About the Book
-
Author:
- Karina Halle
- Genres:
- Adult
- Paranormal
- Voices:
- Cis Girl
- White (Non-Specified)
Cover Story: Exception To The Rule
BFF Charm: Yay x Infinity
Talky Talk: 2 Legit 2 Quit
Bonus Factor: Asylum
Relationship Status: I Want You So Bad
Spoiler Alert: This review contains spoilers for the previous book in the series, Dead Sky Morning.
Cover Story: Exception To The Rule
Even though this book has both the fancy dress and the partial body, HELLO!!! Blood dripping down the arm made it not only totally acceptable, but deliciously creepy. I would have no problem reading this book on the train, because it would tell people, ‘Yeah, look at me, reading a scary book. That’s because I’m super tough.’ At least until I got to the DNRIP parts.
Also, while publishers are spending ridiculous amounts of money designing the same cover over and over again, Karina Halle totally DIY’d it with her friend!
The Deal
Perry and Dex have found a new location to film for their Internet ghost hunting show, An Experiment in Terror, and this time it’s in Seattle. So Perry is going up for the week, and will be staying with Dex and his ‘Wine Babe’ girlfriend, Jen. What?!!! Cue the record screech. Hold the phone. This is a very bad idea, and Perry knows it. But Jen has insisted, and despite the tent sexy times in the last book, it’s not like anything’s REALLY going on between Perry and Dex, right? Right?
Oh, and there’s the little thing about Perry’s dreams — that are taking her back to when all of this supernatural stuff started happening to her — and the fact that she’s seeing one pissed off dead girl in a LOT of places.
And there’s the Shownet Christmas Party, where Perry will be meeting all of the rest of her coworkers for the first time. No sweat.
BFF Charm: Yay x Infinity
Okay, if you read my reviews, you know that I love Perry Palomino with a fierceness that rivals YA me’s love for Anne Shirley. She’s strong, independent, funny and sweet, and somehow manages to keep her head above water with all of the drama in her life.
Swoonworthy Scale: 10
Lordy! The sexy times! If this book series were a senior in high school, it would be voted ‘most likely to start fires… in your pants’. The chemistry between Perry and Dex reaches epic proportions in this installment, even as they seem to have developed this habit of taking turns making horrible decisions and being idiots and hurting each other!!!!! Ahem.
Again, in this installment, Halle takes the reader through a tennis match of emotions — switching from feeling that perhaps, after all, these two just need to be friends (or maybe not even that, because sometimes they are just poison to each other) to knowing (just KNOWING) that they absolutely HAVE to be together.
And THEN she leaves you gutted.
Talky Talk: 2 Legit 2 Quit
Each book in the Experiment in Terror series has gotten better and more intense, and Perry’s voice has developed in realistic ways — sometimes she makes decisions even Mom would approve of and other times… well, I won’t tell Mom if you won’t.
A large portion of this book takes place during the week before they film in the asylum, which lays all kinds of suspenseful groundwork for the developing relationship between our two protagonists. Then Halle drops clues and tidbits leading up to a few big reveals that make this book more about Perry and Dex as people than about the supernatural baddies they encounter along the way, putting a fresh and evolving twist on this series, and leaving me saying — again — that, no, THIS one is the best yet.
Bonus Factor: Asylum
What is more scary than an abandoned insane asylum?!!!! If your answer is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, then you’re RIGHT!
Relationship Status: I Want You So Bad
This book doesn’t come with a DNRIP tag for nothing, because holy magoly! Grownup sex! But that’s not the only reason I find myself thinking about this book, even when it’s not here. Although it’s part of the reason. A big part. And now, waiting for the next one? It’s driving me mad, it’s driving me mad…
FTC Full Disclosure: I received neither money nor cocktails for writing this review (dammit!). Lying Season is available now.
