Fallen, by Lauren Kate

Book one in the Fallen Trilogy. Book three got great reviews, so I figured I should start from the beginning. This is a pretty typical YA novel, similar in outline to the dreaded Twilight books, but "starring" angels instead of vampires, et al. Lucinda transfers to a reform school after she is involved in a tragic and deadly event at her former boarding school. Sword and Cross is not a typical prep/reform school: untidy, ugly, weird-but-not-criminal kids, and apparently lots of very hot guys, one of whom is quite charming and attentive, another of which seems to hate her on sight.

Of course, she is drawn more to the latter boy, who ends up being more attentive than he seems while Mr. Charming turns out to be a...well, demon.

War breaks out, her best friend turns out to be mortal after all, and the librarian, while not at all stereotypical, is definitely a villain.

Book Two awaits!!

The Diviner's Tale, by Bradford Morrow

Good book. A little heavy-handed in the explanation of the work "divine" but a good mystery told somewhat backwards in that the further you get into the book, the further back (and deeper) you go in the narrator's life.

Good.

Grave Surprise, by Charlaine Harris (on CD)

Grave Sight, by Charlaine Harris (on CD)

This is a series by the woman who created the Sookie Stackhouse characters (i.e. True Blood on TV), but this is about a woman who was hit by lightning and can now tell by touch how someone died. That's all; she can't see beyond the moment of death or injury.

She makes her living searching for missing people and trying to resolve family pain over issues such as 'what really killed Aunt Mabel, the surgery or the heart attack?' Of course, she is also asked to find out how murder victims died, which she can't do; she can only tell that they were killed. This is a problem since people refuse to see that her vision isn't limitless. And people dislike that she is earning money off of 'other people's pain' which she points out over and over again is just the way she earns a living.

Interesting concept. The reader wasn't great, but the characters are fascinating. Arkansas doesn't come off looking too friendly in this one at all. And I knew what the "key" was to the mystery REALLY early on.