A Review of 'Anya's Ghost' by Vera Brosgol

Please note: this is a book I read in 2017.  Due to starting a new job, I kept up in reading but fell behind in blogging.  Reviews for 2018 reads will begin after the remaining 2017 reviews are posted.  Thank you for your patience!

"Anya could really use a friend.  But her new BFF isn't kidding about the 'forever' part.

Of all the things Anya expected to find at the bottom of an old well, a new friend was not one of them.  Especially not a new friend who's been dead for a century.

Falling down a well is bad enough, but Anya's normal life might actually be worse.  She's embarrassed by her family, self-conscious about her body, and she's pretty much given up on fitting in at school.  A new friend-- even a ghost-- is just what she needs.

Or so she thinks.  Spooky, sardonic, and secretly sincere, Anya's Ghost is a wonderfully entertaining debut from author/artist Vera Brosgol."

I think last year was the year where I really dove into the world of graphic novels and found things that I absolutely love to read.  This was a book that was sitting in my student teaching classroom that caught my eye all those months but I didn't get around to reading until later.  I didn't expect to fall head over heels for it, but I did.  I picked up the book and suddenly I couldn't put it down!  It was such a good read!

I'm a sucker for supernatural stories.  So to read a story about a ghost looking for a friend (turning into an angry ghost later), it didn't take long to draw me in.  I think what I like about ghost stories is the thought that they return because they have some kind of unfinished business and they're looking to either settle things themselves (exciting!) or looking for someone to help them settle things.

The pacing of the story was good.  It wasn't so slow that I lost interest and when the author knew that she would have the reader's attention, she sped up and you were with her every step of the way.  I loved the ending because I was sitting in my chair reading this book and my heart was practically pounding out of my chest because I was so invested in the end and she had cranked up the adrenaline.  And I cared so much about Anya and yet I still had mixed feelings about the ghost... Wow.  I can't say anything else other than "Please read this."

I give 'Anya's Ghost':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude