Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1)
Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1) book cover

Once Dead, Twice Shy (Madison Avery, Book 1)

Hardcover – Bargain Price, June 1, 2009

by
Price
$50.72
Format
Hardcover
Pages
240
Publisher
HarperCollins
Publication Date
Dimensions
5.5 x 0.85 x 8.25 inches
Weight
9.6 ounces

Description

From Publishers Weekly A seasoned author of supernatural tales, Harrison makes her YA debut with the story of 17-year-old Madison Avery, who is killed by a "dark reaper" named Kairos on her prom night. But by stealing Kairos's amulet in the process, Madison manages to retain her soul. Along with Barnabas, a beautiful "light reaper," and Grace, her guardian angel, Madison plots to repossess her body and protect her prom date from Kairos and from the dark reapers' attempts to control time and fate. Having been content as an outsider ("I was happier being myself-purple hair, loud music, dead, and everything-than trying to fit in"), Madison must build her trust in others in order to save her life and discover her fate-whether or not she even believes in fate. Though rules and explanations seem at times a little too convenient, Harrison weaves an exciting battle, not between good and evil, but between free will and destiny. A compelling blend of mysticism, suspense and surprise make for a quick and pleasurable read. Ages 12-up. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From School Library Journal Grade 7-10–With her purple-tipped hair and Goth style, Madison didn't fit in when she was alive, and she has real problems now that she is dead. She went to the prom with popular and handsome Josh, but when she found out that her dad had arranged the fix-up, she ran off with the dangerously charming Kairos. This was a bad idea. Kairos is a dark timekeeper who needed to strike down Madison because his own time was about to run out and when he tried, she stole his amulet. This event sets off a unique adventure in which Madison is stuck somewhere between life and death. Caught up in a world of dark and light reapers, seraphs, and guardian angels, she has to fight to get the correct amulet and to reunite her body and soul so that she can live out a life cut short. The characters and their specific jobs and places in the hierarchy of heaven and earth are hard to follow, perhaps because this first book in the series is the setup for those that follow. The final chapters are by far the best as readers finally get a handle on all of the intricacies of the story and become attached to some of the characters, such as Grace, a funny and charming guardian angel who often speaks in limericks. –Jake Pettit, Thompson Valley High School, Loveland, CO Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Madison is dead. After she fled her prom with a mysterious guy and ended up in a crashed car—only to survive and then be struck down by this guy’s magical sword—she has existed in a curious state of purgatory. She still walks around, interacts with others, eats, and sleeps, only now she does so in the company of Barnabas, a light reaper—a kind of angel who fights off dark reapers trying to harvest the souls of people about to make fate-altering decisions. There are also timekeepers, dark wings, guardian angels, seraphs, and magical amulets. If you’re already clutching your head in despair, you won’t be alone: the architecture of Harrison’s world is confusing even after several explanations. However, for ardent fans of the good-looking undead, this has plenty of verve, an enjoyable role reversal (Madison is constantly rescuing the good-guy hunk), and is quite fun when the supernatural characters are placed within a regular high-school milieu. Like it or not, a sequel is rising from the underworld as we speak. Grades 8-11. --Daniel Kraus “Harrison injects her young adult debut with style and originality. Rocking good fun, packed full of twists and turns.” (Kelley Armstrong, New York Times bestselling author of The Summoning )“With a Kim Harrison novel, I expect action, humour, worldbuilding, strong female characters, true friendships, and a bit of realistic romance. I found it all right here.” (Melissa Marr, New York Times Bestselling author of Wicked Lovely and Ink Exchange )“Abounds with originality and introduces us to rich characters…is sure to introduce [Harrison] to a whole new generation of readers.” (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette )“An amusing and entertaining jaunt of an urban fantasy.” (Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) ) New York Times bestselling author Kim Harrison was born and raised in the upper Midwest but has since fled south to better avoid snow. She spends her time tending orchids, cooking with some guy in a leather jacket, and training her dog. Her current vices include good chocolate and exquisite sushi. Kim is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Once Dead, Twice Shy , her young adult debut, as well as the bestselling Hollows series, and she contributed to the paranormal collection Prom Nights From Hell . Nacida en el Midwest, Kim Harrison ha sido acusada de ser bruja (entre muchas otras cosas), pero jamÁs ha visto a un vampiro. Le fascinan los cementerios, el jazz a medianoche y se viste siempre de negro. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • My name is Madison Avery, and I'm here to tell you that there's more out there than you can see, hear, or touch. Because I'm there. Seeing it. Touching it. Living it.
  • Madison's prom was killer—literally. For some reason she's been targeted by a dark reaper—yeah,
  • that
  • kind of reaper—intent on getting rid of her, body and soul. But before the reaper could finish the job, Madison was able to snag his strange, glowing amulet and get away.
  • Now she's stuck on Earth—dead but not gone. Somehow the amulet gives her the illusion of a body, allowing her to toe the line between life and death. She still doesn't know why the dark reaper is after her, but she's not about to just sit around and let fate take its course.
  • With a little ingenuity, some light-bending, and the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys! Maybe . . . ), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison's ready to take control of her own destiny once and for all, before
  • it
  • takes control of
  • her
  • .
  • Well, if she believed in that stuff.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(104)
★★★★
25%
(87)
★★★
15%
(52)
★★
7%
(24)
★
23%
(81)

Most Helpful Reviews

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Once Dead Twice Shy

A while ago I read the book Prom Nights from Hell, which is just a collection of short stories. There was one story in particular, Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper, that I wish would've continued. It was about a girl, Madison (hence the title of the short story, duh! lol), who was going to prom (hence the title of the book, double duh! :P). It was also the same night of her 17th birthday. It was supposed to be great, right?

Wrong!

She had just moved to the town and was still considered the new girl. And with out her knowledge, Madison's father set her up with one of his co-workers' son (Josh) for the prom. She found out, and of course, she was furious! So, she ditched Josh at the Prom and left with this mega hot guy. Only to find out later that he was a dark reaper that wanted to kill her.

And so he did. The dark reaper, Seth, killed Madison, yes. But something weird happened. Seth came back to the morgue for her soul, of course, she was totally against that (another major DUH!). So while trying to escape him she found that her "body" can go through things. Barnabas, a light reaper (who helps Madison), tells her that the amulet the reapers wear is what giver her the illusion of a body. The farther she is away from it, the less corporeal her "body" will be. So while Madison is trying to escape from the dark reaper, she somehow gets a hold of his amulet and claims it.

After finishing this short story I remember thinking, "Man, I wish this story could go on. I would love to see what happens next." And oh my God, it has!!! I was very excited when I read the description of this book. It sounded soooo familiar, until it hit me: it was a short story from Prom Nights from Hell!!!

Once Dead, Twice shy starts off where Madison Avery and the Dim Reaper left off. Well, close to it, anyway. It's been a few months after Madison's "death" and Barnabas is still helping Madison. She is still trying to figure out where this Seth guy/reaper took her body, and she wants it back. But that wont be easy to do when the one who took her real body is back to take the rest of her.

Plus, they also run into another dark reaper (Nakita) who eventually goes out from Madison as well (request from Seth). In the beginning I disliked Nakita very, very much. But in the end she turned around completely (like a 360 degree turn!) and helped Madison out. She became one of my favorite characters. Especially when she was in the school environment. LOL

So with the help of Barnabas, Josh (yes, her Prom date), and a guardian angel (love her!) Madison decides that she will not stay put and let the dark reaper com for her.

But oh boy, that twist at the end...WOW!!!! Seth actually had a reason to kill Madison. And here we all thought it was totally random.

I cannot wait to see how Madison manages her new, er, "job."
2 people found this helpful
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High School with a twist

A couple years ago I read Prom Nights From Hell which featured the first story about Madison Avery. I'm afraid I don't recall it very well, just that she died on prom night and stole an amulet that allowed her to appear to still be alive. This book picks up four months later. Madison and Barnabas, a light reaper, have been working all summer on Madison learning to touch his thoughts. Through attempting to thwart a dark reaper they find out that the amulet Madison stole belongs to a Timekeeper, not an angel. Once it is revealed to the dark reapers that Madison is alive she starts needing a guardian angel to keep her safe.

At times I felt bad for Madison because her life was stolen away from her, but at others I got frustrated with her. She is trying so hard to be herself, but in doing so is going to an extreme so that she doesn't fit in, and then blaming the way others see her on them instead of on herself. Her outfits sound cool, but if she is going to complain about being singled out by being different than she doesn't need the added bonus of purple tips in her hair and odd clothing. To me being yourself is being comfortable with who you are and dressing how you want and not worrying about what other people are saying about you because you are true to yourself. At the same time, she is in high school and that is a time when it can be more important to feel good about what others think and say about you.

The angel elements and Timekeeper role kept this fresh for me. The dark reapers work for a dark Timekeeper who is human, but has an amulet that allows him to not age and live indefinitely. They follow orders from the seraphs and believe in fate. The light reapers are trying to thwart the dark ones by believing that people have a choice to make and fate cannot be predetermined. The dark reapers are there to kill people who will one day cause a lot of pain for other humans. This part reminded me of Minority Report and the way policing was done based on a prediction that someone was going to commit a violet act.

Madison is living with her father after having gotten into too much trouble while with her mother for sneaking out and breaking curfew. She misses her friend Wendy and hasn't really made a lot of new friends. In order to try to fit in more she has shied away from some of her interests like photography. This again to me says she was not really being herself. It will be interesting to see what happens in the second book of the series and how her senior year of high school goes.
1 people found this helpful
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Kim Harrison's YA Debut

I absolutely adore Kim Harrison's urban fantasy series set in the fictional Hollows and starring witch Rachel Morgan, living vampire Ivy, and pixie Jenks. So when I found out Kim was going to start a brand new series for the YA crowd, I was thrilled. I've been reading her books since the very beginning (the high fantasy series written under the name Dawn Cook) and she has never failed to delight and amuse me.

I'm not sure why I wasn't as enamored with "Once Dead, Twice Shy", which is the first novel in her YA series. Like other reviewers, I did feel that this novel started in the middle of a story already in progress. Unlike those other reviewers, however, I felt she filled in Madison's back story enough so that I could just jump right into the action. Kim is skillful at recapping, but she sneaks it in throughout the whole of the novel and so you have to really pay attention to know what is going on.

Madison Avery is dead, although she looks very much alive. Her physical body was taken by a dark reaper the night of her 17th birthday after she was in a deadly car accident. Madison appears alive because she stole an amulet from the reaper that causes her to appear as real as we are. The memories of her parents and those that were near her during the crash had to be altered. When Josh confesses to her that he has been having strange dreams about the night of their prom, Madison decides to come clean and tells him that his dreams were real. Now Josh is in grave danger from a dark reaper named Nakita, and it is up to Madison, her guardian angel, and light reaper Barnabas to keep him alive.

"Once Dead, Twice Shy" is a quick read, but if you stop to really think about all the words you've just absorbed you should be able to see what Kim is doing. There are deeper themes to the story as Madison and her friends have to decide who are really the bad guys: the light reapers or the dark reapers. Which is better: Choice or Fate?

There were a few things that I disliked about this novel, but it was mostly a positive reading experience for me. Kim likes to write fun little expressions, but "son of a dead puppy" was just really obnoxious to me, and I can't picture anyone saying it. Likewise, Grace, Madison's guardian angel, is not nearly as hilarious as Jenks from the Rachel Morgan series. Some of the dialogue between the teenagers didn't flow very well, and I think it's pretty unlikely that a 17-year-old boy would call another boy "weenis"; I would more expect this from a 10-year-old.

As Kim gets into the groove of writing for a younger audience, I hope that her voice takes a more mature tone. I think this was a nice start, but could have used a bit more guidance from an editor or a critique partner. I really hate saying all of this because she is my favorite writer, but she is much better when writing for an adult audience.
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YA book even Adults can enjoy

I was lucky enough to get a copy of 'Once Dead, Twice Shy' from Kim herself, just pay shipping. Was super excited to read her YA books, as I am a Hollows fan.

Madison was very easy for me to associate with. I never snuck out or was in trouble with police as a teen, but I was constantly the new girl. Considered a little weird, never worried about fashion and dying my hair. I found myself enthralled by the first chapter.

I did not realize that the storyline would have the turns that it had. I was thinking a YA/teen book would be very basic and straightforward. I loved that I kept getting surprised each chapter. It was one book I enjoyed NOT trying to foresee what would happen. I was comfortable to just see it happen instead of going.. OOOoohhhh what'll happen.

It was a fast read, took me two nights because I was reading it before bed and started late the first night. I think it's a great read for younger readers to be introduced to Urban fantasy. YA readers should like it. I already purchased the second book so I can be ready for the third installment "Something Deadly This Way Comes" in June :)

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