Annie LeBlanc is Not Dead Yet, by Molly Morris, has a unique storyline. The book starts off slowly but quickly picks up. The characters are easy to care about and the story draws you in. This was a quick lazy day read for me. Thanks, NetGalley and the publisher, for providing me with the ARC ebook I read and reviewed. All opinions are my own.

This book was simply magicalll and one of a kind!!!!!!! I could not put it down, and read 75% the first night I had the ARC!!!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed the concept of this book! A story set in California with a touch of magical realism that doesn’t need a dragged-out explanation. This book is absolutely perfect for anyone who is a fan of these tropes:
* Found family
* Second chance
* Friends to lovers
* Small town

One thing I do wish we would’ve seen is more of the backstory on Welcome Back and other winners that could have potentially given more insight into its history.

This book truly encapsulates teen angst and how it feels to grow up feeling like no one understands you. Each character was so well developed; Wilson, the most selfless main character, Ryan, the hard-headed best friend we all need, and Annie, the girl with a big heart and nothing to lose. And, my favourite character, Mark with his humour and charm!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and it’s a cute and easy read suitable for everyone!

I couldn’t put this down. I loved how this book was plotted, written, and how brilliantly it all came together! Highly honing to be recommending it.

Very very slow to start. Great plot idea. I thought it could’ve been played out better. But overall a fine book.

Fun concept just really slow start. I wish there was more background on the town and why this happens. Overall a very cute YA.

I thought the concept for this book was so cool! I don't need a lot of explicit worldbuilding for a light supernatural touch kind of story like this but I did feel cheated that Wil's initial investigation didn't come back around with at least another scene giving us a few crumbs about the town's history. The story focuses on the teen angst - which, obviously, YA - but it feels absolutely bogged down in Wil's interiority in the beginning before things pick up with her friends and their past problems start getting revealed. After that it was much smoother sailing.

this was one of my most anticipated books and i’m super happy i got an arc for it! the premise (a town where every ten years there’s a lottery and the winner gets to choose someone to temporarily bring back from the dead) is soo cute it reminds me of like the just add magic town. I am 100% confident my entire family would eat this up as an amazon limited series. anyway the characters are a little immature (which happens in half of ya about high school seniors and bothers me as a High School Senior) but Literally every flaw in this book was redeemed by the concept. I think the characters and relationships needed work but if you can come up with something really cool and make everything else decent it is readable and enjoyable and again would function really well for adaptation.

thanks to netgalley and wednesday books for the arc!

ANNIE LEBLANC IS NOT DEAD YET by Molly Morris is such a fun read with a surprising emotional curve ball. I couldn't read this fast enough because I wanted to know the backstory of Wilson, Ryan, and Annie's friendship as well as what was going to happen at the end of thirty days.

The three characters are well developed and have strong growth over the novel. Wilson in particular is a compelling character; she makes some very big mistakes, creates some messes, and tries to do right by people. Annie's story breaks open how we deal with grief and how what's presented by family members, especially online, is not always what it seems to be. Ryan's growth is less dramatic, but her slow road to deciding to forgive--or not--feels very believable.

I look forward to bringing this to my creative writing students. They are going to love it for the characters. I'm going to love. using ANNIE LEBLANC IS NOT DEAD YET as an example of how one thing in a story (like "Every ten years in the strange little town of Lennon, California, one person is chosen to return from the dead…") can be fabulist or magical or unrealistic and yet completely believable.

Wilson (named after the musical group Wilson Phillips) wins the Welcome Home lottery, which allows for her best friend Annie to be brought back from the dead for a month. She’s hoping for a second chance to heal the rift that destroyed her friendship with Annie and Ryan. And reuniting the trio might just give Annie even more time in the land of the living.

While the premise initially hooked me, the rich characterization and great pacing made the book hard to put down.

The sole magical element is beautifully grounded. It works in part because it’s deeply tied to the setting, a small, quirky town near San Diego, and because the rules are well defined early in the story. All the characters accept that every 10 years a deceased resident is brought back to life for 30 days making it easy for the reader to also buy in.

Wilson, with her love of comic books and Nirvana makes a fun protagonist. She comes with lots of issues, which gives her the fuel for a robust character arc. The romantic elements while sweet share the stage equally with issues around friendship, family, self-esteem, and the courage to follow one’s dreams.

The book features multiple pop culture references around nineties music, The Walking Dead, Buffy the Vampire slayer, Stranger Things, and Marvel superheroes.

I’m a huge fan of an epilogue and this book delivers one that I found incredibly emotionally satisfying.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Wednesday Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group, for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

First off, the cover's a bit too adult-looking for me. The hourglass looks a bit like a martini glass. The characters look like adults. They are not. The book is very, very YA, and I say that as praise. It's got anxiety. It's got self-loathing. It's got a 90s obsession–but this one is explained as a shared love with her mom, instead of feeling like an adult writer was too lazy to figure out what "kids these days" are into. (Weirdly enough, I hear it's the 90s. So.)

It's got romance. It's got figuring things out. It's got secrets and a magical town that's shockingly normal. It really has everything. And the book did make me teary in the end. I hope it blows up. It deserves it.

I honestly really liked this book. It really distinguished itself as different from its peers. The main characters are all very different in their motivations and attitudes, yet reading about them makes me realize why they all liked each other in the first place.
I loved Wilson on a personal level. She really was fleshed out, and I kinda felt like someone had a microscope in my brain as I was reading her. Freaky!!!
Also I do want to give props for Lennon being truly alive. Like I’m from a small town with a bunch of lore, so I could FEEL Lennon. It just made so much sense and everything felt like i could walk down the street and window shop in this fictional town. So cool.
Only one star off because it took a little while to get into (a bit info dump-ish at the beginning), but really nothing too major.
Thank you so much for sending me a copy of this book!!

Buckle up, because Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet by Molly Morris is a wild ride through small-town teen drama with a light supernatural twist. Set in the town of Lennon, the story revolves around Wilson Moss, who, in a town tradition, gets the chance to bring someone back from the dead.. But there's a catch – the person who is revived gets just thirty days of extra life and is only recognizable to Lennon residents. Wilson chooses to resurrect Annie LeBlanc, her former best friend who drowned at her own birthday party. When Wil discovers a loophole that will allow Annie to stay longer she is determined to do anything she needs to make it happen, even working alongside Ryan, their other ex-best friend.

Morris weaves a tangled web of emotions as Wil grapples with resurrecting a friendship that ended on rocky terms. The dynamic between Wilson, Annie, and another old friend, Ryan, is the beating heart of the story. It's a rollercoaster of feelings, and is absolutely laden with teen angst and drama. The writing style and the pacing were what stopped me from rating this a 5/5, but who cares when you're rooting for these flawed, relatable characters? As a 25-year-old reader, I saw bits of my teenage self in each of them, from the messy crushes to the tangled web of friendships.

Annie LeBlanc Is Not Dead Yet isn't your typical YA romance, it blends mild supernatural elements with the usual heartfelt themes of love, forgiveness, and redemption. Do yourself a favour and dive into this gem. You won't regret it!

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

thank you netgalley for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

i was very excited for the premise of this book and it the synopsis sounded so unique and different from anything i’ve read, but it fell short for me.

the first part of the book felt super information heavy and i really just wanted more of the characters and wanted the plot to get going. so it was pretty difficult for me to get into. you really have to push through and it does start to get more enjoyable. i liked the way the author wrote about be young and all the feelings that go along with it!

I absolutely LOVED this book. Teen angst is strong in this one and I can see my teen patrons loving this one! I will definitely recommend it be added to our shelves at the library.

This was an interesting book. At first I wasn’t sure where the story was headed and wondered what happened with Annie. It took some time for the story to get going but by the end I was fully invested and appreciated that I got the chance to read this story. It was unique and not at all what I expected. The friction between the friends took some time to figure out but I really liked it. All the resolutions between family and friends hit home. It was a beautiful and bittersweet ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The quiet town of Lennon, California, is full of life, hot chocolate, apple pie, and one big secret: every 10 years, someone is chosen to come back from the dead. When Wilson Moss chooses to enter Annie LeBlanc's name in the town's resurrection contest, she's certain there's no chance of winning. Because really, what would she even say to her ex-bestfriend anyway? But when victory breaks down her door and offers her 30 days with her dead bestie, Wilson finds she's not quite ready to let her go again. Searching for a potential loophole in Lennon's biggest secret, Wilson will have to employ the talents of her other former bestfriend Ryan. Ryan, who hates them both. Ryan, who can't even stand to be in the same room as her. Ryan, who, just a few months ago, kissed her. Can Wilson find a way to right all the wrongs before Lennon claims Annie for the final time?

Annie LeBlanc is Not Dead Yet is a stunningly charming YA novel that delivers teen angst in only the way queer girls can. Wilson Moss is an entirely relatable character; her journey through young adulthood is plagued with love and loss and a mess of confusion. She's caught in the middle of a life she never really chose, and as the world around her continues to spin at an insane speed, all she wants is to rip out her own comforting space in a miniscule pocket of time long gone. Molly Morris has given us an entire cast of characters that are wonderfully distinct. The palpable chemistry between Wil and "I-totally-hate-your-guts" Ryan had me giggling and kicking my feet page after page, and Annie delivered a delightful amount of personality that came across as so entirely endearing at every turn. As the story unfolded and secrets were laid bare, I was stunned at the amount of vulnerability in this story. I see so much of myself in Wil and her struggles to understand her place in the lives of others and her unending desire to seek out answers to the things that hurt her most. While this story certainly deals with a touch of magic and a whole lot of mystery, one can certainly expect to find threads of realism that ground the book and make it truly a beautiful piece of contemporary YA writing. It's funny, it's sincere, it's queer, and the ending will leave you just a little misty-eyed and a whole lot of happy.

If you're looking for an arrestingly lovable queer novel that gives you friendship, romance, and a humorous kick of magic and mystery, then Annie LeBlanc is Not Dead Yet is absolutely for you.

This book is truly great. I will admit, I put it off and went in with fairly low expectations because I can be so hit or miss when it comes to YA, but wow. I started this on the way to work this morning and only put it down when I absolutely had to— it had me in the palm of its hand from basically page one.

To kick it off, I absolutely love the setting of this book. I love a story with just a touch of magic in it, and the idea of this tiny town having this weird, unexplained ritual just hit perfectly. The town is called Lennon! The ritual is called Welcome Back! The details feel so perfectly lived in! It’s quirky in a pitch-perfect way.

Onto the characters. Wilson Moss… I will love you forever. I feel so incredibly seen and touched by her as a character and her getting her happy ending is incredibly important to me. Her supporting cast reminded me of reading a Casey McQuiston book— there are just so many incredible details and so much goodwill. Even when these characters fuck up tremendously, they are still so real and complex and they all LOVE EACH OTHER! SO! MUCH! UGH!

If I have one complaint, it’s that I don’t really get the ending. I was 100% in, literally crying through the last like 20 pages, and then I hit the last line and got a bit confused. But I don’t think it takes away from the book as a whole and the experience I had reading it, which was wonderful.

This book is a really fascinating premise with a really cool concept. It does a really great job being a coming of age novel with a speculative element. My biggest grip with this is actually the tone. This book kinda jumps back and forth between being vague about the nature of the town and being specific. There are a lot of elements that are actively creepy and seem to come right out of a horror novel, but are brushed off. It really made it not my favorite, becuase you can’t present to me an immortal being who runs the “welcome back” program and then not explain enough about who that person is. It’s not as though it’s just a general magical force that creates this raffle, but very specific and detailed magical sources. I think I would have preferred this vague to keep with the wholesome tone. I do think people will enjoy this, though.

If you’ve ever been in a complicated female friendship, this book is for you! Annie LeBlanc Is Not Yet Dead is a fun book with a ticking time bomb that’ll get you turning pages quickly as you root for the happiness of the flawed characters.

This book was so cute and I got invested to the story really quickly. The premise is so interesting and nothing like I’ve read before. Our main character Wilson is my favorite, but I was rooting for Ryan and Annie too. The ending did confuse me though? But I had a fun time with this one and sometimes YA can be read a little too young but I think this one was well-written through the pov of a seventeen year old.