Bonus Book - Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock

When school is cancelled due to below-0 temperatures and winter storm warnings, what's a girl to do? That's easy! (Obscenity warning)

So the focus of today's in-bed book binge was Kathleen Peacock's Hemlock. I'm pretty sure if we peek into the author's notes, we find this:

Recipe for Hemlock (By Kathleen Peacock)

serves 1

1. preheat oven to 425. Start with a heaping helping of teenage murder. Mix in 2 cups plucky girl detective, 4 teaspoons of werewolf, and a dash of dystopian police state.

2. Strain to remove Twilight-like elements, and rinse. For spice, add in 2 scoops of unspoken feelings and 1 tablespoon of teenage hormones. Once mixture starts to foam, add in additional 2 cups of werewolf, and mix over heat for 5 minutes. Be sure not to let it burn!

3. Pour into well-oiled 9x9 cake pan, and dust the top liberally with oh-shit-the-pieces-are-coming-together. Bake for 45 minutes, let cool for 15, and enjoy! Best paired with a glass of "Oh, and you thought it was over, didn't you," followed by whiiiiine.

Seriously though, this was an enjoyable read and conjured up many, many comparisons with Veronica Mars. Many themes are borrowed from that show (listing them would give key points away, unfortunately) and I loved it. However, for those of us that don't love intrepid female detectives kicking ass, solving crimes and kissing cute boys along the way, then this might not be the book for you. 

Shame about the cover, though. Doesn't characterize the book AT ALL. Say it with me, you can't judge a book...

Similar to the book "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater, "Hemlock" is another example of how far the supernatural romance genre has come since Twilight. I like to think that Twilight's success hasn't just lured authors with promises of easy book sales and movie deals; I believe that authors came out to write better, truer, more entertaining stories in order to set the record straight. And thank goodness for that. 

But we get the picture, authors. We don't need THAT many paranormal romance books.