I would like to thank Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC.

I feel a bit conflicted with how I felt about this book. On one hand it has some really great topics and discussions throughout the book. On the other hand, this book felt as if it was too long in certain places and even felt a bit repetitive at times. The main character, Georga Richter, is afraid of death. Living in a funeral home doesn't make her fears easier. We follow her journey with the spirit of a dead student at her school, Milo. I think Georga was well written, but the connections and relationships she had with other characters didn't feel authentic to me. Something I really liked about this book was that the main character is asexual, and her best friend is nonbinary. I also loved that there were great discussions about grief, trauma, and death. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but it just felt a bit too stretched out at times.

4.25⭐ for the audiobook.

I really hope I get to be a ghost so my nosiness doesn't end with my death. There's definitely some people I wouldn't mind haunting.

Georgia's family owns the town funeral home and has a gift, or maybe not, of being able to 'wake' the dead while they lay in wait of their funeral. When her classmate, Milo, is killed Georgia develops a connection with him and he hangs around for longer than the other ghosts she's dealt with. They help each other see the light so to speak.

Told by Georgia in the 1st person as she deals with being known as the funeral girl at school and how she copes with her ability to help ghosts move on after their death. Death is not an easy topic for some, but it was written in such a way that made me believe someone might be there to help guide the way into the unknown.

Narrated by Jess Nahikian for 8 hours and 14 minutes, easy to follow at 2x. She did a lovely job and sounded just like a sixteen year old.

Overall, a solid debut novel and I'd be very interested in seeing what Emma writes next.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an audio-ARC of this book!

16-year-old Georgia Richter is not your average high school student. Any given week, she can be found working at her family's funeral home. The only problem with that? Georgia is terrified of death. And she can talk to ghosts. When fellow student Milo D'Angelo dies in a car accident, Georgia begins to spiral, cutting off her friends and trying to fulfill the final wish of a boy she barely knew.

Funeral Girl is not a happy book, and unfortunately for me, it did not read well. Part of this issue is my own experience with what the main character goes through, and another part can be attributed to the fact that this book is aimed at a lower age range than I'm currently in. I still enjoy YA fiction, but this reads on the younger end of that scale if you look past the cursing.

My main issue is with this book is the main character. From the very beginning, I found her frustrating. She knew that the things she did-- with the ghosts and with how she treated Ami-- were wrong on at least some level. She know the ghosts are scared at being awoken. She takes it upon herself despite that, to bring them back to ask questions and try to quiet her own fear of death. She then justifies this by trying to fulfill their final wish. What is a 16-year-old going to do for people who have lived full lives? It came across as unbearably arrogant.

Add to that her creepy obsession with Milo upon his death, and I was past caring about Georgia or her family. The girl clearly needed therapy. Having lost a sibling in a car accident, Georgia's attitude towards death and dying and the way others grieve made me angry more than anything else. She lacked the respect for the grieving processes of others and for the dead themselves. This is where I think my age gets in the way of any chance of enjoying this book. Would I have responded similarly or understood better when I was 16? Probably. Does it drive me crazy now? Absolutely.

Overall, I'm sure this book will work for lots of people, and it had potential to be a really interesting exploration of how we cope with the inescapable reality of death and dying. Funeral Girl just didn't work for me.

CW: death, embalming, funerals, car accident, underage drinking

The was a super interesting read and I enjoyed it a lot. The premise is Georgia Richter's family runs a funeral home and she has the ability to wake and speak with the dead for a short period of time. She doesn't know if she is doing harm or helping, so she tries to fulfill their last wishes. When a classmate's body turns up at her family's funeral home, it forces Georgia to deal with her anxiety around death and mortality.

I went into this book without expectations and all I can say is wow. I wish I had a book like this when I was younger.

I have an extreme fear of death, I always have. My parents used to have to warn me if we were passing a cemetery or I’d have a panic attack and cry. I’ve not yet lost any close relatives in my life. So as a 28 year old, my relationship with death has evolved but it is still wobbly.

This book examined actual death, the fear of death, the possibility of ghost and an afterlife in such a beautiful way. Georgia is a complicated character, she has never truly been herself because she was born a twin and with age felt like she truly didn’t even fit in with her own twin. She grew up in her family’s funeral home. But she also has a secret - she can awake the ghosts of the dead that are awaiting funerals. But her life is upended when a classmate dies.

When Georgia awakes the ghost of Milo she is truly unprepared for how it will change her life. Milo and Georgia, together and separately, search for meaning. She comforts his family at his request and learns so much about human relationships. However, she neglects the relationships she has with her friends and family. In the end, Milo helps her grow closer to those she loves and to herself.

She gives Milo his last wish but simple understanding who he was and sharing it with others.

It’s a beautiful story and a perfect spooky season read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC!

Funeral Girl follows Georgia Richter, of Richter Funeral Home, and her ability to awaken the ghost of those who have died with one touch. She does this with every person who goes through the Funeral Home, asks for their last dying wish, and makes them disappear with one more touch. One day, her classmate Milo gets killed in a hit and run and his body ends up at Richter. His spirit has some unfinished business and Georgia will do whatever she can to help him.

I was initially intrigued by the premise of this novel - a girl touches a dead body and their spirit is awakened. One more touch and they go away. I was hoping for more stories of the other people she touched before. I also thought it would be a bit more magical than it really is. With that being said, it's a beautiful story of a high school girl, forced to grow up and help out in a funeral home, who is also extremely afraid of death. We watch her grow, deal with her anxieties, face death and mortality, and mend her relationships with those closest to her. I enjoyed the narrator - I feel like she sounded exactly as I would have imagined Georgia sounding.

I am going against the ratings tide on this one.

I suspected that Georgia was deeply depressed, but the ending of this story - no spoilers here - deconstructed that theory for me and just made me believe that non-binary Georgia was just a melodramatic, self-absorbed teen-aged person.

I listened to the seemingly interminable audiobook of this story about a young person who could wake the dead. You would think that all kinds of interesting revelations would be triggered by each "awakening" - but no, much of the narrative went nowhere and often spun in its sandy tracks. There was so much that COULD have happened, that COULD have held my interest. Instead, the story devolved into a "touchy feely" soap opera. The last few chapters were excruciatingly slow and repetitive for me. The "big reveal" behind the estrangement between Georgia and her twin brother Peter fell flatter than an over-cooked pancake for me.

The author can certainly write a decent sentence, but molasses dripped faster than the action - what little of it that there was! - in this histrionic funeral parlour soap opera. I'm rating this a 2.9 out of 5, rounded up to a 3.

My thanks to the author, narrator, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up

If you do not want to hear about the process of preparing bodies for burial be warned this may not be a good book for you or you may want to gloss over some parts.

Georgia is a sophomore in high school and known best around school for being the funeral girl as her family owns,operates and lives above the local funeral home. She is obsessed with death/afraid of death and has a unique gift whereupon touching a dead body can speak with their spirit. She tries to use this to help them with their final wishes.

When the body arrives of a boy from school her fear ramps up. His wish is for her to make sure his parents are okay and she gets pulled into pretending they were friends and trying to help them through some of the grief process. As he wasn't ready to let go Georgia finds herself connecting with him and learning more about him in days than the last several years.

Georgia is not a very likeable character, she is very self-involved and even when her best (and only friend) tries to make sure she's okay she continually ignores them. She holds a grudge against her parents for the life she leads in the funeral home and her twin brother for many things including that he enjoys the family business. I suppose much of this can be attributed to her age and maturity, she isn't yet able to feel okay about directly addressing her feelings.

I appreciated the ACE and NB representation in the book. I appreciated Georgia's evolution throughout the book. The story overall kept me engaged and listening. I'd recommend it for anyone who likes a little ya ghost story that doesn't revolve around a mystery.

ARC audiobook provided by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

“Funeral Girl” is the story of sophomore Georgia Richter, who resides with her mother, father and twin brother in the apartment over their Richter Funeral Home. Despite her family’s business, or perhaps because of it, Georgia has deep-seated terror and anxiety about death. Her fears are only amplified when she discovers that with one touch to the skin of a deceased person, she can call forth their ghost. With a second touch, Georgia can send them away to the unknown.

In an effort to deal with her fears, Georgia begins to wake the dead that come through her family’s funeral home, seeking to find out what their final wishes are that she may attempt to right for them before she sends them away again. Things change when her classmate Milo is killed in a hit-and-run and his body is brought to the funeral home. Typically, Georgia spends only 30 minutes with the ghostly apparitions, but Milo is intent on sticking around for a while.

As Georgia grapples with helping Milo despite her fears, which only appear to be growing, she faces difficulties with both the living and the dead. The question is: can Georgia overcome the seemingly insurmountable and help both Milo and herself? Or is she doomed to be a slave to the dead, forever gripped with fear?

The premise of this book was intriguing, and the overarching storyline was clever, original, and wholly relatable. Georgia not only grapples with her fears and anxiety over death, but also managing her relationships with friends and family as only a sixteen-year-old could. The general picture painted by the author is a believable story, despite the paranormal element of course, of the difficulties teenagers face in navigating the world.

Even given the general positives I experienced with this book, I felt the negatives did detract from what I imagine the author’s vision was for this story. While a core cast of characters are introduced, they are clearly lacking proper development. General descriptions of the characters are given, some of which don’t really impact or move the plot forward. The author does introduce both a non-binary and asexual character, but they almost feel like throwaway designations as the characters aren’t really developed very much beyond that.

Then there’s the main character/narrator, Georgia. While both relatable at the beginning of the book and at the very end, in the middle Georgia went off the rails for me. Yes, she is sixteen. Yes, this is a young adult book. However, Georgia felt too whiny, selfish and self-absorbed. The middle of the book left me constantly annoyed and frustrated with Georgia and the decisions she made. On top of that, she kept repeating the same behaviors over and over ad nauseam. The repetitive middle of the book felt drawn out. Every time it appeared there was a great place in the storyline for Georgia to make a decision that would develop her as a character and grow her as a person, she either runs away or shuts down, leaving me utterly frustrated and flummoxed. The ending does give Georgia a chance to redeem herself, but the unfortunate middle of the book really left me feeling unsatisfied.

My copy of this book was an audiobook, so I do want to touch on the narrator. I thought she did a great job. Even given the drawn-out middle of the book, the narrator kept me engaged in the story. I also believe she did an excellent job with the voices for both male and female characters.

Overall, this book had so much potential, but I feel it just ended up being a middle-of-the-road read. The book could have done so much more with character development that would have elevated the story as a whole. The middle of the book also could have done with better storyline advancement. That being said, I do think this would be a good read for the younger end of the young adult reader spectrum, maybe ages 12-16 or so. That age group may feel more engaged in the storyline, and the characters may be more relatable and resonate with the thoughts and feelings of those young adult readers. Although this book held so much promise, it unfortunately ended up being a bit of a let down for me.

2.75 Rounded up to 3 stars. An interesting beginning and great finale with alot of blah blah and whining in the middle. Not an accurate portrayal of panic attacks(in my opinion and experience)

Georgia can wake the spirits of the dead with her touch. She uses this ability to try to bring closure to the spirits and their families by fulfilling last requests. When one of her classmates is killed by a hit and run Georgia is moved to get to know Milo and what made this outsider who they were. Can Georgia help Milo into the great unknown? Or will Milo end up stuck in our world where he can't find peace?

The first 20% of this is pretty good, pulling in the reader and getting some investment in the goings on. However the middle and up to the last 15% falls terribly flat. Georgia is an awful person. She wakes the dead to try and conquer her fear of it rather than truly help others move on. She selfishly wakes Milo and acts like she knew him well to his parents throughout the novel, while treating her friend Amy like utter dog doody. Amy is a much better person than me, they continuously are there for Georgia and just want confirmation (THROUGH TEXT) that Georgia is alright/home safe....to which Georgia continuously ignores. Georgia is selfish and very self centered for someone trying to help others move on. Granted, she's only a Sophomore so she's still very young and lord knows what a selfish terror I was at that age. The final act does redeem Georgia a bit, but I enjoyed it more for Milo's sake. Thankfully I was blessed with an AudioARC, I'm not sure I would have finished this otherwise.

This one wasn't really my jam, even though the premise is promising. 2.75 stars rounded to three. This is definitely geared more towards the young adult crowd, so I would put the age range at 12-20 as those older might find they share my judgement of Georgia and may not finish. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an AudioARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really loved the storyline of this book but the main character Georgia just fell short for me. While the story kept me engaged I didn't really feel like it ended up going much of anywhere.

The cover caught my attention and then I read where Georgia is able to speak to people who have recently passed and I was excited to find out more!
This book did not disappoint and it touched on a lot of heavy topics. One of the topics was death and anxiety about death. Georgia is a teenager who is struggling living in a funeral home which her parents own. So she not only has anxiety but is able to speak to the dead to grant them one last wish.
One of her classmates suddenly pass away and she feels the need to make amends but this turns into something much bigger. Baggage that Georgia has kept at bay suddenly unfolds in the story.
The narrator, Jess Nahikian did a wonderful performance portraying all of the characters the variety of tones and inflections used for each scene were spot on.
It has high school drama, betrayal, death, sexuality, and love. The book touches on a lot of hard topics but it is written well and it felt very authentic.

Working on my full review, but this book is a lovely exploration of grief, anxiety, fear of death, and forgiveness/acceptance. Solid four star YA novel.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Well I really didn't know what I was getting into with "Funeral Girl". I read girl working in funeral home and is able to speak with ghosts and jumped on the chance to read the book. I'm glad I really didn't know more because it may have stopped me from reading this book and that would be a shame because it is a beautiful and emotional book. I cried for the first time reading a book in a long while. This is on purpose because the world and real life is so difficult and sad right now, when I read I use it to escape. (I'm going to read something very lighthearted and silly next). Let me give some trigger warnings for "Funeral Girl": Somewhat detailed descriptions of the embalming process and what happens at the funeral home, major depictions or grief and anxiety, some off the page bullying and rumors, and discussions about what happens after death and if there is an afterlife. The story is focused on Georgia. Her family owns the funeral home in town and she and her twin brother work there and are learning the business as they will one day take it over. A few years prior to the events in this novel, Georgia's dearly loved Grandmother passes away. Georgia sneaks to the basement where the bodies are kept and finds out that she can speak with ghosts. The results are traumatizing to her. From there the rumors and isolation at school begin. She finds herself distanced from her brother and other friends. She becomes obsessed with the dead who pass through her funeral home. Who are they really? Did they have any unfinished business she could help with? This poor girl can't escape death. It surrounds her. Its a part of her family unit. And her mind is absolutely tied up with questions about death. Then a classmate, Milo, dies in an accident. He sat behind her in one of her classes but she didn't know him well. She becomes obsessed with him, reliving his last moments alive in her mind. Wondering when it will be her next. Naturally, his body is entrusted to the care of her funeral home. From there, she connects with his ghost and finds herself wrapped up in the grief of not only Milo's family but of Milo's grief itself. This book was very bingeable. I felt compelled to find out what would happen next. But it was also difficult because its hard to be in Georgia's headspace. All through the book I wanted to hug her and ask her to find help. It also was very realistic in the portrayal of her mental state. Her isolation of friends and family who wanted to be there for her. It had a good, solid conclusion to the storyline and ends on a somewhat hopeful note. The writing was clear and compelling. Its hard to say I enjoyed this book but it is definitely a compelling book and I'm glad I read it. I think this will resonate with a lot of different people.

⭐️4.5/5 stars.
At first I thought this book reminded me a little of Pushing Daisies meets Dear Evan Hansen meets Lovely Bones. And while this story does match aspects of them, it was so much more. It was such a beautiful story about not only dealing with death, but dealing with the living. There were so many moments that I think we all could relate to. Moments that we all probably experienced as a teenager. And it was those moments that made me cry the most and just want to give the main character a hug. Literally, I was tearing up listening to this audiobook during my drive into work.
I think the narrator of this book did a beauty job and added this additional layer to the story. Honestly, I think the way she told the story might be one of the reasons why I cried so easily listening to it.
I also really liked that we had a main character who identified herself as A-Sexual who also has a friend that went by They/Them. Yet it didn’t feel gimmicky or forced.
Overall, this story was absolutely beautiful and one I think everyone should read or listen to. It did amazing job talking about tough topics that felt real.
Thank you to NetGalley & Dreamscape Media for providing the ARC for my honest review.
Ps, spoiler ahead, I just want to add that I’m obviously a more bitter person because I don’t think I could ever truly forgive my childhood friend and brother for what they did.

Georgia’s family owns and runs a funeral home. She’s also able to “wake up” ghosts and help fulfill their final requests. When a classmate dies unexpectedly, Georgia isn’t ready for how it will impact her.

I really liked this book. At first, I thought it was going to be kind of a light-hearted approach (a la Pushing Daisies), but it was actually more serious and insightful than I expected.

I was glad to see gender identity and sexual orientation were “discussed” without it becoming a point of interest in the book. Being gender non-binary or asexual were simply parts of who the characters were. I liked the representation. Mental health was also discussed in a way that felt pretty authentic.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Emma K. Ohland for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

High school student, Georgia helps out at her family’s funeral home, but death and everything surrounding it has always terrified her. The fact that she is able to temporarily “resurrect” the dead at the funeral home, is both fascinating and frightening. She hopes that someone who has died can tell her what happens after death, but she only finds herself with more questions and some mystified dead people. The one of her classmates is killed in a hit and run and Georgia finds herself more confused than ever. Milo begs her to let him “stay” until his funeral and cremation, to communicate to his parents how much he loved them despite their less than ideal family life. I would recommend this book to young adults with questions about death, or their sexuality, both are dealt with sensitively and gracefully

This book was so lovely! I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect going into it but was pleasantly surprised to be met with engaging writing and complex emotions. Georgia’s struggles were in opposition with her supernatural abilities, and it was so interesting to read about the delicate balance between the two. I really enjoyed the audiobook; the narration was very well done. Happy to have stumbled upon this novel and looking forward to seeing more from Ohland in the future.

This book was so cute and I loved it. I am most deff going to buy this when it comes out soon. I am so excited.

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.