Review: Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike

Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike

Publisher: HarperTeen

Publication Date: April 30, 2013

Rating: 3 stars

Source: eARC from Edelweiss

Summary (from Goodreads):

Moving to a new high school sucks. Especially a rich-kid private school. With uniforms. But nothing is worse than finding out the first girl you meet is dead. And a klepto.

No one can see or hear Kimberlee except Jeff, so--in hopes of bringing an end to the snarkiest haunting in history--he agrees to help her complete her "unfinished business." But when the enmity between Kimberlee and Jeff's new crush, Sera, manages to continue posthumously, Jeff wonders if he's made the right choice.

What I Liked:

When I first heard that Aprilynne Pike was writing a new book, I was thrilled! I love the Wings series (well, I haven't read the last book. Shhh, don't tell!), so I knew that I would be getting my hands on Life After Theft as soon as possible. Same goes for Earthbound! I can't wait to read it. Though I'm way of the concept, I'll definitely give it a try.

So anyway. Life After Theft. One of the things that drew me to this book was the fact that it's in a male's point-of-view. I've definitely been liking this tiny trend of having parts of the book or the whole book in the male protagonist's point-of-view. This entire book is in Jeff's point-of-view, and I certainly enjoyed that. his voice was very authentic and male-sounding, in my opinion.

So Jeff can see and hear and communicate with Kimberlee, a dead girl who had a wee bit of a problem when she was alive. She was a kleptomaniac - meaning she had the constant physical and mental urge to steal things. So, Kimberlee believes that the only way for her to disappear is for Jeff to give back all of the stole items that she hoarded when she was alive.

And thus begins our story. It was weird and crazy to read about how Jeff was putting stolen goods in the open for the rightful owners to retrieve. Eventually, it got to the point where he need help, because more items needed to be given back, and in a larger place, like a store, or a school...

Needless to say, the plot was interesting. I never really felt bored, especially during some of the trickier times when Jeff had to give stuff back to people, and there were problems!

The romance is strange. I like it, and I don't. Jeff's love interest is tormented by a bad past, and yet, I know she cares about him. He definitely cares about her. I just don't think the author did a good enough job of convincing readers (or, just me) to like this girl. Maybe I'm just judging her, but I just don't like her. 

Overall, not too bad! Definitely an interesting book.

What I Did Not Like:

Half of this book I just did not find believable. I understand that it's a paranormal-type book anyway, with Jeff being able to see Kimberlee (unless you believe in that sort of thing), but it seriously felt like a contemporary novel. A good thing, right?

Well, not really. Not when I'm not convinced of some of the thing that happened. Like Jeff's first encounter with the police. Or the fact that Jeff agreed to help Kimberlee at all.

And how about WHY Jeff can see Kimberlee? That was a huge problem for me. I wondered, throughout the entire book, why he could see her and no one else could. Can we get some insight, please? I understand if the author wants this book to be more of a contemporary-like novel, and if she did not want to get into the details of the paranormal aspect of this book, but you can't NOT explain why Jeff can say Kimberlee and no one else can.

And I didn't like Jeff's lady love. I just didn't. She rubbed me the wrong way from the start, and especially towards the end, when she started acting weird. And I seriously cannot believe that a school administrator could blackmail a student like that. I highly doubt that would happen. I mean, anything is possible in terms of corruption, but I didn't find that believable.

Basically, there were a lot of inconsistencies that bothered me a lot.

Would I Recommend It:

Um, yes, but not really. If you have enjoyed Aprilynne's books before (the Wings series), then I think you should keep reading her books! This book is really interesting and engaging. But, if you have a ton of other books that are really calling to you, don't read this one. It's not a MUST READ.

Rating:

3 stars. I don't regret reading this one at all! But I'm glad it's a standalone novel, because I probably wouldn't be reading any of the follow-ups.

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