Bad Girls Don’t Die: From Bad to Cursed by Katie Alender

Evil teenagers. Isn’t that redundant? Oh, just kidding.

Anyway, Bad Girls Don’t Die: From Bad to Cursed is full of evil teenagers. A sequel to Bad Girls Don’t Die, a book I absolutely loved, the story brings back pink-haired Alexis Warren, and her formerly possessed sister Kasey who has just been sprung from a mental institution.

Kasey’s reappearance has Alexis on edge (she did try to kill the entire family) and threatens to derail what had been shaping up to be an excellent school year. Her sister is sullen, at best, resenting the suspicious way Alexis looks at her, and she is understandably reluctant to go back to school. If kids will make fun over you over lame things like a haircut or an outfit, Kasey knows, a year in a mental institution is sure to be excellent mocking material.

Surprisingly, however, Kasey is welcomed by a group of girls including a new student, one of Alexis‘ old friends, and even Kasey’s former BFF, a girl whose arm she broke in the first book. Together, the girls meet regularly at one another’s homes and form a club that focuses on self-improvement. So everything is OK, right?

We’re all too smart to believe that. Alexis investigates further - using both her intelligence and a Ouija board - and realizes that these little models of perfection are messing with things better left alone. Afraid that her sister will end up trotting down the same supernatural path that almost got them all killed in the first book, Alexis begins attending the meetings herself. And that’s when everything in her life starts going incredibly...right - and that is so wrong.

Will Alexis have the strength to look beyond all of the amazing new gifts she has received in order to fight a force that seems stronger than all of them? I guess you’ll just have to read it for yourself.

LAME FACTOR: Although this book was not as awesomely scary as the first, it was sufficiently creepy to make it an excellent read. I definitely give it a 0 for lameness.

YOUR PARENTS WILL FREAK FACTOR: Finally, someone who realizes that a YA book can actually survive on an interesting plot and excellent writing instead of sex, drugs, and assorted misdeeds. Unless your parents‘ have a problem with the supernatural, they’ll be fine.

BRAIN POWER: The writing here is very good but entirely understandable. Now that the, “this is too hard” excuse is out of the way, go read it.