Review: Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender

Title: Bad Girls Don't Die
Author: Katie Alender
Publisher: Hyperion
Date Published: 2009
Genre: Young Adult
Main Themes: Family, Love, Hauntings, Spirits, Possession, Friendship
Pages: 346
Plot (from inside book jacket):
"Alexis thought she led a typically dysfunctional high school existence: dysfunctional like her parents' marriage; her doll-crazy, thirteen-year-old sister, Kasey; and even her own antisocial, anti-cheerleader attitude.

When a family argument results in tearful sisterly bonding, Alexis realizes that her life is creeping from dysfunctional to dangerous. Kasey is acting stranger than ever: her blue eyes go green; she uses odd, old-fashioned language - and she even loses track of chunks of time, claiming to know nothing about her weird behavior. Their old house is changing, too. Doors open and close by themselves, water boils on the unlit stove, and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough for the girls to see their breath.

Alexis wants to believe it's all i her head, until these seeingly harmless occurences become life-threatening - to her, to her family, and to her budding relationship with the student council vice president. Alexis knows she's the only person who can stop Kasey; but what if taht green-eyed girl isn't even Kasey anymore?"

Bad Girls Don't Die was a great debut novel from Katie Alender! I really enjoyed the dialogue and characters. I think I liked the first half of the book better than the end though, as I felt that the end of the book was a bit rushed... At the beginning Alexis has a bit of a smart mouth and I found her conversations with Carter, the student council VP, to be amusing.

I also really enjoyed the haunting and possession aspects of this book, as I'm a big Supernatual (the CW show) fan! There were parts of this book that had me a little creeped out - like in the first chapter when Alexis is taking pictures. I used to be really into photography, so the idea of capturing a ghost on film is really spooky to me.

My one complaint about Bad Girls Don't Die is the fact that the last few chapters of the book seemed to be really rushed. I felt like there were many things that were glossed over or simply forgotten - like Alexis' parents relationship. I felt like that kind of detracted from the effect of the novel because I was left with a number of unanswered questions.

Ratings (out of 10):
Plot: 8
Characters: 10
Writing Style: 10
Romance: 10
Originality: 10

Total: 48/50 (A)

Overall, I felt like this was a really enjoyable novel and a very strong debut from Alender. I'm excited to see what she comes up with next. I wouldn't recommend buying this one though - it is kind of a one read kind of book, in my opinion.