Review: "Pyxis," by K.C. Neal

I can't get over how sweet the novel "Pyxis" by K.C. Neal is. The love story between Corinne Finley and Mason Flint starts out in the bittersweet stage when you think you have lost an old friend because of a romance you think has failed between you. If you can imagine this, their love story only gets sweeter as the novel progresses -- always staying with the G rating.

I love the way Corinne discovers her hidden talents through baking, of all things! This is very original and fresh. I love how her talents work, too, and how they involve her friends and family in an original way that is as sweet as the rest of this novel. Even her grandma, great aunt, and elderly neighbor are involved. I love how danger works its way into Corinne's life through the very relationships she cherishes most. I could not put this book down the first time I read it, and I have read it twice since I got it this year!

Corinne is a little snarky, in addition to being sweet. I like her. I enjoyed her snide comments about Sophie, the popular girl in school. I love how she points out that her brother gets to stay out past midnight, but there is a double standard when it comes to Corinne because she is a girl. I like that she works at her parents' coffee house after school, too. I worked during my high school years, but at KFC. I only wish I would have worked at a coffee house, which is much cooler. Yet Corinne only sees that it is her parents' shop.

I love the sweet small-town feel of this G-rated paranormal romance novel, too. All the teens hang out at "The Cove" together, so there is a school-type feeling about their lives even outside of school. That is very different from how my school years were, in Southern California where no one even knows their neighbor's name, let alone all the people they go to high school with.

I'm excited that a sequel to Pyxis is coming out soon. It promises to be a sweet series where I can pretend to live in this small town where everyone has known each other all their lives and only Corinne and her friends and older relatives know about the monsters who lurk near "The Cove."