The only place social-climbing wallflower Charlotte Usher seems destined to go is Loserville until she chokes herself to death on a gummy bear in physics lab and passes from the world of the living to dead. Even there, though, she's dubbed a scrub by her fellow dead classmates. Longing to hook up with still-living crush Damen, she contrives a scheme with Scarlet, the über-cool goth-vintage-chic sister of Damen's brainless, bombshell girlfriend. The pact: Scarlet agrees to let Charlotte possess her body to pursue Damen, and Scarlet gets to hang with the cool dead kids. Each of Hurley's two lead heroines perfectly mirrors the other: One longs to be seen, one wants to disappear. Hurley attempts to flesh out their world in true Rowling-esque form, with side plots aplenty and a kooky slew of offbeat minor characters with mixed results; check out www.ghostgirl.com to get the full visual effect. Still, she beats out witty teen-speak like a punk-band drummer, keeping the narrative fast-paced and fun yet thought-provokingly heartwarming. Goofy, ghastly, intelligent, electrifying (Novel. YA) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Gr 7 Up-Charlotte User, an invisible loser, dies just before enacting a plan to catch the cutest guy in school and achieve popularity. She refuses to accept her fate (death by gummy bear) and returns as a ghost with a mission: to go to the Fall Ball with Damen and get a midnight kiss. Hurley combines afterlife antics, gothic gore, and high school hell to produce an original, hilarious satire. Charlotte ambles through death's door and remains a pitiable, selfish, and somewhat annoying heroine. Readers root for her, but cringe at her blunders, too. She blows off her new dead-kid school and classmates, unable to give up her living, breathing crush. Hurley's pitch-perfect dialogue and clever names (Petula, Rotting Rita, Principal Styx) keep readers laughing. Dark, meditative song lyrics and poetry start each chapter while campy, Gothic illustrations frame the pages. Tim Burton and Edgar Allan Poe devotees will die for this fantastic, phantasmal read.-Shelley Huntington, New York Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Starred Review. Hurley, an independent filmmaker, debuts with this glittering comedy, a prime exemplar of what might be called demento mori, a growing subgenre of satire about teens who will not or cannot die. Charlotte Usher's plan to catapult herself from the ranks of the invisible to the heights of popularity at Hawthorne High--no possibility for allusion goes unturned--hits a major snag on the first day of school when she chokes to death on a gummy bear. Sent to Deadiquette school along with other teen spirits, she skips out, still determined to woo her longtime heartthrob, never mind that he doesn't even know I'm alive. The jokes stay sharp, from the goth girl who gives her a make-under to throwaway lines (caught breaking some cardinal rules, Charlotte mutters to herself, I'm dead). Plotlines raise the stakes, putting Hurley's consistent wit to the service of classic themes about claiming identity. While the author has a built-in fan base from her ghostgirl Web sites, high-impact design will ensure attention from casual browsers as well. An elaborate die-cut with stamped acetate on the cover dares readers to laugh at a silhouette of a cartoon girl in an open casket, an effect heightened by the extra-tall trim size; inside, pink-and-black graphics liberally adorn the margins, epigraphs to chapter openings, etc. And given the polished dark-and-deadpan humor, it's a natural fit with Gen Y, too. Ages 12-up. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.