Dead Girls Never Shut Up

by Susan Stec

Toni's grandmother is a psychopath.
Her sister is a ghost.
Her boyfriend is possessed.
And she has no idea who she is.

Summer vacation is ruined when Toni's twin sister, Sara, dies. Instead of walking into the light, Sara stomps directly away from it, totally pissed she didn't die in her skinny jeans. That's when Sara finds out their grandmother has a gift for talking to dead people, and two spritely spirits and a nasty soothsayer named Bartholomew are all working their angle with Toni's future caught in between.

Dear old Granny's determined not to be the last necromancer in the family, but with the death of her promiscuous granddaughter, her only option is Toni, who must remain a virgin until her eighteenth birthday without any ghostly interference from Sara.

Sara's not having any of it; especially since the guy Granny's conspiring with is the same guy that assisted in Sara's demise. Toni needs help! But protecting her sister is complicating all the ghostly fun on the other side!

Can death stop a twin? Maybe not, but Granny knows Dead Girls Never Shut Up.

***PG suggested—mild adult content and profanity.

Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult, Fantasy, Fiction, Ghosts

301 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

NEW YORK TIMES Bestselling Author Susan Stec loves her Cavalier Buddy, that first sip of AM coffee, the sound her keyboard makes when she's on a roll, 70's rock, chocolate (lots of chocolate), iced mocha, and getting lost in worlds where myth and legend are reality. Her characters are always humorous, usually crazy, and, well, snarky. Oh, and they swear a lot. But don't hold that against them. They mean well...most of the time.

#bookcovers check out my #facebook page #romance #urbanfantasy #paranormal #darkhumor
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Reviews

[Renee Rearden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED this story. Ms. Stec's voice resonates with humor...the title alone, Dead Girls Never Shut Up, made me want to read the book. I'm glad I did. The characters had great personalities, original dialogue and real character arcs that showed personal growth.

I sooooo hope there is a sequel!

[Emily Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot had potential, but the writing style and the characters were just bland. I liked the story, but it wasn't executed well

[Nes · Rating 2 out of 5]

3 years it took...

I never warmed up to the characters, they didn't seem full fledged, the secondary characters were annoying/whiney. General idea and worldbuilding held promise but in my experience after reading the book, just didn't deliver.
So there you go...

[Pat aka Tygyr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toni and Sarah are twin sisters that will turn 18 soon. Toni is short for Antoinette - her grandmother's name. Sarah is very social and Toni more shy. Sarah decides to set them up with dates through an on line dating service. They agree to meet their dates at the same café at the same time. They sit across the café from each other but facing each other. Toni's date is Paul and they share a love of reading. Paul's family actually owns book stores and when he finishes college he will work at the local store. Toni can tell that Sarah is not liking her date. As Toni decides to stay longer she wonders why Sarah is playing with her knife. The knife gets closer and closer to her neck. Toni's attention is divided between the odd antics of her twin and Paul. When Sarah uses the knife to cut her throat, Toni can't believe it. The police believe it was suicide, but Toni doesn't believe it. Sarah becomes a ghost and 2 other ghosts meet her to help her. One is Ruth and the other is odd - Martin is a gay vampire who died in his underwear and that is how his ghost is dressed. Sarah cannot listen to the ghosts because she is so angry and talks all the time and everything is about herself. Paul tries to be there for Toni. But Paul is possessed by Bartholomew. Bartholomew is waiting for Toni to turn 18 to come into her powers. He wants Paul to find out how that will happen. Toni is in the dark about the family powers. Sarah, Ruth and Martin eavesdrop and learn more than Grandma Antoinette wants them to. And Grandma sees them, hears them, and threatens them to leave Toni alone. Grandma learns that Bartholomew wants to possess Toni when she comes into her powers and Grandma thinks that will benefit the family greatly and is all in favor of it. She tells Bartholomew that Toni will only come into her powers if she is a virgin until her 18th birthday. Then she must have sex and her powers will come. Bartholomew is threatening to hurt Paul's sister if he doesn't allow him to continue to possess him and if Paul doesn't seduce Toni. When Paul meets the family, Grandma suggests the when of Paul's seduction and Bartholomew promises to leave Paul for the all important seduction. Toni knows that her sister was gay, and she wonders if she is as well. But Paul went to so much trouble, and Toni is so confused by her own sexuality that she decides to have sex with Paul just to see. The next morning, her birthday, Toni wakes to see Sarah's ghost. Sarah, Ruth and Martin quickly explain what Grandma's plan is for her - possession by Bartholomew. Will mild mannered Toni agree to being possessed? Will she ever date Paul again, knowing his part in this? Or will she explore other avenues of sexuality? Will she somehow find justice for Sarah? Will Toni's new powers allow her to send the ghosts to their eternal reward?
I feel this is a YA book and might be rated higher by a YA Reader. It covers a lot of teen issues. The book is well written and complex with lots of inter connecting plots.

[Marsha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dead Girls Never Shut Up by Susan Stec is hilarious. This unique tale of ghosts and demons is really well plotted. The characters are confusing, and confused, but I laughed so much at the ghosts.

[Jim Kratzok · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received this story as part of the Amazon Kindle compilation - Pandora. I'm reviewing each book from this collection separately.

A lunatic romp through death and beyond. Frantic frenetic activity by a group of ghosts, demons, and humans with unusual talents.

The story was humorous but ultimately not really for me. The character, Ruth, irritated the hell out of me and so did Martin. If Sara hadn't already cut her own throat in the beginning of the book, I would have gladly done it for her.

But the writing wasn't horrible even if the storyline was annoying so I'm sure others may enjoy it quite a bit.

[Issa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was just awful. I am not usually one to complain about lack of believability in a supernatural story, but just about every character in this book was not believable. The behavior was ridiculous, the conversations (either between two characters, or characters talking to themselves) were stilted and just plain stupid. The way Ruth's "accent" was written was completely obnoxious - readingdialoguewrittenlikethisSUCKS. It feels like it was written by a twelve-year-old with no understanding of human interaction. In short - I can't think of the last time I read a book so awful.

[Audra Middleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edgy & entertaining
Dead Girls is a cross between Annie on my Mind and Stec’s zany vampire books. She shows a young woman struggling to understand her sexuality with honesty and open-mindedness and illustrates the pressures on teens to conform to group norms with vivid realism. All of this mixed with raw, irreverent humor and sinister supernatural schemes. It’s edgy, entertaining, and well-plotted.

[Linda Ulleseit · Rating 5 out of 5]

As with all of Susan Stec's books, this one is hilariously funny. Twin sisters double date and the popular one is killed by her date. Her ghost meets up with two hilarous ghosts who become my favorite characters in the book. The ghosts need to find the demon who possessed the killer, and the living sister needs to find the truth of her sister's sexuality. Recommended for mature YA.

[Rayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book as a part of the Pandora Collection.
I went in cold - so I had no idea what this book was meant to be about.
I found it particularly slow and hard to read in spots - especially the way Ruth spoke got a bit frustrating at times.
Not one of my favourite reads.

[Marianna · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get past chapter four. This book was just not my kind of book. Happens sometimes with the compilations of books by indie authors. The writing itself wasn't bad, it was error free as far as I read...but wasn't for me.

[Angela Fristoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan Stec always manages to have me laughing! Fun and slightly risque this is a great read for mature YA readers.

[Emma Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay just quite repetitive and divorced from any semblance of reality, full of self-obsessed self-serving unsympathetic and quite unlikable characters. Not my cup of tea.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book through the First Reads giveaway program on Goodreads. Review to follow.