If I can recommend one YA mystery to you, it’s this one. I’m honestly not usually a big fan of YA mysteries—most of them fall short for me in a big way—but this was such a wildly enjoyable, hilarious, heartbreaking, and gorgeous little story. While most mystery novels are about the destination (discovering the whodunit), this one is about the journey, and the things Mila learns along the way. It’s about grieving, friendship, overcoming your judgments, and so much more.

I did big, real magic using a bunch of flowers and an old-ass book, and I feel just as lonely now as I did when my best friend was dead.

It’s rare that I read a book that can present gallows humor in a solid way, but it’s fantastic in this narrative, and as someone whose humor tends to lean on the incredibly morbid and dry side, I honestly adored Mila. I feel like she and I would legitimately be best friends and I’m a little bit sad that she’s not an actual human being, in my life.

Two days is a long time when you can’t sleep or eat because remembering that your best friend is gone slams into you whenever you think you’re safe from it.

Of course, there’s also a tremendous amount of sadness in Undead Girl Gang; after all, we’re talking about teenagers dropping like flies, and not only that, but we’re dealing with the narrator’s own best friend of several years being one of those teens. I was taken aback a few times by how palpable Mila’s grief was, especially mingled with the desperation she has to convince the adults in her life that these girls didn’t kill themselves.

I’m so tired of adults using hyperbole to try to keep me in my place. I’m not crazy. I’m not too angry. I’m fine just the way I am.

Of course, there’s a lot of happiness and important conversation to be had in this story, too. We get to watch two of the school’s “mean girls” come to terms with their own abusive behaviors, and any potential for girl on girl hate is squashed quickly, as Mila is an incredibly forgiving and considerate person beneath her sarcasm and rage. I loved watching her friendships with June and Dayton unfold.

Is it possible to be a pagan agnostic?

I gotta admit, as soon as I heard about this book’s rep, I was so stoked. I learned it had Wicca in it, too, and I was sold! I practiced Wicca for years as a teen, and while I don’t practice it anymore, it’s still something that I so rarely see portrayed in a positive light that I get truly eager whenever I see its representation done well. Every person’s experience is different, but I truly enjoyed the Wiccan rep in this book and related really well to it.

“And, for fuck’s sake, stop using ‘normal’ as code for ‘white’,” I snap. “Your life isn’t the ruler that the rest of the world gets measured against.”

As a white woman, I obviously cannot relate to the Latinx rep in this book, or the black rep for one of the side characters, but as the author is Afro-Latinx, I can only say that I loved reading her portrayal of some of the feelings she might go through in a world where so much of society still views “white” and “normal” alongside one another.

“So you… what? Wanna start the fat brown girl clique?”
She cocks her head at me. “Doesn’t that sound dope as hell?”

The last thing I’ll say about the rep is that, as a plus size woman, I was able to relate really hard to the fat rep in this book, and I LIVED for it! I read so few books with plus size protagonists, and it’s even more rare for the rep to be done in a positive and thoughtful light, but this was perfect. As this, too, is own-voice rep, Lily Anderson does an impeccable job of describing so many of the daily microaggressions and difficulties that we deal with, and I was over the moon for it. If you’re a plus size reader looking for a book that mirrors your life experiences—or a non-plus size reader looking for an opportunity to empathize with what others go through on a daily basis—I highly recommend giving this book a try.

Buddy read with the ever so lovely Taylor! ♡

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Razorbill for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

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