This was not what I expected it to be...

I was expecting this to be more focused on Kara and Olivia writing to men on death row, with some dark magic sprinkled in. This was more about a weird; kind of magical, family with some death row letters thrown in. I was left unsatisfied by the ending and not overly enthusiastic about the book.

I enjoyed the writing, although I found it a little overly descriptive at times. The depiction of grief and how it consumes people was well-done. I would've liked if the plot had more to do with the protagonists writing to men on death row, and it somehow going horribly wrong. I guess that I was expecting a YA thriller with fantastical aspects, but what I got was a YA contemporary with some fantastical aspects.

I have mixed feeling about this, overall. If you like dark contemporaries with some magic, this might be something that you would like.

What a strange and very good book! With a strange and very good cover!

This story is fully grounded in reality with many thoughts and feelings on loss and how that affects people differently, and how there is beautifully, beautifully, still a lot of life to keep living once it’s time to begin healing. Within this, are ribbons of magical elements surrounding a family of women that live next door to Olivia, the main character. Kara, her mother Rhea, and grandmother Sybil. I love a good bewitching generational family.

The last few chapters of this book are very strong and come together with a lot of satisfaction! I could absolutely read some sort of prequel surrounding the Hallas women and their origins.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this book!

Gosh, I really wanted to fall in love with this book. Truly I did. There was so much grief and sadness and even confusion inside this book. It was at times so hard to read and it was a struggle almost like a full time job to read this. While I appreciated the writing prose and the ambiance it was a little too heavy for me.

arc provided by netgalley in exchange for an honest review

DNFed at 3%

This just wasn’t for me. I didn’t get along with the writing and there were some themes in this book early on that I didn’t feel comfortable reading. If you’re able to read books with darker themes, this might be for you!

TW: drug use, suicide, child/family death, grief

This was a fascinating read, and definitely one that was darker than I was expecting. Which sounds dumb considering it’s a book about grief and writing to inmates on death row. But still, pretty damn dark. It reads like a dark contemporary for most of the book, but there’s glimpses of something a bit magical going on? It’s a really subtle element so if you’re expecting a full on magic book then this isn’t the one. It’s still a really good and captivating story though, so that’s always good.

The story is really really character driven, the main focus is really Olivia dealing with her personal grief when it comes to her brothers’ death, but also dealing with her family and their grief. Everyone is just kind of stumbling along until the Hallas women move across the street, and the youngest, Kara, is what forces Olivia out of her comfort zone and she really starts dealing with the loss.

I loved Olivia as a main character, he pain and guilt was so palpable, and it was heartbreaking to read, but it made her the perfect companion to Kara, a character that is definitely out there and used to doing whatever she wants without thinking about the consequences or what it might mean for anyone else. I also liked Prescott, he was a friend from Olivia’s past and having him in the story really helped to show the growth she was going through. Reading about her relationship with her parents was another really big part of the story, and it was probably the most heartbreaking part to read. The other Hallas women didn’t really have as much to do with the story as I was hoping, but they were still good characters.

The letter writing to inmates a surprisingly small part of the story, it came up a lot, but it felt more like a side plot to help move along another side plot? If that makes sense? I really do think this is a story about grief and healing, so if you were looking for something that’s entirely about writing to death row inmates, this isn’t it. Still a decent part of the story, but it’s not the main aspect. The mystery surrounding the Hallas women was also pretty vague, but I do think that was on purpose. And again, it felt like just another side thing to move the healing process along.

I really liked this one though, I read it in only a couple sittings because it was compelling enough to keep me reading, and the darkness of the story mixed with the random little mysteries and the summer setting made it an interesting mix. I’m not usually into character driven stories, but this one was well written and that’s pretty much all I need.

I really enjoyed this book! It was well written and I really enjoyed the character dynamics. This book follows Olivia whose family has suffered a major tragedy. Then the Hallas family moves in.

I really wanted to love this story. With a beautiful cover and an interesting premise surrounding grief and the ghosts that haunt us I wanted to give it a shot. At some point I just had to put the book down because I could not immerse myself in the story.

Unfortunately this was really just not for me. I really gave it a shot because we can all resonate with grief and death one way or another. I had a really difficult time connecting to the characters. Already looking at the reviews it definitely has its audience - unfortunately I am just not a part of it.

No! No! Hell No! Take my 2.5 stars rounded up to 3 just for the beautiful cover and go somewhere else! I need to find another gothic, disturbing book for sake of my darkest taste!

Intriguing, chilling cover: Check!

Capturing, interesting, riveting blurb: Check!

Being a die-hard fan of magical realism and creepy, spooky stories: Check!

Introduction of Olivia’s story, drowned little brother, absent mother, drug induced ghostly mother and a new neighbors’ moving to next door (creepy grandma, creepier daughter, creepiest granddaughter, witchy women from three generation): Check!

But SOMETHING went wrong! I’m correcting EVERYTHING SEEMED WRONG! As I resumed my reading question marks on my mind getting bigger, bolder and they finally turned into thought balloons screaming at me: “DNF this one! It’s not good for your intellectual soul and taste of creepy thrillers!”

Writing style of this book: DATTTT Failed!

Number of likable characters: DATTT None!

Slapping urge to worse characters: DATTT!! Author already killed my itching instinct so I hit to the gym for
punching my trainers!!!

Ending of the story: DATTT! Not satisfying!

SUMMARY: Nanananana! FULL FRUSTRATION AND DISAPPOINTMENT!

Of course I liked to read more works of this author because the plot was good but progression and development didn’t work for me this time!

Thanks to Netgalley and AW Teen for sharing this intriguing ARC COPY with me in exchange my honest review.

I picked this book up looking for fun horror/suspense read for fall and I definitely got it.

What I didn't Like: I will say it there were quite a few pacing moments that made it awkward(like one time jump that made it seem like weeks had passed when only about three days had passed) and some of the interactions between the characters was a little awkward. I was unsure of how I felt about Kara. At times she was a great friend for Olivia but at others she was threatening her into things she didn't want to do and kept mentioning that she could take Prescott away any time she wanted. Also Prescott? I liked him a lot at first....and then he declared his feelings for Olivia right before almost having sex with Kara.

What I did like: There are some powerful moments in here when they're talking about Robbie's death. I almost thought during those moments this novel was more fit to be contemporary than horror but then there was a lot of events at the end that changed my mind about that. The beginning was great. Those first descriptions were awesome.

It was the end that kinda left me but at the same time was satisfying enough that I didn't want to say the book was terrible because it wasn't. The descriptions are really good and you can clearly see how everyone is reacting to Robbie's death. Overall, it was pretty good.

Quick Star Rating: 4/5 stars

I do want to warn people this book talks heavy about death of a child, serial killers and how they harmed victims, depression, drug abuse, overdosing, etc. 

So this book right here has left me seriously stumped on how to even review it. It's really a darker story about grief and how everyone deals with it differently and the stages. There's a magical realism in this novel that was very interesting at first, but left me kind of confused at the end honestly. 

Kara is the person who guides Olivia through her grief and pulls her back into her old life some with Prescott another figure from Olivia's past. While Kara herself is such an odd character with her interests, she turns out to be the healing beacon for Olivia. It's important to say that while the book deals a lot with grief/depression it does shine down that we still have hope and love inside us even in the darker times. 

I really liked how it felt like a real journey that someone could go through with Olivia and Kara. What I didn't grasp well in this book was Kara's family curse. I like the premise behind it and the added spooky factor to make it all come together. It sadly left me more confused though I really would of liked a bit more explanation or journey with the girls focusing on Kara some. 

If you want a good read that shows griefs process, friendship and coming to terms with life & death, I do recommend adding it to your tbr!

"I was death's sister.

She was murder's daughter."

I'm not...sure how to write about this book. It was weird. It was really weird. It has a bit of a morbid premise, to be complete fair. In a nutshell, this book is about Olivia, whose 3-year-old brother died three years ago. Her family has never recovered and are shells of their previous selves. Then a girl and her family move in across the street. She's a bit weird, a bit too knowing, and gives no shits, as they say. Olivia (a name that doesn't match the MC's personality at all, but whatever) becomes enthralled and even though she literally never has a good time with Kara when they are together, she keeps seeking out her presence. Weird things happen, Kara somehow makes Olivia come out of the shell she'd been living in, they start writing really personal letters to serial killers and rapists on death row. You know, your average YA book.

I don't really have any major problems with the writing. It's a bit basic, but not distractingly so. It's just kind of there- although there is this one part when Olivia is watching Kara from across the street into another house and she starts describing her eyeliner, which is ridiculous, but anyway. The structure of the book moves at many different speeds, which is a bit confusing at times. It feels pretty slow at the beginning as Olivia's backstory and tragic family history is being told. She doesn't even meet Kara until a couple of chapters in. Even when they do meet, it feels like they are just living, hanging out, day by day. And the plot about the letters doesn't even come in until a significant way into the book. But then when it does, the plot races. All of a sudden, Olivia is doing all of these things she wasn't doing a week ago. It's been three years since her brother died, but then she meets this girl and can suddenly do everything again. Say his name. Go swimming. Sit in her backyard. And it's not even like she's doing this of her own accord - Kara is simply telling her to do it. She's intoxicated by this girl's presence. And then there's Prescott, the boy next door who used to be Olivia's best friend, but then her brother died and he got hot and now things are awkward. But Kara walks in and suddenly they're hanging out again. It's a weird progression of events, because we are led to assume that Olivia is going to try and pursue Prescott (by Kara's encouragement) and that Prescott is interested (just as he was three years ago, before he got hot and before Olivia's brother's death), but he's also suggesting he's into Kara?? And then there are parts that suggest Olivia is in love in Kara too. Honestly, I think she is. Even though there's no indication or suggestion of this earlier on (other than a mention of lesbian cheerleaders).

I don't really like Kara, to be honest. She's manipulative, and frankly quite creepy. She's intrusive, and acts like everything is hers to have and to take and to experience. She walks into Olivia's life and thinks she has a right to all this information. She somehow knows about Robby. She essentially forces Olivia through emotional manipulation to tell her how it happened. It's almost like a weird Stockholm syndrome-y thing? Except then there are these moments when Olivia shows hesitation about the death row letters, and Kara says she can stop doing it if she wants. I wish it was written in a way as if Kara was trying to show Olivia that it doesn't matter what kind of tragic past she has, she still wants to be friends. But it's more like because they are friends, she deserves to know, but also somehow has authority to give Olivia advice?? And it's just not her place?? And walking in on Olivia's relationship with Prescott and making it weird and confusing. It's like she's invading all these facets of Olivia's life without regard. I'm just...really hesitant to believe that Kara is supposed to be this carefree character who understands people's inner turmoils and doesn't care about their past. And her mysteriousness regarding her father and her family's "curse" was a bit dramatic and made it difficult to take her seriously beyond her just being a melodramatic teenager? And what was the significance of having her hook up with Prescott when the whole book was leaning towards having him and Olivia together?

I'm not really sure what genre this is supposed to be. It's YA, it's contemporary, it's maybe science fiction? Fantasy? It's eventually revealed that when Olivia went to rescue her brother, she saw a presence take his soul and called it death. She also talks a lot about the man who hanged himself in Kara's house, and how he is potentially haunting her (and possibly killed her brother, for some unknowing reason). And then there's Kara's family's curse. Is she immortal? Is she undead? Are they witches? Magical? I don't know?? Pretty early on Olivia makes a connection between Kara and her death row inmate correspondence, and assumes that the reason her father is no longer in the picture is because he's in prison for murder, and that's why Kara is so enthralled. And we are led to believe that is true. But then Kara talks about how there are no men in her family period, and then we get that really weird ending where Kara gives birth to what I think is supposed to be death's child, because that creepy presence that Olivia mentions seeing is there when Kara has her child/offspring. I mean, I'm not saying that wouldn't make a good story of some sort, but it was presented in a really confusing way here with little to no foreshadowing whatsoever. I just found myself quite a bit lost at the end, not really understanding what was happening.

I haven't even mentioned the weird side plot about Olivia's father and mother and Robby's things, or Olivia stealing her mother's pills, or even really gone into depth about the serial killer thing, to be honest (although, how much detail was really necessary when describing these fictional murders, Ava, I am a bit concerned for you). But oddly enough, I don't know how much of it I would change. Maybe a bit about Kara, or the weird scene with Prescott at the end, or add a bit more foreshadowing about Kara's deathchild or something. But I think if this is your kind of book (it's more on the outskirts of mine), I think it's a perfect read for the Halloween season which is great timing considering it comes out October 1. I did finish it, after all, which is worth something. And it does have something to say about grief and how grief materialises in different forms for different people. If only Kara didn't stick her nose where it doesn't really belong.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was an odd and very dissatisfying book. The cover is spooky and beautiful and lured me in, but I am highly disappointed. The Resurrection Girls follows Olivia who is basically a shell of who she used to be since her little brother drowned in their backyard pool. Olivia’s parents both are grief stricken even years later and the whole family is just a thousand fractured pieces of what it used to be. A family moves in across the street on Olivia’s brother’s death date and she befriends the new neighbor’s daughter Kara.

Honestly, I am pretty ticked with this whole book, the synopsis is so promising and writing to people on death row? Sounds pretty different and intriguing, but that was like 15% of what this book was about. I still don’t really know what I just read.

Let’s start off with Kara and her family. Meeting the new neighbors was a weird encounter and I was excited to see where the “magic” would lead us, because the family is a little off and it sounds like they have a little magic in their blood, but I have no idea what their magic is or where it came from. They are just a strange family, who I do not care about in the least. Kara is one of the worst characters I have read, she just does not care about Olivia’s grief at all. She just wants Olivia to move on, which easier said than done. Another huge turn off was Kara notices how Olivia has some feelings for her neighbor and childhood best friend and then flirts with him? Uh what? I just wanted to punch Kara honestly from the moment she met Olivia.

Next, we have the letters going to the men on death row. Was it weird? Yes. Was I anticipating such a fantastic and unique book focused on these letters? Yes. I did not get that, instead I got about 20 pages altogether talking about these letters and that was it, I feel like these letters had absolutely nothing to do with the story. I am confused as to why the synopsis of this book focuses on them, when they had so little to do with the actual plot of this book.

Lastly, we have Olivia’s mom and dad who honestly, I understood and cared for the most. They lost their son in a horrific accident and they are both dealing with grief. The mother is addicted to pain pills, and is drugged up 95% of the time to deal with the grief and the dad is never home. I actually wish this had more to do with Olivia’s family overcoming their grief and depression and being a family again, because those parts I had emotion and wanted them all to get better.

All in all, this was not for me and I don’t know if I read it the wrong way or I didn’t get what the message of this book was supposed to be, but it just was not for me. I just thought this was such a bizarre book and I don’t really know what the point of it was, nor do I know what the ending even was.

Wow. This was an exquisitely executed exploration of the facets of grief, and a reminder that Death hovers tangibly on the edges of our hectic lives.

Olivia's life has been in a holding pattern for three years. Waking or sleeping, she stumbles through the motions, feigning invisibility. She tiptoes in the emotional wreckage of her family.

Kara is the golden gypsy of a girl who moves in across the street. Her subtle daring, vagabond spirit and fierce independence fascinate and compel Olive. She draws the two of them into a world of unspeakable violence, appalling choices and ancient curses.

Prescott and Olivia were inseparable until tragedy drove a wedge between them.

The prose is both lyrical and precise. The plot is full of hidden layers that unfold unpredictably and unerringly. The characters are enigmatic, multi-faceted and unforgettable.

The sparkling genius of this book will haunt you long after its end.

Resurrection Girls was a really interesting book and not really like anything I’ve read before. The blurb doesn’t really do it justice – it seemed like it was going to be a dark book with a bit of a paranormal or thriller aspect. But that’s not the case. The subjects discussed in the book are certainly dark and heavy, but there’s really no mystery or paranormal to be had.

Olivia Foster is drowning in guilt after the death of her younger brother three years ago. Her parents are barely functioning, and Olivia is drifting through life. That is until a new family moves in across the street. Kara Hallas is the spark that Olivia needed to break out of her solitary life.


As Olivia and Kara begin to spend time together, they begin to write letters to men on death row and sign it as the Resurrection Girls. Their neighbor (and Olivia’s long time crush) Prescott gets roped in to their group and soon the trio begins to spend a lot of time together. There’s a charged dynamic between the three of them and it constantly feels like they are balancing on the end of a board together, always close to ruining the balance and crashing apart.

And while there’s no paranormal occurrences, there’s a kind of magical realism surrounding the Hallas women.

If you’re looking for a book that will thrill you or feature things that go bump in the night, this isn’t it. There’s a lot of focus on grief and what it takes to heal from horrible tragedies. Overall, once I understood better what this was, I really enjoyed it. Olive, Kara and Prescott were great main characters, especially Olivia. I truly felt for her and her family situation and was rooting for her the whole time.

TW: Discussion of death, death of a child, drug use/overdose, drug addiction, depression and sex

Magical realism mixed with grief and a dose of darkness, but ultimately not the read for me.

Atmosphere: ★★★★
Pacing: ★★★
Writing: ★★

Resurrection Girls is a study in grief and how it removes its subject from reality. With a dash of dark atmosphere mixed in.

Olivia Foster watches her life pass by with ambivalence. Her younger brother drowned several years ago, and the Foster family has never been the same since. Her dad is absent, her mother is addicted to prescription drugs, and Olivia tells the story of her life to herself as a way to stay grounded.

On the anniversary of her brother's death, a new family moves in across the street. It's a grandmother, a mother, and her daughter—and there is something off about them. Olivia finds herself drawn in to their secrets and sway, and finds herself getting closer and closer to the daughter, Kara. Kara is entrancing. She shoplifts, she entices Olivia's old crush, and she pokes Olivia into a sense of life.

A little bit ghostly, a little bit surreal, and a whole lot of grief exploration, Resurrection Girls was an interesting read. Personally, I found the writing to be its biggest drawback—I kept finding myself stumbling over the writing and sentence flow. This might simply be a difference in writing preferences, or it could have been an attempt to convey Olivia's sense of displacement in her world. Either way, it didn't work for me.

I also wanted more from the story. Each chapter left me with more questions than answers, and when coupled with the writing style, I ended Resurrection Girls with a sense of puzzled frustration as opposed to completion. I'll also admit to skimming a few of the chapters in the first half as they didn't seem interesting or relevant to the larger plot.

I would be interested to read the next novel by Ava Morgyn, but ultimately would have to give this one a pass. Darn you, spooky and beautiful cover!

Thank you to NetGalley and Albert Whitman & Company for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

The cover and the synopsis of this book completely drew me in. It’s a book that focuses on grief and how much life is affected after it. Ava Morgyn has an amazing way with words and I found myself unable to put this book down, reading it in one sitting.

This book follows Olivia and her process of dealing with the lost of her little brother. It’s an emotional journey and one I found myself tearing up at. Olivia is a very relatable character and I liked watching her character develop throughout the book.

This book had a lot of potential. With dealing with such a heavy-handed topic and including a hint of magical realism I thought that I was going to find a new favourite book of 2019. However, this book just did not hit the mark.

Whilst this is a beautifully written book I found myself wanting more from it. You meet this new family and get no full backstory about their lives. I wanted to know more about what makes them different and I feel like this was widely overlooked.

The end was also incredibly rushed. I felt like I had blinked and we were right at the end and there was no real conclusion. I still don’t know they true reason behind Kara writing letters to men on death row. There was just a lot of unanswered questions for a standalone novel.

This book was very average for me and honestly I’m disappointed I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hyped it in my head. However, I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of Ava Morgyn’s books in the future.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

So, the title and cover of Resurrection Girls instantly intrigued me. A creepy story? Some witches? I had to find out.

Unfortunately, this book didn't live up to any of my expectations. The backstory of our main character is tragic. She lost her three year old brother three years prior and all of her family are experiencing complicated grieving, with many behaviors that exhibit a variety of coping mechanisms, most of them unhealthy. While I'm not a fan of this book, I still am a fan of the inclusion of this tragedy and the responses to it.

New neighbors move in and they instantly seem a little "off." Unfortunately, we never get answers as to why they are a little different and we never find out why the slightly supernatural things that happen happen.

The letter writing storyline either didn't have much to do with the plot or were so glossed over that I felt like they didn't have much to do with the plot. The romance felt out of place, as did the ending. Ultimately, I see what this book was trying to do, but it was just a major miss for me.

Resurrection Girls has an interesting, spooky premise - a teen girl whose brother tragically passed away becomes entranced by a mysterious girl, Kara, who moves in with her mother and grandmother across the street. Olivia, our protagonist (kinda), progressively becomes more and more engaged in self-destructive behavior, including participating in communication with serial killers on death row as a part of the Resurrection Girls. She begins to confront her parents who struggle with her little brother's death, and eventually is pushed to take action to try to change her life. Oddly, we have a bit of supernatural action tossed in, but not until over 3/4 of the book has been spent.

So much of this book had potential, but shoving it all into one book felt both at the same time slow (many repetitions of how Olivia's parents are grieving, multiple bad dreams with very obvious foreshadowing) and very fast (no explanation provided for Kara's outcome and family, sudden changes of Olivia as a character and how she would react). Supernatural associations are brushed on and could be so much more fully fleshed out, but it makes for fun encounters when it pops up.

The depiction of grief and active grieving rang true. It is so hard to write about a teenager observing her parents and Olivia felt at times like she both understood too much and understood nothing at all. Walking the balance and making Olivia feel relatable makes it very hard to become absorbed into the character, but I admire the author's attempt.

The last thirty pages of this book are a whirlwind. If you make it that far, hold onto your hat. You're in for a wild ride. Resurrection Girls is a just fine standalone mostly contemporary with itty bitty amount of supernatural flavor.

**My thanks to NetGalley for e-ARC access for this title.**

I loved the premise of this book and thought the characters were all so beautifully broken. I enjoyed falling deeper into this grief-filled world and seeing the MC come alive. I was left wanting more from the ending. It seemed very sudden and I just needed a little bit more explanation. Even with that, I think the book is very well done and has something for lots of people to connect to.

In Resurrection Girls, we visit the Foster family and their all encompassing grief. A shake up of Kara and her matriarchal family moving in starts to awaken Olivia from her stupor. The Hallas women push Olivia head first into processing her trauma. This book made me sob and cut me to my soul. The emotions were palpable throughout the entirety. I wish the magical elements had been a bit more prominent as they don't really come up till the last act, but considering how much I enjoyed this book the compliant feels nit picky at best. I can not wait to see what other stories Ava Morgyn tells.