So, I picked up this book after reading the description. I'm on a "bad book" kick--the more cliche, unrealistic, and nauseatingly romantic, the better. This book seemed to fit--a secret organization eternally battling monsters to keep the world safe, a "badass" female protagonist, heck, it even had a love triangle. Gimme, gimme. Like a stereotypical teenage girl, I eat that stuff up. So I read on through, trying not to cringe each time I saw the name "Billi" on the page, and waited to predict the sure-to-be predictable plot and which guy she'd end up with. 
 How naive was I. 
 The book is dark. Like, if you're feeling even the slightest emotionally unstable, chuck this book away and go re-read Twilight. I thought I was stepping into another supernatural world that no matter how tough the going gets, everything always ends in sunshine and lollipops. Nope. This is one of those books where the characters aren't infallible and don't have some mystical magic luck guiding them into the perfect recipe for the perfect ending. Here, you make a mistake, you can bet everything and then some that there will be a horrible consequence. Like character death. So much character death--and of course, my favorite character dies. The only reason I finished the book is because I thought by some out-of-place, impossible, miraculous twist that he wasn't actually dead. Or something. 
 Yes, I am stupid. No, I do not own a t-shirt proclaiming which Twilight team I'm on. Team Switzerland, if you were wondering--also known as Team I-really-don't-give-a-damn. 
 Anyway, surprisingly, this book was pretty good--you know, if you're the realism-loving type. Some people hate happy endings. Well, here's a book that's not pixie-dusted. Aside from a few grammatical annoyances and yes, the cliches, it was a good read. And that's the only reason I gave it three stars instead of the two I'm tempted to change it to. My dislike for it is entirely subjective, and since it's only that the book is something I didn't want it to be, I can't give it a completely negative review. 
 Yes, I am a spoiled little optimistic teenager who enjoys poor fiction way more than she should. And I'm well aware that some might take this review as just another stupid girl being whiney because the main characters didn't skip off happily into the sunset. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just trying to save another poor soul like me who just wants some cheesy romance and a predictable plot. :)