Charlotte is stuck in the afterlife working at a call center. No one in the real world needs her help until her best friend's sister lapses into a coma and only Charlotte can save her. Limited action and shallow, self-absorbed characters detract further from a plot that is too obviously designed to tug on readers' heartstrings.

Undead underdog Charlotte Usher is resurrected in this sloppy, piecemeal follow-up to 2008's sleeper hit GhostGirl . Petula, the vapid, snotty, uberit-girl sister of her best friend in the world of the living, Scarlet, goes into a coma after a pedicure goes dangerously awry. Using tricks she and Charlotte discovered in book one, Scarlet self-induces a coma and enters the world of the dead to bring back her sister's soul. Jealousy, guy drama, back-stabbing and bitchery all run amok, especially in the guise of Maddy, Charlotte's new frenemy from the world of the dead. As in the first installment, Hurley knows how teen girls talk and scores big on smart, snarky jabs and stabs that are sure to make their way onto the tongues of her readers. Her plotting, however, feels flimsily sewn and reads more like a series of brief episodes strung together than a fully fleshed novel. Despite these faults, there are moments of genuine, laugh-out-loud humor that should keep fans dying to read more about Charlotte, Scarlet and their ghostly entourage. (Fantasy. YA)

Gr 7 Up-In Ghostgirl (Little, Brown, 2008), Charlotte choked on a gummy bear and died, and, in this latest installment, she is still struggling in her unlife. After Dead Ed, she moves on to answer phones for a hotline for troubled teens, hardly her idea of Heaven. However, the appearance of a new friend helps to soothe her hurting heart. Maddy seems to understand Charlotte and when all of Charlotte's Dead Ed friends abandon her to take on their new "lives," Charlotte and Maddy bond. There is something more than meets the eye about Maddy, though. Meanwhile, Petula has gone into a coma due to a staph infection caused by a bad pedicure. In her quest to get her sister back, Scarlett has also entered a comatose state. Will Charlotte be able to guide the girls back home while managing the events in her own life? With its equal blend of humor and heartbreak, Hurley's novel is sure to find an audience. Make sure you have the first volume on hand. Readers will definitely want both for the full picture. Emily Garrett Cassady, North Garland High School, Garland, TX

Before recently departed Charlotte Usher, aka Ghostgirl, can fully realize her afterlife, she needs to turn a good deed for the living. Opportunity arises when Petula, everyoneÆs fiercest competition for being noticed at Hawthorne High, falls into a coma as a result of a pedicure-induced staph infection. PetulaÆs younger sister Scarletùwho is also CharlotteÆs connection to the living worldùstrives to save her sister despite her disgust for PetulaÆs superficial beauty. Nothing is as easy as it seems, however, and both Charlotte and Scarlet need to negotiate the various dynamics of their relationships to achieve their goals. For Charlotte, it means figuring out her loyalties to new girlfriends in her post-life existence. ScarletÆs case largely hangs on testing the strength of her relationship with Hawthorne High alum, heartthrob Damen, who threw off Petula for Scarlet before leaving for college and is now back in time for homecoming. HurleyÆs premise is promising, but its execution falls short of the success of her first, Ghostgirl: Rest in Popularity (Little, Brown, 2008/VOYA August 2008), in which Charlotte suffers her demise after downing a Gummi bear. Unfortunately her revisit of Charlotte, Scarlet, Petula, and a cast of supporting charactersùsome living, others notùlacks the absurdity of its predecessor. The vicious posturing in the living and dead social hierarchies is just thatùvicious and not particularly funny. Fans of Ghostgirl will want to get their hands on this follow-up, but they are also likely to be disappointed.ùLauri Vaughan.