Review: My So Called Afterlife by Tamsyn Murray

Meet Lucy Shaw. She's not your average fifteen year old - for a start, she's dead. And as if being a ghost wasn't bad enough, she's also trapped haunting the men's toilets on Carnaby Street. So when a lighting engineer called Jeremy walks in and she realises he can see and hear her, she isn't about to let him walk out of her afterlife. Not least until he's updated her on what's happening in her beloved soaps. With Jeremy's help, Lucy escapes the toilet and is soon meeting up with other ghosts, including the perpetually enraged Hep and the snogtastic Ryan. But when Jeremy suggests Lucy track down the man who murdered her, things go down hill. Can Lucy face up to the events of that terrible night? And what will it cost her if she does? 


My So Called Afterlife is one of those books that I would have totally loved if I'd been a few years younger, or hadn't been reading so many deep, involved young adult supernatural books but because I'd just finished a long, dark book this one seemed a little shallow to me.


That's not to say that I didn't thoroughly enjoy the read - it was fun and sweet and while it isn't really on-the-edge-of-your-seat reading, it is also quite short and that meant that I never had to force myself to read on. The story is pretty typical for a teen ghost book, with the girl forced to roam the earth (or in this case, the boys toilets) until she fulfills a task, along the way she meets friends who she helps fulfill their tasks, it's all pretty sweet, but really carries this story is Lucy's narrative - sweet, witty and very entertaining, this typical teenage girl is one of the most convincing book girls I've ever read.


I loved the characters, though they did seem pretty one-dimensional - Hep, typical emo girl even in the death plane really brings some humour with her anger, Ryan is the sweetest boyfriend and totally adorable and Jeremy, awww Jeremy, the nerdy psychic who can see Lucy, he was just so sweet and I loved his part at the end, awww Jeremy and Celestine.


While this book isn't full of twists and turns, the length of this book is just right for a fun and sweet read and I would recommend it if you are after something sweet and fun and refreshing, but not if you're after something action packed and deep.

Overall rating: C+

Stand alone/series: First in a sequence of stand alones

UK Release: Febuary 26th 2010

Publisher: Piccadilly Press

Book obtained via: Received from the publisher for review