REVIEW: EVERY OTHER DAY BY JENNIFER LYNN BARNES.

Title: Every Other Day
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Edition: Hardcover
Published: December 27, 2011
Publisher: Egmont
Pages: 329
Source: Won
Category: Paranormal (Stand Alone)
Trailer: not applicable.

Synopsis:

Every other day, Kali D’Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She argues with her father. 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.

Every Other Day is an out of the body experience!

I was so stoked when I learned that I won two hard bound books of Barnes (other one is Nobody) from a blogger's giveaway. As soon as I received the package, I couldn't help but pet the gorgeous covers! This one is very pretty in person and the synopsis is just intriguing. It is like Daughter of Smoke and Bone meets The Walking Dead in Black City.

Switching every 24 hours to someone or rather something indestructible and hungry for hunting dangerous supernatural creatures, Kali's not your ordinary girl. She turns to a demon hunter. When she's human, she's vulnerable and invisible to people. She doesn't have friends. But when Skylar approaches her at school and claims she's psychic, Kali starts to accept her friendship. Trouble only occurs when she sees Bethany, the school's popular A-list girl, marked with Ouroboros -- she knows she has to save her from foreseen death. And Kali isn't aware that she would survive death's 24-hour mark and be something more than a demon hunter.

Barnes did an amazing job creating such dark and gore novel where one can still see glimpses of light. The prose of the novel was okay for me however, I was annoyed reading "preternatural" over and over and over again. She created broken characters and mingled them in ways I didn't expect could possibly work for a paranormal premise. I wanted to learn more about the paranormal aspect of this book but there were several loop holes. Some things weren't completely explained like how it all started. I mean, there should be more, more from the gist of the story and at least a little more background for the characters. Hellhounds are pretty much scary creatures and I was seriously taken aback when there were zombies involved. Zombies for the win!! The strength of the twists brought so much emotion that I was stumped for a minute! It built up slowly but eventually delivered full blast action as promised. It was an awesome experience!

Broken character 1: Bethany. She's annoying, mean and bully. She's beautiful and wealthy. But at the back of it all, she's just a regular teenager who lacks attention from her parents. Which is one of the sole basis why some teenagers have attitude issues.
Broken character 2: Skylar. OMG. She's the bully victim and most people doesn't believe her when she claims she's psychic. But again, despite of it all, she managed to ignore whatever name people call her and remained kind and sweet. And another OMG. She's the hero here! She actually mae me cry ocean. This pure hearted simple girl just wanted to help a friend and she gave so much. SHe gave so much. *wipes tears*
Broken character 3: Kali. Her mom left. Her dad doesn't even acknowledge her. No friends. She doesn't even know herself or her origins. She's lost and confused. And most tragic of all, she's unlove. Switching from being a vulnerable human to invincible Demon Hunter when you don't even feel pain and you become a predator, I couldn't blame Kali if there were moments she prefer switching. She's definitely a kick-ass heroine and I adored her skills and heart. Even if she turns to someone so strong, she didn't lose her heart. And no matter how nasty people treat her, she exudes compassion and understanding.
Broken character 4: Zev. He is definitely broken. He was held captive for years so he could be studied. But I have so many questions about his character. Where did he come from? How was he able to communicate with Kali? Why does he have two Ouroboros? What happened to him? But most of these weren't answered but am glad Zev was in Kali's head. He helped her shape her motives and I actually ship them.

Every Other Day takes you to a place where mystical creatures exist, where experiments and tests assault the living, where an assassin is full of hunger to hunt and kill. It is dark, bloody yet emotional. It is the abstract of good and evil. Barnes made sure that readers would get addictive and would ask for more.

VERDICT:

"Sometimes, there aren't any good choices. Sometimes, making the right one is hard... It's funny, but when you think about it, we're all broken. That's what life does. It knocks you down and breaks you and you either get back up again, or you don't. You either do things on your terms, or you don't. You let the bad things win, or you don't. You either let it break you, or you don't."