Three Days to Dead by Kelly Meding

• Title: Three Days to Dead 
• Classification: Adult Fiction
• Genre: Urban Fantasy
• Format: Paperback, 416 pages
• Publisher: Dell (November 24, 2009)
• ISBN-10: 0553592866
• ISBN-13: 978-0553592863
• Author Website: http://kellymeding.com/

     "My name is Evangeline Stone. I have lived in the city my entire life, and for the last four years, I have been employed by a secret unit of the Metro Police Department as a Dreg Bounty Hunter."
     His eyebrows arched comically high. "A what hunter?"
     "Dreg Hunter."
     "Is that like slang for criminal?"
     "It's a derogatory catchall for the dozen or so species of creatures that secretly live here in the city. Mostly goblins, gremlins, trolls, gargoyles, vampires, and weres. My boss is called a Handler, and I work in a three-person Bounty Hunger squad called a Triad. We hunt rogue elements, carry out special warrants, try to keep some species from killing one another and wreaking havoc in the process. and dole out punishment when lines are crossed."

What a difference a day, or should I say a few days, makes...

Evangeline Stone was once a respected Dreg Bounty Hunter. But within the last week something happened that made her a target of the very people she works for. Three days ago she died and today she woke up in somebody else's body. Now she's got 3 days to find her killer and stop whatever it is the person or persons have set in motion. Problem is, she doesn't remember anything that happened in the last week which lead up to her dying and being resurrected in another body. Additionally, she knows next to nothing about the young women whose body she's taken over except she committed suicide. Alliances once forged no longer exist, and she's not sure who to trust. She'll also have to find out why she ended up in Chalice Frost's body. Resurrections spells don't come cheap and so being put in a body which has no training hints that something went wrong...

I loved the world created by Meding. All the Dregs living among the humans without most of them knowing is fun. I liked the thought of people being "gifted" with powers. Evy was strong and tough and had a lot to deal with. Through it all she stayed focused on what she had to do, and I couldn't help rooting for her. She had lost a lot and she'd make sure the person or persons responsible would pay. Additionally, she would attempt to clear her name.

Wyatt Truman, her former handler, is the first person Evy turns to. Together the two try to piece together what happened during the time period Evy can't remember. While he can tell her somethings, like when she died, he doesn't have the full story of what happened. He had hoped she would retain her memories of what happened to her the last three days of her former life so she could help stop whoever is behind all the chaos happening in the city. Evy attempts to backtrack to the last thing she remembers and tries to move forward from there. Along the way she has flashbacks of events and, with the help of a vampire, recovers her memory.

I enjoyed the romance that developed between Evy and Wyatt. I thought it a nice touch that Evy had to come to grips with the fact that being in a new body brought with it new desires and cravings. I guess you could mark it up to her having a new body chemistry. While the old Evy didn't find herself all that attracted to Wyatt, the new Evy does. Even her taste in certain foods seems to have been affected.

On the Lisarenee Romance Rating Scale, this one gets a FAN rating - the temperature in the room seems to have suddenly gone up a couple of degrees and a fan would be nice. The book, however, contained more action of a different sort than romance. Overall, I gave this one 4 out of 5 roses. Will definitely be reading more of Kelly Meding's books. I really enjoyed this one and it took my attention away from 3 other books I was reading.

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