Ghostgirl: Lovesick by Tonya Hurley

 

“Before she can rest in peace, Charlotte Usher must return to the tragic site of her death: high school.  She still has one last assignment to complete, but no one explained what happens if you fall in love with your class project.  Charlotte would die (again) for love.  But when her ticket to the afterlife means having to face the dreaded, all-too-familiar pains of being invisible, it may be too much for her to withstand.”

Charlotte is continuing her afterlife in the call centre; a sort of guardian angel hotline.  Being dead is starting to have some perks, as she is reunited with her parents and experiencing the daughter parent relationship.  Love is not something that happens in the afterlife it seems, but there is a boy, and Charlotte is not one to give up on romance and trying.  As the prospect of her call centre career comes to the end, excitement and anxiety begin to build.  The call centre group are informed by their instructor they have one last assignment.  They are to return to Hawthorne High and are assigned people from their past, but are not informed what it is they are suppose to do exactly.

Many of the same characters appear within the story.  There are a couple more ghosts, as well as a few living characters.  The ghosts are on assignment to help those living they have been paired with, similar to that of a guardian angel.  Many things have changed since they were back at Hawthorne, and they have to choose between going with the change, or trying to revert things to the way they were before.

I really enjoy the books themselves in this series.  I always say judge a book by it’s cover, and these covers definitely drew me in.  They are small hardcover books with clear inserts on the covers.  The covers have silhouettes of Charlotte, and a more detailed drawing behind.  The page edges are also lined in silver for added effect.   They are very gothic Tim Burton in style, which I really enjoy.  If you check out www.ghostgirl.com there are more pictures, as well as book trailers.  The trailer is pretty enjoyable as it creates some of the book visually in the creepy gothic style.

Getting on to the ranting.  The quote at the beginning of this review is taken from the back of the book.  Although it is a very interesting description, I do not believe it accurately depicts the actual story.  Although the books are of a decent size, each page has a boarder along the top and bottom, and the print is large.  So despite the fact it is a 311 page book, it does not feel like it.  Before each chapter is also a black page dedicated to giving advice related to the upcoming chapter.  On the following page is a picture with the chapter name and number on it, as well as a quote from song lyrics.

The books are pretty basic in their plots, and use breaks and character jumping to add suspense and make things last a little longer.  There are some funny parts in the books with characters and their snappy comments, as well as many of the ghosts.  The ghosts that are not main characters to the story each have a funny name that also tells a story about how they died.  Such as “Toxic Shock Sally,” and “Scared to Beth.”  Although the story deals with love, heartache and death, things don’t get overly climactic.  I found that this is one of those stories, where everything leads up to something big, and it happens within a flash and the bulb isn’t too bright.  They even have time to throw in a little, “Did that really just happen?” predictable romantic nonsense.  I’m all for cheese, but there was no cheese in this one.  I was also  confused towards the end of the story, when a character is simply taken out of the story without an explanation, never to return.  Trust me, this doesn’t give anything away, and you might not even notice it while you are reading.  After the story you might know what I meant.

I think these stories have potential, but they are very preteen easy reads.  I have nothing against reading books meant for young kids.  As I have mentioned, I didn’t do enough reading when I was younger and I regret that.  I think if you have started the series, you have to finish it.  But if you haven’t then you must fit into the above category if you are going to attempt to read these.  Preteen.  If not, theres no chance you are going to read these, or should attempt to.