Sunday, April 21, 2013

As Dead As It Gets


Title: As Dead as it Gets
Author: Katie Alender
Series: Bad Girl's Don't Die, Book 3
Number of Pages: 442
Date Read: 4/21/13
Genre: Ghosts, Supernatural, Paranormal, Fantasy
Rating: A+

Synopsis (Found on Goodreads.com)

It's been three months since Alexis helplessly witnessed Lydia Small's violent death, and all she wants is for her life to return to normal. 
But normal people don't see decaying bodies haunting photographs. Normal people don't have to deal with regular intrusions from Lydia's angry ghost, sometimes escalating to terrifying attacks.

At first, it seems that Lydia wants revenge on Alexis alone. But a girl from school disappears one night, and Alexis spots one of Lydia's signature yellow roses lying on the girl's dresser the next day. Soon, it becomes clear that several of Alexis's friends are in danger, and that she's the only person who can save them. But as she tries to intervene, Alexis realizes that her enemy is a much more powerful ghost than she's ever faced before... and that its fate is tied to hers in ways she couldn't possibly imagine.

Not even in her worst nightmares.



My Review:

*Contain Spoilers*

I really liked this book a lot. It was definitely better than the second book. I won't go into too much detail because there's a lot to the book that I don't want to give away. There may be a few spoilers but nothing major.

Basically the story is about a ghost..duh :D. Alexis can now see ghosts in photographs and on the t.v. due to the fact that she retook the oath to Aralt to save her vision in the last book. So now her eyes are screwed up to where she can see ghosts. Now in the book there are lots of girls dying but no one knows why and Alexis decides she has to be the one to figure out why. At first Alexis thought it was Lydia, who is an actual ghost that Alexis can see and interacts with without the use of pictures or the t.v. Turns out its not Lydia and Alexis has to look closer to find out who is killing the girls. 

In the beginning of the book we're right back to Alexis trying to deal with all this ghost stuff by herself because that totally worked in the past right? Not. Now while that part annoys me that she doesn't go for help, I do understand her reason for not telling anyone. The basic fact is when dealing with killer angry ghosts, the more people know, the higher the body count. She's trying to protect everyone around her. I have to say, if I was in her situation I might do the same thing because I couldn't stand it if anyone I loved got killed because I told them about the ghosts. So while its not the best thing to do its totally understandable. However as the ghost continues with the killings I do like how she opens up to her sister Kasey and asks her for help. She also relies on Lydia, who helps Alexis out as well. And finally She actually reaches out to Carter for help, which is all he ever wanted in the first place. Ultimately she is the one who has to stop the ghost but she learned to ask and take help along the way. 

I really liked Lydia in this book. She's funny and witty and had me rolling on the floor laughing. I hate that she's dead but I hate it even more that she could't or wouldn't have been this nice to Alexis while she was alive. Its a shame that her being dead had to change her for the better. Anyway, Lydia is there when Alexis needs her. She helps her find out about the ghost and the murders of the girls. She helps Alexis break out of...somewhere...and tries to fight the ghost. She also tries to stop the girls from dying, when they are possessed by the ghost, by trying to wake them up from the trance and she does this even knowing that it will weaken and hurt her. She's a really great friend and as Alexis said "One of the best ghosts".

While we don't see Carter much in the book, we do hear about him. In this book he dates Zoe for a brief period, which makes him an ass in my book since Alexis accused him of something going with her in the second book and he denied it. I'm sure he didn't cheat on Alexis with Zoe but it was an ass move to start dating her. He could have dated anyone else but he had to pick Zoe. Anyway I was completely happy when he broke up with Zoe. Carter, aside from the whole Zoe this, is really a great stand up guy. When Alexis calls him for help, he goes to her without asking a sing question about the situation. That's all he ever wanted, is for Alexis to call him when she needed help. He actually says this in the book too. When Alexis tells him all about whats happening, he immediately helps out, taking on a task that could be completely fatal to him. But he does it anyway. I'm just going to say it: Carter and Alexis get back together and I was so happy. Right when all the crap was going down and Carter was about to take on the dangerous task, he and Alexis kissed and he told her "I love you, Lex. Whatever happens, don't forget that. Of course she tells him she loves him too and it was so sweet and I shouted in triumph as I read it. lol. Yes I can be pretty obsessive when it comes to couples in a book. 

I liked Jared in the beginning of the book. I thought he was sweet and caring and he really is, he's just broken, because of a tragedy that happened. He dates Alexis through the whole book but he is controlling and there is a deeper reason as to why he is the way he is. He doesn't really like Alexis that way but for his own reasons that you find out later he stays with her. Its kinda dumb really because Alexis and Jared don't really like each other that much. Alexis uses Jared for comfort when she's feeling upset about Carter, who she really loves. The is said for Jared as well. 

Megan was kinda mean in the book up until the end. She didn't really want to be around Alexis after the sunshine club but she did ask Alexis to join a club at her new school with her. What she didn't tell Alexis was that the club is kind of a "support" (and I say that lightly) group for people who have been involved in the occult. Megan sets Alexis up during one of the meetings to be interrogated by the head of the group Ben. I thought that was really low of Megan. Megan really doesn't want anything to do with the supernatural or ghosts anymore so she doesn't help Alexis out with her situation until the end. Carter calls Megan for help with Alexis and Megan comes through, worrying about Alexis and helping her with the ghost. It was really sweet cause it turned out that Megan didn't hate Alexis. She stayed away from Alexis because she was scared that she would try to hurt someone like when she tried to kill Alexis in book 2. Its seems as if they become best friends in the end as well although nothing is really said about it. It's just a feeling I got. 

I also really liked a new comer to the cast of characters, named Elliot who is the GIRL in charge of the yearbook. Alexis promised to be the yearbook photographer if Elliot would put a memorial in the yearbook for Lydia. Elliot is funny, cool, nice and completely confident in herself. She gives Alexis advice which sounds like it's coming from an adult. Some of my favorites from her are "I claim all words. I empower them by speaking them", "Easy? Who wants easy? Easy's boring", "Don't think grasshopper. Gut remember?", and the best one "Find people who treat you the way you deserve to be treated. Tell everyone else to go to hell. And don't look back."

As always the book is chock full of hilarious one liners, witty responses and hilarious sarcasm that made me laugh out loud. Here are 2 that made me burst out laughing:

"After school on Monday, I decided I deserved a break. A little fun in my life for once. So i set aside the whole afternoon to organize the kitchen junk drawer...Then I heard the siren of the new drawer organizer Mom had brought home as a pick me up gift when I was sick, sitting on the counter waiting from someone to place it in a drawer and fill its compartments with tiny items." 

"Jared: Look, I'm going to go through your stuff. I'll totally rearrange your obsessively organized book bag"
Alexis: That actually sounded fine, if it would distract him. One of the perks of being obsessively organized is that chances to reorganize things are like little treats."

The ending is completely awesome with lots of action and a huge surprise at the end. The book wrapped up the trilogy nicely but there was something that bothered me. Lydia was still there at the end. She had not moved on. I though that by the end of the book she would have but I don't know why she didn't. It leaves you thinking "What does that mean for her", "Is she stuck here" and "will she ever move on". I guess that part of the ending is left up to the readers to decide what they feel should happen. :/

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