Book Review: Dead Jealous by Sharon Jones

Dead Jealous Poppy Sinclair #1 Sharon Jones

People think of Mother Nature as a gentle lady. They forget that she's also Death...Sixteen-year-old Poppy Sinclair believes in quantum particles, not tarot cards, in Dawkins, not druids. Last summer, in a boating accident in the Lake District, Poppy had a brush with death. But the girl she finds face down in Scariswater hasn't been so lucky. As she fights to discover the truth behind what she believes is murder, Poppy is forced to concede that people and things are not always what they seem and, slipping ever deeper into a web of lies, jealousy and heart-stopping danger, she comes to realise - too late - that the one thing that can save her has been right there, all the time.

It wasn't as thrilling as I thought it be. There was no adrenaline-infused sleuthing. Elements were clashing. I wasn't at all intrigued. In mystery novels, there are two possible villains: (1)the obvious which is totally obvious it couldn't have been him/her so we disregard him/her (either we're right or we were blindsided because it was really him/her (2)the I-did-not-see-that-coming villain.
Here in Dead Jealous, Poppy's amateur sleuthing skills, or lack thereof since she's all stubbornness and nosiness disguised as "I know she was murdered" belief without evidence, pointed to the obvious villain which early on I knew, despite all incriminating evidences, was not the one. The real villain (revealed in the end), while not obvious, I had suspicions about. 
Was there something paranormal going on? There were hints of it but it was never put down whether they were true or just hallucinations. 
Some mystery thrillers, even good YA ones, focus more on the mystery and the thrill with romance on the side (way on the side), Dead Jealous pursued two tales that divided my attention. As the story progressed, there were times that it focused more on Poppy's love life than the mystery at hand.
Despite all this, there were some hidden facets about Dead Jealous that I liked. I have Dead Silent on hand and I sincerely hope that it gets better.