Early to Death, Early to Rise
Madison Avery Trilogy, Book #2
By Kim Harrison
ISBN # 9780061718175
Author’s website: http://www.kimharrison.net/

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Annabell

Synopsis:

Seventeen, dead, and in charge of heaven’s dark angels—all itching to kill someone.

Madison Avery’s dreams of ever fitting in at her new school died when she did. Especially since she was able to maintain the illusion of a body, deal with a pesky guardian angel, and oh yeah, bring the reaper who killed her to his untimely end. Not exactly in-crowd material. It’s amazing that her crush, Josh, doesn’t think she’s totally nuts.

Now Madison has learned that she’s the dark timekeeper, in charge of angels who follow the murky guidelines of fate. Never one to abide by the rules, she decides it’s time for a major change to the system. With the help of some unlikely allies, Madison forms a rogue group of reapers who definitely don’t adhere to the rules of the heavens.

But as she grapples with the terrifying new skills that come with being a timekeeper, Madison realizes she may not be prepared for what lies ahead—unless she gets some seriously divine intervention.

Review:

Madison and her gang of Heaven outcasts returns. Madison is determined to change the way Heaven runs. She believes humans should be allowed to maintain their souls and given a chance to change by the choices they make. She sets out on a mission to prove to Heaven and accomplish the goal of saving human souls for Heaven by helping them to make better choices on their life on Earth. But just as Madison is assigned a new case and a chance to prove that choice works, she discovers that Ron had lied to her. She had originally thought she was the new light time keeper but in reality she is the new dark time keeper. But Madison won’t stick to her dark time keeper duties, which turns everything topsy- turvy for Heaven and the humans she’s supposed to be protecting.

Madison is still as loveable and hilarious as she was when she was first introduced in Once Dead, Twice Shy. I love that Madison makes mistakes which creates even more trouble for her. I love that she is strong but not overly prideful. She is such a charming heroine. I really love reading from her point of view. Barnabus is still exquisitely delicious, Nakita is still kicking up and taking names but she also has more of a vulnerability to her this time around because of what happened at the end of Once Dead, Twice Shy, and Josh is still the best boyfriend a girl could ask for. Grace is also continuing to poke fun at Madison through her rhyming limericks and adding lightness to the twisted plot. Paul is a new character introduced into the story as the rising light time keeper in training. He adds to the list of hot male characters in the series and enters with a bang, managing to go toe to toe with Nakita!

The pacing was a little slower in my opinion than the first book. Takes a bit more time to get into the flow of the novel but the plot is full of twists and shocking revelations, like the first novel. The characters are growing and still as wonderful. The dialogue, humor, and descriptions are just as wonderful as the first time around. The book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger which was nice but still leaves room for the series to continue forward.

Early to Death, Early to Rise is a book worth staying up into the wee hours of morning to read! If you have yet to jump into the series, I urge you to go to the nearest book store and buy all three books in the Madison Avery Series. You will NOT regret it!