Thank you NetGalley and Hatchett Audio for allowing me to have an advanced copy of this audiobook in return for an honest review.

What I Liked:
1. The Setting -Very few children grow up above the family business - especially when the family business is a funeral home.
2. The realistic portrayal of grieving parents
3. The realistic portrayal of high school students coping with the death of a peer
4. The student who passes away isn't made out to be a golden child - he was realistically remembered by those who knew him.
5. The supernatural element

What I Didn't Like:
1. The main character was inherently unlikable. She consistently bailed on her friends, had poor communication skills with all of her family members, and did very little to redeem those relationships.
2. The relationship that the main character contrived with the parents of the deceased student.

Georgia is a young, selfish, and unlikable character. Her parents run a funeral home and with one touch of any body that passes through the funeral home Georgia can awaken the spirit of the departed. With one more touch, she makes the spirit disappear, to a fate that remains mysterious to her.
When one of her classmates, Milo, dies, and his family has chosen her family's business for his funeral, Georgia sets about connecting with Milo and learning about his struggles. He wants her help reconnecting with his family one last time.
I did not like Georgia. She treats her living friends horribly and uses the spirits of the departed for her own answers and gain instead of helping them. The characters overall could have been better developed, in my opinion. The ending fell flat but touching on subjects of death, grief, death of a child, panic attacks, body horror, car accidents and more is a good way to bring more awareness to these subjects, I just think it could've been written/tackled better.

Damn. What a heart-wrenching novel.

Georgia lives in a funeral home and can summon ghosts. Her family owns the funeral home and Georgia has spent the last three years working the funerals and talking to the dead after the services. She learns about them and fulfills any last wishes before sending them off to whatever is next. But Georgia's whole world is thrown off when a student in her grade dies.

This was a complex novel. Mental health and grief were the main themes that drove this novel and Georgia is a sad, anxious, confused narrator. I could really relate to Georgia and her fear of death. Were some parts of the novel corny? Sure, but it's a YA novel.

This novel was beautiful though. Funny while also being real. Grief and death are hard and this novel helps make the two just a little bit easier.

Thank you to @netgalley for the advance e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

I think this is one of the most unique stories I have ever read, and I am so thankful that I did. This story follows 16 year old Georgia, a girl raised in a funeral home constantly surrounded by death with a very healthy fear of death. She also has a special gift that allows her to talk to the dead that pass through her family’s funeral home. With the death of a boy from her school that she barely knew, Milo, she is forced to confront that fear and human mortality.

This book really grapples with some heavy subject matter. As someone who has always struggled with anxiety, I certainly related to Georgia, and really felt for her as she struggled through coming to terms with the inevitability of death, letting people in, and finding her identity when it seems like her future has already been laid out for her. Like most teenagers, she makes a lot of mistakes and hurts people along the way. But this book has such a beautiful conclusion, and I am such a fan.

I love the writing, I love the character development- this one was overall so well done. I definitely recommend!

I decided to read this book after seeing it on a couple Instagram pages.
To be honest, when I started reading, I almost had to set it down. I am someone in their late 20s and the fear of death is always on my mind. What happens after? So picking up a book about a girl who lives in a funeral home was probably not the best idea. But I pushed through the anxiety and continued on.

As I delved deeper into the story, I realized the main character also had a crippling fear of death and reading what this author wrote felt like I could have written this book myself.

I highly recommend this for ALL ages, especially those who fear death. It may not make those fears go away, I know they will still be with me, but it felt cathartic reading this book and made me think about everything and Eventually.

Funeral Girl is short enough that you can read it in an evening, but the weight of it will stick with you for awhile. It’s about a 16 year old girl (Georgia) who is terrified of death, yet lives in a funeral home with her family and also has the ability to “wake up” ghosts when their bodies pass through the funeral home’s doors. Throughout the majority of the book I felt kinda bad for Georgia. It just seemed like no one noticed how badly she was struggling except for Amy. What would Georgia’s life be like if Milo hadn’t died? This book has kind of made me question the workings of the universe and the “why” and “how” of it all… and I’m struggling to find the right words to write this review. I guess you’ll have to read it to understand what I’m trying to say.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I can see the potential but this just wasn't for me. Georgia came across as more self-serving than a genuine helper for the ghosts and their last wishes for the majority of the book. Everyone felt one dimensional and boring until around the last few chapters. There was a disconnect in the story and the slow pacing didn't help. The premise was interesting but the execution fell flat. I will say though, the last 15% was way better than the overall story when it comes to everyone feeling somewhat real. I wish it had been like that from the beginning.




Thanks to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing for providing the copy of this book for an honest review.

This was such a beautifully told story of a girl who fears death and has to face it every day. Ohland perfectly captured so many of the tiny but powerful moments and emotions around the death of a friend or family member and the process of grief. I saw so much of myself and my experiences with grieving through Georgia that it was almost therapeutic to read. The speculative element with Georgia talking to ghosts never distracted from what was largely a very realistic portrayal of dealing with death and one's own mental health. I just loved it, start to finish, and could feel how much care was put into every piece of this special story. Looking forward to whatever is next from this author!

This was interesting. I enjoyed the interactions with the ghosts. It reminded me of the show ghosts were only certain people can see you. If you like a heart touching book.this is the one. It's sad, funny how the ghosts interact with objects and it makes it takes you away to make you think..
This book was approved by netgalley and the publisher.

Georgia basically lives in funeral home. One day she might even be running the family business with her twin brother Peter; but there are some complications — she has severe anxiety about death, and she can summon ghosts with the touch of her hand. Georgia brings back the ghost of her former classmate, Milo, and then must help him with his unfinished business. She must come face to face with her own grief and mortality.

I really appreciated the content warning before the start of this book. If you don't feel like you could handle the content right now I wouldn't recommend it, but I would definitely recommend circling back to read it whenever you feel like you can! This book made me feel so many emotions, and although I was sad at some points, I'm glad I read it. It really made me think about my own mortality and some grief I've been holding. This would be a great conversation starter about grief, anxiety, and being honest with yourself and others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group, Carolrhoda Lab for the ARC!

FUNERAL GIRL is an absolutely stunning debut by Emma K. Ohland. Heart-wrenching yet hopeful, this story beautifully explored themes of death, grief, and the anxiety that surrounds everything in between. Ohland’s writing was poignant and evocative — I FELT everything our narrator Georgia felt in my soul. I was wrapped up in the story from the first to last page.

In addition to being an emotional whirlwind, FUNERAL GIRL included an asexual lead and a prevalent non-binary side character. The main character also experienced anxiety and panic attacks.

I loved this book a lot. Pun intended, it’s truly a haunting — yet warm — exploration of grief, duty, family, and coming home.



Content warnings: grief, death, blood, dead bodies, anxiety, panic attacks

Sixteen year old Georgia lives with her family in a mortuary that they own. Not only does she struggle with the fear of death she also can see ghosts. I found this book such an interesting read. It focuses on anxiety, death, grief, fear and so much more. While the topics were heavy it really focused on how to cope with the harder things in life.

I received this book from NetGalley.

Rating: 3.5
First off, thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the digital ARC! So let’s begin with the review:

I LOVED the writing; it totally pulled me into the story, and it felt like it came from the heart. Though fictional, you can tell the author writes their feelings/experience through their character. It’s raw, emotional, and just like the reader, it’s grasping for answers of why death is so scary. How do you explain what happens after death? This book deals with loss first hand from all perspectives (which is really impressive) since it’s from the ghost, onlooker/peers and funeral coordination.
Also massive props to the author for representation of non-binary and asexual characters; I feel they did a wonderful job of portraying them.
There was a couple of things that bugged me, such as not loving the main character Georgia. I tried really hard. Yes I felt for her pain, but man I could not connect in the slightest. She felt dull, with a grey personality, and I was more concerned for the people around her. Her friend Amy however, was full of color and I felt myself connecting with them much easier (Amy also deserved better but hey that’s my hot take).
The book was also very drawn out, and I am one of those readers who doesn’t love it when that happens. So that’s definitely just my own thing.

Overall, this was definitely a great read, and it’s worth picking it up. Just a fair warning, you don’t read this if you want to feel happy and warm inside. Only read during sad boi hours :)

Funeral Girl by Emma K Ohland is a Queer Paranormal YA following a 16-year-old girl who feels very much alone in her unique ability and drowning in her emotions.

Georgia lives in a funeral home with her parents and her twin brother. Ever since her grandmother passed three years ago , she has had the ability to speak to the recently departed with a single touch. She uses this ability to find out more about the people who end up in the funeral home and offer to fulfill a final wish. When Milo, a boy from one of her classes, passes away, it through her already unstable emotions crumbling. She touches him and isn't prepared for Milo to not want to move on. While she didn't know he in life, his ghosts forces her to face her own fears of death. She helps him find a bit of closure with his own passing and his parents, while he helps her heal the relationships around her and let go of her personal ghosts weighing her down.

This was a bit heavier than I expected it to be going in, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Our lead Georgia has spent three years grieving her grandmothers passing, she suffers from anxiety and panic attacks, and she is terrified of death while her life is surrounded by it living in a funeral home. Her fears and her ability to talk to ghosts has isolated her from her family and her friends. For a sixteen-year-old she was surprisingly very forgiving. There is a situation with her brother and ex friend that was handled with more maturity than I expected in a Young Adult novel. I just really appreciated how all the different struggles Georgia faced were represented and the positive mental health & therapy rep at the end.

Funeral Girl by Emma K Ohland is a YA with an Ace MC, healing, grief, death, forgiveness, family, friendships and a satisfying ending.

What a heart wrenching debut novel! It was like My Girl meets Paranorman

This book was so beautiful and follows Georgia Richter through her grief process of losing her grandmother and a school mate. As someone who went through both, this was a very relatable story line. I found myself needing to take breaks through this one because it hit so close to home for me and brought back so many memories of my grief.

Some of the aspects I loved were the ace and gender fluid representation in this book. It's really lovely to see more diversity coming out in books. I thought the writing was great and the chapter pages were an awesome touch!

Emma Ohland, I cannot wait to read more!!

"Funeral Girl" introduced a struggle we all have to deal with, but in a way that was new to me and a little refreshing. The main character, Georgia, struggles with her fear and anxiety of death. The irony is her family owns a funeral home and she feels a heavy weight when assisting with tasks related to this. Not to mention that she has an extra special albeit spooky gift. This gift leads to events that drive the story. Georgia also struggles to work through a loss of her own that is exacerbated by a past betrayal that is slowly revealed throughout the story. That part actually feels a little whiny because of the time that had lapsed between the betrayal and the current story. However, I realized that I needed to channel my past middle/junior high self, and then I can better relate to the hurt and sadness she wrestles with. In the end, I do wish Georgia could have been friends with the other main character. I do relate to her struggle with depression and anxiety though and feel that my students will as well if they read this novel.

Georgia Richter's family runs the local funeral home, so Georgia has always been aware of her mortality. After her grandmother passes away, Georgia discovers she's able to wake up the ghosts of the recently deceased, and makes it her mission to fulfill any last requests of the people that make their way through the funeral home. When one of Georgia's classmates, Milo, suddenly passes away, Georgia is again faced with her own mortality, and will do anything in her power to help Milo move on to whatever comes next.

Funeral Girl really surprised me. I think it does a fantastic job of exploring topics of grief, death, and our own mortality as humans in a kind and caring way. What happens when we die? Are funerals a way to honor the dead, or are they really just there to comfort the living loved ones we leave behind? If you're looking for a quick read that can deal with some heavy topics (without being too morose!), then I think you should read this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Richter Funeral home is probably not the best place for a sixteen-year-old, but when you're born into it, death becomes part of life.  Unfortunately, Georgia Richter's connection with the dead goes a bit deeper than just helping them be laid to rest; Georgia can awaken the spirit of the recently departed.   With one touch, she can wake them and ask them about any final fishes they might have. Being terrified of death, this helps calm her. Normally, she just touches them again and back into death they go. Then, her classmate dies, and he wants help taking care of his final wishes, and he does not want to go into the dark world of deathly sleep again. Now learning to deal with death has a whole new angle, and Georgia not only has to keep the spirit of Milo a secret, but also find a way to help put together the pieces of his death and help others along the way. 

Funeral Girl touches on a lot of topics that folks tend to shy away from. We get snippets of death, depression, grief, and anxiety. Author Emma K. Ohland keeps readers along for the mystery, but also does excellent work making darker topics accessible and something a bit easier to talk about through Georgia. 

Funeral Girl is available September 6, 2022.

This... Isn't what I expected... I almost DNF but I persevered. I went into this thinking it would be more about the ghost aspect, but it was much more about the anxiety and mental aspects

A part of me wishes this book had existed when I was in high school, but on the other hand, I’m not sure I would have been ready. I related to Georgia’s story a little too much. Not the growing up in a funeral home bit, but the all-consuming-anxiety-thought-spiral about death and mortality. It would have been nice to know back then, I wasn’t alone in these feelings. And I think this will help others experiencing the same feel seen.

That is just one of the many reasons I think this book is important, as well as the ace, non-binary and mental health rep. The MC isn’t perfect, and neither are her friends or family, but I found their dynamics and conflicts relatable.

Did I sometimes find Georgia’s choices and perpetual habit of fleeing tough conversations frustrating? Yes. But given her character and struggles I tended to give her a pass. Also, at times, Georgia’s thoughts did feel a bit repetitive. I think the author could’ve scaled back a bit and still got their point across. But other than that, I thought this was a great debut! And bonus points for making me cry!

This book was more morbid and dealt with heavier topics than I was anticipating, but I really enjoyed it. That said, it definitely isn’t for everyone, and I highly encourage potential readers to check content warnings (grief, loss, death, detailed description of corpses, bullying, depression and anxiety, just to name a few). As long as you can handle the CW, I recommend giving this book a read!