Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson ISBN: 9780451478245
Published by Razorbill on May 8, 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Mystery, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 320
Format: eBook
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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.
Characters: 8, I love that our MC is Latinx, fat, and a witch and is not apologizing for any of those things. She’s strong in ways I never was at her age, but she’s also got the typical teenage short-sightedness and lack of perspective, without those traits making her annoying to the reader. And although she acts on some terrible ideas, I think I would’ve done the same in her shoes. The supporting characters all go through a growth, as Mila begins to see them as complex individuals. Nobody is purely evil (or doing The Obviously Right Thing) which also made it a joy to read. I took a point off for the inexplicable absence of Mila’s parents (works for the plot, but her mom appears to be a bit of a control freak and her parents clearly don’t know how to handle her grieving so I was confused why they evaporated from the scene).
Atmosphere: 9, my guess is that Cross Creek is set somewhere in Northern California (given there’s a forest in the physical setting, and an explicitly stated lack of brown people). I could picture the setting pretty clearly- cookie cutter houses, outdoor high school, single witch shop, lots of church presence- and the tension in the scenes was definitely palpable. So much so that when things started galloping toward the inevitable conflict, I sacrificed sleep in order to keep reading.
Writing: 9, I would absolutely pick up another Lily Anderson book. The dialogue felt realistically snappy and the writing was easy to follow. Her writing was tight and served the emotion of any given scene. She didn’t pull punches for the sake of potentially offending, either- the MC’s sex drive is alive and well, the Wiccans are contradictions in many ways, the hyper-conservative Christian parents are somewhat domineering of their kid, the academic competition at school is cut-throat, and decaying corpses are grotesque. Plus, the author has clearly done her research with respect to spellcraft, which I appreciate. She’s very clear about the fact that witchcraft is about being present and grateful, that you never empirically know if your spell succeeded, that most rhyming spells are bunk, and there’s even a little commentary on consumerism in witchcraft.
Plot: 10, the pacing was consistently great! I was surprised at how well-balanced the author kept the story and how she managed to fit character growth in among trying to solve a murder mystery (when you’re just a grieving teenager). There wasn’t any part that felt dragged out or rushed, and I didn’t feel any gaps or plot holes, either.
Intrigue: 9, I was loathe to put it down and I picked it up as soon as I could. I was interested in where the story was going- not just the murder mystery, but the evolution of the friendships and Mila’s future as well.
Logic: 9, the contemporary setting with a mysterious grimoire (presumably purchased off eBay) that contains some morally questionable but highly effective spells was a lovely contrast that didn’t detract from the story at all for me. It was a plot device, of course, but part of witchcraft is accepting and honoring mystery so it felt fitting. The characters acted in accordance with their motivations, and also their fears and desires (even the stupid ones) and there were no out-of-the-blue moments for me. Even in the denouement, it’s mentioned that the MC is getting counseling for her PTSD (the logical result of everything that happened in the book).
Enjoyment: 10, I read it in 48 hours and I enjoyed myself throughout the entire experience.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
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