Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (Necromancer #1) – Lish McBride

Title: Hold Me Closer, Necromancer (Necromancer #1) by Lish McBride
Publishing Info: October 12, 2010 by Macmillan
Source: Purchased
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // GoodreadsDate Completed: October 26, 2015

Sam leads a pretty normal life. He may not have the most exciting job in the world, but he's doing all right—until a fast food prank brings him to the attention of Douglas, a creepy guy with an intense violent streak.
Turns out Douglas is a necromancer who raises the dead for cash and sees potential in Sam. Then Sam discovers he’s a necromancer too, but with strangely latent powers. And his worst nightmare wants to join forces . . . or else.
With only a week to figure things out, Sam needs all the help he can get. Luckily he lives in Seattle, which has nearly as many paranormal types as it does coffee places. But even with new-found friends, will Sam be able to save his skin?

When I first received FIREBUG as a review copy from Macmillan, I hadn’t realized it was tied into Lish McBride’s previous two Necromancer books. Once I did, I quickly purchased them and put FIREBUG on hold… and like many books I purchase, there they sat for a long time. When we designated HOLD ME CLOSER, NECROMANCER as an On the Same Page read, I was excited to finally dive in and it proved to be a really fun read just like I had hoped!

NECROMANCER was the perfect read for around Halloween (which was when we read it for On the Same Page)! It was such a fun combination of paranormal, horror, and comedy (which is really how I like my horror… I’m such a chicken) and I instantly picked up on the humor. The levity of the tone made it a quick and easy read and if I didn’t have a reading schedule planned for the rest of the year at that point, I probably would have sailed right on through NECROMANCING THE STONE and FIREBUG too!

NECROMANCER was a totally addictive read. The characters were so much fun and I adored Sam and his friends. They had a great report and always kept me laughing but at the same time, you could easily see strong their friendship was and how much they cared for each other. We also get to see some of Sam’s family when he goes to his mom and sister for help later on in the book and I really loved their bond as well. Each character really brightened the book and pulled me further into the story!

I don’t really read a lot of paranormal and/or urban fantasy any more but when I do, this is totally my type. Usually it gets a bit silly when there are so many “supes” (supernatural beings, you know) but since NECROMANCER was already designed to be humorous, Lish McBride does a great job at combining all of these supernatural aspects into one book and is able to poke fun at some of the characters and how they come together. It actually came together really well for me and since I was already enjoying the comedy, I really had more of an “anything goes” attitude instead of trying to take the book more seriously and analyze why or why not something might work.

This book was really so much fun and I love snarky and hilarious leads. Sam really carried the book and each character just made the book that much more enjoyable. I’m definitely a new fan of Lish McBride and I can’t wait to read more from her!

“The View from Goodreads” is a featured section in my reviews that I decided to incorporate! I tend to update my Goodreads status a LOT when I read — reactions, feelings, notes — so I thought it would be fun to share the sort of “reading process”! All status updates are spoiler-free (no specific plot points will be revealed) but will contain reactions to certain pages and/or characters!

Sam // Character Obsessions: Friends, loyalty, figuring out his powers. 
Sam was just SUCH a fun character. I loved his mix of sarcasm and humor. He was apathetic at times but he still had a strong loyalty and emotional connection to his family and friends. I really enjoyed getting to know him in this book!

Kept Me Hooked On: Urban Fantasy. I’ve sort of fallen out of love with paranormal and urban fantasy (maybe the whole over-saturation of vampire books killed it… even though I did love vampire books at the time) so I don’t pick up too many any more… But since I’ve been pickier, it seems like I’ve made a few good choices! I tend to like the lighter urban fantasy more than serious.
Left Me Wanting More: Surprises. Really, I didn’t feel like the book was lacking anything BUT the only thing I could think of would be if there were a few more twists/shocking moments/surprises. That could have added an extra “wow” factor!

Addiction Rating
Read it!

This book was so much fun. It’s great if you’re hesitant about paranormal or urban fantasy and are willing to give it a shot. I love the male POV in combination with the humor and sarcasm too. This book totally nailed it for me.

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I read HOLD ME CLOSER, NECROMANCER with my gals from On the Same Page! Don’t miss Amy and Alyssa‘s posts today as they feature the book in different ways!