Khanh the Killjoy

I should have known better, from the mention of The DaVinci Code in the blurb.

Let's start from the beginning. Supernatural clone? I have no problem with that. A talented writer can work with a well-used plot and make it their own, with a compelling plot, with complex characters, with a beautifully wrought romance.

With that said, I am pleased to tell you that you don't have to waste your time on this book. Look elsewhere for your paranormal ghost-busting fix. Hell, just stick to watching Supernatural. I have to admit that I started reading this because of the promise of hot twin brothers. I have a fetish fondness for twins, especially hot twin ghost-busting brothers. Are you fucking kidding me? Give me some of that.

As it turned out, I should have stuck to watching the show, or rather, just flipping through the pages of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog for my hot guy fix, because the twins in this book (as well as every other character in it) are completely devoid of any sort of personality besides for their gorgeous fluffable brown hair and killer baby-blue eyes. At least the Winchesters are portrayed by real actors so that I can more easily imagine them naked.

Damn, I said that part out loud, didn't I?

Kennedy Waters is a normal high school student (with a photographic memory) living with her mom; it's a pretty average life until the day her mother dies, supposedly from a heart attack. All of a sudden, hot identical twin boys break into her room, and saves her from a poltergeist that has been trying to kill her. Instead of going to boarding school, like she has been planning to, or coming to live with her aunt, Kennedy instead lets people believe that she has been kidnapped, while running away to live with the Hot Ghostbusting Twins, as well as the gorgeous Mean Girl Alara, and boy wonder/tinkerer genius Priest. They go on the run, searching for a secret weapon with which to destroy a demon, making plenty of stops at haunted houses and killing ghosts along the way.

Nasty ghosts aside, they have to avoid all those pesky Amber Alerts, because that's what happens when a teenaged girl disappears and her house is ransacked. Such inconveniences.

For the sake of non-spoilers, I will refer to the twins as Twin One and Twin Two.

The Plot
The ghost-busting storyline isn't so much a mainstay of the book as it is a plot device designed around Kennedy and Twin One's romance. It feels like a side story, used and brushed aside for their electricity-laced eye contacts and meaningful fingertip-brushes. The plot is very...convenient; there are no parents involved, the kids (and they are all kids) are inheritors of special skills that make them extraordinary, they have money at their disposal, there is a complete lack of credibility in the entire scheme that has nothing to do with the supernatural elements in the story. There are way too many coincidences around the sudden involvement of the five teenagers in a plot to save humanity from a Big Bad Demon to make the story a believable one...it feels more James Patterson than Supernatural at times.

The good is that the action moves fast, and it is not dull. Despite the weakness in the plot, the characters, the romance, well...everything, actually, the action and the fast pacing was enough to keep me focused.

The Characters
Kennedy Waters: After reading the story, I have come to believe that the true spelling of Kennedy's name is L-I-A-B-I-L-I-T-Y. Kennedy is an idiot. She is Too Stupid To Live. Fine, a poltergeist attack isn't exactly a normal occurrence, but running away with a bunch of strangers (albeit cute ones), and not letting anyone except your best friend know? Allowing an Amber Alert to be issued in her case? That's just fucking dumb and irresponsible.

“You guys showed up in my bedroom out of nowhere, shot my cat with a gun that looked like something from a video game, and told me that a demon’s trying to kill me. Want to explain how you could possibly know that?”
Jared looked over at me. “Because our family has been fighting his army for over two hundred years.”

Weeeeeeeeeeell, alrighty then! Let's run away together. HOW ABOUT NO? I like the fact that she actually questions the Hot Twins instead of just outrightly believing them, but she accepts everything they say far too easily for me to believe she is anything but gullible.

As far as the liability part goes...she endangers her team more often than not. Kennedy is completely ignorant of what is needed to be a member of the ghost-busters. All the other kids have been raised, and trained since practically infancy, and they have inherited special skills from their progenitors. Kennedy has none. Nada. Zip. Jack Shit. Her lack of knowledge, her lack of skills aside, she insists on tagging along with them into dangerous situations, and her pigheadedness endangers her team.

Kennedy also believes herself to be not-special (because a photographic memory and spectacular drawing skills are soooooo fucking ordinary). Her boyfriend broke her heart because she wouldn't let him copy her homework, and her dad left her family when she was 5, and that's enough for Kennedy to believe that she is unlovable, that she is destined to be hurt. Give me a break from Mary Sue histrionics, please.

Jared and Lukas Lockhart: AKA, the Generic Twins. You may have seen them in various incarnations throughout every single YA romance and paranormal ever written. They are not worthy of having a personality analysis by me because you guys have all read them before in so many other books. They are identical. They are physically perfect. They are mentally anguished. They are soooooooooooo very different from each other, despite their indistinguishable appearance (except one has a different *look* in his eyes, which Kennedy can totally tell, because they have that spiritual connection, you know?). One is the bright, happy, cheerful, eager-to-please boy-next-door.

Jared sat alone at the counter, staring out the window at the nothingness you see when you’re too lost in thought to see anything else. I wondered why he was sitting alone. Why he always set himself apart from everyone else, like he was the one who didn’t belong.

One is the dark, brooding, tortured soul, who is a loner and complete asshole. Guess who Kennedy falls for? You'd be right.

Every. Fucking. Time.

The Romance
WE HAVE A LOVE TRIANGLE, Y'ALL. And it's between TWIIIIIIIINS, no less. That makes it extra special, and extra hot, because, well...(twin) brother against (twin) brother! Not exactly. It is unremarkable and it is so stupid becaues it is so predictable and it is so contrived. Naturally, there's unspoken feeeeeeeeeelings between the brothers. Naturally, they're rivals. Naturally, there are underlying tensions between them and an unspoken competitiveness against one another. Brotherly love? Please. This ain't the city of Philadelphia.

Kennedy feels the attraction and the connection from both brothers. It's like she finds meaning in everything.

I stared at Lukas, shocked. “You know this song?”
Lukas gave me a sheepish smile. “It’s my favorite.”
Warmth spread across my cheeks, and suddenly it felt like we were sharing something intimate in front of a room full of people.

Eye contact. Fingertips brushing. The opening of a door. A smile. The same kind of dressing for their salad, that sort of thing. It made me wonder...was ever that besotted and stupid when I believed myself to be in love as a 17-year old?

Nope. I, like most teenagers, was rational.

Recommended for readers who don't want to think too much.

(Thanks for the gif, Andrea!)