Review: Mortal Danger

Mortal Danger (Immortal Game #1)
Ann Aguirre
YA Paranormal

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind...

If you could hear me right now, I'd be making a long whiny sound.

Pretty sure many of you saw this on Netgalley and picked it up. Hey, it's Ann Aguirre, right? Enclave was pretty good. Pretty cover, typical YA paranormal set up that usually promises fun. AND YET. I was thoroughly disappointed with Mortal Danger.

World building- SUCKED. I had NO IDEA how this all worked, who the heck these people are, what the stakes are, and why I should care. Neither did Edie, it seemed. But she went along with everything compliantly.

Insta love- of the worst kind. He's gorgeous. How can I live without him? This happened within hours of their first meeting. UGHHHH. On his part, he had been watching her for a while beforehand, but it beats me how the things he saw would make her desirable in his eyes.

Characters- Edie was not annoying, exactly, but she made no sense at all. She made total turnarounds within seconds. She also believed herself better than others who asked for beauty because she needed it for a purpose- to get revenge on her tormentors. Gee, how noble of you.

On the flip side, she was able to pity the bullies she came to enact her revenge on, and even sort of become friends with them. While that might sound like a good thing, when I read what they did to her I was sickened. It was so horrible that I have no words. I don't find it realistic that anyone who lived through what she did could stomach the presence of the perpetrators for even a moment, let alone feel sorry for them.

The rest of the characters were likable, but annoyingly one-dimensional. And Kian lacked any sort of unique personality.

Writing and pacing- nothing to remark on. So, not good.

Will I read book #2? Heck no. Recommended? Nope. Rating: