A Stiff Kiss by Avery Olive

 

Who knew kissing a corpse would change everything?

Death always hits Xylia Morana too close to home, but she likes it that way. She hangs out with the terminally ill, attends random funerals, and every so often, when the weather is right, she sleeps in open graves.
But after Landon Phoenix, the high school hottie, dies in Xylia's arms, she sneaks into the morgue to say goodbye. How could she know stealing a kiss from his corpse would wake him up?

With Landon returned to the living and suddenly interested in Xylia, life has new meaning. But what Xylia doesn't realize is that by kissing Landon back to life, she's thrown Life and Death off balance. The underworld demands a body, and it might just have to be Xylia's this time.


Well that was disappointing. 

Sure, the book wasn't bad - it was pretty good - but it was really different from what I was expecting. I thought it would be more action packed, more keeps-me-on-the-edge-of-my-seat-with-all-this-kickassness. Your average thriller.

What this book was, was exploring the relationship of the two main characters. Two characters who you grow to know a lot about. This book was in both Landon and Xylia's P.O.V. and as a slightly picky reader it was another thing that was a little disappointing. It was still a good book, Avery Olive pulled it off well, I just like to guess what the other character is thinking and not knowing all their inner thoughts.

The way she ended it was great. Apart from the ending, it was a little sappy, but I love the idea of it. Another cool thing was the names, Morana meaning death and Phoenix meaning life. Suited both the characters well.

I didn't grow paticuarily attached to Landon or Xylia though that might be because of my fussiness with protagonists. Though at times cute, their relationship didn't exactly strike me as believable.

Really, there was nothing wrong with the book. I just expected it to be better and was waiting for the action that didn't come. If it wasn't for the fact that I thought the book was different than it was, I'd most likely have given it a more positive review. It was an original plot line but with the kiss bringing Landon back to life, it reminded me a little of Snow White or Sleeping Beauty.

I'm going to give it three out of five stars.