Lily Anderson (1)

I loved this book so much! When I saw that Lily Anderson was writing a companion novel to The Only Thing Worse Than Me is You, I couldn’t get my hands on it fast enough, and I am very happy to report it did not disappoint at all.

The writing is just as fabulous as her first novel, filled with pop culture and nerd references that made me grin from ear to ear the entire time I was reading. The plot and the setting were really fun as well. I love the idea of an academic decathlon summer camp show more with an underlying mystery and a really sweet romance.

The characters were also fantastic. Ever is smart and feisty and just a really great main character. I love that she knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to do whatever she has to in order to obtain it. It was also really cool getting to see young B. Calistero from Anderson’s first novel, take center stage as the main male protagonist. He was so adorable and nerdy and it was really nice getting to see his character development. Obviously, I also loved every time we were privy to Ben and Trixie and their wonderful banter. I would read ten books about those two just being domestic and arguing over comic books.

This book was fun from start to finish. Lily has definitely become one of my auto-buy authors, and I can’t wait to read what she writes next.

*Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for providing the free arc in exchange for an honest review.* show less

Imagine a world, if you will, where Buffy never came to Sunnydale. It is now a place where the Mayor has blocked out the sun and Sunnydale has now become Demonsdale. The original Big Bad - Angelus, Vampire Willow, Spike, Ripper, and Drusilla have made it their home and their own world.

Enter the original Buffy. She has arrived but this world is not her own. Rather, she was tossed here by a wish and now she has to find her way back to her original timeline.

But first, she has to battle the show more original Big Bad to retrieve magical items that will help her and along the way piss off the big bad in this timeline. The one thing I would have loved to have seen are other timelines to this one. I think even those would have been just as interesting as this one. I hope that we do get something like that in the future.

Will Buffy find her way home?

Okay, this has been the first Buffy book that I have loved. The loved the fact this one breaks off from season one and cuts into an alternate world. The characters we have come to love and hate in one big area and now have to prepare to fight a slayer. A slayer none of them had seen in quite some time. Many believe that the slayer nothing but a myth.

It was great to see the big bads of the original world being able to take control of their own world and live it. I was happy to see Angelus and Drusilla. The only thing I would have loved to see was Buffy's interaction with them. The moments are brief, too brief for me. I would have loved to see what they would have done to know that there is another world with them in totally different situations.

Buffy was still herself and I loved that. She came in, slayer blazing, and adding her own quips to the situation. I love her. I have always loved her and I was happy to see that her character did not change whatsoever and now she was going to be the Big Bad to the original ones. I found that hilarious how they had no idea how to deal with her.

This is really one of the few Buffy books that I actually enjoyed. The others branch off into original characters and although I love that idea, I still want to see more of Buffy herself.

The author really ties this one with the original season and that is what kept me reading. It was hard to put this book down and always found myself cheering on Buffy as she moved to return to her original timeline. I loved her interactions with the others even as brief as they were.

More Buffy in the future, please. :D show less

High School was already tough for Mila Flores and that was before her best friend Riley and two other classmates died in the same week. While the town believes all three to be unfortunate suicides, Mila knows her best friend and can't believe her death could be anything short of murder.

Determined to find justice, Mila resorts to a spell in the hopes that magic will bring back her best friend and help her find justice. What Mila wasn't prepared for was the spell to actually work. When Mila show more manages to bring back not only Riley but the two popular girls who died before her, they're on the clock. The spell only lasts for a week and no one is handling their resurrection very well.

For every fat girl, for every girl who wears eyeliner and combat boots as armor, for every girl who chooses her own path and damn the consequences, Mila will resonate. Lily Anderson perfectly captures the feeling of being too large for the world around you as a teenage girl, the awkwardness of not fitting the mold. Mila takes no prisoners and will do whatever needs to be done to find justice for her best friend, but underneath the sharp wit and the fuck off eyeliner is a deeply vulnerable and insecure girl who's grief is consuming her.

Undead Girl Gang is a fast paced supernatural murder mystery that's sharp, funny, and surprising. With it's cast of unforgettable and strong characters, this is a stand out book.

Thank you to First To Read from Penguin Random House for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

This is almost a four-star read for me. It's certainly an excellent Much Ado About Nothing adaptation, especially given all the wacky Shakespearean peculiarities Anderson renders purposeful and (mostly) sensible. And I did greatly enjoy the love story and the friendships and the depth and detail of even minor characters.

But Trixie, the narrator and our protagonist, was not just challenging to spend 300 pages with, she was also an exhibit in how diverse and often unwelcoming geek culture can show more be. I'm very definitely a geek, but of all the fandoms Trixie rhapsodized about—at least ten, and I'm sure I missed some—I think I only shared three of them. Which would be fine...to each their own...except she often belittled and derided those of other fandoms or those within her own fandoms who couldn't claim her geek expertise.

I get that Trixie's behavior and opinions are supposed to be slightly problematic. (Certainly her tendency to view her best friend as a chicken who clucks and flaps in panic every other moment was off-putting, to say the least.) And she does manage some growth by the end of the book. But if I wanted to hang out with someone who thinks their fandoms and their knowledge of them make them better than everyone else, there are tumblr blogs and subreddits for that.

On a slight side-note...what is it with the Tardis dresses?! I've been to many librarian conferences with so many people wearing them. I admire the devotion to fandom, but there are Middle Earth dresses and R2-D2 dresses and much other fandom couture from which to choose. Why the Tardis?! Does librarian (or librarian author) = Tardis? Is there a secret librarian Tardis society? Do the dresses just fit better than the other fandom ones? show less