ARC Review--Mortal Danger by Ann Aguirre

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Edie Kramer has a score to settle with the beautiful people at Blackbriar Academy. Their cruelty drove her to the brink of despair, and four months ago, she couldn't imagine being strong enough to face her senior year. But thanks to a Faustian compact with the enigmatic Kian, she has the power to make the bullies pay. She's not supposed to think about Kian once the deal is done, but devastating pain burns behind his unearthly beauty, and he's impossible to forget.

In one short summer, her entire life changes, and she sweeps through Blackbriar, prepped to take the beautiful people down from the inside. A whisper here, a look there, and suddenly... bad things are happening. It's a heady rush, seeing her tormentors get what they deserve, but things that seem too good to be true usually are, and soon, the pranks and payback turns from delicious to deadly. Edie is alone in a world teeming with secrets and fiends lurking in the shadows. In this murky morass of devil's bargains, she isn't sure who—or what--she can trust. Not even her own mind...

I received this ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review, I was in no way compensated for this review.


Ann Aguirre's Mortal Danger was quite the intense read! It was emotionally well driven and I was left just shocked at the end! Yes, there were tears throughout and other feelings going on, but by the end I was in love and was craving for more!

Edie is not your typical teen. She's the victim of severe bullying, her looks aren't considered pretty by any means and she's tired of it all. She plans to commit suicide in the beginning but is stopped right away by a guy named Kian. He offers her a deal that is too good to be true, "three magical wishes" that she can basically use to get revenge on the kids that made her life hell.

I was immediately reminded of the story of Faustus when I read the description, basically making a devil's bargain. For after Edie uses her three wishes, she will in turn have to grant three favors to the benefactors of her wishes. For Kian is merely an agent for a larger company. What that company is remains to be a mystery.

Edie wishes right away to be "beautiful", it aids in her plan to take down the crew of bullies who tormented her to the extreme. And she gets her wish with no strings attached--that we're aware of!--and quickly enacts her plan once the school year starts.

But as time moves on, Edie realizes that the bullies aren't all as vicious as she thought. Which this here confused me. That Edie could see the humanity of them, that they had feelings too. But yet, what they did to Edie was unbelievably cruel and evil. But yet, she starts to care about a few of them. She doesn't wish them complete ill, because really, really bad things start to happen and they happen to this crowd.

I was surprised by how much Kian was around for Edie. The description led me to believe that he would basically disappear on her until she asks for her next wish. But he ended up being quite a constant in her life. And I have to admit, I fell for him just as hard as Edie. He has his own broken past as well, and you really start to feel for the guy, but yet like Edie, you wonder how much you can trust him as well, because he is working for the bad guys.

And the bad guys are seriously bad.

This was such an intense read! Soooo much happened! Way more than I expected to see in the first book! So many shocks and twists and turns! It was amazing! And yet completely emotional at the same time! I'll admit, I teared up a bit at times. I wasn't expecting to be near balling, but I was! This book definitely struck a chord in me, because who at some point, hasn't experienced bullying of some kind? Granted, I never endured something as heinous as Edie did.

And the ending! Oh the ending! It was definitely another shocker! One that left me gasping! There's still quite a bit that we don't know about some of the odd going-ons in Boston but I am definitely looking forward to finding out! This is going to be one epic trilogy! I highly urge you all to read it! It's thrilling, intense, and as I said, emotional, but it combined these elements in such a way that you can help but eat up the pages and feel for Edie and all that she goes through! And her journey is only beginning! Next book, please!


Overall Rating 5/5 stars


Mortal Danger releases August 5, 2014