Book Review: Croak by Gina Damico

Title: Croak
Author: Gina Damico
Author Links: Website | Twitter
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publication Date: March 20th 2012
Format: Paperback
Pages: 311
Summary from Goodreads;
Sixteen-year-old Lex Bartleby has sucker-punched her last classmate. Fed up with her punkish, wild behavior, her parents ship her off to upstate New York to live with her Uncle Mort for the summer, hoping that a few months of dirty farm work will whip her back into shape. But Uncle Mort’s true occupation is much dirtier than that of shoveling manure. 
He’s a Grim Reaper. And he’s going to teach her the family business.
Lex quickly assimilates into the peculiar world of Croak, a town populated entirely by reapers who deliver souls from this life to the next. Along with her infuriating yet intriguing partner Driggs and a rockstar crew of fellow Grim apprentices, Lex is soon zapping her Targets like a natural born Killer.
Yet her innate ability morphs into an unchecked desire for justice—or is it vengeance?—whenever she’s forced to Kill a murder victim, craving to stop the attackers before they can strike again. So when people start to die—that is, people who aren’t supposed to be dying, people who have committed grievous crimes against the innocent—Lex’s curiosity is piqued. Her obsession grows as the bodies pile up, and a troubling question begins to swirl through her mind: if she succeeds in tracking down the murderer, will she stop the carnage—or will she ditch Croak and join in?
Review:
4 stars, really enjoyed it.
When I first read the blurb, I was really excited and interesting because I hadn't read about a girl being a Grim Reaper before in a novel. So naturally, I got it and unfortunately was let down somewhat.
Lex moves to live with her uncle, whom she expects to be a well.. farmer but once she gets there she's shocked to find out he's a reaper, a grim reaper. Not only that, but he's going to teach her the family business. I was surprised by many of the events, in a good way but I couldn't connect with the characters. Yes, the characters were hilarious and they had me laughing at their sarcastic replies to almost everything but I couldn't connect and feel for them. It felt like the character's personalities were just scattered around.
I liked the whole aspect of the world though, I felt myself wanting to know more about it throughout the book. The pacing was okay, nothing to exciting but it was enjoyable and you could really visualize things because of the details. Uncle Mort's character was completely hilarious and sarcastic and he's a grim reaper!
 I also really enjoyable the romance. Some scenes were hilarious like the following one;

"Why did you kiss my ear?" Lex asked nervously.

Driggs winced. "Because you turned your head. 

"I thought that tree. . . moved." 

"Oh." - Page 272 

Overall, I think this is a book anyone who is looking for a fun adventurous read with humor. I thought this book was a stand alone but the sequel, Scorch, comes out this year as well, so I might pick that up in the future.
The cover for it;

Scorch, sequel to Croak

Book Trailer; Check this trailer out! It's hilarious :D This is somewhat what Lex's personality is at first.

“Life isn't fair. Why should death be any different?” 

― Gina Damico, Croak