Croak

Croak, by Gina Damico, is a hilariously grim book about the one thing that every human is afraid of.
      Lexington Bartleby is a good girl gone rouge.  From straight-A's to having to be tied to her chair during dinner so she doesn't kill a family member, Lex would baffle even Freud.  So when her parents get an offer to send Lex to work on her Uncle Mort's farm in upstate New York, they are delighted.  Could this be an end to their problems?  But Lex is devastated--she can't remember a time when she's ever been away from her twin sister, Cordy, and she really, really, really, doesn't want to go to live with a man she hasn't seen since she was six.  He could be, like, a homicidal maniac or something. 
     Lex's fears are proven to be true when she finds out that Croak, the town Uncle Mort lives, is a town for the secret population of Grim Reapers.  And Lex's summer job to join their ranks and reap the souls of the dearly departed.
      But, as the pesky literary devices of plot and conflict would have it, nothing is as simple as it seems.  From dead presidents and poets who hate each other's guts, to a boy who might be better looking than Lex would like to admit, to a rash of mysterious deaths that might be linked to a shady figure of legend, the tension within Croak escalates with each step Lex takes--and the population begins to see her as more of a threat than a fellow Grim.
       When there's a chance that the harbingers of death might die, things will get tight, especially when all of Croak is forced to face a stinging betrayal -- and Lex's world is rocked forever.

When I grow up I want to be a Grim Reaper.  Really.  If I get to live in a story-world as delightful as Croak I would stay there for forever and ever and ever. And ever.  I actually went out and bought the book, I liked it so much.  (It's $8.99 at both Barnes and Noble and at the Apple iStore, or whatever it's called.)
      Croak is a lovable town, full of whimsical characters, from the old man, Cropp, who owns the local tavern and is susceptible to flattery, to his wife, Pandora, who owns a diner and enjoys throwing food at her customers, to Kilda, the overly-energetic tourist deterrent, to Mort, the, uh, eccentric mayor, to Norwood and Heloise, a husband-and-wife pair who can be likened to vultures who pick at beings who are still alive. 
      The Junior Grims have their charms too:  Kyloo, the mother of the group, Zara, who's the best Junior Grim and isn't afraid to admit it, Ayjay, who is Kyloo's boyfriend and not much else, Ferb, the video-gaming nerd, Sofi, the girl in pink, and Elysia, everyone's best friend.  Of course, my two favorite characters, Lex, the juvenile delinquent, and Driggs, the witty drummer, are constantly at odds, except . . . when they're not.
     There are basically two plot lines, one in the beginning of the book and one near the middle and end of the book.  The first plot line is Lex getting adjusted to Croak.  The second is the mysterious deaths.  They transition smoothly, overlapping somewhat in the middle, though there are parts that only seem consequential upon reflection. Also, the story is buoyant despite the grim (ha ha) subject matter because it is hilarious.  For precautionary measures I will note that there is some language that may not be suitable for all age groups.  Juvenile delinquents do cuss a lot. 
      The book does require some suspension of disbelief and there are some parts which are in there purely for the humor.  And, of course, which book wouldn't be complete without romance?  Also, to myself, the events directly after the climax are a bit anti-climatic.
      This is a book that doesn't hesitate to cut apart the shroud of perfect it wrapped you in, and all the better for it.  So many books these days are scared to make you hate them, but this book does it, and you find you can't hate it even if you want to.   All that's left to say is that Gina Damico better come out with a sequel soon, and thank-you, person, who left this book over by the manga section because I never would've spotted it otherwise.

http://www.ginadami.co/  This is the website.  There are some reviews, a better description of the book, and an . . . interesting book trailer.  Yeah.