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A review by thebooknerdscorner
I Woke Up Dead at the Mall by Judy Sheehan
2.0
Learning to forgive is no easy task in the Mall of the Dead. . . especially when you've just been murdered.
One moment, Sarah is having the time of her life at her father and stepmother's wedding. The next, she wakes up dead at the mall. Yes, she's still wearing the ugly mango-colored dress that her stepmother adores, but that's not her biggest problem. Sarah soon learns that she was murdered, and that her killer is out to get her father next. Her death coach wants her to move on and be reborn to a new and better life, but how can Sarah move on when she left so many unfinished things behind in her old life? With the help of her new dead friends, Sarah learns to reconcile with the things she never got to do when she was alive and hopefully save her dad in the process.
This book wasn't exactly horrible, but there wasn't much that I liked about it either. And there was quite a few things that drove me completely crazy while reading, including how choppy the sentences were and the fact that Sarah's thoughts were written in parentheses. Sheehan's attempts to include death/ghost humor into this book was also not good and somehow made this book cornier than it already was.
The plot of this book wasn't horrendous, but it was also pretty cliché and flat. After death, Sarah has to reconcile with her past in order to stop existing as a ghost and move on. I must say, the fact that ghosts with unfulfilled lives went to a giant shopping mall while they were in limbo was pretty unique, but everything else, not so much. The way that Sarah goes about trying to save her dad isn't exactly interesting and there is zero urgency that he is actually going to die, due to the fact the reader knows what is going on with him the entire time.
The only other thing I really have comments on is the romance. The first thing I want to say about Sarah and Nick's relationship is that it is very illogical to fall in love with someone while you are both ghosts who are trying to put their past live's behind them and be reborn. Luckily, this was eventually realized. The other thing I want to mention is that they knew each other for like a week and then felt that they were destined to be with each other throughout eternity/all their lives. Which I guess is fine if one believes in the whole soulmate thing, but I felt even for a "love at first sight" romance, this relationship escalated pretty quickly and somehow didn't amount to much of anything. Also, the ending of the book ended a bit too perfectly to keep their relationship alive to my liking.
Overall, "I Woke Up Dead at the Mall" wasn't the worst book, but there isn't much to write home about either. The characters are rather dull, the plot is overused and predictable, and the writing is borderline cringey at times. I didn't hate this one, but I didn't find that there was much to be gleaned from it either.
One moment, Sarah is having the time of her life at her father and stepmother's wedding. The next, she wakes up dead at the mall. Yes, she's still wearing the ugly mango-colored dress that her stepmother adores, but that's not her biggest problem. Sarah soon learns that she was murdered, and that her killer is out to get her father next. Her death coach wants her to move on and be reborn to a new and better life, but how can Sarah move on when she left so many unfinished things behind in her old life? With the help of her new dead friends, Sarah learns to reconcile with the things she never got to do when she was alive and hopefully save her dad in the process.
This book wasn't exactly horrible, but there wasn't much that I liked about it either. And there was quite a few things that drove me completely crazy while reading, including how choppy the sentences were and the fact that Sarah's thoughts were written in parentheses. Sheehan's attempts to include death/ghost humor into this book was also not good and somehow made this book cornier than it already was.
The plot of this book wasn't horrendous, but it was also pretty cliché and flat. After death, Sarah has to reconcile with her past in order to stop existing as a ghost and move on. I must say, the fact that ghosts with unfulfilled lives went to a giant shopping mall while they were in limbo was pretty unique, but everything else, not so much. The way that Sarah goes about trying to save her dad isn't exactly interesting and there is zero urgency that he is actually going to die, due to the fact the reader knows what is going on with him the entire time.
The only other thing I really have comments on is the romance. The first thing I want to say about Sarah and Nick's relationship is that it is very illogical to fall in love with someone while you are both ghosts who are trying to put their past live's behind them and be reborn. Luckily, this was eventually realized. The other thing I want to mention is that they knew each other for like a week and then felt that they were destined to be with each other throughout eternity/all their lives. Which I guess is fine if one believes in the whole soulmate thing, but I felt even for a "love at first sight" romance, this relationship escalated pretty quickly and somehow didn't amount to much of anything. Also, the ending of the book ended a bit too perfectly to keep their relationship alive to my liking.
Overall, "I Woke Up Dead at the Mall" wasn't the worst book, but there isn't much to write home about either. The characters are rather dull, the plot is overused and predictable, and the writing is borderline cringey at times. I didn't hate this one, but I didn't find that there was much to be gleaned from it either.