Evens or Odds

Every Other Day

Written by: Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Released: December 27, 2011 by EgmontUSA

Summary: Every other day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She's human.

And then every day in between . . . She's something else entirely.

Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.

When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she'll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive. . .and learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process.

I don’t know why I left reading this book for so long because it was amazing. I’ll admit that I started to read it a while ago (when I first got it from NetGalley) and couldn’t get past the first page. I think that it was just because I wasn’t in the mood for it at the time and even this time I almost stopped after reading that hell hounds were an endangered species. But I have huge faith in Barnes’ writing, so I kept reading and by page two I was hooked.

Kali is an amazing character. Not only is she Indian (from India not Native American – well, half anyway) but she’s a kick ass heroine. She’s like Buffy meets the Terminator (minus being a robot) but only every other day, which is an amazing concept. The other days of the year she’s just a normal person. I loved how no matter who she was she was counting down the time until she’s the other person. The duality of it all was just so fascinating.

The supporting characters are all equally phenomenal. I loved how blunt Skylar was from the very first time she came onto the page and opened her mouth. It took me a while to warm up to the other main characters – Bethany and Elliot – but in the end they each added something extra to the novel and it gave it a real sense of completion.

Then there’s Zev. I don’t want to ruin anything by saying a lot, but he definitely wasn’t who I thought he would be. I was pleasantly surprised, though, and I really liked the twists that he pulled into the overall story. I’m kind of hoping for a sequel just to see what else pans out with him, but I would he happy without one.

There were a few things that I didn’t particularly care for in this novel. There were a few scenes that didn’t flow as well as I thought they would and though they all served a specific purpose they were awkward. I guess that’s the best that I can describe it. It was nothing that made me love this novel any less, but I just thought it... strange.

Still, this is a brilliant novel. It has so many amazing twists and turns in it that sometimes as a reader you have to double back and make sure that you just read that last paragraph right. I had so many WTF moments with this book and I loved every minute of it! I would love another novel but this one ended in a way where you were left wanting more, but without the annoying cliff-hangers. It had an actual ending where strings were tied up and characters were, well, I don’t want to give away the ending. It ends well and let’s just leave it at that. I also sat and read it in one sitting and stayed up way too late doing so. It's captivating and you shouldn't be disappointed.

I’m giving this novel a 9/10 and I can’t wait for more from Barnes!

I received this novel from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.