Mortal Danger by @MsAnnAguirre Review

Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre
(Immortal Game, #1)
Release Date: August 5, 2014
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends; 372 pages
Rating:

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

In Ann Aguirre's Mortal Danger, Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn’t imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She’s not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he’s impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly . . . bad things are happening. It’s a head rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil’s bargains, she isn’t sure who—or what—she can trust. Not even her own mind.

This cover is perfect. It’s creepy, it’s dark and it’s extremely fitting. Before reading the book, when I first saw this cover I was really excited. You could tell it was going to be dark but I had no idea how dark. I also wasn’t sure I liked the name change from Mortal Beauty to Mortal Danger but you know what? It works.

Now that that is out of the way. I took a long time reading this book and before you go ‘uh oh, that’s not a good sign’ – back on up. It’s a great sign but it just wasn’t one of those books you can breeze through. I loved Ann Aguirre’s other YA series, Razorland, and I devoured those books. I wanted to read this book, really read this book and savor it. It became impossible to do toward the end but I tried really hard, I swear I did. I found my eyes jumping ahead and I made myself go back and read what I skipped over. As much as I try, I always do this (hence why ebooks are good for me).

There are still things left unanswered in this book and I’m really looking forward to seeing the answers in the next book or maybe even the last book. There are characters that I know will make another appearance in the next book and honestly, I really can’t wait for that.

The first few pages of this book are depressing and just make you want to hug our main character, even though we don’t know a thing about her. She needs a hug and we’re willing to give it to a complete stranger. But she didn’t need it because cue in a good looking stranger whose willing to help her. There’s a catch. There’s always a catch, right?

Edith, or Edie as we know her – she is awesome. She’s very relatable because she’s real. She’s a bit of a nerd, she’s a loner and she was bullied, a lot, at her school. I understand not everyone knows what that all feels like but I’m sure most of us do. I know I do so I can definitely relate. Wanting payback for the pain they caused you and basically doing anything to achieve this. Because of a deal she made with our mysterious stranger, she can begin paying back her tormentors.

Our mysterious stranger is an attractive young man, Kian, who offers Edie a deal she can’t refuse. Heck, he only asks her to listen to his offer, if she doesn’t like it, she’ll let her continue with what she was intending to do to herself. This guy wasn’t supposed to be someone that Edie would see a lot of but then suddenly, he’s in charge of her and her alone. Things quickly change between them and while she’s wondering how much she can trust him, the reader is questioning the same things. Can he or can’t he be trusted? Is he or isn’t he using her because of his boss? Is he or isn’t he behind they mysterious happenings at her school? So many doubts and so many questions.

So even though it’s dark, creepy (seriously, I may have had a few nightmares because of this book) and mysterious as you question yourself and the characters all throughout, it’s full of many steamy, swoon-worthy moments. The romance has moments where it’s so smoking hot, you wonder if you’ve been thrown in a sauna. It’s a fantastic mix of everything and it’s blended perfectly. The ending, while it’s not much of a cliffhanger, it still has you desperate for more.

Thank you so much to Jean Feiwel over at Macmillan for sending me this book to read in exchange for an honest review.