Kat Recommends: Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
Mila Flores and her best friend Riley have always been inseparable. There’s not much excitement in their small town of Cross Creek, so Mila and Riley make their own fun, devoting most of their time to Riley’s favorite activity: amateur witchcraft.
So when Riley and two Fairmont Academy mean girls die under suspicious circumstances, Mila refuses to believe everyone’s explanation that her BFF was involved in a suicide pact. Instead, armed with a tube of lip gloss and an ancient grimoire, Mila does the unthinkable to uncover the truth: she brings the girls back to life.
Unfortunately, Riley, June, and Dayton have no recollection of their murders, but they do have unfinished business to attend to. Now, with only seven days until the spell wears off and the girls return to their graves, Mila must wrangle the distracted group of undead teens and work fast to discover their murderer…before the killer strikes again.
If you like Halloween-themed stories that aren’t quite horror, but have lots of heart, this is the book for you. The characters are fully-fleshed out (yes, even the three zombies) and their interactions and development really make this story shine. There are plenty of laughs as these teens dance around their strange predicament, but there’s also deep sadness about the very real deaths of three young women not yet in their prime. Anderson balances the tone shifts deftly, making for an entertaining and moving read that zips right along. I listened through the audiobook in a day–it was quite delightful and totally didn’t make me cry.
I’d recommend this for anyone who likes the movies they show on Freeform/ABC Family for Halloween.
RML has a hard copy of this book. It is also available as an audiobook on Overdrive
Russell Memorial Library 