Warning: If it's dark and you're alone in the house, avoid Bad Girls Don't Die by Katie Alender at all costs. Or, if say, you're up with the baby at 2 a.m. and the house is unnaturally quiet - don't read this book. If you do, your sleep will be plagued with nightmares about malevolent Webkinz, who hiss and bleed purple when bludgeoned with a screwdriver (the only way to kill them). This is just conjecture, of course, because a ghost story written for teens would never scare me that much. Oh no. I'm just looking out for you, gentle readers. So, if the sun's up and you're in a crowded place, read on. If not, I'm telling you, leave this one on the shelf!

Compared to most of the teen horror books I've read lately (Coraline by Neil Gaiman; A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray; Sisters of Mercy by Megan Kelley Hall, to name a few), Bad Girls Don't Die isn't nearly as sinister - or original; it's more like an old-fashioned ghost story with a few modern-day twists. It has all the traditional trappings - a creepy old house; a couple of misfit girls; clueless parents; and, of course, a presence. At least, that's the only explanation Alexis Warren can think of for her 13-year-old's sister's strange behavior - if Kasey's not possessed, then she's gone totally bonkers. There's just something eerie about her obsession with dolls (a 13-year-old!); the way her normally blue eyes sometimes flash green; and the stiff, old-fashioned language she's suddenly using. Plus, Kasey, who normally ignores homework until the last possible minute is completely engrossed in some kind of secret family history project. There's no doubt about it - something is up with Kasey Warren.

In the light of day, Alexis can shrug off all the strange things happening at her house (air conditioning turning on and off by itself; doors opening and closing without human aid; a weird rotten egg smell; the way Alexis just knows things), but when a snooty cheerleader actually states the fact - Your sister is possessed - Alexis knows it's true. With the help of another cheerleader - one who may actually have brains in her head - Alexis does some research. What the girls uncover shocks them. Newspaper accounts support what Alexis somehow knows in her head - something terrible happened in her house. And someone, or something, doesn't want anyone to forget it. The question is, can Alexis stop the evil presence before it's too late? Can she save her sister, who's slipping further away with every passing day? And what about Alexis herself? Doesn't the fact that she's tracking a ghost confirm that she's the freak everyone already thinks she is? Can she save her sister and salvage her own life at the same time?

Like I said, it's an old-fashioned ghost story. It's not even terribly original, but that doesn't mean you're not going to feel some serious shivers running down your spine. The nice thing about Bad Girls Don't Die is that although it keeps the spooky going strong, there's also a lot of levity in it. Mostly it's due to pink-haired Alexis, whose sarcasm and self-depracating humor actually make this horror novel funny. My one issue with the book is that I really don't see how the Warren Family could have lived in their house for 8 years and never have heard about its history. So, it didn't ring true to me that Alexis had never heard any stories about her house. It's a small thing, really, but it detracted a little bit from my enjoyment of the novel.

Mostly, I love that this story is different - it's not nearly as disturbing as the books I mentioned above, but it's still deliciously creepy. It's the kind of book you can't put down even though you know it will give you nightmares. Still, it's the good, old-fashioned kind of scary - the kind that has you running from stuffed animals one night, and laughing at yourself the next.

Grade: B+

Thanks to Disney/Hyperion, I have an extra copy of Bad Girls Don't Die to give away. All you have to do is tell me what book(s) has/have given you nightmares lately. I will draw the name of one winner on May 20. Contest is open to readers everywhere. If you're not a blogger, please include an email address so that I can contact you if you win. Good luck!