apoppyinthewind 's review for:

Funeral Girl by Emma K. Ohland

3.75

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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The premise of this YA novel is a teenage girl living & working in her family run funeral home while dealing with the secret that she can summon & see ghosts of the dead people she touches. Another author might have made that premise light hearted and goofy & while that would have been fun too, I appreciate that this author used this premise to explore grief and anxiety around death. So yeah, it's a heavy book as the main character is struggling with their mental health from beginning to end but overall it's an uplifting read. It's great to see a book dealing so frankly with death, especially one that's geared toward younger readers who aren't always given the space for the topic.

My only complaint with this book would be the subplot of Georgia dealing with her estrangement from her twin brother Peter & her former friend Eileen.

I like that the author also addressed the way grief impacts friendship/family relationships & how we grieve lost friends as well. What got on my nerves was the tedious build up to reveal of "How" Peter & Eileen betrayed Georgia and that once we finally learn what they did to hurt Georgia, it's fairly easily forgiven compared to how many chapters spent earlier on talking about the heartbreaking betrayal.  It makes sense she'd want to move on & forgive them but I think the reveal should have happened sooner to give her more time to process & for Peter & Eileen to own up and make amends.