Joint review: I Woke Up Dead at the Mall by Judy Sheehan

Author:  Judy Sheehan
Publisher: Delacourte press
Date of publication: March 2016

When you’re sixteen, you have your whole life ahead of you. Unless you’re Sarah. Not to give anything away, but . . . she’s dead. Murdered, in fact. Sarah’s murder is shocking because she couldn’t  be  any more average. No enemies. No risky behavior. She’s just the girl on the sidelines.

It looks like her afterlife, on the other hand, will be pretty exciting. Sarah has woken up dead at the Mall of America—where the universe sends teens who are murdered—and with the help of her death coach, she must learn to move on or she could meet a fate totally worse than death: becoming a mall walker.

As she tries to finish her unfinished business alongside her fellow dead teens, Sarah falls hard for a cute boy named Nick. And she discovers an uncanny ability to haunt the living. While she has no idea who killed her, or why, someone she loves is in grave danger. Sarah can’t lose focus or she’ll be doomed to relive her final moments again and again forever. But can she live with herself if she doesn’t make her death matter?

So I thought this was going to be a cutesy little YA book.  It actually ended up having some pretty interesting ideas about death and the afterlife.  Don't get me wrong.  The story was really cute and fun.  While the relationship between Nick and Sarah was sorta insta-love in the afterlife, I guess it was destined to happened.  I liked many of the other characters too.  Lacey was a fun character with her crazy attitude and Alice was interesting too in that she had been there for so long without moving on.  I would recommend this book to the YA readers!

I Woke up Dead at the Mall was a unique take on the afterlife.  What better place to end up after you die than the Mall of America?  I enjoyed this book.  I thought it was a cute story.  The characters were interesting even with an insta-love scenario thrown in.  

 I liked Sarah and Nick.  The mystery of who killed Sarah was kind of easy to call, but the why was a surprise.  I was rooting for her to save her father.  The "BOY" was a little creepy though especially in kid form.  There is talk of sex and an almost sex scene, so I would keep this to older YA readers.