Title: Misfit
Author: Jon Skovron
Publisher: Amulet Books
Release Date: 08/01/2011
ISBN: 1419700219
Sometimes first impressions can be deceiving. I know my first impression of this book certainly was. I'll admit that I was expecting something a little more mainstream & pat with this book, but what I was expecting wasn't really what I ended up getting.
Jael has always felt like a freak. She’s never kissed a boy, she never knew her mom, and her dad’s always been superstrict—but that’s probably because her mom was a demon, which makes Jael half demon and most definitely not a normal sophomore girl. On her sixteenth birthday, a mysterious present unlocks her family’s dangerous history and Jael’s untapped potential. What was merely an embarrassing secret before becomes a terrifying reality. Jael must learn to master her demon side in order to take on a vindictive Duke of Hell while also dealing with a twisted priest, best-friend drama, and a spacey blond skater boy who may have hidden depths.
I was rather pleased with this book. While there were a few hiccups along the line, this is the start of a nice series. (I presume it'll be a series, anyway.) I loved that Jael both was & wasn't the typical YA heroine, all full of angst & googly eyes for her love interest. While part of her does have that, she's more intent on the more pressing matters at hand: her powers & the demons that want to kill her. Speaking of powers, I liked the way they were presented here. Teenaged girls with powers is a very commonly used trope in any genre, but you don't often have it shown as a partnership as it was in this book. It was a nice little twist on everything, one of many twists that are included in this book. My favorite twist had to be the new perspective on demons & the reasons why they're the way they are.
This doesn't mean that the book is without faults. I did enjoy the new little twists on demons & power, but the author's attempts to jump between past & present were just awkwardly done. Skovron does his best to make the transitions as smooth as possible, but I just kept getting thrown out of the narrative. They were well done by themselves, but I just have to emphasize the awkwardness.
Overall this was a decent book & far better than what I was expecting it to be. I really was just expecting either a run of the mill YA read or one of those books where the author tries far too hard to make it "different", but it's neither. Skovron has managed to find that thin line between traditional & untraditional, then embrace it.
3.5/5
(ARC provided by Netgalley)
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