Book Review- The Body Finder

I started and finished The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting last night for a Book It Forward ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

A serial killer on the loose. A girl with a morbid ability. And the boy who would never let anything happen to her.

Violet Ambrose can find the dead. Or at least, those who have been murdered. She can sense the echoes they leave behind... and the imprints they leave on their killers. As if that weren't enough to deal with during junior year, she also has a sudden, inexplicable, and consuming crush on her best friend since childhood, Jay Heaton.

Now a serial killer has begun terrorizing Violet's small town... and she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

I had read mixed reviews about this book, so while I was excited to read it, I wasn't sure what to expect.  But I LOVED it!  I finished it in one night, staying up way later on a school night than I normally do just so I could finish it.

This book is definitely a character-driven book.  There is some action in the story, but I think the characters are more of the focus.  Which I felt worked great.  I loved how well we got to know Violet.  And there were also chapters told from the killer's point of view which was interesting to read.

I loved to read the story between Jay and Violet and see their interactions.  Jay is so sweet (in fact, I think he might be my new book crush) and so dedicated and protective of Violet.  It all seemed so real and I wanted to go back and have a guy best friend in high school just so we could fall in love.

And the premise of the story was so interesting--that bodies leave echoes when they have been murdered.  And for a teenage girl to be able to sense those was such a new idea.  I really loved the way the author desribed the echoes and imprints as well.  It was totally engaging.  And there weren't definitely parts that were creepy. 

This book kept me interested the whole time, and I couldn't put it down!

I gave this book a rating of 4.5/5.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2010 100+ Reading Challenge: 58
2010 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 42
2010 Debut Author Challenge: 16
ARC Reading Challenge 2010: 40

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Book It Forward ARC Tours.