Review: Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Title: Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson
Publisher: Razorbill
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Mystery
Length: 320 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Penguin’s First to Read Program

Summary:

Veronica Mars meets The Craft when a teen girl investigates the suspicious deaths of three classmates and accidentally ends up bringing them back to life to form a hilariously unlikely–and unwilling–vigilante girl gang.

Meet teenage Wiccan Mila Flores, who truly could not care less what you think about her Doc Martens, her attitude, or her weight because she knows that, no matter what, her BFF Riley is right by her side.

So when Riley and Fairmont Academy mean girls June Phelan-Park and Dayton Nesseth 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.

Review:

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson is a funny, sometimes poignant young adult novel about a teenager’s investigation into her best friend’s death.

Mila Flores is an overweight, unpopular Hispanic teenager who does not believe her best friend, Riley Greenway, committed suicide.  A Wiccan, she decides to use a spell to bring Riley back to life in hopes of uncovering the truth about her death.  Unfortunately, she somehow messes up the spell and along with Riley, she brings back two other classmates, mean girls June Phelan-Park and Dayton Nesseth, who also recently committed suicide.   Mila’s spell will only keep the girls “alive” for seven days so the girls immediately begin their investigation into who would have wanted to murder Riley, June and Dayton.

Mila is a feisty teenager who is comfortable in her skin and embraces her outsider status within the school hierarchy.   She and Riley were inseparable and she never wavers from her certainty that her bestie would never commit suicide. Mila’s reunion with her BFF is bittersweet and fraught with tension since  Riley is sometimes a little rude and short-tempered with her.

Mila is determined to make the most of the next seven days even if this means putting up with June and Dayton. She is disappointed to learn none of the girls remember what happened to them before their untimely deaths so their investigation is sorely lacking in information.  Although June and Dayton were not Mila and Riley’s allies in life, they are surprisingly helpful and cooperative as the teenagers try to piece together the truth about their deaths.

Undead Girl Gang is a charming young adult novel that features a clever storyline and a diverse and colorful cast of diverse characters. Lily Anderson does an excellent job keeping the truth about what happened to the girls cleverly concealed until the novel’s somewhat surprising conclusion. Well-written with a funny dialogue and a puzzling mystery to solve, this quirky novel will appeal to readers of all ages.