A review by kidmilhouse
Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley

4.0

Okay. I am trying to gather my thoughts. I’ll start with this: I love the concept of this book and I wish I had been able to read it in high school. I love all the amazing references (Delicatessen, Death Cab for Cutie, Panic at the Disco etc.) and all of the pre-chapter quotes. It reminds me of a fantasy story that I would have written in high school...what if I could make everything I want mine? I like the fact that it addresses kids who are offbeat and a little different. I found the book fun to read and I do plan to read the sequels. But...that being said...the writing wasn’t great as a whole (kind of amateurish in lots of parts) and filled with an excess of adverbs that were unnecessary. Also, there were lots of unnecessary untrue stereotypes (ex: all Hawthorne High cheerleaders are sluts) and I didn’t like the use of the word “retarded” or the fact that Sam was “pretending to be slow”. Charlotte was super-shallow and even after death only cared about getting the guy she had a crush on...her family was never even
mentioned. But, despite all this, I had fun reading it overall. Also, I was hesitant to even try it due to prior reviews so I wanted to be sure I shared my honest thoughts. I gave it four stars mostly because I enjoyed reading it...not so much for the quality of the writing.