When Lex isn't reaping souls, she's out having fun with her new friends and watching dead presidents fight in the afterlife. (Grims can visit the afterlife whenever they want, as a perk of the job.)

This book was fun to read, but the fun didn't take away from the plot. I almost cried at the end. I really enjoyed reading this, and I'm pretty sure there's a second and third book in this series. If there's not, I might just die.