ARC Review: Dead Jealous (Poppy Sinclair #1) by Sharon Jones

"Your last card was Death, Poppy."

That moment gave me goosebumps and I was very scared for a minute. And then I realized how good Sharon Jones was because with a single line, she made me feel fear. Is this book good? Based on that and a whole lot more, I will wholeheartedly say YES.

Title: Dead Jealous (Poppy Sinclair #1) by Sharon Jones
Release Date: July 4th 2013
Published by: Orchard Books
Source: Publisher (thanks Victoria!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

People think of Mother Nature as a gentle lady. They forget that she's also Death...Sixteen-year-old Poppy Sinclair believes in quantum particles, not tarot cards, in Dawkins, not druids. Last summer, in a boating accident in the Lake District, Poppy had a brush with death. But the girl she finds face down in Scariswater hasn't been so lucky. As she fights to discover the truth behind what she believes is murder, Poppy is forced to concede that people and things are not always what they seem and, slipping ever deeper into a web of lies, jealousy and heart-stopping danger, she comes to realise - too late - that the one thing that can save her has been right there, all the time.

Poppy doesn't share the same Pagan beliefs like her mother does, but when her paths cross with a girl who ended up dead in the lake the next morning and she's starting to see people that aren't really alive, it's time for Poppy to think carefully of what she believes in. Having had a close encounter with Death herself, Poppy knows there's something more than the drowning everyone seems to think happened to Beth, and as Poppy tries her hardest to prove that it's nothing but that, her scientific, logical mind is put to test by the mystical and the unexplained she's starting to encounter.

I love Poppy. She's naturally inquisitive and once she's curious about something, she'll never rest until she finds out the mystery surrounding it. She might get on some people's nerves once in a while, especially with her best friend who she was secretly in love with, but it was all for a good cause. She's a typical teenager who's going through all the motions and dilemmas a teenager goes through, that is until the accident that almost took her life and the unexplainable things suddenly surrounding her. I understand her need to find a reason and explanation for things, because the very thought of them happening without a reason or being supernatural is what oftentimes scares the wits out of people.

I find the romance set-up for Dead Jealous very familiar yet unusual at the same time. The Knight and The King, an older guy and the best friend. This is one of the very few times where I wholeheartedly am rooting for the other guy and not the best friend. Michael, the very reason for Poppy's heartache, comes off as a very undesirable character for me. He's the guy who becomes your bestfriend, hides the fact that he's in love with you, gets a girlfriend, realizes that he still loves you but loves the other girl too and immerses himself in a dilemma that was all too cliche. The guy plays safe, and I hate how he had to agonize over his feelings for Poppy when one moment he was saying that he'd love her since he was little and then shift to being afraid of letting his girlfriend go. Despite some questionable things in his life, Tariq felt right. He's the type of guy you'll be comfortable with for being funny and familiar and a little flirty but he's there for Poppy when she needs it. I like him not because he's more mature and experienced, but I felt like he'll understand Poppy more.

Dead Jealous starts off at a deceptively steady pace with a quirky girl as the protagonist and then suddenly, as you read further and further, drawn by something hypnotic and good in the way the author wrote it, you encounter moments and scenes that will make you jump and wide eyed in the most unexpected moments. It became an addictive waiting game for me when I started to anticipate and guess when Poppy will have a brush with the supernatural. It became a very good guessing game when I started to try and figure out the mystery behind Beth's death and the reasons why it was done. If the title isn't enough to give you a clue on what kind of read this is, then brace yourself for a story filled with mystery, Pagan rituals and a lot of things that will make you think if they're real or from your imagination. It's Nancy Drew for teens with a dark twist. It gives you that nostalgic feeling when you were still gobbling up Nancy Drew novels and yet you find that Sharon Jones still has something fresh and new to offer in the way she writes.

What a very thrilling read! If the mystery surrounding one girl's death isn't enough to attract your attention, then Poppy's wonderfully dizzying life as it starts to unravel alongside the clues, the bits and pieces that makes up the events that happened that one, cold night will definitely draw you in. Death, heartbreaks, secrets, lies and deception, all wrapped up in one YA novel. Dead Jealous is the kind of novel you read that will make you think of it as ordinary but completely becomes something very interesting that will hook you in further until you find yourself breathless and reeling when everything finally falls into place. And despite my dislike of Michael, I think the ending was very romantic. See despite that dark, thrilling, put you on the edge of your seat kind of story, Dead Jealous ultimately still gives you that warm fuzzy feeling at the end and I loved that.

Content (plot, story flow, character):
A crucial part of me removing that one star was how Michael, who is an integral part of Poppy's life and therefore the story, felt very inconsistent. I'm a lot more irritated with him than with Poppy being very concerned about Beth's death. I really wanted her to end up with Tariq too.

Shining: Worthy of a Goddess' Love!

Book Cover:
I always thought 'what a perfect imagery' the cover is. It perfectly gives off that same feeling the story gives.