Something very cool happened to me today + a review

I met Kelly Meding today. I think I shocked the hell out of her by walking up to her and asking if she was the author who wrote Three Days to Dead, which is a recently published urban fantasy that is an awesome read, especially for a first novel. I'm usually pretty shy but she was so friendly and approachable that I had no problem talking to her. I never did an actual review of the book so here it is...spoilers, spoilers...

They’ll never see her coming. . . .

When Evangeline Stone wakes up naked and bruised on a cold slab at the morgue—in a stranger’s body, with no memory of who she is and how she got there—her troubles are only just beginning. Before that night she and the two other members of her Triad were the city’s star bounty hunters, mercilessly cleansing the city of the murderous creatures living in the shadows, from vampires to shape-shifters to trolls. Then something terrible happened that not only cost all three of them their lives but also convinced the city’s other Hunters that Evy was a traitor—and she can’t even remember what it was.

Now she’s a fugitive, piecing together her memory, trying to deal some serious justice—and discovering that she has only three days to solve her own murder before the reincarnation spell wears off. Because in three days Evy will die again—but this time there’s no second chance. . . .

What a neat book. Evy is one of the toughest chicks in fiction, period. How many other heroines have been set up, murdered, resurrected in another woman's body, fallen in love, and still managed to keep her wits since she only has three more days until she's dead again and needs to find out who killed her and why and had that happen in one book. Geez, no pressure or anything.

Evy doesn't know the woman she wakes up in and obviously that adds another layer of impossibility to her task. Her new body comes with a roommate/friend who is now in danger because of her, not to mention that actually walking in someone else's shoes is harder than you think. Evy's boss, Wyatt, and his pledges of love are another. See, Evy knew about Wyatt's feelings before she died and while she cared for him, she didn't love him like he wanted. But in her new body, things are a bit different and she finds herself returning his feelings.

I liked this book for several reasons. First, Evy just rocks. She's a Bad-Ass (capital B, capital A) fighter who doesn't give up and still has compassion. A reader might think that someone who has lived her life would have a cold heart by then. Two, there was a whole Baskin Robbins of supernatural peoples present. It's rare that you see that much diversity in a single urban fantasy book. Three, based on the title, I had different expectations on how it would end but was glad I was wrong. I should know better by now but I think I would still like to see a series that follows that idea (no, I'm not going to explain that.).

Kelly Meding has a difficult job ahead of her: writing a sequel to Three Days to Dead that is on par with her first book. I am definitely looking forward to As Lie the Dead which, according to Kelly, will be out this July. It was such a pleasant surprise to find the author to a book I thoroughly enjoyed existing in the same area where I live. What a kick :)