Summary: (mild spoilers)

Kali lives in a world where the once impossible preternatural have become a widespread reality. Hellhounds, basilisks, dragons - each and many more of these creatures were brought to the attention of humankind when Darwin's famous voyage on the Beagle lead to a shocking scientific discovery. Preternatural Control deal with these creatures, but Kali finds it more than easy to take out a few single-handedly - every other day, that is. For Kali, due to reasons unknown to her, is human one day, and not-so-human the next.

When a girl at Kali's school get's bitten by a chupacabra, Kali finds herself rapidly thinking through the ways to save her. Easier said than done, seeing as though it is one of Kali's human days. She manages to lure the chupacabra into herself, with no other option than waiting out until dawn the next day. In the meantime, she'll need to do her best not to die. But what she isn't prepared for is for the chupacabra to start talking to her. Stranger still, he calls himself Zev...

As Kali's familiar world begins to unravel, she finds the answers to some lifelong questions whilst new ones rise to the surface. Kali makes shocking discoveries about the preternatural world, and is even more shocked when she makes new discoveries about herself...

My Thoughts:

First of all, can we all just take a look at the cover for a moment?! Because, wow, is it cool. It makes a nice change from the usual YA Paranormal covers where there are pretty girls looking all mystical - though, I do love those, too!

I REALLY enjoyed this book! I was excited to get my hands on this as I had enjoyed Jennifer Lynn Barnes's Raised by Wolves. Everything was just so refreshingly different and creative. I loved the idea of preternatural creatures being accepted as real by society. The plot was beautifully crafted and I enjoyed the pace of the novel and felt more than satisfied with the way the events unfolded. The plot twists were great. The climax was great. Actually, now that I think about it, this book is probably better than Raised by Wolves!

The characters were a memorable bunch. I LOVED Skylar - so you can imagine how I felt (view spoiler)[when she died! (hide spoiler)]. Though she did come across as a little annoying at first, it is so easy to warm to her peculiar personality after a few chapters. Some of the crazy things she said really did make me laugh. Bethany was a bit of an odd one, but I did enjoy the constant banter between her and Skylar. Very entertaining to read about! As a protagonist, Kali drew mixed feelings from me. Overall, I thought she was pretty cool, but there were a few times when I got a bit bored of her. Strangely - or maybe that was how J.Barnes wanted it to be - I thought her character was at its best when she was being empowered by hunt-lust. I admired her mostly during the fight scenes. Any girl who can take on a basilisk is kick-ass in my books.

There is a lot I want to say about (view spoiler)[Zev (hide spoiler)], so it's proabably best to put this bit as a spoiler. (view spoiler)[I was so not expecting him to be that guy. You know, the 'love interest', though I use the term lightly as this book is only brushing the surface. Actually, I had incorrectly guessed Elliot would be that guy. Quite honestly, I was hoping romance would dominate slightly more in this novel, as I love a good romance. But what Jennifer Lynn Barnes did include was very nicely done. I thought, in particular, the scene in Kali and Zev's heads where they both 'meet' each other for the first time was incredibly sweet. I don't really have much of an opinion yet on Zev as a character, as we don't really 'see' much of him in the book. I don't know if there is going to be a sequel yet, but if there is, the way the book ended suggests we will see a lot more of him and Kali together. (hide spoiler)]

What stood out to me the most with this novel, or with any of Jennifer Barnes's novels for that matter, is her amazing writing style. It's not anything too lyrical, but I really do find it impressive. She's good with her words, good with the way she structures her sentences. I thought the use of repetition in this novel was superb. It worked impeccably well and made each chapter thoroughly engaging. I also really enjoyed the inclusion of all the different creatures' Latin names. Like, for instance, homo mortis, draco carnus, equus aqua mysticalis. I love all that stuff - I like to pretend I know Latin! - and thought it looked really cool. You can tell Barnes is interested in science, which is fine by me as I'm a science nerd myself.

Overall, this book gets 4 stars from me. A very enjoyable read that I would recommend to someone who loves YA Fantasy/Paranormal and is looking for something just that little bit different. There better be a sequel...