Dead School, Laura Gia West

There is no death… only a change in worldsIt is Valentine’s Day at John Hopkin’s High, and the disgruntled Tina Crocker is having the best day of her life as she performs at the school’s largest talent show. She kills it. Literally. The moment she steps off stage: Tina Crocker croaks and ends up in… Dead School.Entering a grotesque new world, she is greeted by a furious, hair-wobbling mentor who dispels her into the Spirit Guide division. But, unlike the rest of her class, she becomes the school’s first Spirit Guide’s Assistant while paired with the biggest floozy in the afterworld. Together, they are assigned to guide a living loser, in order to pass their course.However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel… a rather long tunnel. Tina also meets a mysterious artist from the Suicide division, Alexei. And, somehow, their different breeds of awkward strangely click. As finals approach, Tina’s focus has to switch or else a miserable reincarnated life awaits. Yeah, rest in peace, my ass…Kindle Pages: 259 Publisher: Black Rose Writing Publication Date:  November 1st 2018 An interesting concept, death but in the abstract. Dead School promised something original, something that could know no bounds. What is death, after all, but an endless question of what if? We surely cannot define something that has not been experienced, we just know it is the end of this ‘mortal coil’, and the beginning of something new. Laura Gia West promised a complexity, and intricacy that would bound right past our preconceived notions of death, and into more. But, that is where it begins to fall short. While the world building – or perhaps afterworld building? – was delicately and deliberately weave, the characters and their arcs were undeniably unlikeable. Specifically (although the theme seemed to run throughout), Tina our MC. Sure, she has her conventional ARC throughout. Shy girl dies, throws a tantrum and suddenly is no longer shy. I am sorry, because I really wanted to like this book, but that is a cliche I simply cannot absorb. In her ARC, from shy to well, not. Tina seems to loose any concept of decency – that is – she suddenly becomes snarky, argumentative, and self-absorbed. Okay, she is the MC, and I’m beginning to sound like my Mother, but I was inexplicably rooting against this MC. Other honourable, or dishonourable mentions?

1. Alexei – who lets face it, didn’t need to be present at all. What did he really offer to the story line? Was he meant to be a romantic interest? Unsure, and unconvinced.

2. Melinda – eh, I mean, ??????

3. Anna – were we meant to feel sorry for her? Perhaps we were meant to relate. Either way, by the end I was impartial to her outcome

4. Carl – I just, can’t? Look at this book, it’s bringing out my inner millennial. Story-line wise again, was promising. But it also lacked in the department of sense. Look through my posts, and you’ll find a theme of being impressed, and positive. But this is the most positivity you’re going to get from me. I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. For more Bookish Content, visit;

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