Adventures in Funeral Crashing (Funeral Crashing, #1)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Adventures in Funeral Crashing (Funeral Crashing #1)

by Milda Harris (Goodreads Author)

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 281 ratings · 90 reviews

Sixteen year old Kait Lenox has a reputation as the weird girl in her high school, mostly because of her ex-best friend turned mean popular girl, Ariel, but maybe it has a little to do with the fact that Kait has a hobby crashing funerals. At one of these, Kait is outted by the most popular guy in school, Ethan Ripley. Yet, instead of humiliating her for all the world to s...more

Paperback, 1st Edition, 212 pages

Published June 16th 2011

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best of Little-Known Authors

99th out of 2,332 books — 2,092 voters

YA Debuts 2011

186th out of 336 books — 1,216 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 740)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Dec 18, 2011 Terri ♥ (aka Mrs. Christian Grey) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Terri ♥ (aka Mrs. Christian Grey) by: R2R

Shelves: reviewed

I received this as part of the Read 2 Review program. (As side note, this book has no paranormal aspects to it.)

I loved this story. I mean it was super cute. For those that have attended a recent funeral for a loved one may not want to read this story. But in no way does this book make light of funerals or the loss of a loved one. I enjoyed the writer’s style and found this to be a super fast read because I liked it so much.

I rate this book 4.5 stars because my only problem was the over the top...more

7 likes · like · see review

May 16, 2012 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: teens

Recommended to Nicole by: read to review

Shelves: december-schedule, free-read-for-review, own, r2r, young-adult, teen

I liked this book, it was very cute and a quick read. Definitively worth it.

Ms. Harris did a great job keeping the dialog modern and events current. This was not my typical Paranormal YA book, in fact there are no paranormal elements to it but I still enjoyed it. I think the characters seemed a bit immature for high School students but it would be a perfect book for junior high school kids and teens. They would enjoy reading something with the older kids in it but also would not me exposed to an...more

10 likes · like · see review

Jan 09, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the story of Kait Lenox who is a junior and a social outcast at her highschool. She works at a video store, reads, and crashes funerals. Her mother passed away and since then she has loved going to funerals of any person, mostly because she likes how friends and family come together to celebrate peoples lives. While crashing a funeral she runs into the hottest guy in school, Ethan, whom she has a crush on. Come to find out it is his half sister's funeral who died from an overdose of drug...more

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 20, 2011 Hazel G. ( I ♥ Mr. Grey) *Fifty Shades obsessed* . rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Adventures in Funeral Crashing by Milda Harris is an excellent read! Its a YA novel about a 16 (almost 17) year old high school outcast named Kait Lenox who likes to respectfully crash funerals. While at her latest funeral, she runs into a bit of a snag as she tries to quietly melt into the background, that leads to her becoming part of a murder mystery surrounding the small town she lives in. She, along with the most popular guy in school, Ethan Ripley, team up in an unlikely pair to solve the...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 13, 2011 Jill rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: all YA readers

Recommended to Jill by: Goodreads

Shelves: r2r

I'm a high school English teacher, so I read a lot of young adult books to stay abreast on what's out there, find things to recommend to students, have books for my class library, and look for things to teach that will interest students. Having said that, I found this book completely enjoyable. It's a simple story, unpopular girl likes popular boy and they're flung together (much to her enjoyment)when she crashes his sister's funeral.
Most YA fiction tends to fall into the "tragedy of the week...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 07, 2012 Lissa & Alexa The Novel Lasses rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Audults and Young Adult Readers of Parnormal Stories

Recommended to Lissa & Alexa by: Reads 2 Review Club

I was fortunate enough to make the cut for reviewing this book for R2R and in no way does this affects my review…

Adventures in Funeral Crashing… Mother verses Daughter, the skirmish for control of the book pursues… need I say much more.

It has certainly been a challenge keeping this book in my possession, as my 11- year old daughter Macy would snatch it away every time I turned my back.

We both were drawn to the book; by what you might ask. Why the cover art of course. No it not some out of this...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 20, 2012 Husnaa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: amazing-2011-books, awesome

I got this book through R2R so thank you so much!!

I loved loved loved loved this book so freaking much!! And I would totally read this again once I am done with the other R2R (:

I'm not sure exactly what Enthralled me about this book. Whether it was gorgeous Ethan or her whole funeral crashing thing or the whole mystery behind it. Maybe it was all 3?? Anyway, it was defo one of my favorite books this year!!

I think I actually love book like this that lightish even tho there was a mystery and kill...more

1 like · like · see review

Mar 02, 2013 Kristina rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindle-residing

I was excited to read this book. From the description, I believed that the story would be cute and interesting. While it was indeed both of these things, there were other small problems that I had with this book. I feel like I've grown into such a harsh book rater. My overall rating of this book kind of fluctuates between a three and a four, so don't be surprised if I up the rating or drop it back down.

Since her mother's passing, Kait Lenox has begun to cope in a different way than most. Funeral...more

like · see review

Jan 10, 2013 Lu Ann rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a novel written for the YA audience but with several F*** words
I would not recommend it for YA
I am not oblivious to the situation in schools and with profanity among the youth.
However, if "adults" feel it is necessary to encourage profanity by including it in
Young Adult books, how will we ever raise the morality and intelligence of the
rising generation? There are so many avenues of vocabulary in the English language that
can artfully enthrall, arouse feelings and express emotions withou...more

like · see review

Nov 20, 2012 Nickie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Sixteen year-old Kait Lenox has been coping with her mother's recent death in an unusual way -- by crashing funerals. While crashing a local funeral, she finds herself face to face with the most popular (read: cute) guy in school, Ethan Ripley, who calls her out on not knowing the deceased. Instead of making a scene, Ethan enlists Kait's help. The deceased, Ethan's half-sister, died from an apparent drug overdose, but Ethan is convinced his sister was never into drugs, and that her death was act...more

like · see review

Sep 17, 2012 Flora Bateman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, young-adult

I received a free copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this one! It was such a fun read, a wonderful YA mystery that that was quite an adventure.

Kait is a wonderful positive strong female character. She's not the most popular girl in school and she's ok with that. She is also dealing with the grief of losing her mother and does so by crashing funerals of people she doesn't know. On one such occasion she crashes the funeral of the sister of the most popular boy in schoo...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 28, 2012 Hayley rated it 4 of 5 stars

I started this book a few months ago and put it down for awhile because I had library books that were due and I needed to finish those before I read the books I had downloaded onto my Kindle. But a couple nights ago I picked it back up (I had only read like twenty pages or so before) and loved it. I read it constantly today, and finished it. I liked the book and the characters, but to me some of the characters (vanessa and Jenna mostly) were a little under developed and my brain couldn't separat...more

like · see review

May 03, 2012 Hannah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: kindlebooks, debut, series-i-might-keep-reading

I have to say that I really enjoyed this fun book. Don't get me wrong, the novel contains the seriouselement of funerals and by no means does it demean or make light of funerals. It is very respective towards that very sensitive subject, but the main character (as I like to call her) Cornie (Pun intended) attends a couple of funerals throughout the book in order to stop a mass murder. This book is light and a fun chick-lit read about Cornie, a 16 year old weird girl, who teams up with her crush...more

like · see review

Jan 31, 2012 Jeanbooknerd rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviews

Adventures in Funeral Crashing is one of those fast reads that you wish it wasn’t. Although it’s targeted towards YA, the maturity of the characters was more aiming at pre-teens. Regardless, I still enjoyed this thriller as it was the right mix of romance, humor, and suspense.

Author Milda Harris’ prose was youthful, fun, and appropriate for its targeted audience. While the plot was fast-paced, it moved well with the story. The mystery bestowed upon readers will have them on the edge of their sea...more

like · see review

Dec 16, 2011 Becket Morgan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: e-book, own, ya-fiction

Kait Lenox has accepted her lack of high school social position, doing her best to blend into the background and avoid her ex-best friend turned super popular girl, Ariel. Unfortunately, Ariel knows that Kait has a tendency to crash funerals of people that she doesn’t even know. She’s able to keep this strange habit mostly under wraps until she runs into Ethan, the most popular boy in school and is forced to admit what she’s doing at the funeral of a stranger. Rather than outing her to the schoo...more Kait Lenox has accepted her lack of high school social position, doing her best to blend into the background and avoid her ex-best friend turned super popular girl, Ariel. Unfortunately, Ariel knows that Kait has a tendency to crash funerals of people that she doesn’t even know. She’s able to keep this strange habit mostly under wraps until she runs into Ethan, the most popular boy in school and is forced to admit what she’s doing at the funeral of a stranger. Rather than outing her to the school, he draws her into a murder mystery where no one is who they seem, and if she and Ethan aren’t careful, Kait may be the next one to die.

In a sea of young adult novels with sassy female characters graced by one word titles, Adventures in Funeral Crashing was a dynamite way to catch my attention. Unfortunately, even though the story was a fast-paced read, it just didn’t quite deliver. My biggest problem was the author’s use of so many very current pop references – while this may be very engaging for today’s teens, in five years when these music and movie references are a fad of the past, the story will be outdated. By relying so heavily on these current pop fads, the book doesn’t have the goods for true longevity in the young adult genre.

In my opinion, the key when writing a teen melodrama with a sticky sweet happy ending is to provide lots of twists and turns along the way so the reader is constantly questioning what will happen next. This story follows a very predictable plot line and the characters, while engaging, are also incredibly predictable. Another challenge is the second person point of view, with the narrator talking to the reader throughout the story. While second person can be an engaging and casual way to reveal information, in this case it comes across as trite and cliché.

Overall, lovers of teen love stories who aren’t put off by the pop references and cliché storyline will find this a fun and fast-paced story, but I’m afraid it doesn’t have the full package to really stick in the young adult genre.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 12, 2011 Sly One rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read this as part of a R2R with Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy Fanatics!

Adventures in Funeral Crashing is a YA book about Kait, a teenage funeral crasher, and Ethan, the popular boy at school. When fate rbings Kait and Ethan to the same funeral, a bond is formed. The bond turn sto friendship, and potentially more, as these two start in a the mystery of their lives.

The Good:
Kait - She's a teenage girl. The author does a great job of keeping her there. She's not a wallflower, and she's...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 10, 2011 ShazzyLouLou rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Sixteen year old Kait Lenox has a reputation as the weird girl in her high school, mostly because of her ex-best friend turned mean popular girl, Ariel, but maybe it has a little to do with the fact that Kait has a hobby crashing funerals. At one of these, Kait is outted by the most popular guy in school, Ethan Ripley. Yet, instead of humiliating her for all the world to see, he asks for her help, and Kait finds herself entangled in a murder mystery. Not only is the thrill of the mystery exciti...more "Sixteen year old Kait Lenox has a reputation as the weird girl in her high school, mostly because of her ex-best friend turned mean popular girl, Ariel, but maybe it has a little to do with the fact that Kait has a hobby crashing funerals. At one of these, Kait is outted by the most popular guy in school, Ethan Ripley. Yet, instead of humiliating her for all the world to see, he asks for her help, and Kait finds herself entangled in a murder mystery. Not only is the thrill of the mystery exciting, but more importantly Ethan knows her name! A little sleuthing is well worth that!"

Anyone who reads this should remember its young adult. If you do that, you can't fail to like it. I thought it was great, a real breath of fresh air. Since the heroine is a fan of films (and books) there are references to films like "Sixteen Candles," and "She's all that," throughout. This story really reminded me of all of those films where the unpopular nerdy, slightly odd girl lust after the school hunk and he goes on a journey of discovery and realises she is what he was looking for all along. Even being slightly older than our heroine, I found it all completely believable and was transported back to my school days very easily. The language is young and fun and I really really enjoyed it. The murder mystery part of the story was plausible and believable and made the book a real page turner. It kept me guessing right till the end.

Good fun and well written for it's audience. A great read. My only criticisms are that I wouldn't really class it as PNR or UF. The funeral crashing thing - which is explained, and actually for a 16 year old girl kind of makes sense - is the only vague reference to paranormal things. The rest is just a great teen story. Since I reviewed this as part of a PNR/UF forum I was a little bit disappointed in that, but honestly, its still a good book and I thoroughly recommend it to young adults and the young at heart looking for a fun and easy read. My other point is that it was WAY to short and I was sad to see it finish so quickly!
(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 08, 2011 Clare Marie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm not too sure where to start with this one; it was a good book, and it had everything a story needs, but it was short. I wouldn't say no if there was to be another book released, and I'd read it again on a slow day, but I'm not sure it would be my first choice. This has absolutely nothing to do with the way it's wrote, and more to do with my personal tastes. I'm more .. Paranormal Romance, than I am YA books.

It was a nice, pleasant book though, and definitely worth a read if you have the tim...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 26, 2012 Elaine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: free-kindle-finds, kindle, young-adult

Almost 17-year old Kait finds attending funerals of folks she doesn’t know, fun. She makes it a hobby and has learned some of the things to avoid so it’s not found out that she has no idea who the deceased is. Well, until Liz’ funeral where she sees hunky Ethan who asks how she knows Liz.

Everyone it seems already sees Kait as weird so instead of admitting she’s there to crash the funeral and that she has no idea who Liz is, she flees Ethan and tries to avoid him at school. He catches her at wor...more

like · see review

Dec 10, 2011 J.A. Belfield rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Okay!!! There are some good points and some bad points for this tale, and I'll try listing any that spring to mind to try and explain my middle-of-the-road rating!!!!

What could use working on!!
-the punctuation could use working on! It was pretty distracting! There were commas all over the place where no commas were needed! And there were commas where there should have been periods! On top of those, I don't think I have ever read a story before with quite! so many! exc!amation marks!!!! They wer...more Okay!!! There are some good points and some bad points for this tale, and I'll try listing any that spring to mind to try and explain my middle-of-the-road rating!!!!

What could use working on!!
-the punctuation could use working on! It was pretty distracting! There were commas all over the place where no commas were needed! And there were commas where there should have been periods! On top of those, I don't think I have ever read a story before with quite! so many! exc!amation marks!!!! They were everywhere! It almost read as though the narrator was either constantly yelling or constantly surprised! When it gets to the point that I'm noticing the (sometimes) 10+ exclamation marks on each page, some serious culling is in order.
-tense. The author could do with figuring out which tense she wants to use and attempting to stick to it. At one point, I had no idea what tense this story was supposed to be written in and it took some effort to switch off my inner editor and ignore it enough to read on. When the tense is consistent, it strengthens the writing and makes everything a lot clearer for the reader to follow.
-the voice. Yes, this is a teen novel. And yes, the teen voice of the narrator was pretty effective (which I'll mention in my pluses in a mo) but there was inconsistencies there. The author had obviously gone to great lengths (sometimes overdoing it with the repetitions and waffling to the point of distraction) but then there were so few contractions that from one breath to the next the dialogue or narration went from authentic to unrealistic and wooden. No teen on earth says I am instead of I'm (or any other such familiar sayings). Half the time, they drop the opening word of a complete sentence. This is supposed to be a modern day, YA story and the lack of slang and contracted words stole the chance to solidify that--especially as this being in 1st person POV would have made it acceptable for it to bleed over into the narration from the dialogue.
-swear word. Note I use the singular. This is simply because you spent the entire tale barely hearing a bad word leave Kait's lips and then we have a sudden narration right near the end that she needed to get the f*** out of there during the store finale scene. It just didn't sit right and seemed to slip so far out of character, it jarred. Just my opinion, of course.

What was pretty cool:
-the voice ... but only to an extent. It may well be my age, but I found I couldn't read this in long sittings or the voice would begin to grate on me. It might benefit from being toned down just a touch and maybe using the extra word count to add in some showing instead of the telling that the entire story seemed to consist of. That being said, it was the voice that enabled me to imagine this coming from the mind of a teen because I do actually know a couple of teens who talk this way (and, yep, they drive me a little nuts, too, lol) so it certainly rang true.
-Kait. She is (despite her voice getting on my nerves) a really likeable and relate-able character who we see grow in confidence throughout the tale. She is one half of the driving force of this story, alongside ....:
-Ethan Ripley. If I were a teen, I'd be thinking 'yum'. And not just from his physical description but from the entire package the author created in this dude. He's adorable and it's easy to see what might have Kait so hooked.
-the plot. Although I did kinda manage to start piecing the fragments together before the end, this was fairly well woven and fun to follow. It might have been nice to add on an epilogue for the Homecoming ball though, just for kicks.

Now I'm interested in seeing a few more reviews from younger readers to see if my few complaints are to do with my fuddy-duddy view. Thanks to the author for the read.(less)

3 likes · like · see review

$Faye {Daydreaming_Star}$

Dec 27, 2011 Faye {Daydreaming_Star} rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an interesting story about a girl who has an odd hobby; funeral crashing. This results in an adventure that she could have never expected. It is a mystery novel that essentially keeps you on your toes. While you believe you've got it down to a tee, it's possible you'll be surprised by the actual result. The story itself flows quite well and it is certainly a nice, quick, and easy read but, unfortunately, it simply wasn't one for me. I can see, however, that it is one that others, especia...more This is an interesting story about a girl who has an odd hobby; funeral crashing. This results in an adventure that she could have never expected. It is a mystery novel that essentially keeps you on your toes. While you believe you've got it down to a tee, it's possible you'll be surprised by the actual result. The story itself flows quite well and it is certainly a nice, quick, and easy read but, unfortunately, it simply wasn't one for me. I can see, however, that it is one that others, especially those younger than me might enjoy but it just personally wasn't for me.

Milda Harris is a talented writer. This much I certainly have to admit and I am, essentially, glad that I gave this book a try and read it all the way through to the end. Unfortunately, however, I just couldn’t get my head around the main character and found myself rolling my eyes too many times. This, however, is simply because I am passed the teenager years that she is dealing with. Kait is sixteen, an outcast in her highschool having been shunned by her ex-best friend who is now one of the most popular girls in the school. Milda manages to truly get inside Kait’s head and she clearly has a knowledge of what sixteen-year olds can be like and therefore this book is written as though a sixteen year old has written it. This could be horrifying but actually is a talent that many authors do not possess.

I liked the characters of this novel, all except for Kait, anyway. I especially loved Ethan and while it was a tad annoying that he was the most popular guy in school (and doesn’t Kait like reminding us that), this simply helps to make the book flow nicely as a good high-school novel. He is caring and not someone who really cares for his position within the school which is always a nice change, at any rate. I also really liked Kyle and Suzie but I wish that they could have had a bit more of a front focus in the novel and think that this could maybe change somewhat in the next few books to come, perhaps.

The story itself is definitely an interesting one. It’s quite nice to see how it all happens and how things turn out. Especially with the idea that it’s just a bunch of teenagers that supposedly don’t know what they’re doing in the middle of a police investigation. It is a story that I can definitely see a lot of younger audiences enjoying, even if I didn’t find it particularly enjoyable myself. I especially think that anyone who likes Jacqueline Wilson would enjoy this story and the ones that are on their way.

Fortunately, while this story didn’t grab me the way others have in the past, and while it’s not one that really had me begging for more, I’m definitely intrigued enough to wait patiently for the next book and give that one a read over when I get a chance. It’s not a book I’d read again but it was easy and quick and a nice change from the other books I’ve been reading lately. I am glad for the opportunity to read it through the Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy goodreads group.
(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 08, 2011 Books to the Sky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Check out more reviews at Books to the Sky.

()We received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.)

have to admit, I wasn't a huge fan of the writing style in the beginning but it eventually grew on me. It flowed really nicely and made it a quick read.

I love that the main characters name is similar to mine, Kait! She is kind of a loser in school. She is also considered a freak by some, like her ex-best friend April, because likes to funeral crash for fun.

At one funeral she runs i...more

like · see review

Dec 24, 2011 Alana ~ The Book Pimp rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, owned-books, ebooks

Thanks to the R2R program to give me an opportunity to read and review this book!

This is a fantastic, witty YA mystery with romantic, and almost Scooby-Doo-like elements. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

The premise:

Kait is your average social pariah at school, even the "nerds" would be demoted by asking her out. Her mother passed away from cancer, and ever since then one of her coping mechanisms has been to continue to attend funerals.... for people that she has never met. It comes from a...more Thanks to the R2R program to give me an opportunity to read and review this book!

This is a fantastic, witty YA mystery with romantic, and almost Scooby-Doo-like elements. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

The premise:

Kait is your average social pariah at school, even the "nerds" would be demoted by asking her out. Her mother passed away from cancer, and ever since then one of her coping mechanisms has been to continue to attend funerals.... for people that she has never met. It comes from a good, innocent place, but she is essentially a funeral crasher. Before her mother had gotten sick, she had the normal "average" teenage life. But once her mother became sick, and her best friend, Airel, suddenly fled to the popular crowd ... Kait had been given the short end of the stick in terms of death and friendship.

She crashed the funeral of a college student found dead of an overdose. She always has certain rules she follows in an attempt to not get caught, but every explanation falls right out of her head when confronted by the hottest guy at school, Ethan. Turns out Liz, the college student, was his half sister. With no idea how to answer for her attendance, she flees, thinking that her status as a social pariah might mean he would forget about her. Instead he confronts her at work, and reveals that he thinks that Liz was murdered instead of an overdose...

An thus begins a social status defying partnership to investigate the circumstances of Liz's, and several other college girls all found dead of heroin overdoses.

What I thought:

This is so witty and refreshing. Parents will not have to worry about sex-crazed teenagers, but with the hottest guy in school and even a murder suspect being very easy on the eyes... there was still fodder for your imagination. It really develops the friendship between Kait and Ethan at a realistic pace. I found it believable- even with teenagers investigating a murder. Everything fell within the realm of believability and was true to their age. It was still enjoyable for me, as an adult reader. I would have no problems recommending this book to a teenager to read. Likely, because of the main character being a female, it would appeal most likely to girls, not boys. It really has some witty moments, and the youthful tenancy to obsess just a little about certain things (for Kait it was peanut butter banana drinks) really added special touches to make this an absolutely enjoyable read. Great YA book!
(less)

7 likes · like · see review

Dec 18, 2011 Alexei rated it 4 of 5 stars

{Come check out my website TeenageBookaholic }

SYNOPSIS: Sixteen year old Kait Lenox is known as the weird girl around school, thanks to her ex-best friend who ditched her when Kait's mother died of cancer. While trying to survive high school, she indulges in her favorite hobby- funeral crashing! She's figured out how to blend in and not get caught at a funeral, but when she crashes her latest one, who else is there but the high school hottie and her crush, Ethan Ripley! When she's caught by him,...more {Come check out my website TeenageBookaholic }

SYNOPSIS: Sixteen year old Kait Lenox is known as the weird girl around school, thanks to her ex-best friend who ditched her when Kait's mother died of cancer. While trying to survive high school, she indulges in her favorite hobby- funeral crashing! She's figured out how to blend in and not get caught at a funeral, but when she crashes her latest one, who else is there but the high school hottie and her crush, Ethan Ripley! When she's caught by him, instead of ratting her out to the school, he asks for Kait's help in solving how her supposed ODed sister died. She could never say no! But will the path to finding out how Liz Ripley died put them at risk? Its worth it to Kait since Ethan knows her name!

REVIEW: This was a book picked up in a Read to Review on Goodreads.

When I first read the original synopsis, I was intrigued. I couldn't really judge much from the cover, but nonetheless, I was on a Mystery Fiction pig-out. I start the book, and I felt it was interesting, but after a few pages in, I was becoming a little disheartened by the constant teenage tone the protagonist held while telling her story in first person. Luckily, there was plenty of interesting background on Kait that I was still interested, despite the whiny tone.

As the story progresses, we're told Kait is going to another funeral about a girl who was the latest to OD on heroin at a community college. Too bad while reading the obituary, she skimmed the part that Ethan Ripley, every girl's dream boy, would be there! When it got to the part of how Kait and Ethan meet up at the funeral, I start feeling again that the story is getting too... too narrated(?) by Kait in her mind. But I continued and the theory for Liz's murder was interesting. And of course Kait joins in! You just don't say no to the hot guy at school!

The story continues at a easy continuing pace that kept me entertained! I enjoyed the many interesting theories as to how the girls were killed, Kait's relationship with Ariel, her ex-BFF, and the threats towards Kait later on, even though I was a little confused with the username deal of the online threats. The story continues on to have a grand climax and amazing plot twist that had me scratching my head, yet applauding the author for such an interesting twist. This has been definitely been the better any mystery books I've read, and I can't wait for a sequel! My only reason for 4 stars is how Teenage-ish Kait sounds and how the head dialogue can go on for a little too long, but it isn't a terrible deterrent. Reccommended for Mystery lovers, and Realistic Fiction lovers!(less)

1 like · like · see review

Dec 10, 2011 Jade rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya, mystery, r-t-r

Kait was so likeable! I expected some ironic emo chick but instead Kait turned out to be a sort of baby Veronica Mars. She was super cute and smart but not in an adult way. She sounded like a real teen and I thought it was refreshing. I thought her characterization was perfect. Her mother died and she's bullied at school but despite having some insecurities she keeps her head high and remains fun and proactive. She never wallowed in her misery. She's the younger sister I wish I had.

The romance w...more

like · see review

Dec 21, 2011 Cecilia (rather barefoot than bookless) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-romance, mystery, r2r

I really enjoyed this really cute and simple young adult mystery. It was a really easy going mystery book with a little romance for good measure.

I really liked Kait the main character. She is a social outcast who likes to read books watch movies and crash funerals. Not strange at all just a regular teenage girl with a kind of unusual hobby that leads Kait right in to a investigation of a murder. Kait is such a sweet person and she is determent to find out the truth and of course it does not hur...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 16, 2011 Jord¥n rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: disappointed, will-never-read-again, eh-twas-ok

I got this from r2r paranormal romance and urban fantasy fanatics in trade for an honest review, which is 100% honest.

I didn't like this book, no not at all. To me it had a ton of flaws, too many flaws for my liking. I hate to say it but this book kinda of gave me a headache. Sorry to those of you who did like this, good for you but this wasn't for me. I don't dig books with immature main characters. Maybe if I was in middle school or high school I might have enjoyed this read, but since I'm a...more I got this from r2r paranormal romance and urban fantasy fanatics in trade for an honest review, which is 100% honest.

I didn't like this book, no not at all. To me it had a ton of flaws, too many flaws for my liking. I hate to say it but this book kinda of gave me a headache. Sorry to those of you who did like this, good for you but this wasn't for me. I don't dig books with immature main characters. Maybe if I was in middle school or high school I might have enjoyed this read, but since I'm a little older than that id say this isn't for my age group.

First of all in the beginning there were so many !!! Everyother paragraph had an exclamation mark. That was so annoying. Also there were way too many short sentences to go along with the !!! The thing that annoyed me the most with this problem was that the author stopped all of this halfway through the book. It seemed like a different person wrote the second half of the book.

Second of all it didn't seem like the main character was in high school. Her vocabulary and the way she thought sounded like she was more in middle school. Later on she says the word fuck randomly for some reason. I thought that was pretty uncalled for, I have no problem with cussing it just didn't seem right at that time.

The story seemed too original. You got this girl who doesn't fit in and she gangs up with the hottest guy in school(of course) to solve a mystery. Really? You can't get any more creative than that? I wished the author would have spiced things up a notch....

This really wasn't a urban fantasy / paranormal book so I'm kinda confused why its for the r2r group for paranormal books....unless I missed something....

The ending was too predictable. I saw it coming half way through the book.

I hate the main character. She's annoying and whiny to me. I hated how she kept obsessing over how "cute" ethan is. It reminded me of the days back in school when twilight first came out and every girl was obessessing over robert P. I just wanted to shoot them just like I wanna shoot kait! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Apparently there's going to be a second book, I don't know how that's gonna happen unless its like kait and ethan form a scooby doo like team "sigh"

Honestly I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone unless your looking for a quick read that you don't mind a obsessive teenage girl and a corny mystery. (less)

1 like · like · see review

Aug 23, 2011 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

See my full review here: http://www.hippiesbeautyandbooksohmy....

I had to wonder at first if my wife was trying to punish me for something. I couldn’t help it. I’m not a big mystery fan. Oh, by the way, this book is a mystery, geared towards the younger side of young adults. I’m not a big mystery person. But I love her, so I read it.

And then I thought I had really screwed up somehow. I did all of my husbandly chores. I didn’t forget her birthday, that is too difficult to do. I was planning for o...more See my full review here: http://www.hippiesbeautyandbooksohmy....

I had to wonder at first if my wife was trying to punish me for something. I couldn’t help it. I’m not a big mystery fan. Oh, by the way, this book is a mystery, geared towards the younger side of young adults. I’m not a big mystery person. But I love her, so I read it.

And then I thought I had really screwed up somehow. I did all of my husbandly chores. I didn’t forget her birthday, that is too difficult to do. I was planning for our anniversary already. By the way, I have the best wife because she made all the important dates easy. She planned ahead for me and decided that 4/20 would be the best day to come into this world. Our anniversary is Oct. 31, Halloween. Like I said, easy. Anyway, I had no idea what I had done. The first 50 pages or so felt like I was listening to a tween babble on and on and on.

I should mention I’m not a big fan of tweens, at least the ones in my area. The early years of hormones, shrieking, and blown out simplified problems just wear you down. And somehow this author had managed to emulate that perfectly. Although, I don’t think murder is an overly simplified problem. But in one portion of the book when the main character introduces her favorite order from Wired, a local coffee bar, she goes on a page and a half stint about peanut butter banana milkshakes. The ramblings and word usage are so well done, I have to wonder if the author is in high school herself. But don’t worry, I make the book seem worse then what it is. Actually, I rather liked this book, especially for a mystery.

Any good mystery pulled off well will lay on some heavy use of foreshadowing and clues. That’s half the fun of a mystery, the whodunit. The foreshadowing isn’t really intense in this book. Most of any clues are intertwined directly with what the main characters uncover. There aren’t really any audience, or reader only, hints dropped. Despite that, by the middle of the book I was pretty sure who the killer was. The motive was already discussed between dialog of the two main characters, Ethan and Kait. I was wrong of course. The ending does have a nice twist. And looking back, there were only two really subtle clues foreshadowing the plot twist, but the author did a pretty good job with distractions to keep the reader guessing.

I do have two small complaints, but not that of the author. The book needs to be published on paper. At the moment, this is e-book only. I don’t know the demographics for the rest of the US, or the world, but in my area there are next to no kids, and by kids I mean persons under 20, that have an e-reader. This story is written well enough I do not foresee a difficult situation getting Adventures in Funeral Crashing printed.

My other complaint is the cover. A good story deserves a good cover. I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover. But people are superficial. And this book deserves a better cover.

And so, I guess we should do the conclusion now. Would I recommend this book? Absolutely. It is a very good read. And it only cost a dollar. That’s right, one dollar. You know, like that dollar store commercial, one dollar. How can you go wrong with a dollar? That is less than a cup of coffee and will provide a lot more enjoyment. So, go buy the book. Adults and kids alike will enjoy it. It’s a quick and fun read. And I guess I should mention that it costs only one dollar.(less)

like · see review

Dec 14, 2011 Emma rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: r2r, ya

I really liked this book. It read really easy and I liked that it actually felt like a teen was talking. Sometimes, especially in the beginning you got that feeling that Kait was rambling, like she would just talk about what ever popped into her head which I found very endearing reminding me of my almost teen niece and her speak.

The story itself was interesting, a girl crashing furnerals after her mother's death leads her to Ethan's sisters funeral and off on a murder mystery adventure with the...more

2 likes · like · see review

Oct 17, 2011 Vanessa Booke rated it 5 of 5 stars

Adventures in Funeral Crashing is the perfect YA novel! It's extremely funny and it has the perfect amount of mystery, suspense and romance. I loved the main character Kait Lennox. She's witty and the perfect example of a high school girl. Kait is an outcast in school who finds herself side by side with the most popular boy in school, Ethan. Both are searching for his sister's murderer. I really loved the narrative voice throughout the book. It made it highly entertaining. Ethan is definitely a...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 24 25 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (2)

Videos About This Book

Adventures in Funeral Crashing Book Trailer

Add a comment

Genres

Young Adult

26 users

Mystery

21 users

Womens Fiction > Chick Lit

6 users

Romance

4 users

Contemporary

2 users

Death

2 users

Young Adult > Teen

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Cursed
by Tara Brown
The Emerald City
by J.A. Beard
Always the Last to Know
by Crystal Bowling
Cut, Crop & Die
by Joanna Campbell Slan
Black Waters
by Maija Barnett

About Milda Harris

MILDA HARRIS has a dog named after a piece of candy (Licorice), was once hit by a tree (seriously), and wears hot pink sunglasses (why not?). She is the young adult author of Doppelganger, Adventures in Funeral Crashing, Adventures of a Graveyard Girl, The New Girl Who Found A Dead Body, and Connected: A Paranormal Romance. She also works in production on television shows like Austin & Ally, H...more

More about Milda Harris...

Books by Milda Harris

Adventures of a Graveyard Girl (Funeral Crashing, #2)

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Adventures in Fun...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Adventures in Funeral Crashing
avg rating	preview: Adventures in Funeral Crashing Goodreads rating: 3.79 (281 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11776598-adventures-in-funeral-crashing?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1360184851l/11776598.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11776598-adventures-in-funeral-crashing?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Adventures in Funeral Crashing by Milda Harris[/url]

Adventures in Funeral Crashing (Funeral Crashing #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website