Review: Don't Kill the Messenger

Don't Kill the Messenger by Eileen Rendahl
Book 1 in Messenger series

Summary Deal :: Melina is a Messenger, a (supposedly) neutral delivery girl for the supernatural races to use to deliver various things from divine objects to love letters to cursed talismans to divorce papers. If it can be delivered, she does. She tried the whole "I don't want to be a Messenger, so I just won't deliver this", but Karma, Fates, the Gods, what-have-you get pissy and she gets a case of the world's Worst Luck Ever until it gets delivered. Melina has no choice in being a Messenger and she doesn't like it one bit. She has two mundane jobs she works to try to make ends meet since Messenger'ing comes with no pay, no benefits, and no choice in the jobs she has to do. (She's learned a few tricks to avoid jobs, but mostly, she has no choice.)
So Melina is going about her business when a seemingly innocuous delivery request has her getting her ass handed to her by a bunch of ninjas using Tai-Chi and making off with the package she was to deliver. After recovering from the shock of Ninjas Dropping From Trees and then the shock of getting stomped by Tai-Chi Using Ninjas Dropping From Trees (there's a whole todo about Tai-Chi being old people yoga and is not used for attacking, blah, blah, but those conversations are amusing in the phrases Melina used to describe it), she has to track down the stolen package or suffer the consequences of a failed delivery (which ranges from getting zits to being dead).
While Melina is playing detective, she uncovers a big plot thing involving drugs, gang territory take overs, and hopping zombie human-eaters. Um...stuff happens, people die, a baby lives, Melina gets a boyfriend, and 2 'Canes (short for Arcanes, the supernaturals) and a 'Dane (short for Mundanes, the normal types) who really have no business working together due to prejudices, Melina-covetting, and such end up actually working together (amid some amusing name-calling and joking) and it's more or less a Happyish Ending.

Major player break down :: Melina, the Messenger. She whines about being stuck in the middle of 'Danes and 'Canes and not quite one or the other so she's all alone. Then there's Alex, an ER doctor, who is also a Vampire, and the one who gave her the delivery that got the whole mess started. Who also happens to care for Melina, who isn't having it (mostly) cause Vamps are kinda creepy with the pheromones and the mind manipulation stuffs. Oh, and there's Paul, the werewolf bartender who is mostly there to piss off Alex and be drool-worthy, far as I can tell. Though he, Alex, and Ted are quite funny when they get together. Oh, Ted is Ted Goodnight, the Officer guy who starts bugging Melina when she calls the cops on one of the zombie attacks on gang members (it was an effort to get the carnage to stop cause zombies eating humans like humans eat fried chicken just Is Not Good). Ted's the love interest and fun happy stuff happens there.

Classification :: Urban Fantasy. It's got it's dark(ish) moments, but mostly it's a medium to medium-light type reading. Some of Melina's quotes are hilarious and when Ted, Alex, and Paul get together, something amusing is bound to happen.

Action/Romance :: Yes to action. Lots of fighting. Melina is a martial arts instructor, and I did mention the Ninjas, right? And vampires and werewolves aren't shabby at the whole "hunting" thing, you know. Poor 'Dane Ted. Out of all of them, the big strapping Police Officer got to do very little.
Yes to romance. Ted and Melina do the whole romance thing. It's there, side plot like. Ted amuses me.

Overall Opinions :: I enjoyed the book. It made me giggle, mostly. There was some annoying stuff (Melina tended to act kinda childish sometimes and, of course, there were Massive Stupid Things she did that annoyed the crap outta me) but mostly, it was an amusing, decently good read.

Rereadability :: As a whole, maybe. I do have a couple favorite parts that I definitely reread. The whole "I was stomped by Tai-Chi using ninjas" complaint/explanation scene was hilarious.

Getting Next Book :: Not sure if there is one as this one was just released, but more than likely, yeah. I wanna see if the 'Danes (Ted, the love interest; Girl Whose Name I Forgot, the yoga-loving Hippie-type roommate; and Boy Whose Name I Forgot, the teen-aged neighbor of Melina and love interest for the teen-aged newly made Messenger, Sophie) actually survive the weirdness of the 'Cane world. Oh, and I'm curious about Sophie and why she showed up suddenly.

Edit: Wow, so I fail at spelling. And forgot some stuff. It's better(ish) now.