Grief. Addiction. Letters. Spiritual.

My second Net Galley title, but first book! The very first one was a graphic novel that anyone can get, but I had to request this one so that was pretty cool. Unfortunately, I did not end up liking it.

In the synopsis of the book, there’s the mention of something strange and magical going on with the new neighbors. There is a kind of spiritual aspect to it, but it’s pretty nonchalant and not developed very well. Also, in the beginning of the book when the main character Olivia meets them, I thought she overreacted with how scared she was because nothing really happened. I wish that there was a better reason as to why she started acting so strange so quickly, but nothing is clear.

For the rest of the plot, there was a lot of focus on grief and addiction since Olivia’s brother drowned three years ago. Since then, her mom has been taking pills 24/7 and Olivia even steals them for herself. I can see the importance of representing this feeling of grief and hopelessness, but it all felt very repetitive to me. I’m not trying to dismiss their feelings since they aren’t just going to change overnight, but every time it was brought up, the same ideas kept being discussed. So those parts got pretty annoying. Especially since the author was trying to use kind of flowery descriptions, which I sometimes enjoy and sometimes don’t, but in this case, it felt so forced and as if she was trying to hard. I obviously don’t know for sure, but it seemed like the author wouldn’t naturally write that way but was trying to because that’s what people like right now.

The whole thing with the Resurrection Girls and writing letters to men on death row was interesting but didn’t fit into the story well. I guess it kind of does because of the whole thing with the neighbors, but since all of that wasn’t clear, it just seemed random. It was an interesting concept but I don’t think it paired well with this book because whenever it was brought up, again it seemed forced. If it was better incorporated somehow, it could have added a lot more to the story.

Alright, and no spoilers but I just have to say, the ending was awful and completely ludicrous. When I started reading it, I was like are you kidding me? What is even happening right now? It literally made no sense and I still don’t get why the author threw that in there.

Lastly, I’ll quickly talk about the characters who I also didn’t like. All of them were so annoying in my opinion, and there was a weird love triangle that was literally like flipping a switch because that’s how quickly they moved between one another. I also felt like the friendships/relationships between them weren’t well established, and overall, I just didn’t really care about any of them.

Should you read this book? I feel bad since I’m reviewing this for Net Galley, but I would say no. I might say maybe if you’re looking for a character that is experiencing grief because of losing a loved one. If so, then I would suggest looking at some other reviews and deciding based on that.

I am a little over halfway through this book and I have to quit. I am not interested enough to continue...

Thank you NetGalley for the review copy, but it's not one I enjoyed.

Olivia Foster hasn’t felt alive since her little brother drowned in the backyard pool three years ago. Then Kara Hallas moves in across the street with her mother and grandmother, and Olivia is immediately drawn to these three generations of women.


Kara is particularly intoxicating, so much so that Olivia not only comes to accept Kara's morbid habit of writing to men on death row, she helps her do it. They sign their letters as the Resurrection Girls.


But as Kara’s friendship pulls Olivia out of the dark fog she’s been living in, Olivia realizes that a different kind of darkness taints the otherwise lively Hallas women—an impulse that is strange, magical, and possibly deadly. -Goodreads


I am starting this book review off with the rating, which is 2 Pickles. This book was a hard pill to swallow because of a lot of things. Olivia isn't grieving the lost of her brother. She acknowledges that he is gone but just like her parents, she isn't dealing with what she is feeling. Kara comes along and offers Olivia a way out of her emotions until she has no choice but to start opening. 


Here is my issue with this book. It uses Kara and her family as a clutch for why Olivia makes bad decisions. It isn't fair to Kara. Kara isn't a stable character not even in the least and she has a whole lot that she is dealing with, however, I can't find it in me to say Olivia did this or is this because of Kara. 


Not every family is going to be like our own and I think the author plays upon that as way to compare what should be the normal family. Olivia does things for an reaction not just because Kara has a persuasive personality. 


Other than this, the book was boring. Not even writing to death row inmates add any form of intensity to the novel. It is just as a clutch with no real backing/substance. Because the book is boring. There is no real character development and even the grief seems brushed over, which is unfortunate. 


Things wrapped up too easily, after everything that happened, the ending was too perfectly happy and we are good now. 


I gave this book 2 Pickles as opposed to 1 because it can be good. Shoot it can be great. But it needs work.

this book was pretty much an enigma. i didn’t really understand the point or what was going on. i think that the novel tried to do too many things and doesn’t really accomplish any of them effectively. the characters felt really fake and acted strangely. you could say they were morally grey but i felt like we didn’t know them enough to call them that. the plot was kinda all over the place and i ended up not being satisfied and honestly confused with the ending.

I feel like the synopsis for this book is somewhat misleading, but in a great way. I thought I was just going into a book about writing to serial killers and dealing with grief. But that only scratched the surface for this book. In fact, there were times I forgot that was even part of the plot.

The writing was captivating and gave me chills. I felt uneasy at times, even when I wasn’t reading it. There were many twists and turns and I felt like I never truly knew what was coming next. You could have given me 50 chances to guess the ending and I probably wouldn’t.

This isn’t normally something I’d pick up, but I’m really glad I did. This was a great, fast read. Perfect for spooky season

This book was really engrossing in a terribly sad kind of way. Content warning for grief of losing a child. What I liked best about this story was that it really highlighted how horrible families can be to each other without even trying to, all because of each individual being broken in their own isolated ways. I liked the story of the neighbor who came and helped bring the family out of darkness, but there was a bit of magical realism that I guess I wasnt understanding. I dont think that piece needed to be in the story at all. I would've preferred it to be the simple "magic" of someone really loving and being a friend to another person, pulling them up out of utter darkness and helping them "live" again after a tragedy. Since most of the story was about this family rising up out of the coma like state they'd been in for so long, I really enjoyed seeing that progress back to normal, but that magical part should've been left out. It didn't ruin it at all for me, I just was left thinking, what? What is the relevance here? Kudos to the author for the wonderful resurrection story of this family. I still highly recommend the story and would definitely read more from this author.

This just wasn't what I expected it to be at all. There was little discussion or exploration of the fantastical/paranormal elements or the writing to inmates and it instead focused mainly on the death of Olivia's brother and the grief her family has been experiencing after the fact. I liked the beginning of this and thought that it set up for some really cool things to be introduced but they never ended up being fully formed. Kara was a terrible character, and this could have be played on because she is the "daughter of death", but that never happened so she just seemed like a terrible friend and person with little to no backstory. Prescott's character was pretty unnecessary as well.
I think the cover, title, and synopsis do not match up with the actual content.

Guess what I did today? Read this book in one day while I cleaned skates at work. It was so damn enjoyable.

But enjoyable is the wrong word for this book. It's about a family who lost their youngest member of the family. Robby was three when he drowned in the backyard pool. That's three years ago now. Olivia feels guilty about it. Her mother uses pills to cope. Her father is absent most of the time. Olivia is just trying to keep everything together over the summer. And the grief is fresh even after three years. It was like it just happened.

That's when a new family moves in. Three generations of women. Grandmother, mother, and daughter. And Olivia decides to make friends with the daughter, Kara. But, they're a cursed family.

This was a very odd book. I had no idea what to expect going into it. I'm so glad that I read it, but it was a different read. The grief in it was palpable the whole time. I understood Olivia's grief, although my family has had a very different way of dealing with it that's been healthier than what was in the book.

As I said, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I don't think everyone's going to like it, but some people will love it and others won't. It's a hard book to explain, too. It's about grief and loss, but also about healing. And Kara is, oddly enough, the healing element. That family is a wake-up call that grief if you allow it to grow and to wallow and to encompass your whole life, will kill you eventually. Grief kills. And if you don't cope healthily, it will kill you. You will die from your grief and holding on to what happened. That message stuck out to me while I read this because it's so true. I've seen good coping and bad coping thanks to my profession. There is no one way to cope -- it's so individualized -- but there are still maladaptive ways to do it. And, eventually, those maladaptive behaviors will cause more problems and grief, both for you and those around you.

So, this is a different book. I'm glad that it's out there for readers because I think it's really going to connect with people. While I didn't lose my sister from an accident at a young age, it was still sudden and so unexpected. Sometimes, I still struggle to work through my grief in healthy ways. And this book was a great reminder as to why I should keep healthy. My behaviors impact many other people than just myself.

I feel like there were some things about this book I liked, but much of it did not resonate with me--not because it's not well-written. It's a good book. The themes of LGBTQ+ relationships in formative teenage years was a highlight, although I'm not sure if I agree with the author's execution of it in all aspects. I felt like the description promised one thing and what I got in the end was not what I was expecting, so it did not live up to my desires as a reader for what I wanted it to be.

The protagonist oscillated throughout the book as being angry and dialled to 10 while at other terms being demure and unsure of herself, which makes sense given her psychological profile. Anyone who has been through the loss of a younger sibling, particular this young, and in such horrific circumstances that are too familiar to any family. Someone like that is not going to be about rainbows and sunshine. Her fascination with a new neighbour, Kara, promises to be destructive or lead to no good, and this novel has that in spades.

I liked the creepy grandmother figure and was expecting more from that. I also felt that I expected more of a big reveal from Kara's mother, Rhea. The ending just sort of... happened but it felt like the energy of the rising action and mounting climax should have delivered something bigger. I found the subject matter to be problematic big time as anything concerning teenage girls and death row convicts is just not something I feel should mix, particularly from moral and ethical standpoints. Other reviewers may not share these views, but I found them quite off-putting.

Not my cup of tea, unfortunately.

Ava Morgyn deals with a variety of issues in this unexpectedly dark, tragedy-filled novel.

The novel explores a myriad of themes, from the mundane, to the heart-wrenching, to the supernatural.

At the beginning, Resurrection Girls threw me back to teenage-hood. The writing was reminiscent of emergent Young Adult books which, veterans will remember, was very much trying to distinguish itself from Teen Fiction.

The voice of the novel is young, like these novels of the past. It made me feel as though younger, teenage audiences were the primary target. Until the darker themes emerged.

The novel is filled with tragedy. Morgyn doesn't hold back when depicting the behind-the-curtain side of life -- the death, the trauma and the various unhealthy ways many try to cope. There are heart-wrenching, potentially triggering scenes scattered within the jokey, wild lives of three teens.

The characters are individually interesting. There is an ambiguity to them all in one way or another. It's refreshing, if a little awkward in a second-hand-embarrassment kind of way. Resurrection Girls reminds us what it's like to be a teenager, after all.

I think Morgyn has done well in showing three very different young people, and how their seemingly polar opposite lives inevitably bring them together. The jock, the geek, and the wild punk girl share an understanding of the hidden sides of life. They compete for attention and acceptance, with dramatic outcomes.

Kara is a whirlwind that tears apart Olivia's life. But it isn't as awful as it sounds -- it's exactly what Olivia needs. The death of her brother has buried her in her misery. Communication has broken down amongst her family, and the mysterious, vibrant and reckless girl across the road teaches her how to feel again.

Not that Kara always goes about it in the right way.

The main complaint I have with the novel is the pacing. It began slowly with extravagant description that was all too aware of itself. Once the scene was finally set, it trundled into building up Olivia's life, past and present. And still there was very little action of note. It wasn't until the final third that things really got going.

Roughly, the last ten chapters were where the magic happened. The action reached its apex, and one catalytic moment set Olivia's world into a flurry of revelation and devastation. This, I adored. I only wish it had come sooner.

Resurrection Girls is a surprisingly dark novel that brings to life the realities of familial tragedy. It incorporated elements of the supernatural that could perhaps resonate with readers who sympathise with Olivia's situation.

It's a full-on read with lots of drama (once it gets going), suspense, and heightened emotion. I think it's worth pushing through the first half to experience the gem of the ending.

I would have liked the story to get going faster, and for the characters to be a little more fleshed out.

Once the action got going, it ran. I was morbidly fascinated and absorbed, but I wish I had felt this all the way through.

This review will be published 05/10/2019

Resurrection Girls by Ava Morgyn
2019 published by AW Teen
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Im not sure how to form an opinion on this book.

Parts of it were breathtakingly beautiful. Its clear that the author has a talent for words. Parts were haunting, and so evocatively sad that it broke my heart a little.

However, the plot and storytelling in general were so muddled (and at times confusing) that I was left very dissatisfied after finishing. Im not even sure what the author was trying to say or not say.

There were several parts of this book that I think the author was trying to deem as “mysterious” but were never fully explained (or even touched back upon at all: example the jam jar Sybil gives Olivia). I didn’t connect with any of the characters and honestly, not a lot happened in this story. It just kept progressing without really going anywhere.

When I requested this book for review, I was so drawn to the beautiful cover art and intriguing premise. A book about girls who write to convicts? That sounded so interesting to me! However, there was very little about that in the book. Although there were a lot of elements I like (family tragedy and drama, mysterious neighbors, potential paranormal elements, teenage struggles) they never seemed to come together in a valuable and satisfying way. It is almost like I was reading a first draft of a novel that had the potential to become something great.

Im so sad to say this story was not for me. Perhaps Im just not clever enough to get the little nuances that some would appreciate more than me.

As we inch towards the time of witches and ghosties, Resurrection Girls gives off an appropriately creepy vibe with an attention to death and the still-living who are faced with death. Accident and suicide play a part in the dynamics along with a strange compulsion for two teenaged girls to become penpals with men who have no hope of long life.

This tale is far more than that, though, as it delves into a family and how each individual member copes with the nearly unbearable grief after a child dies. There’s no real coming together here; the loss of Olivia’s little brother has fractured this family and Olivia and each of her parents have spent the past few years growing further apart and more mired in their devastation. When Kara and her mother and grandmother move in across the street, Olivia finally has something else to think about with this new friend and the oddities that seem to swirl around the new family.

You might think that this is a very depressing book with its emphasis on grief and the inability to recover but, in fact, it’s really a look at the journey to find peace as well as Olivia’s personal redemption helped along by Kara and a dose of…could it be magic?

Reviewed by Lelia Taylor, October 2019.

Just not for me. I had to DNF this book pretty close tot he beginning, nothing was grabbing me. I had hoped that it would be a fun spooky fall read, but the death of a small child generally throws me off a storyline pretty quick. Writing wasn't half bad, but just not my style of read.

Resurrection Girls started three years after Olivia Foster’s little brother, Robby, drowned in the pool in their backyard. Broken and crushed, her mother was consuming pills to escape the grief and her father wasn’t around that much, arriving home during late hours and avoiding conversation or any sort of social interaction with the remains of his family. When three generations of women moving into a house across the street, Olivia didn’t realize that her lonesome journey will take turns. The Hallas women are intoxicating and mysterious, and soon Olivia made friends with Kara, who’s full of confidence, odd, and seems to know a lot about Olivia ever since their very first encounter.

The first thing that strikes my mind about this book is that it was far from what I was expected. Looking at the cover, reading the synopsis, checking the genres’ list, I was expecting this book will be heavier on the fantasy, magical, and witchy elements. But in reality, this is a story of grieving, losing your loved ones, dealing with unavoidable emptiness, and healing. Although I’m not complaining, because Morgyn did an awesome job of delivering this story with her haunting and poetic narratives.

I had a great time with this book, especially diving in its odd plot and exploring its quirky characters. The originality of Resurrection Girls was outstanding and it was bizarre when I first read about Olivia and Kara’s correspondences with the prisoned criminals, but it was so bizarre that it actually attracted me to keep reading. Their friendship also dynamic and always interesting to be followed, as I keep wondering what’s the next thing that they were gonna do after I finished each chapter.

Unfortunately, there were other things that prevent me from having that extraordinary, one of a kind reading experience. The inconsistency of the plot was my first issue, and I’ve been thinking about it since the earlier chapters, especially because things are slow during those earlier chapters and I didn’t feel that many of those scenes contributed big impact on the bigger picture of the story, yet it took a fast route every since Olivia met Kara. I also couldn’t fully engage and resonated with the rest of Olivia’s family. And I had so many questions that bugging me throughout the story, especially towards the Hallas. What’s their history? How exactly are their “magic” works? Are they naturally born with their charms to manipulate people or is it a work of magic? Why there were no men in their family tree? Where was Kara’s father? Why was Kara grow interest to penpal prisoned criminals? I wish there’d be more explanation about all of these since the Hallas was the reason why this story happening in the first place.

Overall, Resurrection Girls is a poignant debut that explores loss, grieving, and healing with such graceful way. The little incorporation of magical realism in this contemporary might be a hit or a miss, which all depends on your reading preference.

Get ready for the spooky season with this YA Magical Realism story!!

This is kind of a dark, morbid plot that follows two girls as they venture around death and dying through her past brother, death row inmates, and the crazy notion of bringing them back to life. And I loved every minute of it!!

I’d say there might be some triggering factors for readers who may be sensitive to topics such as drug abuse, grief, and death. So please be aware of this before reading the book.

Through the eerie pages, we are thrown into this uniquely spooky, suspenseful, mysterious story that I flew through. It’s definitely one you’ll want to read on the back porch under the glistening moonlight.

A highly recommended 4 out of 5 star Halloween read!

The cover is what brought me in but I did enjoy the story even though it was dark and depressing. I liked the magical realism in the story and this story also deals with family, friendship, death and yes substance abuse.

I'm still not exactly sure what I read, but I know it was not for me. Resurrection Girls was all over the place, with so many unlikeable characters and plot points that made me want to scream.

I was so frustrated by just the premise of the book. I requested it with genuine curiosity to the reason these high school girls may be writing to prisoners on Death Row. From the reviews, I expected to get the unexpected and really enjoy the route it took, but not I got the unexpected in the worst possible way.

Non-spoiler things I can say is this writing needed some more rounds of edits, even for an ARC. Things happened so fast. I had to go back and read paragraphs a few times to pin point when this new plot point happened and how I missed it. I think this came from the overuse of abstract language and metaphors. A story like this needs to have more concrete writing to pair with the crazy things happening in the plot. Most things I hated about this book I cannot put into a non-spoiler review, but just know the plot of this book was absolutely absurd and disgusting at times. I was sending a friend screenshots and we were both screaming. I have just never been more shocked by a plot, in a bad way.

Overall, I would not recommend this book unless your into really unrealistic contemporary plots with some questionable morals and literally the worst characters I've ever read about.

This was a story of loss and grief, new friends, rekindling old friendships and of recovery.
Olivia’s brother died a few years ago and her house is full of his ghost. Neither she, her mother or her father have recovered and they are a shattered mess. Olivia feels invisible with her mother in a drug-induced haze and her father always at work... until a new family moves in across the street. The three women who take up residence in the house are strange, but the daughter, Kara, quickly becomes her friend. The three women have a secret in which Olivia slowly glimpses. Will Kara help Olivia break out of the shell she created around herself after the tragedy?
I thought this was unique and very interesting. Also, the romance representation was good. I haven’t seen that particular type of romance in a ya much.

I gave this book two out of five stars. The writing on grief was poignant and beautifully done. However, I did not enjoy the character interactions whatsoever. The friendship between the two main girls made reminded me of friends I had when I was this age who took advantage of me and treated me poorly, and I found it a bit triggering to read it happen to the main character. Such as when her grandmothers ring was stolen. The plot was overall fairly forgettable and didn’t stand out to me in any way.

I took one look at this book’s cover and was immediately pulled in. It’s just clever and embodies a sort of whimsical horror that is perfect in time for Halloween. Then we have the title- Resurrection Girls. I was expecting some kind of duo or squad who goes spirit-hunting. Even the somewhat heavier-sounding description of this title didn’t phase me into imagining this book as anything other than a light paranormal romp.

So anyway, this book is nothing like any of those above descriptions. Not even 5% of it is anywhere approaching such assumptions. (Maybe 3% gives off some paranormal vibes though.) The plot centers around loss and how it affects a once-stable family. After a few years of unhealthy coping mechanisms, each family member is left adrift and detached in big ways from each other. This may seem heavy and depressing to read about, but the disintegration is conveyed with a plainly-laid realism that is effective. The characters are not very endearing. Some are straight up unlikable and hard to sympathize with- and in a grittier and honest sort of way, they leave a stronger impression. The effect reminds me a bit of Ordinary People by Judith Guest or Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake.

The central character is Olivia, a sixteen year-old girl left aimless and isolated by the death of her little brother, Robby. Dealing with self-blame and inattentive parents, she navigates the world not unlike how one might imagine a ghost doing so- floating and unattached. Also of note is Prescott, Olivia’s childhood friend. She distanced herself from him since Robby’s death.

Our story begins with a family of three moving in nearby. We meet Kara, her grandmother, and mother. Though Olivia tries to avoid Kara, the two become friends before long. They start to work together on a bit of an odd project- Resurrection Girls, a duo shrouded in anonymity who correspond with people on death row and collect replies and info about the circumstances that led to their convictions. Very little of the story is focused on this subject and there’s no enduring mystery there-in. The main focus is on Olivia slowly working her way back into a healthier state of mind and becoming empowered to confront her family about the distance that’s grown between them. I really liked Kara, she is a figure who pushes Olivia toward new experiences and taking much-needed steps that lead to growth and healing. But she’s a partner rather than a mentor, and the two relate on levels that are more than meets the eye. Their activities veer toward the older end of YA. There are definitely some bad behaviors, but the one that struck me most was addressed in the storyline and met with consequences.

While I feel confident in stating there is no romance in this title, Olivia has romantic tension and chemistry with both Kara and Prescott. The three of them end up hanging out often and there is a sort of complex tension there. While I wouldn’t call this book bi rep, I thought very quickly and initially that Olivia’s inner feelings approach that. Many of the loveliest lines in this book have to do with Olivia’s little thoughts about both of these characters. Her childhood memories and earlier sort of puppy love feelings for Prescott, and a sort of awe-inspired attraction to Kara. There were more than a few lines where I was just thinking ‘Olivia, you’re clearly attracted to Kara as more than just friends.’ But to reiterate, this is not a focal point of the novel though and its development is limited.

The writing style drew me in quickly. Fast and smoothly readable, the pages flow briskly and with a consistent contemporary feel until we get toward the climax and ending.

The plot showed some cracks toward that point. The sequence of events went from banging me over the head with contemporary realism to throwing the cast off the deep end into magical realism/fantasy. I was left scratching my head, wondering if (no spoilers) certain things that happen really happened or I just dreamed them. On the bright side, this is one of those endings that might get people discussing and interpreting the meaning of it in unique ways. I feel like steps could have been taken to make it less abrupt and confounding though. Perhaps a higher page count? More exposition? Nonetheless, taken as a whole, this was a solid read.

Why You Should Try It – A gritty, realistic depiction of loss and unhealthy coping mechanisms that can result. Olivia’s inner voice has some poignant thoughts and touching realizations about the people surrounding her. Unconventional chemistry between Olivia, Prescott, and Kara. At 272 pages, this is a good short read, fast-paced and highly readable. Surprisingly so for its point of focus and muddled later plotting.

Why You Might Not Like It – The focus on loss and Olivia’s fixation can be repetitive. I had full compassion for Olivia but her parents were often hard to sympathize with. The last 30% or so of the book struggles with its footing and the events get kind of out there. The end is abrupt.