Book review: Dead Girls Are Easy by author Terri Garey

Review by Sarah



Dead Girls Are Easy by Terri Garey
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Back of the Book Blurb:

There's something about almost dying that makes a girl rethink her priorities. Take Nicki Styx—she was strictly goth and vintage, until a brush with the afterlife leaves her with the ability to see dead people.

Before you can say boo, Atlanta's ghosts are knocking at Nicki's door. Now her days consist of reluctantly cleaning up messes left by the dearly departed, leading ghouls to the Light . . . and one-on-one anatomy lessons with Dr. Joe Bascombe, the dreamy surgeon who saved her life. All this catering to the deceased is a real drag, especially for a girl who'd rather be playing hanky-panky with her hunky new boyfriend . . . who's beginning to think she's totally nuts.

But things get even more complicated when a friend foolishly sells her soul to the devil, and Nicki's new gift lands her in some deep voodoo.

As it turns out for Nicki Styx, death was just the beginning.


Review: Love this! This is one of the smartest, most original paranormal books I have read in a long while.

Nicki is a great heroine - she is a smart, confident woman who came out of her goth stage with her black eyeliner and originality intact. She co-owns a vintage clothing store with her best friend, Evan, and has a nice life as a single girl in the childhood home she inherited. Nicki is a reluctant ghost whisperer following her near death experience, and her reactions are humorous and understandable, and show her inherent kindness, compassion and bravery. She doesn't want this ability, but feels like she should help the (sometimes nagging and annoying) ghosts who need her assistance. Nicki describes her new life as "dead people jumping up like Pop-Tarts to impose their unfinished business on me".

Nicki's new life has come with another change as well, in a loving and sexy boyfriend. Joe saved her life and is fascinated by her, as both a subject for his study of near death experiences, and as a woman. As Nicki navigates her feelings for him, he drops an emotional bomb on her, revealing that she may have a twin sister. Adding to the intrigue is the fact that this woman is named Kelly Charon, probable twin sister to Nicki Styx (yes, I'm a dork, but Greek mythology references make me so happy!). With regular plot twists that reveal how intertwined people and events are in Nicki's life, this is one satisfying read, and a delightful paranormal mystery/romance. The characters are well-developed, the action is steady and the bad guys genuinely scary, but the details are the delight in this book, setting it apart from others in the genre. Specific references to vintage clothing and jewelry labels and materials, music groups, voodoo and more lend charm and depth to the characters and the story. As if that isn't enough, the author manages to reference Edward Gorey - I am now a fan for life!

5 out of 5 Modokker Book Pick Stars!

Released in 2007, DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY was named 2008 Best First Book by Romance Writers of America©, and won the 2008 PRISM Award for Best Paranormal Romance.

For more information, visit the author's spookishly awesome website at www.tgarey.com. Her website motto is "Come to the Dark Side, we have cookies!", so you know it's gotta be good!