I Date Dead People

January 15, 2012
"I'll never find a Mr. Darcy or a Heathcliff in this world," moans Nora. Maybe not in this world. Featuring a new family and an old house with a veritable platoon of supernatural residents, this latest entry in the tongue-in-cheek My Boyfriend is a Monster series hooks up a modern teenager and hunky, long-dead Thomas, who, it turns out, can manifest strongly enough to lock hands and lips. That's the good news. Not so good: Two malicious poltergeists, a spectral moaner and a dark entity that can suck up both ghostly and living bodies, threaten to drive Nora and her family away entirely unless she can find a way to exorcise the lot. Except that the characters all sport oversized manga-esque eyes, the easy-to-follow black-and-white panels are drawn with a loose, expressive realism that effectively captures the plot's droll and eerie turns. In the end, with a psychic's help Nora does the deed even though it means Thomas' departure, too--leaving her free for a budding new relationship with a (breathing) schoolmate. Any resemblances to Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze are surely coincidental. (Graphic paranormal romance. 12-14)

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May 15, 2012
Grades 7-10 Nora loves old-fashioned things, including her family's Victorian home, but she never expected to fall in love with a ghost! However, Nora and Tom's love is threatened by angry spirits who will stop at nothing to get rid of the family living in their house. Kerns' addition to the My Boyfriend Is a Monster paranormal-romance series is a little dry and slightly rushed, making it hard to truly know the characters, but fans will welcome the return of Gorrissen's appealingly rounded and cheerful art. This series is not deep, but the fun, romantic, middle-school-appropriate stories are sure to circulate well.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)