Dead is the New Black by Marlene Perez

Daisy lives in Nightshade, a rather odd and mysterious town. Her whole family is psychic, from her mother to her telekinetic and mind-reading sisters. Except Daisy.

At Nightshade High, popular ex-friend Samantha shows up dressed from head-to-toe black and carrying a coffin, which is enough to start a new fashion uproar. When girls start showing up dead - and then alive, again - Daisy turns Veronica Mars (as quoted on the back), and gets her mystery on, joining the cheerleading team (of which Samantha is a member) and kickin' some ass.

I bought this mostly for the quote on the back, from Nancy Holder, saying it's like "Veronica Mars meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Those are two of my favorite shows, so my expectations were a little more than high.

Usually, I'm not a fan of mysteries, excepting a few like the Death By series and Shadowed Summer (that was more of a small-town ghost story, but it mixed a whole lot of mystery in, too). This one fell in the middle for me. It followed the average mystery outline - suspicion, clues, killer, bam! - but it had a supernatural and romantic touch to it which I liked for it's uniqueness. It was a short book, and it managed to create a cute little dark creeper town. Hey, I'm a fan of those (Nightmare Before Christmas lover here). I loved Nightshade, and I loved some of Daisy's development, but I didn't completely love the entire book. It was a little too predictable. A lot of books are, but I still wish for a spin or twist every now and then, and I was hoping for one here.

Favorite part of the book? The Juke Box! It better be in the sequel. It's totally quirky, and I love it. (It plays songs of it's own accord, like it's trying to tell the diner customers something.)

Will I read the sequel? Definitely. I actually think the sequel will be a lot better, for reasons I can't really...describe. It's a semi-spoiler. Bottom-line: it's a cute book, it created a great setting, and it could be the start of a great series. I'm hoping the sequel, like I think it will, gives an extra punch.