The Body Finder by Kimberley Darling

Book review #44
The Body Finder by Kimberley Darling
Rating: Five stars (refer to the rating system on the right)

Summary: (taken 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 had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping 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. 

I picked up The Body Finder not really expecting to like it. Imagine my surprise when I completely fell head over heels in love with it! The Body Finder easily became one of the best books I have read this year. I devoured it whole, loving every single second of it. With just the paranormal aspect it would have still been great. That topped with the heated chemistry between Violet and Jay it made this book amazing.

Violet has an extraordinary gift, she has the power to sense dead bodies, not just any dead bodies, but only bodies that have been murdered. Lately her "gift" was the last thing on her mind. Jay, her best friend since forever, is the only thing on her mind. He definitely changed over the summer, but he's not the only thing that changed.  Violet finds herself falling in love. A couple of weeks after school starts, it has been reported that several girls have been missing. When Violet finds a an actual human dead body, she has a strange feeling that there is one person responsible for all the murders. It becomes her main priority to use her gift to find the killer, no matter how dangerous it becomes...with Jay's help of course.

Violet is such an awesome person. She's the type of person I could see myself being friends with. She's one of those girls that are amazing, but they don't really know it. She can be stubborn at times, but in a good way if that's possible. Her friendship with Jay was super cute. You don't usually see boy and girl best friends. Now the romance aspect with Jay was hot! Their love for each other was amazing. And oh Jay! He became another one of my character crushes. Not only was he extremely handsome and sweet, but he didn't fall for all the attention he got.

I also loved the thrill and suspense parts of The Body Finder. I was grateful to see the little tidbits of what was going on in the murderer's head. It was really interesting, even though it was really creepy! Even though there were moments with not much going on, something always happens. The mystery wasn't the hardest thing to solve, but it was still great.

The Body Finder is the type of book you cancel your plans for. I'm so happy that it actually lived up to the hype. And there is a sequel coming out! I'm definitely ready for some more Jay and Violet. If you have this one in your TBR pile, move it up to the top. What could you be waiting for?