Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley

Title: Ghostgirl	Loved it	Graded
Author: Tonya Hurley
Genre: Paranormal
Publisher: Little, Brown
Elements: Ghosts
Series: Book 1 of a duo?

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.

Charlotte Usher feels practically invisible at school, and then one day she really is invisible. Even worse: she's dead. And all because she choked on a gummy bear. But being dead doesn't stop Charlotte from wanting to be popular; it just makes her more creative about achieving her goal.

If you thought high school was a matter of life or death, wait till you see just how true that is. In this satirical, yet heartfelt novel, Hurley explores the invisibility we all feel at some times and the lengths we'll go to be seen.

Charlotte Usher was invisible. All she wanted was to be popular, and this year she had the ultimate plan. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly (don't mind the little setbacks) and she finally got to speak with her crush, Damen Dylan and make him notice her!

Nothing could hamper her happiness, or so she thought.

Well, something did. She died.

Other people would have given up by then, thinking death was the last straw. Not Charlotte. She was still going to achieve her goal to get Damen. Never mind the fact that she was dead and still had Dead homework to do and a house to save, THIS was her No. 1 priority, her "unfinished business" you could say. It might take a day, it might take forever, but she was going to get Damen to like her.

And she had forever.

Ghostgirl was such a fun book to read. It doesn't take itself seriously and manages to find humour in everything. All the characters were likable, even Charlotte's nemesis Petula. Every chapter starts off with a hint of what's to come: a poem or lyrics and plays on cliches along with a cute drawing of Charlotte.

Chapter 5:
Death for Dummies
A ghost is someone who hasn't made it.
-Sylvia Browne
-
Time will tell all things
The past was pretty much irrelevant now -a closed door- other than the fact that it had led her to the present. The present was terrible uncertain, a place of fear and doubt -restless. But the future existed to allay those fears, and to make both the past and present bearable. The future was a place where all Charlotte's hopes and dreams lives.

And now she was all out of future.

Kind of sums up everything, eh?

Ghostgirl had a pretty straightforward storyline. The goal was clear, the ways and means to the end was also clear. I thought the ending was a little bit too easy, but it definitely fits in with the easy going nature of the whole book.

Recommended for:
Fans of quirky set ups with heart.