Ghostgirl

Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley
I'm giving it 5 stars!

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 after life. 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 though. 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 to move on? 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 after life. 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 nick names 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.