Goth Girl Rising by Barry Lyga

Learn more about the author here:
Learn more about Goth Girl and Fanboy here:

Synopsis:

Time is a funny thing in the hospital. In the mental ward. You lose track of it easily. After six months in the Maryland Mental Health Unit, Kyra Sellers, a.k.a. Goth Girl, is going home. Unfortunately, she’s about to find out that while she was away, she lost track of more than time.

Kyra is back in black, feeling good, and ready to make up with the only person who’s ever appreciated her for who she really is.
But then she sees him. Fanboy. Transcended from everything he was into someone she barely recognizes.
And the anger and memories come rushing back.
There’s so much to do to people when you’re angry.
Kyra’s about to get very busy

Review:

When I first picked this book up, I wasn't aware that this was the second in a series. I had stumbled upon the author when I had received some random swag after giving someone a R.A.K.  and it was the cover that drew me. That intense stare that seemed to say so much with just one look, it was beautiful.

Having read the book, I will say that it can be a stand alone read but I am sure had I read the first book I would have enjoyed the second much better, especially because of all the tension from the last book that appeared in the first book.

That being said, I wasn't to fond of the book.

Perhaps it is the stereotyping, calling her goth, when in all honesty she didn't even seem that to me. It is a touchy subject, having been labeled such things in high school just because I wore dark clothing. Kyra seemed more "emo" then goth to me. Mainly due to the fact that she was a repeat offender of trying to kill herself.

I can't say that I blame her, having to watch her mother die of cancer, and believing that she wasn't strong enough to keep her mother alive. It is definitely something that can scar a child, especially a little girl when they need their mom most. The pre-teen and teenage years.

This book was written more like a diary then an actual book. You relive the last time she saw her mother in the hospital and you get to read along as she writes letter's.

I think my favorite part was what they called the mental hospital she was put into after the first book. It is called DCHH. Daddy Couldn't Handle Her.

Believing that she was just some rich guys daughter he was passing off.

I also thought that the way  she planned on getting Fanboy back was childish. Surely she could have come up with something better, I mean come on, she had the Internet at her disposal.

I loved the story, I may not have liked all of the details but it was touching how Kyra and her father fight their way through in re-pairing their relationship and fixing her own life.

Rating:

3 Ravens

Quote: "He means my Bangs of Doom"