The Dead Girls Detective Agency

Sep 30, 2012 Mitch rated it 4 of 5 stars

As kind of gimmicky stories go, The Dead Girls Detective Agency is just the right mix of hilariously entertaining ghost caper and sassy investigative whodunit. Suzy Cox sure has a knack for writing appealing, snarky sleuths who can poke fun at their own deaths, but, at the end of the day, still get across that it is nevertheless a murder investigation. I don’t even think I cared about the problems with having dead people investigate their own murders, starting with, well, they’re dead, because,...more As kind of gimmicky stories go, The Dead Girls Detective Agency is just the right mix of hilariously entertaining ghost caper and sassy investigative whodunit. Suzy Cox sure has a knack for writing appealing, snarky sleuths who can poke fun at their own deaths, but, at the end of the day, still get across that it is nevertheless a murder investigation. I don’t even think I cared about the problems with having dead people investigate their own murders, starting with, well, they’re dead, because, gosh, this book was so much fun.

I have to start my praise first and foremost with Charlotte Feldman, erstwhile subway rider and currently investigating her own murder, for making this book such a breezy read. The concept’s not hard to grasp - the book’s title alone gives away pretty much the entire setup, dead teen must solve her own murder before she can move on, but Charlotte mixes things up and makes it fun, starting from the very first scene describing her death. Obviously, being pushed off a subway platform, getting run over, and becoming one big red smear on the train tracks is really no laughing matter, but the way Charlotte goes on about things, even her presumed epitaph, “Here lies Charlotte Feldman. She pissed off commuters. A lot.” (because the police had to shut down the trains for two hours during rush hour, see?), those are the priceless things that makes what would otherwise be a dry and angsty book way fun to read about. Charlotte’s got the snark down pat through her introduction to the Detective Agency, learning the rules of the game (she has to figure out who murdered her before she can get the key to the Big Red Door and be let through to wherever ghosts go next), figuring the ins and outs of haunting, and plowing through the suspects (sometimes literally) until she hits the right one, so hers is a story that’s a lot of fun and never a bore to read even if it’s pretty basic when I really think about it.

Along the way, Charlotte’s helped by the other members of the Detective Agency, a trio of girls who definitely make her investigations way more interesting. Nancy’s the by the books Nancy Drew type while Lorna’s more fast and loose with the clues, but Charlotte, Nancy, and Lorna together, they have some pretty good back and forth banter that, while playing to various ghost stereotypes (yes, ghosts can’t imbibe ice cream as a comfort food or wear anything except the out of style clothes they were killed in, truly appalling), are still pretty darn funny when coming from those three, I swear. Not to mention various investigative antics *cough* possessions *cough* that deserve every single snicker I gave them. The only Agency member I wasn’t so sure about at first was Tess, who seemed like the stereotypical ice queen even though Cox drops a couple of hints that there’s way more to her story than meets the eye, and I only wish the big reveal with Tess’s backstory could’ve happened before the very last chapter because those last couple of details completely changed her character and now I’ll never get a true picture of her character, which is actually quite tragic, until any possible sequel.

The actual investigation, interestingly enough, isn’t the focus of the book until after the halfway point; until then Charlotte spends her time getting acclimated to her ghost status rather than pounding the pavement looking for clues or at suspects, although, like I said, Cox’s writing and Charlotte’s voice keeps the story flowing smoothly. If I had one complaint, it’s that Charlotte spends almost all her time either mostly fixated on her boyfriend David for er moving on too quickly after her death or occasionally on kind of stereotypical bad dude slash ghost Edison that she seems to find her murderer only by sheer coincidence because of the murderer’s connection to David rather than a lot of work on her part (don’t worry, that’s not really a spoiler, it’s not like the book gives any other avenues for possible motives for Charlotte’s murder). In other words, it’s always the person mentioned the least. Oh well, even if the investigation wasn’t really smart (and it’s smarter than what the police did, immediately ruling her death an accident) and Cox has to insist on a triangle, Charlotte and her investigative partners’ ghostly escapades entertain until the very last paragraph.

The takeaway I guess is that The Dead Girls Detective Agency is way more fun when it’s about the dead girls than when it’s about the detective agency. That’s not a bad thing though, not when there’s a sassy girl detective slash ghost on the loose.(less)

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Aug 14, 2012 Blythe rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: netgalley-edelweiss-arc, 2012-reads, disappointments, judge-a-book-by-the-cover, read-reviewed, didn-t-see-that-coming

I don’t have much to say about The Dead Girls Detective Agency, and the hardest reviews to write are for the books I don’t have much to say for.

The Dead Girls Detective Agency is about a girl named Charlotte, who, one day, is murdered, being pushed onto a train track. As a teenager who was murdered, Charlotte is immediately brought into The Dead Girls Detective Agency. Her purpose in The Dead Girls Detective Agency is to find her killer, and, in doing so, go to heaven.

I picked up this book bec...more I don’t have much to say about The Dead Girls Detective Agency, and the hardest reviews to write are for the books I don’t have much to say for.

The Dead Girls Detective Agency is about a girl named Charlotte, who, one day, is murdered, being pushed onto a train track. As a teenager who was murdered, Charlotte is immediately brought into The Dead Girls Detective Agency. Her purpose in The Dead Girls Detective Agency is to find her killer, and, in doing so, go to heaven.

I picked up this book because I was looking for a cute, quick and funny read, and this book seemed like it would be exactly that. In hindsight, I should have picked up a different book ( Social Suicide , perhaps?), because, while it was a very quick read, I didn’t find it to be very cute or funny. In fact, more often than not, I found it to be depressing rather than cute. And about the humor in The Dead Girls Detective Agency… it just didn’t work. The jokes in this book feel (and are) forced, and their turnout is at best receiving a slight giggle from me, or a miniscule smirk, but that’s it. Most of the jokes in this book were just trying too hard, and just weren’t funny like I had hoped.

As well as the fail (in my opinion) with the humor in The Dead Girls Detective Agency, the writing in it is alarmingly bad, but, going into this, it’s not like I was expecting the next great piece of literature. But I guess when you have a book narrated by an annoying teenager, you’re going to have an annoyingly narrated book (and what an annoyingly narrated book it is). I get it, Suzy Cox made it a point for us as readers to know that the narrator in this book was a (painfully stereotypical) teenager, and the characters surrounding her were (painfully stereotypical) teenagers, and it got really old, really, really quick. Very early in the book, we’re bombarded with acronyms (I’ve not once heard a teenager actually say an acronym in a conversation), many capitalized words (you know, italicizing can hold the same purpose as capitalizing), and many exclamation points (seriously, I think one exclamation point after a sentence is sufficient enough). At first, all of this was something I was able to just pretend wasn’t there and hope it would go away, but, of course, it didn’t go away, and it was completely and utterly cringe worthy.

While Charlotte herself was at times a fun and witty character, she seemed too preoccupied with worrying about her ex-boyfriend’s life without her as opposed to finding her killer, and it just ended up annoying me how she kept on worrying about typical high school drama, when she really should be focusing on finding her killer, and I didn’t think she was anything to praise, and I honestly don’t think it was a good decision in my part to compare this book to Deadly Cool , and compare Charlotte to Hartley. (Because this book can’t stand up next to Deadly Cool . Deadly Cool is cute and funny without trying so hard, unlike The Dead Girls Detective Agency.)

That being said, if you’re looking for a fun, witty and quick read to pass the time, I’d go with Deadly Cool , and take a pass on The Dead Girls Detective Agency. The ending of this book clearly sets up for a sequel, and possibly a whole series, but I don’t think I’ll be coming back to read more of Charlotte and The Dead Girls Detective Agency.

*Looking back on review*

Hmm… For a book that I didn’t have much to say about, this is a pretty long review!(less)

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Sep 30, 2012 Zabet The Dark Empress of Dark Chocolate rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books, ghosts

This and other reviews can be found on Reading Between Classes

Cover Impressions: This cover feels very contemporary fiction to me. There is nothing about the cover image that feels supernatural and only the title hints at the paranormal elements that are crucial to the story. I do not feel this one would stand out on a shelf.

The Gist: Having been pushed in front of a subway, Charlotte wakes to find herself in a swanky hotel and in the company of the Dead Girls Detective Agency. Together they mus...more

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Jan 04, 2013 Dark Faerie Tales rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed-by-kayla

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A dramatic mystery with an unusual plot.

Opening Sentence: Pop quiz: What would you do if you had to solve your own murder to get anywhere in death?

The Review:

In this humorous chick lit, Charlotte is an ordinary girl with an ordinary boyfriend. Except when she wakes up dead in a hotel surrounded by two girls who claim to be dead as well. More than a little freaked out and overwhelmed, Charlotte goes through her first couple days in a daze, no...more

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Jan 02, 2013 Hayley rated it 5 of 5 stars

I LOVED IT!!!! I don't get why there are so many 1-3 star reviews...seriously. Okay, so just for the records, I'm a 13 year old girl (almost 14) and I really liked this book.

Charlotte dies unexpectedly when she 'trips' into the subway track just as the F train is coming by. Then she awakes in Hotel Atessa and is informed that she has died and she's now a ghost, but that she didn't trip and that someone pushed her-on purpose, and that's why she wasn't immediately transferred to the other side, l...more I LOVED IT!!!! I don't get why there are so many 1-3 star reviews...seriously. Okay, so just for the records, I'm a 13 year old girl (almost 14) and I really liked this book.

Charlotte dies unexpectedly when she 'trips' into the subway track just as the F train is coming by. Then she awakes in Hotel Atessa and is informed that she has died and she's now a ghost, but that she didn't trip and that someone pushed her-on purpose, and that's why she wasn't immediately transferred to the other side, like most people who pass. In order for her to go through the Big Red Door, which is the door to the Other Side she needs her Key, which she can only get by making her murder confess out loud. But how is she to do this, when she doesn't even know who murdered her? In The Dead Girls Detective Agency, EVERYBODY is a suspect, nobody is off the hook. Not her best friend Ali, her now(ex) boyfriend David or the cheerleaders.

So, I liked everything in the book pretty much. It was a very good read and I didn't want to put it down, like at all. I read it quickly, in 3 days. It can take me up to a month to finish some books. The one major thing I didn't like about the book is that abbreviations were used in thoughts and conversations through out the book. Seriously? Nobody not even a text obsessed teenage girl thinks in her mind "LOL" "WTF" "WTH" or "IDK." So that was annoying, but honestly other then that I really loved the book. The characters were fairly good, and the story idea is so creative and unique. It caught my eye right away.

Seriously....go buy this book right now. It's really good. :)

What age I recommend it for: 13 and up.
Gender: GIRLS! I doubt boys would like this considering most of the characters are girls and it's from a girls POV.
S*xy stuff: Not much, there's kissing and hugging. Dances, and mentions of "hook ups" or "sleeping around" but nothing most thirteen year old's haven't at least heard of.
Violence: Not much, there's the mention of her death, which is her being pushed under a train and that it took "hours to clean up." But nothing really violent happens, at the end of the book a character almost gets stabbed, but it's not a very violent book.
Scary stuff: Even though the book is about ghosts, since it's from the ghosts POV, it's not scary at all.
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Dec 23, 2012 Maliha Khan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book cause it reminded me of Randy Russell's Dead Rules. It was similar with the girl uncovering her murder and the guy seeming mysterious and dangerous.

But it was enjoyable in the sense that these girls team up to help newbie ghosts, and the murderer was totally a surprise. I was thinking maybe Kristen or David or Ali or even Tess and Edison did it, but Library Girl? No way.

I disliked David's part in it. Why did the author think it was a good idea for him to cry and write that "beau...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Jessica rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads

It's been a few years since I was a teenager, but I have a question: are teens today really that obsessed with fashion, to the point that they know tons of different designers just by looking at an article of clothing? Is this something that just happens in New York City? I'm really not sure, but I felt like this portion of the story was pretty unrealistic. I wouldn't know a Gucci if it hit me in the face, even though I read at least a few issues of Cosmopolitan every year, and I don't know anyo...more

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Nov 28, 2012 Gillyb rated it 4 of 5 stars

For a book about being dead, The Dead Girl’s Detective Agency sure is funny. Charlotte’s voice is awesome. I just want to hang out with her and talk about everything under the sun. But Charlotte’s a little busy, of course- solving her own murder. With a hook like that, I was sold.

Now, obviously, the plot would have to live up to my expectations. Did it? (Just look at the stars at the top of page.)

It’s a tall order to write a book about a girl who recently finds out she’s dead and keep it from b...more For a book about being dead, The Dead Girl’s Detective Agency sure is funny. Charlotte’s voice is awesome. I just want to hang out with her and talk about everything under the sun. But Charlotte’s a little busy, of course- solving her own murder. With a hook like that, I was sold.

Now, obviously, the plot would have to live up to my expectations. Did it? (Just look at the stars at the top of page.)

It’s a tall order to write a book about a girl who recently finds out she’s dead and keep it from being too emo depressing. But again, Charlotte is fun and funny, and it’s her attitude and the absurdity of the situation that keep it light and comical. And it’s a hoot, frankly.

Edison it totally fun too. He’s dark and dangerous, and all the not-allowed ghost stuff they do is tremendously entertaining. He is also delightfully swoon-worthy. (SPOILER) was an appropriate skeeze. Tess was an excellent foil. And Nancy and Lorna were so adorable and charming that I want them to be my friends.

And then there were the parts that weren’t entertaining, but were sad. In a good way. I was a little wary of how such a lighthearted narrator would tackle the weightier parts of death, but I have to say they worked. I actually teared up during a scene in which Charlotte observes her best friend. It was probably a smart choice not to deal too much with Charlotte’s parents, as that would have gotten WAY too heavy and I would have bawled. Every time they were mentioned, though, it was pretty affecting. I love how Charlotte, despite being dead, is able to mature from a slightly patronizing but likable hipster girl to someone a bit more grounded. All it took was being brutally murdered.

I had a minor complaint about some of the high school clichés, particularly the cheerleaders. While they made formidable villains, they were not particularly original, though sometimes that was amusing. They almost became a parody of themselves, which sort of fit in with the tone of the book. And they were admittedly hilarious. But at least the most important part- the ending, the revealing of the murderer- was something I didn’t see it coming. I enjoyed the murderer reveal, though I have a few spoiler-y quibbles I won’t get into. Mostly, I wish the motive for the murder had had more to do with Charlotte herself, rather than those around her.

Another tiny nit-picky still-loved-the-book-beyond-words-but-this-really-irked-me thing was the time Charlotte’s high school started. Yes, I'm anal like that. But any high school where you stroll on in at 9 am is my kind of high school. Meaning I’m not really sure it exists. And if it does, then that’s so not fair.

But seriously, I read this book straight through, laughing uproariously the whole time. I definitely recommend it for a fun romantic romp through the afterlife, full of heart, spunk, and charm. There's no doubt that I'll read what Suzy Cox writes next.

Originally posted at Writer of Wrongs

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Oct 18, 2012 Sofia Vega rated it 2 of 5 stars

The main character Charlotte Feldman in this book faces problems not only in life but also in death. Now being dead and having to solve her murder she has to deal with the fact that her boyfriend moved on from her after less than a week, there are many girls out to get her boyfriend, and she has to find out who murdered her to be able to get through the big red doors. The big red doors are every souls dream of getting through, but first your key must be found. Watching her friends hand family li...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Sara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, ghost-stories, young-adult

After Charlotte is pushed onto the subway tracks and killed, she "wakes up" in an invisible hotel, where the guests/residents are all ghosts who can't move on to the next phase of death until they solve their own murders. Charlotte teams up with a few other ghosts in the hotel - all of whom have been there longer - to solve the case, learing "The Rules" of being a ghost along the way.

I loved the premise of this book. What a great idea, ghosts trying to catch their own killers. Charlotte was a fu...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Stormi (Lightning Book Promotions) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Never heard of this author, but I am always up to trying someone knew if I think the novel sounds interesting. I thought the Dead Girl Detective Agency was a cute and entertaining book.

Charlotte is your average girl with a few friends and a handsome boyfriend. She sometimes is not sure how she got such a good looking boyfriend. She also never thought she would die at sixteen either.

One moment she was alive and the next moment she was dead with some stranger girl hovering over her telling her sh...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Kristen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ghosts, humor, mystery, paranormal, romance, ya

GENRE: YA Paranormal
THEME: Ghost
RECEIVED: ALA
BLOG: http://seeingnight.blogspot.com/
3.5 stars almost a 4

REVIEW:
When I hear that fans of Mega Cabot would love this new Young Adult series, I was excited to dig into this ghostly world. Though I found this book pushing a little too much towards cute, I enjoyed the mystery and the world of the ghost very exciting.

The Dead Girls Detective Agency follows Charlotte a young girl who has just been pushed in front of a train and is now a ghost. She immedi...more

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Jul 10, 2012 Melissa rated it 5 of 5 stars

The dead Girls detective agency by Suzy Cox

This was a cute book. It kept me reading and wondering what was going to happen.

It starts off with Charlotte being pushed in front of a train. And to move on she has to find her killer, with a group of other ghosts. She left behind everyone she loves and to move on she has to find her killer?! She finds that while she has the time she can keep watch over her boyfriend and family. But then there is the distraction of Edison the undead boy.

As she watches...more

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Jul 02, 2012 Emma rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is definitely a fun read! I found the plot line intriguing and compelling, and enjoyed the way that the book kept me guessing without being too far-fetched - well, yes, I realise that a dead girl trying to track down her own murderer is a little beyond the realms of reality, but in terms of the relationships and the reactions of Charlotte, the main character, I found it very convincing.

When Charlotte comes round after being pushed onto the subway track, she understandably cannot believe wh...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Samantha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Review-Dead Girls Detective Agency
Dead Girls Detective Agency was… well for lack of a better word, weird. It was this story about a girl who was murdered and as a ghost she is going around and trying to find her killer. This in general would be a pretty good book if it was actually interesting to me. I don’t know what it has been lately, but I haven’t been interested in reading, and this one didn’t spark my curiosity. I could see the plot changes from a mile away and I wasn’t surprised in the le...more Review-Dead Girls Detective Agency
Dead Girls Detective Agency was… well for lack of a better word, weird. It was this story about a girl who was murdered and as a ghost she is going around and trying to find her killer. This in general would be a pretty good book if it was actually interesting to me. I don’t know what it has been lately, but I haven’t been interested in reading, and this one didn’t spark my curiosity. I could see the plot changes from a mile away and I wasn’t surprised in the least bit by them.
Cover:
The cover is pretty cute. I do like that they incorporate the girl, but she isn’t wearing her school unifrom, which she is stuck in for the rest of her life. Other than that I like the cover. It’s well done.
Plot/ Writing:
The book was well written, for the most part. The spelling and grammar was excellent, the character development was pretty good, but the plot was just subpar. There didn’t seem to be a lot of development going on to keep the story going she just seemed to be going through the story on how she thought the reader would want to see it as. I mean, that’s nice and all but I would want some unsuspected plot twists and random things going off at random intervals! Other than that, it was okay. It wasn’t exceptional but it was okay.

Characters:
Charlotte was just bleh to me. She didn’t seem to care about finding her murderer all that much, just about who her ex-boyfriend was with now that she, was dead. Too me, that was extremely shallow. When she did finally start caring, it was nice to see that side to her and watch as she solved her murder and become a better person for it. She didn’t really make any tough decisions at all in this book, the hardest one being which person to posses, but I did like Charlotte.
David was sweet when you saw him from Charlottes POV, until you saw him after she died. He turned into this kind of man whore, who I did not like one tiny bit! He sounded so sweet and caring and even at her funeral he was awesome, but I guess his true colors are soon released. Then there is Ed, who is the mysterious bad boy that no one really knows about. He is a mystery and Charolette is drawn to him. You don’t get to know much about Ed until the end, but the glimpses you see make him awesome!
All in All:
The Dead Girls Detective Agency was just an okay book. I didn’t fall in love with it, but I didn’t hate it. If I was in a more readingish mood I might’ve enjoyed it more, but since I’m not it was just an okay book. I am sorry if this came off as a rude review, I wasn’t aiming it that way it was just how everything felt for me.
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Oct 25, 2012 Heather rated it 3 of 5 stars

Read more reviews here!

Charlotte gets pushed in front of an oncoming subway train... and wakes up in a hotel lobby. Nancy tells her that she is dead, but is in limbo until she finds out who killed her. Then she will get a key to the Big Red Door and can move on. But never fear. Nancy started the Dead Girls Detective Agency to help new dead kids find their killers. So Charlotte, along with Nancy, Lorna and Tess, investigate- starting with her boyfriend and the bitchy cheerleaders who are after hi...more Read more reviews here!

Charlotte gets pushed in front of an oncoming subway train... and wakes up in a hotel lobby. Nancy tells her that she is dead, but is in limbo until she finds out who killed her. Then she will get a key to the Big Red Door and can move on. But never fear. Nancy started the Dead Girls Detective Agency to help new dead kids find their killers. So Charlotte, along with Nancy, Lorna and Tess, investigate- starting with her boyfriend and the bitchy cheerleaders who are after him.

I think the idea for this book is cute. The thing about it was that it seemed like it would be a better Disney Channel movie or series than a book. I say this because a lot of what happened would have been better visually than it was on paper- specifically the killer. It probably wouldn't have seemed so random otherwise.

As for Charlotte... well, I didn't like her much. I'm tired of these pretentious characters who think they're better than everyone else that's not like them then cry because they're outcasts. She seems to only grudgingly admit that she likes Lorna because Lorna dares to have different interests and thoughts than her. I'm also tired of the "I liked it before it was cool" thing. Outside of this, she didn't have much else going on besides obsessing over her boyfriend. While she claims that she's not the kind of girl that only talks about her boyfriend, she kind of is. Again, I think that Charlotte might have been more likeable if it had been a movie rather than a book. I can only hope that any other books (because it seemed like there would be more) are not from Charlotte's point of view.

The rest of the characters were kind of bland. Tess might have been the only one that had any real depth to her, but much of her time was spent being a bitch. Edison, the new potential love interest, was supposed to be a bad boy but wasn't really.

I also have a nit-picky complaint, but I guess it leads to a bigger issue. Near the beginning, when Charlotte is talking about David, she mentions that both she and David knew about Hole before Jennifer's Body. At first, I was confused because Hole was from my teen years and Jennifer's Body wasn't even a huge song. But then I remembered the movie. Still, it seemed like it was old enough that it was also not a good reference. I was actually bothered by this enough to look up Jennifer's Body, which came out in 2009. These characters would have been 12. And, while Jennifer's Body is also a title of a Hole song, that song wasn't even in the movie (Violet was). I guess the bigger issue is that I don't feel like the author necessarily has a good grasp on what a teen would actually be in to now.

Despite the fact that it seems like I don't like this book at all, I didn't hate it. It was a quick and fluffy read with plenty of enjoyable moments. I don't know that I'd rush out for any other books if this turns out to be a series, but I'd probably eventually try to get them on sale.(less)

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Jan 19, 2013 Brianna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Not your everyday ghost story, mixed with a mystery and a little romance thrown in the mix and you will have The Dead Girls Detective Agency. Charlotte Feldman is the reluctant heroine of this book and we pick up her very short life right after she fell off the subway platform and the F train takes her life. Charlotte wakes up to find Nancy, Lorna and Tess helping her out of the subway and into a hotel just for murdered teenage ghosts and also introduces themselves as the Dead Girl's Detective A...more

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Oct 10, 2012 Dana rated it 2 of 5 stars

This one started out pretty good, but the last third of the book just went further and further downhill. The conclusion of the murder they were solving was, in my opinion, absurd and then there was a few lines at the end that made me roll my eyes.

The entire book is about a young, murdered, teen trying to solve her murder as a ghost so she can get her "key" to a door that leads to the afterlife. Until she does this she is stuck in limbo. So at the end, when of course the murder is solved, she has...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Theresa ♫ marked it as curious

BEFORE THE BOOK HAS BEEN READ!!! A pre-review!

Ohhhhhhhh-kay, that seems interesting. The blurb . . . kinda attracted me in.
I mean the blurb had voice!!

Look, I'm SOOOOO tired of overly dramatic blurbs that go something like

Princess Shaloobaloo is a very beautiful pretty-pretty princess. One day, on an adventure to the magical kingdom, she meets a beautiful prince. But the prince has a dark secret, and no one knows it. It's Princess Shaloobaloo's job to stalk the prince to find out! But what will...more

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Sep 18, 2012 Andrea rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012, young-adult-paranormal

I have to say, first and foremost, The Dead Girls Detective Agency was a fun, fun book. Kind of surprising since all of the lead characters are dead, that is, murdered, teens. Teens who are stuck in "holding" until they solve their murders.

The story begins with the death of Charlotte. Charlotte was pushed off a subway platform to her death. Poor thing. Charlotte is greeted, post death, by Nancy, Lorna and Tess. The three teen ghosts, who aren't ready, or can't, move on, have formed the Dead Gir...more I have to say, first and foremost, The Dead Girls Detective Agency was a fun, fun book. Kind of surprising since all of the lead characters are dead, that is, murdered, teens. Teens who are stuck in "holding" until they solve their murders.

The story begins with the death of Charlotte. Charlotte was pushed off a subway platform to her death. Poor thing. Charlotte is greeted, post death, by Nancy, Lorna and Tess. The three teen ghosts, who aren't ready, or can't, move on, have formed the Dead Girls Detective Agency. They help all the other victims find justice so they can move on through the Big Red Door. And now they're going to help Charlotte solve her own murder. But who could possibly want this sweet girl, who basically keeps to herself, dead?

Charlotte's investigation was sad and hilarious. You have her funeral. Major downer. Her messy, cute boyfriend, David, who misses her so much, but doesn't have the expected mourning period. The investigation forces Charlotte to examine her strained relationship with best friend Ali. And then there are the mean girls, head cheerleader and all-around witch Kristen and her gang. They didn't like Charlotte while she was alive and all seem to be enjoying the fact she's dead. The answer to the killer's identity will definitely surprise you.

The Dead Girls; Nancy, Lorna and Tess, were great characters. As the lead detective, Nancy was the typical uptight, rules-minding girl who is easily frustrated. But she was so sweet to Charlotte. Lorna was the bright, bubbly girl who seems like she doesn't have a lot going on upstairs, but was surprisingly perceptive. Tess was tricky. I felt sorry for her because, duh, she's dead. She wants to move on, but has never solved her murder. Tess was so mean to Charlotte, and as much as I wanted to sympathize for her, she made it soooo hard.

Now for my favorite dead person, besides Charlotte: Edison. Oh man, this boy hit all my book-boy-crush buttons. Edison is handsome, obviously, but also funny, sarcastic, caring, aloof, etc etc. Edison has the fantastic ability to make you shiver with a thrill, and a bit of fright.

" 'So here's the news flash, angel.' He leaned in and whispered in my ear; his lips in danger of grazing my skin, 'you've got nothing to lose by breaking them. And a whole lot more to gain - some of it seriously fun. ' Edison leaned back and raised an eyebrow. 'When you want to know what you're really capable of now, you come find me,' he said. 'Or maybe I'll come find you...' "

See what I mean? Sigh...

Like I said, I had an awesome time reading The Dead Girls Detective Agency. It was laugh-out-loud funny, sweet, sad, bittersweet. It's a book that I, as an adult, thoroughly enjoyed. It's also a book that you could safely let your young teen read. There are a couple of instances with cursing (nothing too major) and smoking. It's a book readers of all ages will definitely enjoy.(less)

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Jan 01, 2013 Kimberly Peterson rated it 4 of 5 stars

It started off a bit slow but then it really picked up speed. Who the killer turned out to be reminded me a bit of Deadly Cool in that the motives of the killer were a bit over the top, but people are crazy so it works. There was a good mix of humor with some serious moments thrown in from time to time.

Charlotte was very likeable. For someone who was murdered she didn't whine about it too much or wallow in her pity to the point of being annoying. It was there, just more in the background, which...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Melissa Lorenzo rated it 4 of 5 stars

**I received an uncorrected advance copy of this book from the Goodreads First Reads Program.**

I had to really think about the rating for this book for a couple days. In deciding between three and four stars, I had to seriously take into consideration that I was reading an uncorrected copy. I am not even going to lie or sugarcoat here, there are some blaring grammatical errors that distracted me through the front end of this read.

Now, to the setting. I LOVE THIS SETTING because I am a New York...more **I received an uncorrected advance copy of this book from the Goodreads First Reads Program.**

I had to really think about the rating for this book for a couple days. In deciding between three and four stars, I had to seriously take into consideration that I was reading an uncorrected copy. I am not even going to lie or sugarcoat here, there are some blaring grammatical errors that distracted me through the front end of this read.

Now, to the setting. I LOVE THIS SETTING because I am a New York City kid. When she talks about Washington Square, the F train, Rockefeller Center, and the view from the Empire State building, I can already picture it in my head. I remember the sound of a coming train, of running not to miss it, of the passengers as they crowd the platform edge because they can feel the train coming as well. I remember the smells, the odd collection of people in one area, and the fear that someone is walking a little too close to that yellow line. Thing is, the majority of teens aren't going to know those things. I had to try and step away from my own experience and look at it without the knowledge and I am not entirely sure the author gave enough of those subtle details to paint them the full picture.

The plot won me over and really pushed the rating from a three to a four in my realistic review of the book. It really is very interesting concept she has put forward, and I like that the ghosts have a choice to move on when they feel comfortable with it once they have received their key. By the end, I was really invested in finding the killer (who wasn't whom I expected: a nice twist) and seeing how Edison and Tess were connected.

The characters are engaging- though maybe a bit TOO stereotypical. The rich popular girl, the nerd, the outcast, the tortured bad boy, etc. The main character of Charlotte is the point-of-view from which we view the story, and her reactions and observations are very much in the teen frame of mind. It is refreshing to read a contemporary YA novel where the kids don't sound like adults. I don't think it was entirely necessary for the cursing that was introduced in the end of the book, but I grew up in the city so I know that bad language is a tool used to make the younger seem older. It took me a long time to clean up the potty mouth. Does it add to the story? I don't think it does and nothing would change if the editors cleaned it up a bit.

In the end, I would be interested to see if this is turned into a series to follow if Tess and the girls achieve their pact, and if the ghosty relationship at the end works out. It certainly lent itself to expansion in this way and as long as it is done correctly, I believe it could be very successful. (less)

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Dec 03, 2012 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars

Who knew trying to crack the case of a murdered teen could be so enjoyable? Pleasantly shocking, The Dead Girls Detective Agency was chock-full of laughs and morbid fun. Besides a lack of romantic steam (I’ll get to that later) this book was amazing. Truly one of a kind. The mystery of “who dun’ it” was well thought out and planned which lead to a super suspenseful and exciting read. I had trouble putting this one down!

Dead Girls starts out on a seriously sullen note due to the untimely death of...more Who knew trying to crack the case of a murdered teen could be so enjoyable? Pleasantly shocking, The Dead Girls Detective Agency was chock-full of laughs and morbid fun. Besides a lack of romantic steam (I’ll get to that later) this book was amazing. Truly one of a kind. The mystery of “who dun’ it” was well thought out and planned which lead to a super suspenseful and exciting read. I had trouble putting this one down!

Dead Girls starts out on a seriously sullen note due to the untimely death of our main character, Charlotte. One minute she’s standing on the train platform getting ready to board, and the next, splat. All Charlotte remembers is a slight shove followed by blinding hot pain. FADE OUT. When Charlotte finally awakens she finds herself in an unfamiliar hotel lobby surrounded by three strange girls: Lorna, Nancy and Tess, the official heads of The Dead Girls Detective Agency. For one reason or another, these three have remained in a sort of limbo, using their afterlife as service to solving teenage murders. It’s explained that all New York City murdered teens wind up in Hotel Attesa, a pit-stop on the way to heaven, or at least whatever “hereafter” that exists. When you reach this point you have two choices. One: stick around as your half-barely-there-self, able to oversee those you left, but never really being able to be with them, or Two: works towards getting your murder case solved and receive the key that lets you move on. Charlotte, opting for the ladder, begins working towards solving her murder with the help of bookworm Nancy, fashionista Lorna, shrew-like Tess and mysterious, Edison.

I really liked this book. With a storyline weighed down by macabre, Cox does a great job of keeping things light and fun. A great deal of the dialogue is humorous and had me laughing out loud. Even though the main characters were murdered, the majority of the story was upbeat. When Charlotte’s mystery murderer was revealed I was pleasantly surprised. It definitely was a “didn’t see that one coming” sort of deal. Cox does a great job of writing a true murder mystery that keeps you guessing by leading you down multiple false paths.

Here’s where I talk about the not-so-great parts of Dead Girls. I like my YAs balanced with all the essentials: including decent steam AND or OR romance. I felt like Dead Girls seriously lacked in this department. Granted, Charlotte had a lot on her plate but still I felt like there were some missed opportunities. In the beginning Charlotte was still reeling from the loss of her living boyfriend, David. Although heartbroken, David seemed to move on pretty quickly… Then there was Edison. We’re led to believe that he has a special connection with Charlotte by way of his slightly less-snarky attitude towards her. It felt like Cox was trying to build something between the two but I never really saw anything emerging. He was very hot and cold with an emphasis on cold. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely liked Edison. He was the more-favorable male character in this book for sure. Basically I just didn’t “feel it” when it came to him or any potential anything with Charlotte.

Regardless! I really liked this book. Fans of lighthearted paranormal reads such as Helen Keeble’s Fang Girl will definitely enjoy this one!(less)

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Oct 19, 2012 Lottie Eve rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was okay… that’s it.The Dead Girls Detective Agency could have been really good if not for a few flaws that really bothered me.

The characters were all stereotypes and when I say everyone I mean everyone even the characters that do not even play a big role in the story. I admit Nancy and Lorna were fun characters and I did enjoy reading about them even though they did not have any character development or much depth. Tess(the mean girl) is my second favorite character as she had develop...more This book was okay… that’s it.The Dead Girls Detective Agency could have been really good if not for a few flaws that really bothered me.

The characters were all stereotypes and when I say everyone I mean everyone even the characters that do not even play a big role in the story. I admit Nancy and Lorna were fun characters and I did enjoy reading about them even though they did not have any character development or much depth. Tess(the mean girl) is my second favorite character as she had development and depth. I felt for her and sympathised with her. Edison was a pretty good character to but sometimes I just felt he was there just so Charlotte could have a boyfriend. Charlotte the protagonist of The Dead Girl Detective Agency annoyed me…a lot. She did have her moments but her obsession with her boyfriend bothered me to the point I felt like jumping into the book and shake her for bit. Not ounce did she ever go see her parents, and only ounce did she actually check on her living friend Ali. I thought she was very judgmental and just plain bratty. My first favorite character in the book was the murderer of Charlotte. I do not know why but I felt more sorry for the crazy killer than all the other characters combined.

The story would have been good if there was more investigating than teen drama. I am okay with drama in a story but The Dead Girls Detective Agency made me feel like I was just watching some show about a girl spying on her boyfriend awhile said boyfriend is getting with other girls. The story did take off near the end of the middle part of the book(this saved the book from being a one star). The mystery took off and I started to feel excited as I was about to learn who was the murderer. The killer was someone you would never suspect and I was really impressed with the author when the killer was revealed. My conclusion: story was jut okay.

The writing was really bad in my opinion. When reading this book I was getting very irritated with all the acronyms and abbreviations. Nobody I know speaks using OMG, OMFG, and obv. In my experience they say the whole word or sentence. The dialogue felt forced most of the time and the “funny moments” were never that funny. Sometimes the book could have a really good and emotional moment but then some “funny line” would come in and ruin the moment.

So The Dead Girls Detective Agency was just not my cup of tea.

I give The Dead Girls Detective Agency 2 out of 5 Stars
You can find this review on my blog: http://lalovelystories.wordpress.com/(less)

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Sep 17, 2012 Elizabeth Moeller rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: goodreads-giveaways

I received this book as a Goodreads.com giveaway. I should first say that I am probably twenty years older than the target demographic for this book. This became painfully obvious when the main character tries to establish how old she is by saying that she was into the band Hole way before the movie Jennifer's Body came out. I was listening to Hole in 1996 or 1997 when I was in high school...so I am ancient. However, that said, I enjoyed this mild story of a girl who dies in NYC and then is requ...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Scty Teens rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviews

Sixteen-year-old Charlotte Feldman was pushed under a train while waiting on the platform on her way home from school. She woke up at the Attesa, a sort of "limbo" for teen ghosts who have been murdered. When they find out who their murderer is, they get a key to go through the "big red door" to the other side. So, with the help of Nancy, Lorna, Tess, and Edison, Charlotte has to figure out who killed her. But it might not have been someone expected, maybe someone she barely, or didn't know at a...more

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Jun 30, 2012 fяσzєη rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: covergasm, ghosts, netgalley-or-edelweiss, 2012-faves, books-i-want-to-marry, heroines-i-adore, its-so-fluffy-im-gonna-die, made-me-smile, faves

This review is also available over at my blog.

__________________________

There's nothing like a fluffy and hilarious read to boost my mood.

The Attesa hotel is a place where teens in the New York City area who have died in mysterious circumstances─usually murder─find themselves ending up in. There, they need to figure out who exactly killed them and therefore obtaining a Key that they'll have to use to unlock the Big Red Door that will allow them to pass on to the next life. When Charlotte Feldman...more This review is also available over at my blog.

__________________________

There's nothing like a fluffy and hilarious read to boost my mood.

The Attesa hotel is a place where teens in the New York City area who have died in mysterious circumstances─usually murder─find themselves ending up in. There, they need to figure out who exactly killed them and therefore obtaining a Key that they'll have to use to unlock the Big Red Door that will allow them to pass on to the next life. When Charlotte Feldman ends up there, she meets other teen girls that are also dead. Nancy (the brainy and responsible one), Lorna (the girl obsessed with anything fashion-related) and Tess (the cold and sarcastic one). They call themselves the Dead Girls Detective Agency. Also lurking around is Edison─the boy with intentions that Charlotte can't seem to figure out. With their help, Charlotte adjusts to her new afterlife and is intent on finding out who her killer is.

It was easy for me to like Charlotte. She was funny and overall very likable. When she was still alive, Charlotte had a boyfriend, David, who she was with for quite a long time. David seemed to be the nice guy and Charlotte had thought that he was her soulmate. But after her death, David is suddenly getting the attention of the popular girls in their school, and Charlotte is furious to find that he soaks up their attention and is using the "broken-hearted boy" act to his advantage. During this time, I was glad that Charlotte didn't mope around and cry all the time. She got over him pretty quickly, actually, and had no trouble seeing him for what he really is: a class-A jerk.

The actual love interest in this book, Edison, well . . . I don't really have much to say about him. He appeared to be your typical brooding bad boy at the start, but I guess he sweetened up eventually. You don't really see much of their romance. They do kiss at one point─very far into the book, thank god─but Charlotte didn't seem to be all that smitten with him, which I think is a good thing.

This book made me laugh out loud several times. The murder mystery element was okay. It wasn't exactly all that exciting, but I did enjoy some parts of it. When it was revealed who was the murderer, I'll admit it was a bit too unexpected. It was actually someone that I think only appeared in one scene of the book. Like, literally, one scene.

As for the ending, the final chapter, it was really irritating. All these bombs started dropping and made me frown and go "Wait, is this really the last chapter?" more than once. It didn't end with a cliffhanger exactly, but it was a very very very open ending. This better be a series or I'm going to flip out. It would be too evil for the author to just leave the book there and not write a sequel.

All in all, this was a pretty funny and fluffy ghost book, with a little bit of murder mystery added into it. I would definitely recommend it.

A review copy of this book was sent to me by HarperCollins via Edelweiss. Many thank you's!(less)

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Jan 05, 2013 Kayla rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arcs, reviewed

In this humorous chick lit, Charlotte is an ordinary girl with an ordinary boyfriend. Except when she wakes up dead in a hotel surrounded by two girls who claim to be dead as well. More than a little freaked out and overwhelmed, Charlotte goes through her first couple days in a daze, not quite believing what she hears but following orders anyway. Then, finally, something snaps, and Charlotte remembers the shove on her back as she stood waiting for the T train. Now she's on the hunt for her murde...more In this humorous chick lit, Charlotte is an ordinary girl with an ordinary boyfriend. Except when she wakes up dead in a hotel surrounded by two girls who claim to be dead as well. More than a little freaked out and overwhelmed, Charlotte goes through her first couple days in a daze, not quite believing what she hears but following orders anyway. Then, finally, something snaps, and Charlotte remembers the shove on her back as she stood waiting for the T train. Now she's on the hunt for her murderer--and they might be closer than she thinks.

This book=brain cell killer. This is pure girly fluff that has no meaning behind it. The plot was dull. The characters were stereotypical. The writing... The writing was actually all right. It was witty and smooth. But unfortunately everything else overwhelmed the good writing.
Mysteries used to be my favorite genre (this was before dystopians became popular). This book is a classic mystery, but it falls short of the "good" standard. Charlotte herself is an okay character. But her interactions with the other characters (except Edison) were boring. She did nothing unexpected or unique. Now her relationship with Edison (love interest and bad boy extraordinaire) is well developed.

There's this line that is so cliche that it annoys me when any author uses it. "But she/he's different." Usually I think this is a lazy excuse to make the characters like each other. But in this book, we actually see Edison's surprised reactions to things Charlotte says or does (that are very witty whenever she's around him.) Their relationship development is apparent, not hidden or sudden to the audience. It makes the book a little more bearable with a nice romance.

Now. Everything else. The Nancy Drew and co. were cute, but there was no depth to them. Nancy is the nerd of the group. I kept getting her personality confused with Lorna, who is the "preppy girl" in the beginning of the book. It isn't until the middlish-going-on-end of the book that their personalities became clear and connected with their actions. But when I could distinguish their personalities apart, they became stereotypical. The only parts that didn't correlate with their personalities was how they died. One died by accident when her house got burnt down by a hit squad who were targeting her parents. Interesting, right? But that is only mentioned once in the book. The only unique thing to this person and it's only mentioned once. This annoyed me, but more details could be uncovered in the next installment.

Tess was also a stereotypical character. Miss Prissy and her glare of doom was simple and easily figured out. She was probably the most (besides Edison) complex character in the book. She has motives and rules to dictate her actions. But those reactions were predictable once you figured out her personality.
This book was not a pleasant read. I found it boring and very predictable. Hopefully the next book will have a better plot and the characters will become more complex.(less)

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Sep 14, 2012 Tina (yAdultReview) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books, arc-first-reads, ya, paranormal, mystery

Originally published at Nose in a Book.

Oh, this book. It had everything I usually enjoy, paranormal happenings, female friendships, female narrator, but this one annoyed me more than anything. I gave it three stars instead of two because it’s quick and sometimes fun, and I realize a lot of younger readers probably won’t have the issues with it that I had. The Dead Girls Detective Agency follows (and I literally could not remember her name for a few minutes) Charlotte Feldman, a snobby, bratty, j...more Originally published at Nose in a Book.

Oh, this book. It had everything I usually enjoy, paranormal happenings, female friendships, female narrator, but this one annoyed me more than anything. I gave it three stars instead of two because it’s quick and sometimes fun, and I realize a lot of younger readers probably won’t have the issues with it that I had. The Dead Girls Detective Agency follows (and I literally could not remember her name for a few minutes) Charlotte Feldman, a snobby, bratty, judgmental sixteen-year-old from the Upper West Side. She’s pushed in front of the F train after school one day, waking up in a hotel as a ghost. In order to pass to the Other Side, Charlotte must solve her own murder with the help of the other dead girls, Nancy, Lorna, and, sometimes, Tess. And there is Edison too, of course. None of these characters are very fleshed out, which is fine, and this is a somewhat forgettable book.

Starting with the good, I liked Nancy and even Lorna, despite the latter being an airheaded fashion queen trope. I liked Edison too, because he was different and made Charlotte a little less insufferable. I even liked David, Charlotte’s boyfriend, because he reminded me of a lot of semi-douchey guys I was friends with in high school. I have a soft spot for semi-douchey guys, okay? Charlotte spends much of the book mooning over David, then getting mad and calling him a cheater when he kisses a cheerleader. Yes, I agree it’s douchey to kiss another girl* at your dead girlfriend’s funeral, but you can’t cheat on a dead person. I didn’t hate David like I think Cox wanted me to. I felt sorry for him, and disliked Charlotte instead. There’s also a little bit of slut-shaming going on, and I really don’t enjoy the word “whore” in my YA. I realize I am not in the majority here, but that just did not help my liking of the book. (*and of course this other girl, Kristen, is of the blonde-haired, cheerleader, Mean Girl variety, with Cox even going to far as to call two of Kristen’s minons “Blonde 4″ and “Blonde 5.” I am tired of this trope.)

Another thing that bothered me, and really took me out of the story, were all the Britishisms. Cox is editor of Cosmopolitan UK, and I have to wonder who edited her novel for American audiences. The book takes place in New York, with presumably native New Yorkers, but they speak like they’re in London. “Muso chick” is not a phrase often heard in the US, and I had to Google it to find out it means “girl who’s into music.” Other things like saying “I’ve not seen that” stuck out to me too, because here we tend to use a different contraction and say, “I haven’t seen that.” Also, “air-con.” Another phrase I’ve never heard, as we tend to call air-conditioning “AC.” These are little nitpicks though, really, and at least no one was calling any elevators “lifts.” There’s also a silly part where Charlotte manages to have seen Heathers, a movie that came out in 1988, and references Freddy Krueger, whose first movie aired in 1984 (though I suppose she could have seen the 2010 remake), and then manages to not know Ghostbusters. What? I found that sloppy, to be honest.

The ending of this one was just silly too. The wrap-up of both the mystery and Tess’ storyline made me roll my eyes. It was just too far-fetched for me to suspend my disbelief, and I’m a girl who likes Farscape. Take that as you will. So, as you can see, I had more problems with this one than anything else. It’s pretty standard YA fiction, with a blonde mean girl, a ditzy fashion queen, a jerk for a narrator, and a flimsy love story. You guys should know by now that I don’t really like books that focus more on boys and romance than the actual paranormal element, and that’s what this one does. I think maybe my co-bloggers would have enjoyed it more than me, but hey, I don’t regret reading it! It had its cute moments, and one woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure.(less)

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Aug 30, 2012 Christy (Love of Books) rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-galley, e-book, read-in-2012

I knew I had to read The Dead Girls Detective Agency as soon as I saw the cute, but slightly creepy (look at the hands) cover and read the blurb. Teen ghost girls solving a murders? Yes, please. I was expecting some fun and clever shenanigans. Did it deliver? Not so much. It actually took me almost a month to finish it because I fell asleep every time I read it. I’m not even joking. At the same time though, I did like it a little. Just a little.

Charlotte is sixteen and dead. Someone pushed her i...more I knew I had to read The Dead Girls Detective Agency as soon as I saw the cute, but slightly creepy (look at the hands) cover and read the blurb. Teen ghost girls solving a murders? Yes, please. I was expecting some fun and clever shenanigans. Did it deliver? Not so much. It actually took me almost a month to finish it because I fell asleep every time I read it. I’m not even joking. At the same time though, I did like it a little. Just a little.

Charlotte is sixteen and dead. Someone pushed her in front of the subway, but everyone assumed her clumsy ways caused her to trip to her demises. When teens are murdered they check-in at the Attesa Hotel where they have to solve their murder in order to obtain their Key to the great beyond. This is where Charlotte ends up. She joins four other ghosts who haven’t received their Keys for one reason or another, and they all start working to try and figure out who killed her. Sounds pretty good, right? Unfortunately, no. I did so many eye rolls while reading this book… well, when I wasn’t falling asleep, that is. There were too many times that I had to question the point of what was going on, it was like Cox just needed to add fillers in the story to make it longer. They reminded me more of a bunch of ten-year-olds playing detective, instead of 16 and 17-year-olds who had been solving murders for years.

The characters were kind of boring and had no real depth; I can’t say that I cared for any of them. I expected to like Charlotte, and should have wanted to root for her. Instead, I found myself wanting her to hurry and get her Key so she would hurry and leave. All of her attempts at witty humor got old fast. Don’t get me wrong, I love all types of humor – dark, cheesy, snarky, etc. But 80% of the humor in this book just fell flat for me. As for the other characters, they honestly aren’t worth mentioning.

So why did I say that I liked the book a little when it sure doesn’t sound like it? I don’t know. Maybe it’s the idea of what this book could’ve been that gives me a tiny soft spot for it. As of now, the book seems to be a standalone, but it could easily be turned into a series. To be honest, though, I don’t think that tiny soft spot is enough for me to want to read a sequel.

Overall, I just couldn’t get into The Dead Girls Detective Agency. I’m sure there will be plenty of people who love this book, but I’m not one of them.
(less)

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