The next of my Halloween reads was Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson, which can be best described as Mean Girls meets Warm Bodies. It is told from the perspective of Mila Flores, a 16-year-old high school junior who is reeling from the death of her best friend Riley, just days after two of the most popular girls in school died in an apparent suicide pact. The adults in her town all believe Riley also committed suicide, but Mila knows her best friend would never have drowned herself, and what are the odds of three suicides in one week? Surely there is a serial killer at large.

As it happens, Mila and Riley were both practicing Wiccans, and, although they’ve never made any real magic happen before, the mysterious arrival of a new grimoire containing a Lazarus spell gives Mila an idea: she’ll resurrect Riley and discover the identity of her killer. Only, as you’ve probably guessed, things don’t go to plan, and Mila ends up resurrecting all three girls – none of whom have any memory of their deaths, nor can they be more than 100 steps away from Mila without reverting to decaying corpse form. With just seven days before the girls return to their graves, Mila must uncover their killer (if there ever was one), avoid angering her worried parents, and come to terms with her blossoming feelings for Riley’s cool older brother.

I loved this book. OK, so it’s unlikely to be remembered as one of the classic literary masterpieces of the century, but it’s just so much fun! Admittedly, the girls are a little too OK with finding out they’re dead and dying again in just a few days time (I think I’d have much bigger issues on learning that) but the snark is laugh out loud funny in places, and there were plenty of plot twists I didn’t see coming. It was refreshing to have a Latinx, plus-size heroine too, and one who was happy with both of those things. I was worried how Mila could ever have a happy ending without the story becoming overly contrived, but I was very happy with the outcome for her, though she really needs to get some high-quality therapy because can we say PTSD?!

A fun, easy read for teens and more mature middle graders (there’s some fruity language and sex discussions to be found) this Halloween.