Girl vs Ghost

by Kate McMurry and Marie August

[Kim Deister]

Girl vs. Ghost is the first in the Misdirected Magic series by the mother-daughter writing duo of Kate McMurry and Marie August. I am a sucker for any book dealing with magic as a theme, and was excited to see one that had both magic and ghosts and much mystery. What I found the most interesting about this book was the writing style. It was told from the point of view of Isabel and the language style was very much that of a teenager. It read like a teenager and that definitely added to the overall feel of the story and made you, as the reader, feel more of a part of the story.

The characters were fabulous, very well-developed. I loved the humorous play that would take place between Isabel and Tripp. The addition of a beautifully gorgeous male ghost who seemingly suffers from post-death amnesia just adds to the plot. While there was a lot of humor, most of which I thought was quite clever, the more serious, emotional scenes didn't feel as serious or emotional as I think they were intended to be. There were a few notable exceptions to that, however, and that kept me turning the pages.

I loved the premise of the story, but there were various parts that felt, as I read them, that they were going to be the building blocks for twists or subplots further in the story. Instead, they never came to fruition, leaving me to feel as if I was missing some things, albeit minor ones.

This is a book that the saying about not judging a book by it's cover most definitely applies. I admit that a stunning cover is frequently the selling point for me when testing unknown waters, sometimes more than the blurb on the back. I really didn't like this cover, nor the inner art. But the book was definitely better than the initial impression I got with the cover.

Overall, I enjoyed the story, and I will be picking up the next book when it is released in the early part of 2012, Witch vs Wizard.