Supernaturally

Author: Kiersten White
Publisher: HarperCollins Children's Books
Released: July 26, 2011
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Author's Website: http://kierstenwhite.com/
Author's Blog: http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com/
Sequel to Paranormalcy

Evie has escaped the control of IPCA after she found out she completely disapproved of some of their methods. She's trying to live a normal life - finally! - when Raquel shows up again and asks for help in a changed IPCA. They've found a way to bypass needing to use faeries, for which Evie is immensely grateful, but strange things keep happening, faeries show up in weird places, and Evie seems to be under attack from more creatures and more often than ever before. Trying to balance all this with being normal with her boyfriend, Lend, is hard, and Evie wonders if she can ever possibly be anything remotely resembling normal.

I like the little feel of mystery to this book. You're never sure, just as Evie isn't, what exactly is going on. Though I did start suspecting the culprit before the end of the book, I was still kept guessing as to how everything fit together, what the purpose of it all is. The detail in all the descriptions is also really amazing. Whether describing a scene, action, of emotion, Kiersten makes it all come alive and seem so real, like you're standing right there and experiencing it all along with Evie.

This book is more clearly a novel about the search for identity and belonging than Paranormalcy was. And Kiersten portrays this search and confusion perfectly! Evie's emotions every step of the way feel so real, so raw, that I really felt along with her as she found out each of the bits and pieces about where she comes from and where she belongs. Identity and belonging are themes of a lot of YA literature, but the way Supernaturally explores beginnings, personal choices, relationships - it's real and it means something. It's not all answered yet, so I'm waiting for the third book to see how it all plays out!

The arc of this story is nicely self-contained in a single book, but the problem of the whole series is still keeping me waiting for the third book so I can see what happens. What will happen to the faeries after all? What will happen to Evie? Will Vivian wake up? What...? and How...? and When...?