Gina Damico

“Scorch” picks up shortly after Cordy’s funeral. Lex and Uncle Mort have been out picking up new recruits and the two that they bring back to Croak are flippin hysterical. Bang, who never says a word, and Pip, her foster brother who seems to do nothing but ask inane questions.

Zara is still out there and she is damning anyone and everyone, including innocents. The whole story is a race against time to get a hold of something Zara is looking for and she’s going to keep damning one show more person a day until she gets it. Needless to say people are dying left and right and no one is safe

Almost as irreverent as “Croak”. Damico is the queen of snark as far as I am concerned! I picked up several new insults and euphemisms from “Scorch”. I’m still laughing at them!

Damico continued Lex’s story in a very interesting fashion, really, no one is safe…you will be completely surprised by what happens and to whom it happens. I really love authors who have the attitude that “everyone is expendible”, it makes the story so much more exciting. We also go to experience another Reaper community and it was worth the price of admission, alone. I loved it! Scorch is going to leave you begging for more with a really HUGE cliffhanger! Can’t wait to see what happens next! show less

For anyone who found Hogwarts a little too cloying for the adult palette, the tiny town of Croak will be much more to your liking. Croak has no drinking age, a thriving cottage industry of cheating tourists, and the adults more likely to pick their nose and berate all teenagers than to provide wisdom or mentoring.

Despite the rough edges, this is the perfect place for our heroine. Though I'm usually not a fan of an angry protagonist, the sassy and funny Lexington Bartleby is filled to the show more brim with irrational anger. Billed in the description as a delinquent, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Lex's repuation is no joke. She opens the book punching, kicking, swearing, and sassing her way to the edge of her family's patience. And the solution is not navel gazing and ivy covered walls for Lex, she's shipped off north to work ten hour days. CROAK is a hysterical parody of YA boarding school genre, and though that could make the story predictable sometimes, the wit and characters never lost my interest. Uncle Mort is a sexy, genius of a Dumbledore who grifts tourists for Ramen money. Driggs is the teenage heartthrob, and his awkward, adolescent chemistry is just about the best I've ever read. Lex herself has a degree of "Boy-Who-Lived" fame, as the only recruit that comes from a loving, supportive family. Don't let these character sketches fool you, however. Damico does a great job of using gallows humor to turn a difficult subject into an entertaining romp, all without sacrificing the emotional punch that makes her characters to intriguing.

With it's portrayals of teenage drinking, heartbreaking references to abuse and murder, and the very real anger issues of the teenage workforce, CROAK still manages to maintain a light, tongue-in-cheek tone that I found winning. And just because the parody elements made some things predictable, Damico pulls no punches with her plot. The ending was a well executed surprise and I can't wait to see where book two takes us.

Full review to follow.

Sexual Content: Kissing. show less

I love George from Dead Like Me and Eleanor from The Good Place. Both are pretty terrible people who try to become better people in the afterlife. I feel like Ms. Damico was trying to create a similar character in Lex (short for Lexington, whose twin sister is named Concord, ew), but didn't get the redemption part of the terrible character.

Unlike George and Eleanor, Lex isn't dead, but she does become a grim reaper (like George). After two years of being a really terrible person (including show more assaulting anyone who looks at her wrong) and almost getting expelled from school (Seriously? In real life, this girl would have ended up in juvee long before.), her parents decide to ship her off to her uncle's farm, where she will presumably spend the summer milking cows and shoveling shit (which would probably have been good for the little criminal).

This girl is so awful that her parents have to strap her to a chair with belts just to have a conversation with her. She's so awful that, upon being picked up from the bus station by her uncle, she repeatedly assaults him, including while they are on a moving motorcycle. Supposedly, all this rage has been because she's actually a Grim, someone who collects the souls of the recently dead, so they can move on to the afterlife. (The Grims can visit the lobby of the afterlife, which was one of the best parts of the book. Edgar Allen Poe & ex-presidents hang out there to see the reactions of new arrivals.)

The entire town in which Uncle Mort lives (Croak, NY) is inhabited by Grims and retired Grims. I won't get into all the details, but the cheesy names (like a butcher shop called Dead Meat) quickly moved from amusing to annoying. Lex is assigned a partner (one frees the soul from the body, the other collects it for transport to the afterlife) and almost immediately assaults him. And then she gets mad because he punches her back, because she's a girl. And this comes from a girl who is proud of the fact that she has been an equal opportunity batterer: "Nerds, jocks, cheerleaders, goths, gays, straights, blacks, whites, that kid in the wheelchair -- no one was safe."

Beyond the story of a really awful person not really becoming any less awful, there's an awkward romance and an outbreak of mysterious deaths that appear to be caused by a rogue Grim. Be warned that this ends in a cliffhanger as there are at least two more books in the series. (I won't be bothering with them.) show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy:
www.allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com

For anyone who found Hogwarts a little too cloying for the adult palette, the tiny town of Croak will be much more to your liking. Croak has no drinking age, a thriving cottage industry of cheating tourists out of their money, and the adults as likely to berate teenagers as to provide wisdom or mentoring.

Despite the rough edges, this is the perfect place for our heroine. Though I'm usually not a fan of an show more angry protagonist, the sassy and funny Lexington Bartleby is filled to the brim with irrational anger. Billed in the description as a delinquent, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Lex's reputation is no joke. She opens the book punching, kicking, swearing, and sassing her way to the edge of her family's patience. And the solution is not navel gazing and ivy covered walls for Lex, she's shipped off north to work ten hour days. CROAK is a hysterical parody of YA boarding school genre, and though that could make the story predictable sometimes, the wit and characters never lost my interest. Uncle Mort is a sexy, genius of a Dumbledore who grifts tourists for Ramen money. Driggs is the teenage heartthrob, and his awkward, adolescent chemistry is just about the best I've ever read. Lex herself has a degree of "Boy-Who-Lived" fame, but her notoriety comes from being the only recruit that comes from a loving, supportive family. Don't let these character sketches fool you, however, CROAK has depth beyond parody. Damico does a great job of using gallows humor to turn a difficult subject into an entertaining romp, all without sacrificing the emotional punch that makes her characters to intriguing.

With it's portrayals of teenage drinking, heartbreaking references to abuse and murder, and the very real anger issues of the teenage workforce, CROAK still manages to maintain a light, tongue-in-cheek tone that I found winning. And though the parody elements made some things predictable, Damico pulls no punches with her plot. The ending was a well executed surprise that has me very interested in SCORCH this coming September.

Sexual Content: Kissing. show less