Review: A Stiff Kiss by Avery Olive

Title: A Stiff Kiss

Author: Avery Olive

Publisher: Crescent Moon Press

Publication Date: 2/6/2012

Genre: YA

Main Themes: Romance, Death, Family, Road Trip, & Self Discovery

Pages: 248

Plot: (From GoodReads)

Who knew kissing a corpse would change everything?

Death always hits Xylia Morana too close to home, but she likes it that way.  She hangs out with the terminally ill, attends random funerals, and every so often, when the weather is right, she sleeps in open graves.

But after Landon Phoenix, the high school hottie, dies in Xylia's arms, she sneaks into the morgue to say goodbye.  How could she know stealing a kiss from his corpse would wake him up?

With Landon returned to the living and suddenly interested in Xylia, life has new meaning.  But what Xylia doesn't realize is that by kissing Landon back to life, she's thrown  Life and Death off balence.  The underworld demands a body, and it might just haveto be Xylia's this time.

Avery Olive contacted and asked me if I would be interested in hosting a day of her blog tour and since it was my first opportunity to do so, I couldn’t say no.  And I am so glad she did, for if she didn’t I probably would have missed this book completely and that would have been a shame! 

Avery blew me away with A Stiff Kiss as I discovered it was chillingly morbid, gravely disturbing, and impulsively rebellious.  This gripping novel had an amazing cast of exceptionally bizarre and immersing characters that will keep you entertained throughout the entire story and still keep you begging for more!

The setting Olive created was very dreary, realistic, and modern.  It wasn’t much different then what you would see today but with a plot twist she turned it into a world with a second chance at life, full of choices and reliving a certain moment could change everything!

The characters in this odd but compelling tale really made the story what it was.  Xylia was truly one of a kind; obsessed with death almost seems an understatement describing her.  With losing her mother at a very young age and her being the one to find her that way, it definitely scarred her.  As she has had years to deal with her traumatic loss, she takes the long road to overcoming her grief.  In that process she becomes very curious about the process of dying and death in general.  I found Xylia to be morbid, peculiar, and grotesque; but still she was still vigorous, caring, and stubborn.  She was a really rare character that I believe people can relate to.  Then there’s the boy that she brings back to life, Landon.  Landon was the typical jock, who might not have ever noticed Xylia until her magical kiss bought him back from the dead.  He turned out to be this astonishingly thoughtful, sensitive, and considerate boy that helped Xylia in more ways than she realized that she needed.  

I felt that this strange and engaging novel earned itself an A-, as it held an intriguing look at death and the afterlife that I think many people could relate to.  To all readers out there this one was very imaginative and a very quick read, it will really make you ask yourself if you relive a moment of your life how would you use your second chance?

My Rating: 19/20

Originality: 5

Plot: 4

Characters: 5

Writing Style: 5