Title: Every Other Day
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Published: December, 2011 by EgmontUSA
Thanks: EgmontUSA via NetGalley
Pages: 336
Rating:  
Purchase: The Book Depository

Every other day, Kali D’Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She’s human.

And then every day in between . . .She’s something else entirely.

Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.

When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she’ll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive. . .and learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process.

Final Thoughts:
This one turned out to be nothing like I’d thought it would. The first chapter didn’t reel me in so I set aside for a few days, little did I know, chapter two was completely different. For some reason I’d expected it to be all about demon hunting, instead it turned into an awesome paranormal conspiracy. The characters felt real, each with their own intertwined histories that made them who they were. Here, not only did the main character get ample development time, the two sidekicks did as well. While there could have been more on the romance front, with the tight timeframe of the plot, I’m relieved it didn’t fall into the trappings of insta-luv.

Kali, as the title infers, spends every second day interchanging between a seventeen year old girl and a ‘preternaturally enhanced’ demon hunter. But like I said, that’s not what the book’s about. Sure there’s eye gouging and zombie slaying, but the heart of the book lies in the shaky friendship between her and two other girls from her high school. With the other two not exactly besties, Kali (the one with the hero complex) is the joining link. Any time you bring together most popular girl and the most unpopular girl and shove them in tight spaces is sure to be fun—bitchiness ahoy!

It’s not exactly like they’re all hanging out at the mall though. Their unlikely friendship is based on a common goal. With mysterious tattoos appearing, evil corporations, conspiracies, and a boy that only Kali can hear (inside her head), the three girls have plenty of motivation to work together, and plenty of stubbornness to ignore others and do what they wanted. The plot never felt slow with all of the tension building and the twists that kept flying in whenever things seemed to settle down. And with the revelations each character gave, it felt like they were opening up to each other as much they were informing the reader.

I was a little confused in the beginning until I realised that preternatural creatures like hellhounds and zombies were public knowledge in this world and considered more a thing of science than the supernatural. It must have slipped by me somewhere in the beginning because otherwise, the world seemed so much like reality. It was an interesting concept, but one that was only incidental to the central plot. I have to say I really liked that the plot just came out of nowhere and took off on me. I love conspiracies, they’re so twisty. Even though it’s a standalone as far as I know, I’d really like to read more of this world.

The mysterious voice suddenly appearing in Kali’s head was a lot of fun. Zev played a lot of roles in the book, romantic interest being one of them. There’s tension between the two, the guy being able to read her thoughts one little issue. I would have liked a bit more romance, and would have rated it higher had there been such. But like I said, it would have fallen prey to instal-luv with the 24-esque plot. Addressing it later on would be ideal, so I can only hope that a second book gets commissioned.

Recommended to:
Anyone after a good paranormal conspiracy, demon hunting, and a book more about the friendship than the romance.