K. Lippi

15-year-old, Emilia Miani has quite a lot on her plate. As her grandfather’s supernatural predecessor, she is the next Death Angel for God and Lucifer. With that, comes poisonous blood that could not only kill her enemies, but her as well. Since her Guardian Angel was taken away from her by a hybrid named Marcus when she was a baby, a demons-possessed being named Shin Kurosaki has taken over the job. Her job: to stop Marcus, an ex-death angel, who is bent on destroying Emilia as well as the world? Add on that, Shin following madly in love with her and his dark past, and Emilia’s got her hands full. Will she succeed and find a way to save herself from her blood? Will she accept Shin’s love? Will she save the world from Marcus?
The characters in this book are a little dramatic, but entertaining. The plot is engaging and well-developed. Although there aren’t a lot of plot twists, the mystery behind Emilia’s past and what Marcus really wants takes on a very complex mix that easily grabs readers. People who like reading paranormal romance and mystery/suspense will enjoy reading this book.… (mere)

I’ve recently read ’13 Days: The Dark Circle’ by K. Lippi. In this book 16 teenagers are chosen to compete in a reality television show. Their mission is to be the last one standing. Their prize is take home one million dollars. The only thing standing in their way is the St. Clara Asylum where massacres and suicides abound by many and this is where they will call home for 13 days.

Unfortunately, everyone begins to feel the stress of their adventure. There are lies, love triangles and peculiar happenings from the beginning. Each time another player is brutally taken away, the other cast members become more paranoid. Could St. Clara’s actually be haunted and could they be involved in more than just an ordinary game show?

I honestly loved this book. It was a real page turner. I think that K. Lippi did an excellent job keeping the right amount of suspense present and her readers on the edge of their seat. While I wouldn’t go as far as saying this is morbid tale, it’s certainly packed full of mystery.

However, the editing in this book was not very well done. I’m a stickler for these types of mistakes and it actually takes away from the book in my opinion. There were inconsistencies throughout the book, misspellings, overuse of certain words and grammatical errors. My advice would be to check and double check before publishing a book.

I think this would be a great read for mature teens and young adults. As a 30 something adult myself, I enjoyed the storyline immensely.

Now for the criticism… As I mentioned a couple times above, I really enjoyed this book, mostly. The ending felt rushed. I felt a complete disconnect in my feelings for the book by the ending. I’ve never finished a book that I’ve felt more unsatisfied with the ending, then this book. If you’re looking for a happy ending, this book certainly is not for you. I found myself flipping through the last blank pages, looking for something, anything to actually end this story. My only hope is that K. Lippi ended ‘The Dark Circle’ in this manner to follow it up with a sequel. That being said, if a sequel is produced, I will buy a copy hot off the presses. I need better closure! In retrospect, the ending does have an unexpected paranormal twist that leaves you saying…”oooooh.”

Overall, even with the issues that I found, I still enjoyed reading this book. I think K. Lippi has some great ideas and I hope to see more from her in the future and I look forward to reading ‘Awakening’.… (mere)

A teenagers game show putting sixteen teens on a deserted Island that once was the St. Clara Asylum. The teens arrive in teams made up of brothers, sisters, cousins, best friends and dating or engaged couples. The building had even more history than just as an asylum, it was reported to be haunted long before the massacre that caused the hospital to be closed down. The search for a suitcase full of money and the clues to find it while the sixteen contestants are locked into this castle with video cameras on them 24/7 “Big Brother” style. The twists start right away with the disappearance of one of the contestants, then another. While the rest are left wondering if this is a “Survivor” style elimination or if the history of the manor has ghosts that are truly taking control of the game.

This is a unique writing style, it is all in the first person, but the first person changes often. Seeing the events unfold and knowing not only what is said, but how it is heard and what is thought about it is different. So many points of view, it did get confusing occasionally. I liked the big brother, survivor, mole game concepts but together with the ghosts, horror stories of the past and the supernatural abilities of a few of the contenders. Not so sure if I enjoyed the first person rotation type of narration. Some of the wording was awkward for me to follow though, the whole chant as each of the “trespassers” were taken was one, and there were several grammatical errors that after a while distracted from the story line. I don’t think this is really a good young adult book, it may be supposedly about teens, but with the pregnancy, the hooking up and the partner switches that went on in the thirteen days they were together (not that any of it was graphically described, more like implied), it seems more about and for the twenty somethings. There was also several things that were not explained very good, I read paranormal / supernatural stories a lot, so I think I get it, but the changes in some of the characters personality, names and overall disposition were not well explained. I would have like more of the who, why and what happened next of the two main couples after the games ended.… (mere)

Sixteen teens are selected to be apart of the Reality TV show on YTV called 13 Days. They are grouped into pairs of siblings, cousins, friends, and lovers. They are staying at the St. Clara Asylum on the haunted island. The main character Selene, and her brother Seth, are hoping to win the million dollar grand prize so they can save their family ranch.

At the end of each day, a contestant will be eliminated. As they explore the asylum, they start to hear strange footsteps and voices. Is the asylum haunted? Who will be voted off next?

13 Days has an interesting concept of using the reality theme. It is a combination of Survivor and Ghost Hunters. Most of the characters are flawed and cliché, mimicking teenagers from television instead of actual life, but you have to remember that most reality shows are scripted. The book flips back and fourth from one character’s view point to another, and it annoyed me. If the author had written the book in third person, the pacing would have been better. There were too many characters. Obviously, the plot was meant to be scary, but I found it to be not scary and very confusing. If you like reality TV, then you may like this novel; however, I didn’t enjoy reading it.… (mere)