Review: Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Release Date: 27^th December 2011
Publisher: Egmont USA

Every other day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She's human.
And then every day in between she's something else entirely…
Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway – even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.
When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she'll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive… And learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process.

Um, how has no one pointed me in the direction of Jennifer Lynn Barnes before? This woman is GENIUS. Yes, she deserves the capitals.
This book completely blindsided me – I stumbled across it completely randomly and was hooked from the first page.

The writing is excellent, the humour fantastic and I frequently embarrassed myself in public by laughing out loud at the sheer brilliance of some of the one liners.

The plot is a fantastic spin on Jekyll and Hyde, and was so fresh and original that I was practically jumping for joy throughout. However, about three quarters of the way through there’s a twist that suddenly brought it back into the realms of usual young adult plots, and I was a little bit disappointed. However, that slight set back didn’t ruin the overall enjoyment of the book, and I think it was more the shock of suddenly plunging back into something I thought this book avoided than it being bad exactly. I want to go back and have a re-read because I think being prepared for it will make it less of a jolt. If that made any sense…

Kali is a fabulous heroine, strong, independent, and with a brilliant sense of humour, and the cast of characters that accompany her are equally well constructed. It’s rare to find a book where every female character is so awesome. I would quite happily read the Skylar story, or the Bethany story, as much as I enjoyed reading the Kali story. In fact my only real complaint would be that I wanted more.

Whilst I can do a lot of jumping up and down and squeeing and waving this book at you and demanding  that this has to be your final read of the year, I can’t really say more without spoiling it. And there’s so much I want to talk about regarding it that I’m going to do a full review once the book has been released on the 27^th December 2011.

If you like Cassandra Clare, Holly Black or Sarah Rees Brennan, this is a must have read. Brilliant plot, fantastic world building and snarky strong females galore, this is going to be one of my reads of the year.

You can pre-order your copy of 'Every Other Day' on Amazon here.