"The Body Finder" by Kimberly Derting

From Goodreads: "Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he's claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself." 

This book left me speechless and in the best possible way. I cannot convey to you how much I loved this book and how perfect I thought it was- and I am entirely taken aback by it all, because in all honesty, I just randomly bought the book, having only seen it a few times in the blogosphere world, and having no idea what it was about. I had been reading this book while my dad and I were driving and after each chapter I would set the book down and squeal (and I embarrassingly admit, there may have been happy tears involved each time) about how much I was loving it all. Kimberly Derting, you are a genius, and your wonderful creation has (rightfully so) earned its place in my favourite book series of all time, alongside "The Mortal Instruments" series by Cassie Clare and the "Shifter" series by Rachel Vincent. And though I love me some Marc, Jace, and Dimitri, Jay Heaton has hands down become my favourite male character (which I find surprising since he isn't at all what I almost exclusively go for in male characters- dark and dangerous).

This book is beautifully written and everything in it is impeccably interwoven. It also had the perfect combination of adventure and romance, and as I made note in my reviews of "The Dark Divine" and "The Lost Saint" by Bree Despain, the idea of romantically bringing together two best friends is genius, as it avoids the clique YA plot where the male and female character pronounce their undying love for one another almost immediately after meeting. What I also is that being best friends forever, Jay and Violet know everything about one another, just one eyebrow raise or one facial twitch speaks volumes amongst them, the other will know exactly what the other is thinking or is trying to convey. The characters are extremely well developed, take Violet for instance, she is such a headstrong young woman with a strong sense of good and evil in the world, whereas Jay is caring,  clever, and humorously possessive.

I will admit though that I am quite worried about the next book in the series, “Desires of the Dead”. As I have said many times in my reviews, there are cases, more than I would like to admit, where I believe that sequels do not deliver, and that they fall flat. However *positive thinking/ fingers crossed* that “Desires of the Dead” will be like “The Lost Saint” by Bree Despain, exceeding the first book in the series by tenfold, making me love the series all the more.

Rating: 11/10 (yes, you read that right, 11/10- the highest rating I have ever given out in one of my reviews. I love this book to pieces and think that you would be crazy to not read it- in fact, I am going to go and reread it right now).