Reviewed by Breanna F. for TeensReadToo.com

"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I should die before I awake,
I pray the popular attend my wake."

This is the year for Charlotte Usher. The year that she's finally going to be noticed. She's finally going to have what she's always wanted: to be a popular girl and fit in with the head cheerleader in the school, Petula Kensington. She feels that the first day of school will be the start of her new life. She'll finally have the attention of the most popular guy in school, Damen. Who is, of course, Petula's boyfriend.

In a way she does start a new life. Although it's actually her afterlife. Poor Charlotte chokes on a red gummy bear just before she leaves her first period physics class and dies. Her hopes of starting over fresh and finally being noticed for once are all crushed in an instant. Especially when she finds out that she still has to graduate even though she's dead! There's a whole class of students from her school who have died and are still attending classes there.

Charlotte isn't giving up, though. She's still determined to win over Damen. And with the help of Scarlet Kensington (Petula's younger sister) she's sure she'll be able to do it. Scarlet can actually see Charlotte and Charlotte isn't about to let that fact go to waste. She figures she can hang out in Scarlet's body and get through to Damen that way. But her new dead classmates aren't liking Charlotte's plans too much and are making it incredibly hard for her to get anything done. Plus, the more time Scarlet spends time with Damen (when Charlotte isn't in her body, that is) the more Scarlet is starting to like Damen herself.

Charlotte is determined to be noticed. She thinks that if she can just get noticed and be popular that she'll finally move on. But is popularity really what Charlotte needs? Or is it just finally realizing that you don't have to be the center of attention to matter?

This book was great. I couldn't really guess what would happen throughout the book, which I always like. Poor Charlotte has such a rough time! Especially in the beginning of her afterlife. But she pulls through and even learns a valuable lesson along the way. I loved Scarlet's character. The way she acts towards her sister is hilarious. They are total opposites in every way. I loved all the nicknames the other dead students have, too. And I thought the ending was cute. It might not have been totally realistic, but then again this book wasn't really all that realistic in the first place. So I thought the ending fit pretty perfectly. I highly suggest checking this book out.

Share/Like this Review?

Could not finish this book.Very stupid!

Share/Like this Review?

3.0 out of 5 stars Campy and fun, September 11, 2010

Warning -- this is not a serious, depressing book about death or the afterlife -- it's a fun, campy romp about a girl who dies (by choking to death on a gummy bear in an empty classroom)and whose passing is barely noticed because she was such a nonentity at her high school.

Charlotte spent the entire summer before senior year making herself over with the sole intent of gaining the attention of one of the most popular boys at school, Damen Dylan. Her "Popular Plan" included changing the way she looked and acted to become not only noticed, but envied, and thus part of the "in" crowd at Hawthorne High. Part of her goal included being asked to the Fall Ball and receiving the legendary Midnight Kiss from that boy of her dreams. Unfortunately, everything goes awry on the first day of school and Charlotte finds herself in Dead Ed trying to figure out how she's going to get her true love from beyond the grave. She decides to possess a living girl, Scarlet - a goth teen who is the complete opposite of the cheerleader crowd and the younger sister of Petula, one of the most envied in the school -- and Petula is the girl who just happens to have the boyfriend that Charlotte craves. Havoc and confusion ensue as Charlotte and Scarlet both fall head over heels for Damen (sensitive, dumb jock?) and both arrive at a realization about themselves that neither anticipates.

Parts of the book are laugh out loud funny as the satirical and pop references combine to create the puns that drive the story. Colorful "dead" characters (nicknamed for the method or cause of death) and stereotypical live high school kids mix it up in some amusing ways, but after all the effort at being clever, sometimes the joke falls flat and it all gets a little tedious at the end.

This story wraps up nicely -- but there's a hint that the saga will continue and it does in ghostgirl: Homecoming and a third book just released, ghostgirl: Lovesick. I might skim those two to see what happens in the further adventures of the dead Charlotte Usher.

The cutout black, pink and silver cover is enticing and unusual making this one book that teens will pick up and check out! Enjoy a few laughs.

Share/Like this Review?

Like so many others, I was drawn to this book because of the packaging. I thought it was cute and the concept sounded like fun. Also, like many others, I was a bit disappointed in the end. The concept had a lot of promise but the author didn't quite deliver. I feel the author didn't follow the mythology very well. I'm a little confused about the ending. It happened so fast and so abruptly that it didn't really work for me. In fact, the action was very uneven throughout and some of the descriptions were quite boring. All that said, however, it wasn't the worst book I've ever read and I will consider reading another one before giving it up completely.

Share/Like this Review?

Love the book cover and size of it will be keeping this book on my book shelf for the looks..It was a good read very cute book

Share/Like this Review?