Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

At eight years of age, Evie discovers that she has a special gift... she sees through the glamours of paranormals.  With no family of her own, Evie is taken in by the International Paranormal Containment Agency (IPCA), a group charged with tracking and containing paranormal beings.  Eight years later, Evie has become somewhat bored with the usual "bag and tag" at work, but while she knows her gift is indispensable to the IPCA, she longs for a normal teenage life.  When Evie's superior, Raquel, is attacked by a shape-shifting -- and extremely cute -- teenage boy named Lend, Evie finds herself strangely drawn to him.  Lend is drawn to Evie, too, and wonders if she may be the person at the center of a dark faerie prophecy.  As Lend and Evie form a friendship, paranormals begin dying and Reth, a faerie obsessed with Evie, gives odd clues that may lead Evie to discover who she really is.

Prior to reading Paranormalcy, I'd read nothing but glowing reviews about the book.  Maybe the high praise is to blame for my less-than-stellar reaction to Evie's story.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it.  I just didn't love it.  Evie is a fun, spunky, likable character (although I never could understand her fascination with lockers, of all things), and Lend is the kind of guy teenage girls dream about.  I think the whole idea behind Paranormalcy and the IPCA is intriguing, and the story held my interest throughout.  I really had no clue where the story was going, but even so, in the end, it took a completely different turn than I had expected and I felt like things weren't quite as fleshed out as they could have been.  And what's up with Reth?  He remains a big mystery to me, even after all the interaction he and Evie had.

While I didn't love it, I still found Paranormalcy to be an entertaining read.  I'll definitely read the second book, Supernaturally.  I'm eager to know Reth better, and to see where life leads Evie and Lend.

My rating: 3.5/5