Review: Dead Girl Walking by Ruth Silver

Dead Girl Walking by Ruth Silver

Royal Reaper #1

242 pages

Genre: Young Adult Paranormal, Romance

Content: Clean, with a few curse words

Source: ARC for Honest review

Forget everything you know about grim reapers. Princess Ophelia Dacre sneaks out of the castle to visit her boyfriend in secret. A perfect night cut short when she's brutally murdered. Ophelia is given the rare chance to become a grim reaper. She must become Leila Bele, cut ties with her old life, and follow the rules of the reapers. Her greatest adventure begins with death. Recommended: Ages 14+ 

Dead Girl Walking was a quick, easy, and enjoyable read. Princess Ophelia/Leila is murdered, and instead of going to whatever lies beyond death, she is given the opportunity to be a grim reaper. In death she has left behind her secret boyfriend and younger sister, and been thrust into a new life with new friends that she is not at all prepared for. But Leila is not one to easily follow directions (remember the secret boyfriend?) so the instructions for being a grim reaper are also not easily followed, often times with dire outcomes.

Basically, we have a very interesting plot and a main character that you know is going to make things interesting because of her choices, both good and bad. The pace is quick-moving, not lingering long on some scenes, which at times was great and at other times left me wanting more. Some scenes felt like they were over too quickly. But I remained entertained throughout.

As for the characters, I found them endearing and enjoyed getting to know them, though I wanted more. Actually, what I really missed in this book is the emotional connection. Despite the heavy topic of death, I didn't feel the depths of emotion that I would have expected. Yes, there is some emotion but overall things seemed to be handled a bit nonchalantly at times. There were a couple of scenes that I expected more from and fell a little flat.

However, despite the flat emotions and quick pace, I still found Dead Girl Walking very entertaining. This is the first book in a series, though I do not know how many books there will be. But I am curious about what's going to happen next and like the main characters, so I look forward to continuing this series. This is also a clean read, making it a nice read for young adults.

AMAZON  --  GOODREADS