The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Summary from Headline
Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend, she is more disturbed by her "power" to sense dead bodies – or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world...and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift, but now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer – and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay's intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she's falling in love, Violet is getting closer to discovering a killer...and becoming his prey herself.

What first drew me to this book was the front cover. Look at how beautiful it is. The blue is rather striking against the black background. Having read the book, I think it's a good cover.

On with the story! The cover drew me in, then the prologue did. I mean, how many little girls find a body in the wood? Not many. And Violet stayed sane as she grew up. That's thanks to her parents, and also to Jay who is her best friend. Throughout the book there is a lot of romance slash anticipation about Violet and Jay's relationship. For me, I would have liked a bit more action regarding Violet's skills, but the parts about the two of them was quite sweet, especially near the end.

The most interesting parts of the book for me was when Violet's ability came into play. It's a pretty spooky ability to have, to locate dead people/animals. I was glad that her parents supported her, and didn't think she was a crazy lunatic. I felt it was good how she wasn't isolated at school, that she did have friends, and Jay knew about her ability. There wasn't an info dump in the book, Violet's background was filtered in throughout the whole story. I sensed she came from a loving home, which came alive when Violet was under threat from the murderer. I like books where the family is heavily involved in the protagonists life. I feel it adds a sense of realism, and makes a character more easy to relate to. I was scared for Violet as she started tracking the murderer down. I wasn't surprised when her family and Jay got angry when she went back on her word - her mistakes could cost her everything. I loved how much I cared for Violet, how scared I got when she went wandering off on her own. As for who the murderer is - that was a real twist in the story that I didn't see coming! I seriously hope that there might be more stories about Violet, because if she ever moved to a big city  her gift could be put to a lot of good use.

I give this book a 9/10.