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Synopsis

Macey’s life has been turned upside down. Her mother has left, her father is absent and her two best friends (her brother Seth and his girlfriend Willow) are MIA. On top of that Macey is being visited by ghosts who need her help to ‘move on’. But as wild as all that sounds, it’s all under Macey’s control until a rakish, good-looking spirit called Nick turns up … in her bedroom!

Nick’s a spirit with spirit who insists he’s not dead, he’s astral travelling and has a message for Macey: someone is out to get her. Macey’s biting wit has got her in trouble before, so she’s not surprised but when the threatening notes start turning up, she’s seriously shaken. Does someone want her dead?

It’s all rather disturbing but she’s finding it hard to focus on who could mean her harm with the annoyingly handsome surf god Finn turning up at the most inopportune times and a father with a rather large surprise of his own.

Is it a case of bad timing? Or are these things somehow connected? And if they are, what on earth should she wear when she’s solving the mystery?

Review

I received an ARC for an honest review.

I really enjoyed Almost Dead, the perfect contrast of humour, family issues, mystery, romance and so much more, made Almost Dead a quite enjoyable read.

I was very intrigued that Almost Dead was set in Australia, even though I don’t live in Queensland I have been to the Gold Coast many times before so I know some places that were talked about pretty well. It felt different than reading a book that is based in America or England I think because I somewhat felt at home. It is really hard to find books that are set in my home country, so for that part I quite enjoyed it. I also like it was set near a beach, come on surf boys in the summer without any shirts on.

The storyline was very unique and it was really interesting, especially when the elements of mystery come about, I was not expecting it at all. It made the strong that more interesting. At first I was very wary with the paranormal side because I have never read many novels about ghost as they are not really my thing but in saying that, I did quite enjoy it. Macey Almost Dead’s main protagonist has been seeing ghosts for not that long when the novel starts and I found it quite funny her attitude towards the ghost that come to her for help. She is very strong minded on what she has to do for them when the ghost appears so when Nick appears the reaction of Macey is amusing.

I have mixed feelings about Macey, the main character of this novel. I really like her for the most part but at some points she really just got on my nerves, I don’t know exactly what about her got me so frustrated I just wanted to hit her out of it. I think maybe it was her attitude to things that were happening, like how she sometimes brushed big things off, but then the little things got to her. Other than that  I really enjoyed her character. She was angry when I wanted her to be angry, when I felt she should be angry. She felt upset when I felt she should be upset. Macey had this spark about her, this front that I really liked about her, she was strong but then she shows all types of emotion.

I love Nick, he was just so comical. He was a smart ass but not over the top nor in a way that made him a horrid kind of person. That like Macey used his humour to hide his real emotions. I felt sorry for him many times when reading Almost Dead.

Finn again I have mixed feelings about him, maybe that is because at one point there I starting fearing that there was going to be love triangle, between Finn, Macey and Nick. Thankful there wasn’t. I did like him, but I did find him a touch over protective and that really got on my nerves.

Kaz Delaney wrote the mystery element wonderfully, I didn’t know what to expect, pretty much the whole novel, even at the end. I hadn’t guessed what was happening at all apart from what Macey had figured out. It was totally unexpected, especially the reasoning. This was very unusual for me as I am normally pretty good with this kind of stuff. That is what happens when I love watching crime shows.

There was only a few little things that got on my nerves throughout the novel but a somewhat major thing that got me frustrated was the family issues. I am tired of having broken families in every novel I read, I know it happens in real life, but not to every single family. It gets annoying reading it alot just because I want a happy family. One that everyone loves each other. I really didn’t care much about that fact that her mother left. But what her dad did. Just no. It got me so frustrated; I understand his reasoning but come on.

Overall I did enjoy the book. It was an entertaining , suspenseful, funny  read.

I give this a 3.5 Stars out of 5