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Dead Serious
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Annabel Craven acaba de llegar a una nueva escuela. No tiene amigos y tampoco teléfono. Y sin amigos ni celular, lo tiene un poco difícil para convertirse en una de las populares. Pero cuando encuentra un teléfono misterioso en el bosque cerca del cementerio, uno de sus problemas se resuelve... pero el otro apenas acaba de empezar.
215 pages, Paperback
First published June 9, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 108 reviews
August 19, 2024
This was kind of weird. Great premise, uneven pacing. The first half is the characters wandering around, being completely dim and oblivious. The last quarter is super fast, everything getting resolved at lightning speed (though a few things remain unaddressed). Even though it has a light tone, the attitude toward death is super cavalier. It could’ve used some more help in the developmental stage; there is lots of potential that wasn’t quite reached. This is definitley MG, not YA.
Language: Clean
Sexual Content: None
Violence/Gore: Mild
Harm to Animals:
Harm to Children:
Other (Triggers):
Language: Clean
Sexual Content: None
Violence/Gore: Mild
Harm to Animals:
Harm to Children:
Other (Triggers):
December 4, 2017
Pretty spooky. Really good, though! It gave me the chills.
June 4, 2015
UGH, I can't finish this book. I love the cover art and the plot concept was great, but the characters are flat and it took 156 pages in a 233 page book for anything to happen. The author just couldn't pull me in . . . time to move on.
February 27, 2016
I didn't like this book at all. There were numerous plot holes and the writing was overly simplistic, bordering on childish/immature. I would not recommend.
May 1, 2016
Annabel (o preferiblemente sólo Anna) es una adolescente que se muda a un pequeño pueblo con su madre después de la muerte de su tío abuelo que les hereda su vieja y destartalada mansión. Para Anna éste cambio no es precisamente grato pero se esfuerza por aceptarlo por su madre.
Anna iniciaba en nuevo colegio y casi llega tarde a su primer día, fue por eso que decidió acortar camino yendo por el cementerio junto a su casa. Ahí se encontró con un chico raro que la asustó, y con un... celular. Cosa que le vino de perlas porque el suyo casualmente se acababa de estropear y su madre no le compraría otro a menos que ella ahorrara su propio dinero para conseguirlo.
Pero éste celular era extraño, parecía que la batería estaba muerta, pero de repente se prendía, luego se apagaba. Y a veces, estando apagado recibía mensajes, mensajes que sólo decían "¡Ayúdame!"
La mansión, o mejor dicho, su tío tenía una mala reputación porque quedó loco, comenzó a hablar sólo y decía que escuchaba voces. Y cuando cosas extrañas le comenzaron a suceder a Anna, ella también temía haberse vuelto loca.
El libro me encantó. Es una historia divertida que como bien dije, me hizo relajarme después de una lectura un poco más pesada. Tiene una edición bastante coqueta, ya que cuenta con ilustraciones hechas por la misma autora de Anna y otros personajes. Son unas ilustraciones que me gustaron mucho por su estilo Tim Burtoniano ¡los amé!
En la historia hay un personaje que me irritó en múltiples niveles, pero son de esos personajes que amas odiar, que no te explicas cómo es que personajes así existan pero luego recuerdas que PERSONAS de la vida real se comportan así.
Disfruté mucho leyendo la historia, se me hizo bastante original y divertida. Obviamente no es una gran obra maestra, mi calificación toma en cuenta que es un libro infantil (y yo soy un adulto) y que me gustó como tal, y que lo recomendaría al público a quien va dirigida.
June 25, 2015
This is an incredibly asinine book. The plot was really stodgy and basically nonexistent. It was as if the book was written by a 12 year old! No, I think a 12 year old could have done a better job.
The story was a really bad combination of Mean Girls and Sixth Sense. It lacked substance and the only thing I liked in the book was the illustrations and it wasn't even that good. Again, the drawings could have been done by a child.
None of the characters were relatable. I swear, I could go on and on how I hated this book. Such a disappointment.
The story was a really bad combination of Mean Girls and Sixth Sense. It lacked substance and the only thing I liked in the book was the illustrations and it wasn't even that good. Again, the drawings could have been done by a child.
None of the characters were relatable. I swear, I could go on and on how I hated this book. Such a disappointment.
June 5, 2015
Finished this in about two and a half hours. It's a light read so long as you don't want it to make any sense. Some vital plot points require the story to break its own rules, which frustrated me tremendously. An interesting premise is squandered on disorganized storytelling.
February 6, 2016
El libro no merece las tres estrellas por si mismo, sino por la traducción de Lluvia Rojo. ¡Un aplauso a los giros idiomáticos en español mexicano! Supongo que en otros lados no gustará tanto, pero ¡ya era justo que nos tocara a nosotros!
Esa buena traducción, sumada al diseño editorial, se saca cinco estrellas. Lo malo es que se promedian con la trama y el desarrollo de personajes y... ahí es donde el libro nos queda a deber. Me explico:
La idea es muy buena: una adolescente se encuentra un teléfono celular en un cementerio. Y el teléfono recibe mensajes extraños... sí, de los muertos. Hasta ahí vamos bien.
Pero entonces se convierte en una mala copia de Ghost Girl con un toque de Sexto Sentido y un misterio flojo y mal resuelto. Peor aún: los personajes, todos, son planos y poco creíbles. Sobre todo, están muy desaprovechados. Al final, queda la sensaciónd e que la autora nos quedó a deber: que no se esforzó lo suficiente.
Es una pectura para pasar el rato, lo que en sí mismo no está mal. Lo que me preocupa es que cada vez más haya lecturas para pasar el rato y menos libros memorables. Y la cosa es que esos también nos hacen mucha falta. Mucha más, pues.
En fin. Que mis estrellas van para lluvia Rojo y para Rose Cooper como ilustradora -no como autora.
Esa buena traducción, sumada al diseño editorial, se saca cinco estrellas. Lo malo es que se promedian con la trama y el desarrollo de personajes y... ahí es donde el libro nos queda a deber. Me explico:
La idea es muy buena: una adolescente se encuentra un teléfono celular en un cementerio. Y el teléfono recibe mensajes extraños... sí, de los muertos. Hasta ahí vamos bien.
Pero entonces se convierte en una mala copia de Ghost Girl con un toque de Sexto Sentido y un misterio flojo y mal resuelto. Peor aún: los personajes, todos, son planos y poco creíbles. Sobre todo, están muy desaprovechados. Al final, queda la sensaciónd e que la autora nos quedó a deber: que no se esforzó lo suficiente.
Es una pectura para pasar el rato, lo que en sí mismo no está mal. Lo que me preocupa es que cada vez más haya lecturas para pasar el rato y menos libros memorables. Y la cosa es que esos también nos hacen mucha falta. Mucha más, pues.
En fin. Que mis estrellas van para lluvia Rojo y para Rose Cooper como ilustradora -no como autora.
June 9, 2015
Moving to a new town offers a fresh start for Annabel (Anna)Craven and her mother. Despite the fact that their new house, inherited from her uncle, is next to a cemetery and rumored to be haunted, Anna is determined to make the best of the situation. But her new school is populated with all sorts of Mean Girls, and she somehow attracts the attention of several spirits determined to get in touch with someone and bring closure to things left unresolved. Oddly, when Anna finds a cellphone on the way to school, it turns out to provide a means of communication between a ghost and her as strange text messages arrive for Anna. Late elementary and early middle graders may enjoy this one because of Anna's good nature and obliviousness to the danger that seems to seep ever-closer to her. The suspense builds almost to the last page. Who knew ghosts could text or that they could remain unseen by others in the very same room as Anna. What looks like rudeness turns out to be something else. The idea behind the book is an interesting one.
November 3, 2015
4 stars for the plot, 3 for the writing but a total of 2 for yet another wimpy-girl main character. It is possible to be the self-conscious new kid wanting to fit in without being such an utter doormat: Anna's character is why I won't recommend/buy this for my granddaughters although it's a good enough read, and the illustrations by the author are charming.
The idea of the texting-dead is a wonderfully clever take on youth paranormal and the new-kid angle is well done. Anna should at least have been a bit more conflicted over being used by the requisitely mean popular crowd: that was a good opportunity to inject a little backbone into the main character without interrupting the flow of the book. It is the 21st century now, not the 1960s.
The mystery will be solved early on by a clever kid, the more naive young reader will probably find it surprising.
The idea of the texting-dead is a wonderfully clever take on youth paranormal and the new-kid angle is well done. Anna should at least have been a bit more conflicted over being used by the requisitely mean popular crowd: that was a good opportunity to inject a little backbone into the main character without interrupting the flow of the book. It is the 21st century now, not the 1960s.
The mystery will be solved early on by a clever kid, the more naive young reader will probably find it surprising.
October 6, 2015
It was ok. It was geared towards younger people probably pre teens Which I didn't know.
October 29, 2016
I will be talking about some slightly big spoilers in this review so I suggest stopping after the 3rd paragraph if you plan on reading it. [Ignore that I read it over 3 days, it was my buddy on the bus to and from places]
I know that the book is listed under YA, but considering the kid is, I believe in her last year of middle school still, that this should be more for middle grade readers. Even the short length and illustrations along the chapter titles have similar layouts to other middle-grade books.
I liked the book ok, this is coming from an adult mind you, but I share some of the grievances that other reviewers had, it was a fairly short book and that didn't allow for too much subplot and mystery, it also took a little long to get to the actually reason many picked up the book, the ghosts. Now I don't mind a slow buildup if it adds details, and plot twists, and engages the reader into wanting solve the mystery [herein being who's texting this poor girl, why was the creepy guy after her in the morning, etc.]. But it takes over half the pages to get to the "creepy portions" while just going through Annabel's daily life. And while it was pretty boring there was still a chance to build character there, to add little clues, to up the creep factor of random texts. But no, the book just skipped around with what was happening, in chronological order, but it seemed to focus on slow plot movement. But the plot movement was more so, something happened in chapter X, Anna worries about it in chapter Y, something else comes up in Y so Ann has to shift focus [usually onto something not as important as X], then in chapter Z something else pops up, and all of a sudden X is all kinds of important again, like kid focus please.
It feels like the chapters are being written strictly to jump the story forward instead of letting it flow. And with this method we get fairly 2D, but hedging really close to kinda fleshed out characters. But they still felt like young teens, so I'm happy that they didn't sound fake or forced, that's always difficult with younger characters. I still found it pretty neat, the idea was good, I was incredibly excited about the idea, ghosts texting?? I mean come on it could be so hilarious and downright creepy at the same time! I'm glad that Anna stood up for herself in the end.
On to the spoilers and my grievances
1. On the first day of school there was some creepy guy who knew Anna's name and chased her through the cemetery shortcut on her way to school. Ok first off, that's terrifying for anybody. Secondly I wouldn't give a darn if I had to go to school that day, I'd be trying to find the nearest phone [Anna's was broken btw] to call the police! And even if I was so frazzled that I made it to school in the end I would go to the office and demand the phone to call the cops. This is not something you let go. This would have been a great way to just up the tension in the book if people just went against her wishes to phone the cops and then we just keep winding it from there.
2. She should have told her mom about the creepy guy, this way we could have had tension of
a- her mom could have tried to brush it off and shown neglect which could have ostracized Anne even in her own new home thus leaving our heroine all by herself to deal with these problems, heightening tension and worry for her safety even more, but her mom's not like that as evidenced by the rest of the book, so it would have much for a much darker story.
b- her mom would have called the cops, and they could have bonded over this shared fear over the safety of their new home. And once again the tension could be wound further, especially if the police were lackluster in their actions.
3. Ghosts have a specific smell wafting over them, if Millie smelled like vanilla every time Anna was around her wouldn’t we have gotten that information the first or second time Anna came into contact with her, not halfway through the book with a very vague “Maybe I’ll pick up some of that vanilla scented lotion Millie wears”. The smell wasn’t previously mentioned, there’s no context that it could be lotion that Millie is wearing, I’ve walked past bath and body and smelled 18 different kinds of candy scents, vanilla can be the smell of anything you smear, spritz, or bathe in. I know it was there to hint at Millie being a ghost, but the statement was just so vague and felt so random, if the hint flowed better with the situation in the book it would have still been a clue, but a much subtler clue. When the information was presented it felt awkward and it made me stop to think about it. Subtler clues are better since it’s after the book everyone is rushing to find the little hints, this one stood out too much.
3.5 There was a sentence whose structure made it difficult to read fluently and it just pulled me out of the story. If I hadn’t returned the book to the library I would have gone and found the page and paragraph for this.
4. This is the biggest thing and it made me so mad, so utterly enraged, that I had to drop the book by a full star. Not only did Olivia cruelly and publicly harass another girl [most likely several girls] but she lured another child [basically cat fished Lucy], a minor, late at night, to a CEMETARY. She corroborated with Vincent [I think that was his name, it was mentioned once in the beginning of the book so pardon me if I am incorrect], to acquire a clown mask, in an attempt to scare the living daylights out of Lucy. This was done with malicious intent. As someone who terrorized Lucy, especially for her clothes, she knew darn well Lucy liked her big heels. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure that someone wearing really big heels, in the dark, in the cemetery with branches and tombstones and memorial plaques jutting out of the ground is more than likely to trip and fall, and if they trip and fall in a cemetery 9/10 they’re probably gonna fall against a tombstone or a tree and get hurt. Lucy died in that cemetery that night, Olivia knows she did, Anna knows she did, Spencer knows she did, and both Anna and Spencer know Olivia was there.
WHERE ARE THE POLICE, WHY HAS NO ONE BEEN CALLED?! This is involuntary manslaughter in a legal sense [in that the death was an accident but the guilty party was still committing an unlawful act]. Why does Olivia just get to go free?? Even if she is in denial over her involvement in this she’s not shown as feeling anything about Lucy’s passing, not a thing, which has strong psychological implications about this girl, she is not ok. She has the mental level of a sociopath at such a young age.
There’s so much here that could make this a very powerful and genuinely terrifying story, and frankly the scary parts are not the ghosts but Olivia, and it just fell really short for me. I had fun reading it but if you ask me would I recommend it to someone I couldn’t. Especially with Lucy’s passing, I just couldn’t tell someone to read this, especially someone younger. Like we can’t just ignore the fact that a girl died because another girl lured her into the cemetery in the dark to freak her out, that gets people sent to JAIL. Even in a work of fiction there should be some focus on rules and laws, especially when death is involved. Letting Olivia go scot-free left a bad taste in my soul. And I just couldn’t tell someone to read this without giving them a small warning beforehand, like yeah, you might have fun, but it might also make you almost inconsolably angry.
I know that the book is listed under YA, but considering the kid is, I believe in her last year of middle school still, that this should be more for middle grade readers. Even the short length and illustrations along the chapter titles have similar layouts to other middle-grade books.
I liked the book ok, this is coming from an adult mind you, but I share some of the grievances that other reviewers had, it was a fairly short book and that didn't allow for too much subplot and mystery, it also took a little long to get to the actually reason many picked up the book, the ghosts. Now I don't mind a slow buildup if it adds details, and plot twists, and engages the reader into wanting solve the mystery [herein being who's texting this poor girl, why was the creepy guy after her in the morning, etc.]. But it takes over half the pages to get to the "creepy portions" while just going through Annabel's daily life. And while it was pretty boring there was still a chance to build character there, to add little clues, to up the creep factor of random texts. But no, the book just skipped around with what was happening, in chronological order, but it seemed to focus on slow plot movement. But the plot movement was more so, something happened in chapter X, Anna worries about it in chapter Y, something else comes up in Y so Ann has to shift focus [usually onto something not as important as X], then in chapter Z something else pops up, and all of a sudden X is all kinds of important again, like kid focus please.
It feels like the chapters are being written strictly to jump the story forward instead of letting it flow. And with this method we get fairly 2D, but hedging really close to kinda fleshed out characters. But they still felt like young teens, so I'm happy that they didn't sound fake or forced, that's always difficult with younger characters. I still found it pretty neat, the idea was good, I was incredibly excited about the idea, ghosts texting?? I mean come on it could be so hilarious and downright creepy at the same time! I'm glad that Anna stood up for herself in the end.
On to the spoilers and my grievances
1. On the first day of school there was some creepy guy who knew Anna's name and chased her through the cemetery shortcut on her way to school. Ok first off, that's terrifying for anybody. Secondly I wouldn't give a darn if I had to go to school that day, I'd be trying to find the nearest phone [Anna's was broken btw] to call the police! And even if I was so frazzled that I made it to school in the end I would go to the office and demand the phone to call the cops. This is not something you let go. This would have been a great way to just up the tension in the book if people just went against her wishes to phone the cops and then we just keep winding it from there.
2. She should have told her mom about the creepy guy, this way we could have had tension of
a- her mom could have tried to brush it off and shown neglect which could have ostracized Anne even in her own new home thus leaving our heroine all by herself to deal with these problems, heightening tension and worry for her safety even more, but her mom's not like that as evidenced by the rest of the book, so it would have much for a much darker story.
b- her mom would have called the cops, and they could have bonded over this shared fear over the safety of their new home. And once again the tension could be wound further, especially if the police were lackluster in their actions.
3. Ghosts have a specific smell wafting over them, if Millie smelled like vanilla every time Anna was around her wouldn’t we have gotten that information the first or second time Anna came into contact with her, not halfway through the book with a very vague “Maybe I’ll pick up some of that vanilla scented lotion Millie wears”. The smell wasn’t previously mentioned, there’s no context that it could be lotion that Millie is wearing, I’ve walked past bath and body and smelled 18 different kinds of candy scents, vanilla can be the smell of anything you smear, spritz, or bathe in. I know it was there to hint at Millie being a ghost, but the statement was just so vague and felt so random, if the hint flowed better with the situation in the book it would have still been a clue, but a much subtler clue. When the information was presented it felt awkward and it made me stop to think about it. Subtler clues are better since it’s after the book everyone is rushing to find the little hints, this one stood out too much.
3.5 There was a sentence whose structure made it difficult to read fluently and it just pulled me out of the story. If I hadn’t returned the book to the library I would have gone and found the page and paragraph for this.
4. This is the biggest thing and it made me so mad, so utterly enraged, that I had to drop the book by a full star. Not only did Olivia cruelly and publicly harass another girl [most likely several girls] but she lured another child [basically cat fished Lucy], a minor, late at night, to a CEMETARY. She corroborated with Vincent [I think that was his name, it was mentioned once in the beginning of the book so pardon me if I am incorrect], to acquire a clown mask, in an attempt to scare the living daylights out of Lucy. This was done with malicious intent. As someone who terrorized Lucy, especially for her clothes, she knew darn well Lucy liked her big heels. It doesn’t take a scientist to figure that someone wearing really big heels, in the dark, in the cemetery with branches and tombstones and memorial plaques jutting out of the ground is more than likely to trip and fall, and if they trip and fall in a cemetery 9/10 they’re probably gonna fall against a tombstone or a tree and get hurt. Lucy died in that cemetery that night, Olivia knows she did, Anna knows she did, Spencer knows she did, and both Anna and Spencer know Olivia was there.
WHERE ARE THE POLICE, WHY HAS NO ONE BEEN CALLED?! This is involuntary manslaughter in a legal sense [in that the death was an accident but the guilty party was still committing an unlawful act]. Why does Olivia just get to go free?? Even if she is in denial over her involvement in this she’s not shown as feeling anything about Lucy’s passing, not a thing, which has strong psychological implications about this girl, she is not ok. She has the mental level of a sociopath at such a young age.
There’s so much here that could make this a very powerful and genuinely terrifying story, and frankly the scary parts are not the ghosts but Olivia, and it just fell really short for me. I had fun reading it but if you ask me would I recommend it to someone I couldn’t. Especially with Lucy’s passing, I just couldn’t tell someone to read this, especially someone younger. Like we can’t just ignore the fact that a girl died because another girl lured her into the cemetery in the dark to freak her out, that gets people sent to JAIL. Even in a work of fiction there should be some focus on rules and laws, especially when death is involved. Letting Olivia go scot-free left a bad taste in my soul. And I just couldn’t tell someone to read this without giving them a small warning beforehand, like yeah, you might have fun, but it might also make you almost inconsolably angry.
December 3, 2019
My girlfriend borrowed this book from the library for her 9-year-old and I gave it a read. The premise seemed really cool but the execution was disappointing. I couldn't see my step-daughter liking any of the characters or even relating to any of them.
So we start off with Anna, who has just moved with her mom into her crazy dead uncle's house. some creepy guy creeps on her, and then she runs into the middle of the woods and finds a phone. Then nothing really happens for 100 pages. it's like 100 pages of setup and i feel like i'm wasting my time. everyone at anna's new school is rich and shallow, in contrast to anna, who is normal, and more like a real person, except she's also just... really shallow. it's like all of the high school tropes mashed together meaninglessly with some spooky mixed in. like heathers meets mean girls meets uh... i don't know. something with ghosts. twilight? harry potter?
there was like one twist somewhere in the middle that got me excited, like an "oh shit!!" moment. and then i started reading with renewed enthusiasm, in hopes of more of those moments. but the interesting parts were too few and far in between. sad day.
i showed it to my stepchild. i said "i read this book that your mom got you... and i don't think you'll like it... but you can read it if you want to."
she didn't want to.
So we start off with Anna, who has just moved with her mom into her crazy dead uncle's house. some creepy guy creeps on her, and then she runs into the middle of the woods and finds a phone. Then nothing really happens for 100 pages. it's like 100 pages of setup and i feel like i'm wasting my time. everyone at anna's new school is rich and shallow, in contrast to anna, who is normal, and more like a real person, except she's also just... really shallow. it's like all of the high school tropes mashed together meaninglessly with some spooky mixed in. like heathers meets mean girls meets uh... i don't know. something with ghosts. twilight? harry potter?
there was like one twist somewhere in the middle that got me excited, like an "oh shit!!" moment. and then i started reading with renewed enthusiasm, in hopes of more of those moments. but the interesting parts were too few and far in between. sad day.
i showed it to my stepchild. i said "i read this book that your mom got you... and i don't think you'll like it... but you can read it if you want to."
she didn't want to.
July 24, 2017
I am going to be honest in saying, I bought this book for the awesomely cute cover and just loved the story. This book is about a girl named Annabel that moves to a new town because her uncle dies and her and her mom inherit the old mansion. The house is near a cemetery and that is where the books starts with Annabel finding a mysterious cell phone. A story about finding yourself, new friends, lots of spooky and a new creepy life. The illustrations are to "die" for! I would recommend this book to everyone!
October 19, 2019
It was awesome I’ve never read something that amazing before
July 24, 2025
A teenage girl, Annabelle or Anna, and her mother move to a small town to live in the creepy old house that they inherited from a relative. A cemetery and a mortuary nearby add to the spooky atmosphere. Anna finds a phone while on her way to school and begins receiving texts from dead people. Of course, that's not immediately obvious (why would it be?). Anna has to cope with fitting into her new school and trying to make friends while dealing with ghostly events. This was a quick, fun read with great illustrations.
April 6, 2023
Good writing but not my type
Sorry
Sorry
July 11, 2025
i love this book sooooo much but it’s really not good
May 8, 2018
The cover is what sucked me in. Love that cover, the book not so much.
I kept wishing for more till I was at the end of the book and I realized my wish was not going to come true.
I kept wishing for more till I was at the end of the book and I realized my wish was not going to come true.
June 25, 2015
I TEXT DEAD PEOPLE looked adorable, from the title to Rose Cooper's cartoonish illustrations. The morbid cuteness reminds me of the ghostgirl series by Tonya Hurley, but for kids instead of teens. I have a cousin that I know will love this one.
Annabel Craven, known as Anna, didn't want to move to a new town. Her first day gets off to a bad start when a weird guy accosts her because he just knows she has something of his. But things start to look up as she makes friends (even though some of them want her to do their homework) and finds a cell phone. Then someone strange starts texting her.
Part of the book is told through the point of view of Lucy, who is a stalker. I TEXT DEAD PEOPLE never uses the word stalker, but that's what she's doing. I think her sections are meant to be over the top in a humorous way, but I mostly found it sad, creepy, and actionable. Unfortunately, when Lucy dies she just keeps stalking the boy - and Anna, since she can talk to her.
I TEXT THE DEAD has a good combination of fish out of water and cozy murder mystery stories. There's definitely a lot of legs for the premise in future installments in the Dead Serious series. I thought Lucy was a bum note, but she's a one-book character. Anna herself is interesting, and not stalking anyone.
Annabel Craven, known as Anna, didn't want to move to a new town. Her first day gets off to a bad start when a weird guy accosts her because he just knows she has something of his. But things start to look up as she makes friends (even though some of them want her to do their homework) and finds a cell phone. Then someone strange starts texting her.
Part of the book is told through the point of view of Lucy, who is a stalker. I TEXT DEAD PEOPLE never uses the word stalker, but that's what she's doing. I think her sections are meant to be over the top in a humorous way, but I mostly found it sad, creepy, and actionable. Unfortunately, when Lucy dies she just keeps stalking the boy - and Anna, since she can talk to her.
I TEXT THE DEAD has a good combination of fish out of water and cozy murder mystery stories. There's definitely a lot of legs for the premise in future installments in the Dead Serious series. I thought Lucy was a bum note, but she's a one-book character. Anna herself is interesting, and not stalking anyone.
March 6, 2015
I picked this book up in North Carolina and was utterly charmed when I realized the author hails from my hometown all the way back in California. It took me awhile to open it up, but when I did I was once again charmed by the style, the voice, and the plotting. Which is why it is so sad that this book crumbles around the climax and the conclusion.
The first 75% of the novel is fantastic. Fun, well paced, and interesting. I'm an adult reading a middle-grade book and parts of the mystery had me stumped. However, the last quarter loses the pacing and plotting and seems to just sort of stumble into an end. Everything is wrapped up but in a haphazard, almost incidental way.
Overall, however, I really enjoyed it. And if Cooper ever comes up with a sequel I would certainly be in line to read about the continuing adventures of Annabell Craven.
The first 75% of the novel is fantastic. Fun, well paced, and interesting. I'm an adult reading a middle-grade book and parts of the mystery had me stumped. However, the last quarter loses the pacing and plotting and seems to just sort of stumble into an end. Everything is wrapped up but in a haphazard, almost incidental way.
Overall, however, I really enjoyed it. And if Cooper ever comes up with a sequel I would certainly be in line to read about the continuing adventures of Annabell Craven.
November 20, 2015
I liked the concept of this book and I think that Annabel is endearing, but there was a poor execution to the plot. There were multiple times that the “rules” as far as communicating with the dead were broken and I struggled to look past them. The storyline falls just a little too close to “Mean Girls” and other stereotypes in some ways as well. That being said, the premise was cute and it was interesting to see how the ending was going to turn out. It was an enjoyable read, but I doubt that I could continue if there is a sequel.
Who should read it? Younger audiences who may be able to overlook the inconsistencies.
Please note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review courtesy of the publisher.
See all my reviews and more at www.ReadingToDistraction.com or @Read2Distract
Who should read it? Younger audiences who may be able to overlook the inconsistencies.
Please note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review courtesy of the publisher.
See all my reviews and more at www.ReadingToDistraction.com or @Read2Distract
February 2, 2016
This isn't what you'd call a super deep book, but manages to address some ever-present teen challenges, all the same. The heroine isn't perfect, but she's engaging, realistic, and likable. Give the book a try, and I think you'll like it!
Full spotlight on the blog, here, along with the cat's two cents. Happy reading!
Full spotlight on the blog, here, along with the cat's two cents. Happy reading!
July 13, 2015
This book reminded me of Ghostgirl as well but more on a middle school level. I think that it would be great from that age group. Just enjoy suspense and scary aspects with a twist of mystery. I enjoyed it and was able to read it all I one day cause I wanted to know the story outcome.
February 15, 2016
It was OK. I figured out most of it early on, but not all of it. I started reading this to my son, but he is too young for it, so I finished it up as I can't put books down once I start reading them. To me, the synopsis made the book sound like there was more too it there actually is.
July 17, 2017
By and large this book is riddled with holes and almost as lifeless as some of the characters. If you're looking for the next great ghost story for young readers, this isn't it.
July 3, 2015
Silly and a couple of parts where my arm hair stood on end. I think 5th-6th graders would like it? Haunted, houses and haunting people, texting, boyfriends/girlfriends, cliques, bullying.
May 21, 2018
We begin with a girl named Annabel Craven who moved with her mother to an uncles old home.It's a creepy run down ugly looking house.As fate would have it ,they moved because of Annabel.She took a scholastic test and she had the highest score in the school. So her school transferred her to a gifted school. Little does anyone know that the day she took the test,she was so nervous that she guessed most of the answers. Now causing her to live far from her friends. Living in the uncles old mansion Annabel decides to make the best of it.School would start on Monday and she had to be ready. So Monday came and she had to walk to the school. Along the way she realizes there is a short cut thru the cemetery.Walking in the cemetery was creeping her out. But now she hears twigs snapping and thought she spotted someone., So she begins to run,all of a sudden she stumbles taking a nasty fall. Looking up she doesn't see anyone. She gets up quickly but notices something shiny on the floor. Its a cell phone ,she picks it up a says shell find the owner to give it back. Arriving at the school the administrator tells her to clean herself up.Annabel goes to the rest room and thinks hopefully no one will notice the state she is in. In between classes she goes to her assigned locker.Again she is having trouble opening it . Looking up there is a young man looking at her. He asks if she needs help, she nods and is very grateful. Now she can go to lunch. In the lunchroom she can't decide where to sit. So she sits next to a girl named Millie and a girl name Lucy. Everyone stares at Lucy, Millie then whispers to Annabel to stay away from Lucy. She looks only to her surprise Millie disappeared. At that same moment the phone she found rings,so she texted them back. Saying i found the phone who is this?
They then text back "Help Me". A highly recommended read.This was a very good middle grade read , its had some mystery , funny situations and well written .
They then text back "Help Me". A highly recommended read.This was a very good middle grade read , its had some mystery , funny situations and well written .
September 18, 2020
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Picked this book up, along with its sequel, at a library sale. Figured it would be good for a quick, easy read.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed by it. The idea for the plot was interesting, but it was gone about in a very drawn out and boring way. The narration was dated and the characters were not very fleshed out. It's basically The Sixth Sense with a bunch of teenage drama thrown in. The twists were pretty predictable as well. I realize it's written for a younger audience, but it felt patronizing with how many hints the author thought the reader needed to figure out the obvious details.
The design of the book was nice. I did like some of the cutesy-morbid drawings, although some of them did not coordinate with the text.
The pacing of the book was off with too much set up in the beginning, forcing everything to wrap up in a very quick, inefficient manner. Some of the plot points introduced in the beginning were reduced to awkward speculation in the dialogue as resolution at the end, as though they were just afterthoughts. Not a very satisfying ending. The book tried to do too much in terms of plot, which left everything to fall flat at the end.
Also, I disliked that the book included bullying and stalking behaviors, but never really went anywhere with them. There was no lesson or even really any consequences for the negative behavior. It is just treated as part of life.
Not a fan of this one. I do have the followup book, which I may try at some point but this one just wasn't for me. Cool idea, but not great execution.
Picked this book up, along with its sequel, at a library sale. Figured it would be good for a quick, easy read.
Overall, I was pretty disappointed by it. The idea for the plot was interesting, but it was gone about in a very drawn out and boring way. The narration was dated and the characters were not very fleshed out. It's basically The Sixth Sense with a bunch of teenage drama thrown in. The twists were pretty predictable as well. I realize it's written for a younger audience, but it felt patronizing with how many hints the author thought the reader needed to figure out the obvious details.
The design of the book was nice. I did like some of the cutesy-morbid drawings, although some of them did not coordinate with the text.
The pacing of the book was off with too much set up in the beginning, forcing everything to wrap up in a very quick, inefficient manner. Some of the plot points introduced in the beginning were reduced to awkward speculation in the dialogue as resolution at the end, as though they were just afterthoughts. Not a very satisfying ending. The book tried to do too much in terms of plot, which left everything to fall flat at the end.
Also, I disliked that the book included bullying and stalking behaviors, but never really went anywhere with them. There was no lesson or even really any consequences for the negative behavior. It is just treated as part of life.
Not a fan of this one. I do have the followup book, which I may try at some point but this one just wasn't for me. Cool idea, but not great execution.
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