Ward Against Death by Melanie Card

Title/Author: Ward Against Death (Chronicles of a Reluctant Necromancer #1) by Melanie Card
Publisher/Date published: Entangled Publishing, August 2nd 2011
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley

Goodreads summary: "Twenty-year-old Ward de’Ath expected this to be a simple job — bring a nobleman’s daughter back from the dead for fifteen minutes, let her family say good-bye, and launch his fledgling career as a necromancer. Goddess knows he can’t be a surgeon — the Quayestri already branded him a criminal for trying — so bringing people back from the dead it is.
But when Ward wakes the beautiful Celia Carlyle, he gets more than he bargained for. Insistent that she’s been murdered, Celia begs Ward to keep her alive and help her find justice. By the time she drags him out her bedroom window and into the sewers, Ward can’t bring himself to break his damned physician’s Oath and desert her.
However, nothing is as it seems — including Celia. One second, she’s treating Ward like sewage, the next she’s kissing him. And for a nobleman’s daughter, she sure has a lot of enemies. If he could just convince his heart to give up on the infuriating beauty, he might get out of this alive..."

So how much do we love Melanie Card for making Ward be a twenty-year-old? If you're like me: VERY MUCH! There aren't enough books with twenty-somethings in it. The only thing that bugs me: it's immediately classified as Adult. But I think it would fit the New Adult (which should be way bigger than it is) better :) So that's where I'm putting it.

I really, really enjoyed this book! Right from the start where it challenges the gender stereotypes and flips them upside down. I mean, the female character is a very dangerous assasin, the male character is a wannabe-doctor and seems to have the damsel in distress down more than Celia does. LOVED IT!

Besides, Ward is just really likeable. I get how Celia would become attached to him. He's sweet. He's just a good guy and I think sometimes we're a bit short on good guys. So I liked him. And I LOVED his last name: de'Ath. SO COOL! And I loved that he performed surgery, the almost-doctor in me rejoiced. Though I would never ever even think of doing something like that on my own! Seriously!

This was a nice, relaxing, fluffy read. And I'm curious to find out more about Celia's murder and Ward's abilities and such, so I'm gonna make sure and add the sequel to my to-read list.

My rating: 4 stars