Don't Fear the Reaper (Netherworld Series, #1)
Author: Michelle Muto
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Synopsis: Grief-stricken by the murder of her twin, Keely Morrison is convinced suicide is her ticket to eternal peace and a chance to reunite with her sister. When Keely succeeds in taking her own life, she discovers death isn’t at all what she expected. Instead, she’s trapped in a netherworld on Earth and her only hope for reconnecting with her sister and navigating the afterlife is a bounty-hunting reaper and a sardonic, possibly unscrupulous, demon. But when the demon offers Keely her greatest temptation—revenge on her sister’s murderer—she must uncover his motives and determine who she can trust. Because, as Keely soon learns, both reaper and demon are keeping secrets and she fears the worst is true—that her every decision will change how, and with whom, she spends eternity.
Brought to you by TeamNerd Reviewer Bridget Strahin
Review: Don't Fear the Reaper was particularly . . . hard for me to
deal with. It deals with a lot of dark stuff. Suicide, loss, the constant guilt
that you deal with because you know there must have been something you could have done to keep your loved one with you.
Suicide and murder is something that has rocked my family numerous times so
reading this book took a lot out of me.
Keely, a grief
stricken teenage girl has had a hard time dealing with her twin sister's death.
She decides that life has no more meaning and will do anything to be with her
sister again, so she kills herself. Enter Banning, a reaper and Daniel, a
demon. Both very invested in where Keely's soul ends up. Keely is shocked to
learn that she is in purgatory and must watch in helplessness as her family
deals with the gut retching pain of the loss of their second child.
When Keely
learns that Jordan's soul is lost and neither Daniel nor Banning can find her,
the three of them embark on a crazy confusing search for her. They are attacked
by demons hell bent on doing what Daniel will not; take Keely to Hell where she
belongs.
Now, I wanted to
like this book, I really did but for me this book fell flat. The scenes where
Keely was describing her death and the effect it had on her family and her
guilt over her decision to take her life was though repetitive, believable. I
even choked up a little and had to read through blurry eyes. I felt her pain.
I've lived through the after math of someone taking their life so Muto's
writing and ability to paint the picture of a confused and grieving family was
spot on.
But I just
couldn't like Keely. Her thoughts seem to be everywhere and I hated being in
her head. I get that she was sorry for taking her life but what about her past
drug abuse? And all the crazy selfish things she did that hurt her family? I
just couldn't get past that. To me, she didn't deserve a chance to find her
sister and be reunited with her. She should have gone straight to where ever
she needed to be. After all, she wanted to die right? So she doesn’t deserve
the opportunity to stay behind and become earth bound.
Daniel and
Banning were okay I guess. I felt really bad for Banning and his situation and
he always had the right thing to say to comfort Keely, which was kind of weird
for a reaper. By the title of the book I was expecting the reaper to be some
badass who gave Keely a reason to fear him. But to me he was a big softy who
for whatever reason cared about her. Daniel was kind of boring. I felt like his
dialogue could have been a little more witty and for a demon he wasn't very
demon-ish.
I'm a big fan of
Muto so I will continue reading books from her. Will I read the sequel to this
book? I might give it a chance, even though I'm not a big fan of Keely, I am
kind of interested to know how she will do as a reaper and if Banning will ever
be reunited with his family.
About the Author: Writer of urban fantasy, the paranormal, and all things eerie and curious. Lover of scary books and funny movies, sports cars, chocolate, and changes of season. Owned by two incredible dogs and an iMac. Author, wife, sister, freelance tech writer, and IT geek.
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