Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike

Life After Theft
Author: Aprilynne Pike
Genres: Young Adult Paranormal/Urban Fantasy
Format: eBook • Pages: 352
Published: April 30, 2013
Publisher: HarperTeen

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.

Kimberlee Schaffer may be drop-dead gorgeous…but she also dropped dead last year. Now she needs Jeff’s help with her unfinished business, and she’s not taking no for an answer.

When she was alive, Kimberlee wasn’t just a mean girl; she was also a complete kleptomaniac. So if Jeff wants to avoid being haunted until graduation, he’ll have to help her return everything she stole. But Jeff soon discovers it’s much easier to steal something than it is to bring it back.

Paying for your mistakes takes on a whole new meaning…

Normally, I don’t do negative reviews. I never review a book that I didn’t like well enough to finish. And if I do finish it and decide I can’t give it a decent review, I just don’t mention it here.

Unless it’s a special case—where I feel I need to give readers a heads up.

First, let me tell you the good stuff about this book.

I thought this was such a clever idea. I was really intrigued.

Pike absolutely does a fabulous job of getting the teen voice just right. It’s very well-written. It’s contemporary YA with just a teensy paranormal twist. Love it!

But.

Aprilynne Pike is the author of the Wings series, YA fantasy/paranormal. It was very popular. I liked it. I recommended it to lots of readers and to parents looking for book gifts for their tween and teen daughters. I recommended it whole-heartedly with no reservations.

But.

I can’t do that for this book. I’m concerned that those same readers/parents will see Pike’s name on this book, read the cutesy little blurb on the back, and remember that I said her previous books were great/safe/clean reads, and just assume that it applies to this book as well.

It doesn’t.

Life After Theft contains frequent, casual swearing. There is an underage drinking party, where Jeff (the main character) gets totally plastered. His parents find out and pretty much brush it off with no consequences. Jeff and his girlfriend have sex—remember, they’re teenagers. Again, his parents don’t react much at all when they find out.

For these reasons, I can’t recommend this book to anyone and I feel I need to spread a word of caution. If you’re an adult who reads YA, maybe these aren’t issues for you. If not, go for it. It really was a great story line otherwise. If you’re a parent, maybe you don’t mind your teens reading this. That’s your choice, too.

But for those who DO mind (and I’m one of them), heads-up!

This one gets my “special” designation of 2 1/2 stars. (See why here.)

 

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