Author Interview & Review: Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Come on, who doesn’t love a good zombie and witch tale told by a masterful and hilarious storyteller? Add in the perfect audio narrator and you know what we have? Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson, narrated by Rebecca Soler. Check out our interview with Lily below and our 5 star review then grab your copy from Audible or your local indie!

 

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Category: Young Adult; Contemporary
Publication: May 8th 2018 by Razorbill
Purchase: Audible; Indiebound; Barnes & Noble; Amazon

Mila Flores and her best friend Riley have always been inseparable. There’s not much excitement in their small town of Cross Creek, so Mila and Riley make their own fun, devoting most of their time to Riley’s favorite activity: amateur witchcraft.

So when Riley and two Fairmont Academy mean girls die under suspicious circumstances, Mila refuses to believe everyone’s explanation that her BFF was involved in a suicide pact. Instead, armed with a tube of lip gloss and an ancient grimoire, Mila does the unthinkable to uncover the truth: she brings the girls back to life.

Unfortunately, Riley, June, and Dayton have no recollection of their murders, but they do have unfinished business to attend to. Now, with only seven days until the spell wears off and the girls return to their graves, Mila must wrangle the distracted group of undead teens and work fast to discover their murderer…before the killer strikes again.

 

Three Questions with Lily Anderson & Undead Girl Gang

1. What 3 book characters would you want in your undead girl gang?

Cammie Morgan from Ally Carter’s Gallagher Girl series. Why wouldn’t you want a classically trained spy who is a polyglot and could easily take down a terrorist organization?

Millie Michaelchuk from PUDDIN’ by Julie Murphy. All gangs need someone who can craft and add some much needed positivity to the group! She’d also champion all sleepover activities (although she would hate my cussing).

Zélie Adebola from Children of Blood and Bone because DUH who doesn’t want the most bad ass gal in YA on your team?

 

2. You’re a self proclaimed Kevin Costner fan – Which Costner movies would you pair with the main characters in Undead Girl Gang?

OMG. This is my favorite interview question EVER!

Mila: Hidden Figures – Brilliant women of color getting things done? And they’re besties, too? Sign Mila right up! She might raise an eyebrow at the idea of watching a historical film about NASA, but by the time Octavia Spencer claps back at her racist boss, Mila would be on her feet, laughing and clapping. (However, Mila would have zero idea who Kevin Costner was by the end of the movie.)

Riley: 3 Days To Kill – Okay, I partially chose this one because Riley is ALL TOO FAMILIAR with having time to kill since she was brought back from the dead for seven days, but she would totally dig Amber Heard’s assassin character as well as the plot about Costner trying to repair his relationship with his daughter, Hailee Steinfeld.

June: Message In A Bottle – June is so the target audience for Nicolas Sparks movies. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that she would adore Message In A Bottle–after she was done complaining about how there are zero young people in it. It’s a total old people romance and she would definitely excuse herself to cry in a bathroom when it was over.

Dayton: The Guardian – Coast guard rescue swimming is no joke and Dayton (herself a competitive swimmer) would be utterly enraptured by the long training sequences and harrowing rescues. She would briefly consider becoming a rescue swimmer after seeing this.

 

3. How did the rules around the magic or undead elements change as you wrote the story? What did you feel was critical to include?

The magical rules were built to accommodate the story itself. I knew I needed all three girls to come back for exactly seven days and that there needed to a be a reason why they couldn’t just spend those three days with their loved ones. The grossness of the zombie girls definitely came from that. One of the first bonds between the girls is that they only look like themselves when they’re within a certain distance of Mila herself, so they’re immediately more comfortable with her than without her. The rules didn’t change much from draft one until publication except for the fact that originally the not-so-dead girls could feel pain in an early draft but I ended up removing it because otherwise they’d be in near constant pain from their death wounds. Yikes!

I also wanted to make sure that Mila’s magic wouldn’t be a quick fix in the book–you know, poof! You’re healed! Poof! You’re alive! Poof! You aren’t evil anymore!–because I wanted to make sure that the reader felt like there were high stakes even though we were dealing with three reanimated corpses and a girl armed with a whole book of serious spells.

 

Author Bio: Lily Anderson

LILY ANDERSON is a school librarian and Melvil Dewey fangirl with an ever-growing collection of musical theater tattoos and Harry Potter ephemera. She lives in Northern California, far from her mortal enemy: the snow.

Links: 

Website  **  Twitter  **  Facebook

 

Reasons You Need to Listen to Undead Girl Gang

5/5 stars

Lily Anderson, a lovely local, is a favorite around here. While fellow blogger Kelli has already given us all the reason to CRUSH ON THIS, I wanted to add my reasons why audio could be the best way to read Undead Girl Gang.

We already know Undead Girl Gang is an intersectional feminist story with positive Latinx, fat, and mental health rep. It’s sassy and smart, just like the four main characters Lily introduces us to. It’s a story that is contemporary and paranormal and relatable on so many levels. It has an unforgettable build and ending and unfolds in a way that turns you into a Lily fan for life.

Us locals have long wished for a Lily book on audio and now we FINALLY have one. What a fantastic audio it is. Fans of YA audiobooks are familiar with Rebecca Soler and her fabulous narration. Each character has their own voice, complete with tones and inflection. With four ongoing voices and a slew of side characters, it’s no easy feat. But Rebecca does it smoothly. I flew through this because the voice and words were a perfect match.

With an unforgettable cover that’s perfectly 2018 and an audiobook that makes your ears happy, you won’t want to miss Undead Girl Gang!