Review : Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : Life After Theft
Author : Aprilynne Pike
Publication Date : April 30th 2013
Publisher : Harper Teen
Goodreads - The Book Depository
Moving to a new high school sucks. Especially a rich-kid private school. With uniforms. But nothing is worse than finding out the first girl you meet is dead. And a klepto.

No one can see or hear Kimberlee except Jeff, so--in hopes of bringing an end to the snarkiest haunting in history--he agrees to help her complete her "unfinished business." But when the enmity between Kimberlee and Jeff's new crush, Sera, manages to continue posthumously, Jeff wonders if he's made the right choice.

Clash meets sass in this uproarious modern-day retelling of Baroness Orczy's The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Personal Thoughts

I went into Life After Theft not really expecting anything out of it and I think that was the right decision because this book did not blow me away. In fact, I thought it was bland and while it had the possibility to be something interesting, it did not.

I didn't read the blurb before I read the book, so you can imagine my surprise when I found out the book was written in the POV of a teenage boy. With a girl on the cover, I was definitely not expecting that. I will admit that Jeff's voice did not come out as strongly as I wanted it to. For one, I did not realize that he was a guy about 10 or so pages into the ebook. Plus, throughout the book, his voice had feminine traits and that was a little frustrating. I also wasn't a huge fan of his personality. I also didn't like that he would make opinions about people before really knowing them. All in all, Jeff was pretty unmemorable and he failed to impress me. The ghost, Kimberlee, was probably the one I liked the most. She was at times very mean and perplexing, but I wound up really liking her because she grew so much throughout the book. Although she was a ghost, I felt her presence more than I felt Jeff's. I feel like this book could have been a lot better had it been written in Kimberlee's POV. It would definitely have helped understand her character a lot better and I would have loved being inside her head.

Plot-wise, Life After Theft was unimpressive. Most of the plot line consisted of Jeff returning the goods that Kimberlee had stolen before she had died. It was, to be honest, quite boring. The only reason I kept reading was because of Kimberlee's character growth. The plot could have been refined with some twists and turns, but pacing wise, nothing much happened in this book.

I wish I had more to say about this book, but I seriously don't. It's one of those books that I definitely did not hate, but I didn't love it either. It lacked the spark, personality and will probably be one of those unmemorable reads for me. If judging by the plot, this book seems to be something that would appeal to you, then go for it, but do I think it's worth spending your money on? No.

Rating

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 2/5
Characters : 3/5
Writing : 3/5

**Overall rating : 2.5/5**

Big thanks to Harper Teen and Edelweiss for the e-ARC of Life After Theft.