Book Review: Prophecy Girl

“Oh, you think this is fun, Prophecy Boy?” I yelled, furious. “You think it’s cool that we’re swimming in other people’s feces?”
Brown water dripped down his smiling face as his gaze danced over me. I couldn’t put my finger on his expression. Bemusement. Possibly insanity.

“What are you grinning at?” I splashed a floating chunk of molded apple core at his head.

He dodged the chunk but kept smiling. “Nothing. It’s just… no girl has ever offered to feed my enemies’ fingernails to her cat before.”
“Lisa’s cat. And don’t flatter yourself. At the moment, I’m tempted to feed him your fingernails.”

I glanced at the high, circular opening we’d passed through. For some reason, it left me with the uncomfortable sensation that I’d been digested by the city. Directly above us, a series of large rectangular grates ran along the length of the drainage ditch where we’d landed. Moonlight flooded through them into the small enclosure, making Jack’s eyes glow silver. I held my breath as he waded toward me and lifted a hand to my cheek.

“You’ve got spaghetti on your face,” he said. “At least, I hope it’s spaghetti.”

I frowned, desperate not to think about it. “Yeah, well, you’ve got toilet paper on your chin. And you’re doomed. Pot.” I pointed at him, then back at myself. “Kettle. Can we move it along, please? I think I’m contracting hepatitis.”

He gave me that look again, the cocky half-smile. “Sure. We’re almost there.”

I followed him through the tunnel obediently, ducking my head every few seconds to avoid the concrete arches that supported the drainage structure. I didn’t bother asking where “there” was. Jack was about as forthcoming as a park bench and, frankly, I didn’t feel like wasting my breath. True to his word, it only took another few minutes before we came to a metal ladder with rungs embedded in the concrete. When Jack finally helped me out of the sewer, I almost cried with relief. Never had the beer/fish/vomit scents of the French Quarter smelled so fragrantly sweet. Somewhere in the distance, the sound of rushing water and steamboat horns rang out. 
Yup. Not Hell. Definitely still home.

My knees ground against the hard cobbles as I crawled to the side of the road, fully prepared to kiss the ground. The concrete was still warm from the heat of the day, so I flopped onto my back and gave a long sigh. Through my eyelids, I could see the full moon above.

“Jack, seriously,” I muttered. “No more surprises. No more prophetic caves, or haunted Graymason nests, or body-surfing sewage. If you want to commit suicide, let’s just go hunt some werewolves and be done with it, okay?”

I lay still as a dark silhouette came to hover over me, blocking out the brightness of the moon.
“Well, love, if you’re set on suicide, I daresay there’s something more dangerous than a werewolf.”
Every inch of me tensed. Not only was that not Jack’s voice, I could tell by the flawless musical quality and perfect British accent it wasn’t human, either. My eyes scanned over him, taking in the cliché. Tall, dark, and psychotically beautiful, with elegant cheekbones and the most arresting violet eyes I’d ever seen on a man. The perfect echo of every romantic hero I’d conjured in my head.
“Oh, hell,” I mumbled. “Who ordered a vampire?”

Amelie Bennett is a Guardian, born to slay Crossworld demons. From a legacy of angel bloodlines, during her senior year she needs to ace her combat finals and get a great testing score in order to get good matches for her Watcher options- for every Guardian must be bonded to a Watcher in order to stay sane while channeling the energies of the crossworld in order to defeat the demons. Yet Amelie hasn’t found anyone she could possibly stand, let alone be even attracted to…until Jackson Smith-Hailey shows up. A replacement for the former teacher, he’s young, unspeakably hot, and dangerous. And his fate is tied to Amelie’s in a way that neither one could expect, and both want to prevent.

Amelie’s biggest goals are to finish out school without failing her exams, and to try and get a decent Watcher- and so far, she’s definitely failing on the Watcher front. Still, she knows that she *has* to have a Watcher, it’s imperative in order for a Guardian to manipulate the crossworld energies. When Jackson shows up to replace one of the teachers who mysteriously died, Amelie knows that the power she feels from him is what she’s been waiting for- and can’t understand why Jackson keeps pushing her away when it’s obvious that they are meant to be bonded. Yet when the Council decides that Amelie is responsible for the rash of teacher deaths, and tries to execute her, Jackson and Amelie go on the run, to find the mysterious Graymason and to foil the prophecy of Amelie’s bloodlines and Jackson’s birth before it’s too late.

While the focus on bondmates and pairings, and the sudden twists at the end, can throw readers off, Amelie’s banter makes up for a lot of flaws, and Cecily White’s world of angelbloods is rich in detail and leaves readers wanting to know more. A very fun ride, however, and worth the read. I would pair it with books like Death and the Girl Next Door or Death, Doom and Detention by Darynda Jones (for the humor and kick-butt heroine), or those like the Fallen series (for immediate love attraction). 3.5 stars. Goodreads currently has Prophecy Girl at 3.84 stars as of April 28, 2013.

Filed under: Book Reviews, Cecily White, Entangled Teen, Paranormal Romance, Prophecy Girl