The Awesome by Eva Darrows - Review

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Maggie Cunningham is quite a bit different than the average seventeen year old. She's tough, smart, and sassy, but more to the point she's followed her mother, Janice, into the family business of monster hunting. Unfortunately, she isn't eligible to take on bigger, more dangerous targets until she earns her journeyman's license. She can't get her journeyman's license until she loses her virginity - something about virgin blood turning vampires into psycho killing machines and all of that. Maggie quickly realizes that finding herself a boy and fitting in with her peers is more daunting than she expected. Most girls don't carry stakes in their waistbands, stuff their bras with with holy water balloons, exorcise ghosts, or expertly shoot a crossbow. In Maggie's opinion, that makes them lame and her not. She's awesome - The Awesome. But first, she just needs to get a date.

The Awesome by Eva Darrows is colorful and over-the-top, but that doesn't mean it isn't a lot of fast-paced, action-packed fun. I couldn't help compare this book to the tv show Supernatural. I expect that if Dean Winchester was a seventeen year old girl, he would be exactly like Maggie Cunningham.

In Maggie's world the family business isn't so secret, she and her mother are licensed by the Department of Paranormal Relations, the DoPR, to do what they do when one of the monsters crosses the line. Maggie's sense of humor and snark is very sharp and being in her head is an awkward and authentically inappropriate thrill ride. She has a great, if unconventional, relationship with her mother, Janice. While Both characters are really well developed and self-aware, my favorite of everyone was Lauren, a zombie. She's very different from Maggie and Janice, but she really helps to balance everything out. I only wish there was a little more world-building when it comes to the DoPR and where everything fits into a larger world. Overall, if you're looking for a quick and entertaining YA urban fantasy look no further than The Awesome by Eva Darrows.

I read this book from January 6 - 8, 2016 and my review is also on Goodreads.