"Dark, action-packed supernatural page turner"

"Three Days to Dead" delivered more than I expected of it. The slightly clichéd title and garish cover set me up for a piece of supernatural light entertainment with a puzzle at its heart. The book turned out to be much, much darker, more violent and more thoughtful than that.

The story centres around Evangeline Stone, a young killer in a death squad targeted at the non-human population (the Dregs) who, having been robbed of her life and the memory of her death, is returned to a three day lifespan, in the body of a stranger, to solve a puzzle she does not have the pieces of.

The plot is set up to provide a good action story: charismatic heroine, a race against time, a mysterious chain of events, laced with betrayal and mistrust and packed with fight sequences to keep the readers' attention.

But Kelly Madding takes everything further than. As Evangeline painfully recovers her memory and struggles to discover who she can trust, she confronts her former self and discovers a desire to change and a need to live that she lacked before her first death.

She reassesses herself, her allies, her enemies and discovers choices she was previously blind to. As she does so, we start to care about her and root for her, which brings this action-packed supernatural thriller to life and turns the gruesome memories and the endless violence from gratuitous window dressing into real character building.

Xe Sands does a great job as the narrator, able to deal with action and introspection equally well.
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Dnf @87% dunno. Just don't care.

Urban fantasy normally isn't my thing, but Kelly Meding's premise in Three Days to Dead - a woman who's devoted her adult life to protecting the city in which she lives from the beasties that lurk in its shadows, awakes in a morgue in a body not her own, to learn that aside from her missing memories, she has three days before the body she inhabits dies and thus, three days to unravel the mystery of what put her in the morgue in the first place - intrigued me enough to pick it up and give it a read.

And boy was I glad I did! The plot moves along at a quick clip as Evangeline Stone searches for answers throughout Dreg City, encountering fantastical creatures that include goblins, vampires, gargoyles, gremlins, faeries and perhaps my favorite modern incarnation of a bridge troll. She turns up more answers than she was initially seeking, which naturally moves the plot forward to its satisfying conclusion. And there's just the right amount of romance and humor thrown into the mix as well. One of the things that initially turned me off the genre, was the urban fantasy I had read appeared to be thinly veiled romance. Not so, here. There's not one forced scene in the book, and the chemistry between the characters seems genuine.

Three Days to Dead will appeal not just to readers of urban fantasy, but folks who enjoy adventure, romance and fantasy of any type. ( )

I ended up buying this so I could try it out after so any Amazon recommendations. I did sit in B&N and try reading the first bit of it before buying just to be sure. I enjoyed the story though I had to keep putting it down to read library books coming in. I ended up just reading for four hours straight to get through the last third of the book and didn't regret staying up late to do so. Not sure how it will be a series things were pretty much wrapped up, but do see that there is a second book planned. ( )

4 1/2 stars, I would read this again. Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding This is Great Uf read from a new author first in a series.
It starts with "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." A dark urban fantasy series with twists that squeal. There are Trolls, Fairies, Vampires, Gargoyles, goblins, a kick arse chick, sexy men, etc...and a mystery that had me guessing till the very end. I love the new fresh view of the paranormal world. This is an author to watch. I can't wait to read the net in the series. ( )