Poison Princess by Kresley Cole

DNF @ 49% 

I actually felt kind of sorry for this book. It came out when everyone was starting to get sick of TWILIGHT and its ilk, so people really weren't feeling all that kindly towards paranormal romances with insipid heroines and emotionally controlling heroes. Maybe if it had come out today, when dystopians and paranormals are starting to have a resurgence, people would be kinder. But hey, sometimes you draw the short straw in publishing trends and someone always has to be the last one.

Set in Louisiana, POISON PRINCESS is the story of Evie, an ordinary high school student who's well-liked and part of the pretty set. Their lives are disrupted when a group of Cajun students join the school, poor and declasse, but undeniably attractive, and portrayed with every stereotype in the book. Their ringleader is a guy named Jackson who talks like a dirty 40-year-old man in a bar trapped in the ripped body of an 18-year-old.

But Evie has a secret. She sees visions-- dark, terrifying visions that she draws on her sketchbook. Visions of the end of the world. And then one day, it all comes to fruition and suddenly there's plagues, zombies, and worse, and all of the plants in the world just die. Except that Evie can grow them with her blood and maybe has a couple other superpowers up her sleeve, including the power to smell like a flower even when she's not wearing perfume! WOW!!!! Step aside, Superman.

I could probably make it through the whole book if I wanted to. I don't, because it isn't wowing me and I don't really feel invested enough to make myself continue. I personally didn't think it was as bad as some of my friends did, and found myself feeling more bemused than angry with the book. Jackson is a skeeve, yes, which is maybe why the author felt the need to include an incel serial killer who keeps girls locked up in his basement for experimentation and sex... you know, for contrast.

POISON PRINCESS is dark and while that can be a good thing in YA, I'm not really sure the author fully knew what she wanted from this world she created and it shows in the writing.

1.5 to 2 out of 5 stars