Review: Magical, scary and hilarious
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 4, 2012
When I pictured Zan, the hero of Dalya Moon's Poke, I got an image of Deb from Napoleon Dynamite, fussing with her Glamour Shots set-up. This made me giggle. When I found out Zan's magical power was that he could see any girl's future by having her stick her finger in his belly button, I giggled some more. The premise is downright absurd, but I think that's why I liked this book so much. Everything that happens is just a bit off-kilter, with the kinds of characters you might not necessarily encounter in real life, but each of whom have their own personality quirks without being *annoyingly* quirky -- if you know what I mean. (I'm STILL mad at the lady from the Chinese tea shop, to be honest, but I'm trying not to give anything away in terms of the plot. Oh, and that Duchovny reference made me swoon, in addition to giggling.)I loved that this "paranormal romantic comedy" was decidedly NOT like Twilight, that the characters had a lot of paranormality to deal with but still acted like human beings, and that although technically this was a tale of "love at first sight," it came off as believable young love instead of some melodramatic or creepy obsession.If you still think witches should be evil, that females of all ages should avoid vampires, and that magic comes from the most unlikely of places, you will enjoy this book.