REVIEW: Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz

What’s your worst nightmare?

For Ivy Jensen, it’s the eyes of a killer that haunt her nights. For Parker Bradley, it’s bloodthirsty sea serpents that slither in his dreams.

And for seven essay contestants, it’s their worst nightmares that win them an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at director Justin Blake’s latest, confidential project. Ivy doesn’t even like scary movies, but she’s ready to face her real-world fears. Parker’s sympathetic words and perfect smile help keep her spirits up. . . at least for now.

Not everyone is so charming, though. Horror-film fanatic Garth Vader wants to stir up trouble. It’s bad enough he has to stay in the middle of nowhere with this group—the girl who locks herself in her room; the know-it-all roommate; “Mister Sensitive”; and the one who’s too cheery for her own good. Someone has to make things interesting.

Except, things are already a little weird. The hostess is a serial-killer look-alike, the dream-stealing Nightmare Elf is lurking about, and the seventh member of the group is missing.

By the time Ivy and Parker realize what’s really at stake, it’s too late to wake up and run.

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MY THOUGHTS

I wasn't sure what to expect from this book as I picked it up without rereading the synopsis, but I did end up liking this book and found myself intrigued by the thriller elements.

When Ivy was twelve a man murdered her parents and now she has nightmares about the man coming for her. So when she receives an email from The Nightmare Elf, a horror movie franchise, promising to get rid of nightmares, Ivy is intrigued. All she has to do is write an essay about her nightmare and enter it into the contest. Winners get treated to a trip in a Nightmare Elf cabin and meet the famous director, but Ivy does not care about that. When she wins she is surprised, but she, along with six other teens, come together and find that there is more to the contest than meets the eye.

This book follows multiple POVs. I do think following all the different perspectives worked in this book because it allowed up to see their fears from their perspectives and follow them into their fears. I struggled with the characters at first because many of them seemed stereotyped, but as the book progressed we start to see who they really are and what they struggle. There were some characters that I still didn't fully connect to, such as Parker (who is supposed to be Ivy's love interest). While there are many perspectives, Ivy is supposed to be the focus of the book. I didn't quite understand why Ivy entered the contest. The email says that they will take away your fears, but why did Ivy think that would work? She seemed smart, and she absolutely hates horror movies, why would she enter a contest from a spam email from a franchise she doesn't care for? It just seemed odd to me.

Despite my disbelief in why Ivy would enter the contest, the concept of the contest is very interesting. I was intrigued by the horror elements and once the characters just to the house, I did not want to put the book down. The settings are perfectly creepy. We have the classic horror house, which is based on the film the contest is for. This was interesting because most of the winners (with the exception of Ivy) love horror movies and see the house as pretend. It takes them a while to realize that something more might be going on. The other main setting is the theme park which was an absolutely fantastic setting! I have an odd interest in theme parks and theme park history (even though I don't like actually traveling to theme parks), so I found how the theme park was incorporated into the book really interesting. The park is so well-themed and I just kept thinking how much work must have been put into this park and how insane the person behind this has to be to do this much work to [highlight to view spoiler]maybe murder seven people? I guess I'll learn more about the motives in book two! [end of spoiler]. The park is absolutely terrifying, but the idea behind maybe rides based on the fears of others is really interesting. Sure, some thriller aspects of the book were predictable, but I still found myself invested in this story!

Now, as for romance, I just didn't care for it. To be honest, I am very picky about romance in books because it is very difficult to get right and most of the time I think a book could do without romance. This book did not need romance. The romance happens too quickly for me to believe it and Parker is such a flat character. He's an aspiring filmmaker and that's really all we know about him [highlight to view spoiler]besides that he lied on his contest entry, making up his nightmare in hopes that he could meet Justin Blake [end of spoiler].

IN CONCLUSION

Overall, while this book has some cliche moments, I still found the thriller elements riveting. I couldn't help but keep reading! The book ends kind of in the middle of things, which was strange, and I was left with a lot of unanswered questions. I do own the next book so I will be continuing the series.

I hereby give this book

3 Stars

Meaning: I liked it

REVIEW: Blackbird by Anna Carey

From the author of the Eve trilogy comes the breathless story of a girl racing to figure out who she is—and how to stay alive. When a nameless girl wakes up on the subway tracks, she knows only one thing for sure: people want her dead. Can she find them before they track her down? This pulse-pounding contemporary thriller is perfect for fans of The Maze Runner, The Darkest Minds, and Legend.

Things I Know Are True:


I am in Los Angeles
I woke up on the train tracks at the Vermont/Sunset station
I am a teenage girl
I have long black hair
I have a bird tattoo on the inside of my right wrist with the letters and numbers FNV02198
People are trying to kill me

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MY THOUGHTS
I have had this book on my TBR for quite a while and I just finally got around to reading it. I found some parts of the mystery interesting and this was a pretty quick read, but I was a little let down by this book.

A little info about the book: You wake up on the subway tracks with no memory of who you are. A number in a notebook leads you to a crime scene and now the police think you are a thief. Strangers keep following you, trying to kill you, and you struggle with the small snippets of memory you have. You have to figure out who you are and why these people are after you.

What drew me to add this to my TBR in the first place was mainly the second-person perspective. I do not see very many books in this perspective and I always think it is a unique way to tell a story. It is easy to get wrong--and to make a book annoying to read--but I think it made sense for the book. The MC does not know her name, so it is an interesting way to avoid the use of her name. It also makes parts of the book fast-paced and adds some suspense.

There were moments that it felt off, like with the romance. I did not like the romance at all and I honestly do not think romance works well with the second-person narration. What really bothered me about the romance, though, was how quick it escalated. The MC meets a boy named Ben at the supermarket and she ends up staying with him for a little bit. They know each other for a week and they are already hooking up and Ben wants them to run away together. It just seemed really odd, especially since Ben was so chill about everything. He felt like a really static character to be honest because he had no personality. He was just the “love interest” and was just there to occasionally help the MC (but he was never part of solving the mystery).

As for the MC, I was not sure how I felt about her. Because of the second person narration, you would think that you would connect with the MC more, but it made me more aware of how I would not go about these situations. For instance, the MC is distrustful of many things, for good reason, but she trusts Ben so easily. In the beginning, when she meets the mysterious caller [highlight to view spoiler], she picks a lock because the office door is closed and gets framed for a crime. But why would you do that? If I were meeting someone in an office, I would not automatically try to pick the lock. It just seemed really dumb. It only really served to A) Prevent the MC from going to the police and B) Show that the MC can pick locks, which does not really come up again. [end of spoiler] I just did not agree with some of her choices.

This book is a mystery/thriller book, but it felt more thriller than mystery. The MC is running around LA getting chased, following others, breaking into places, and it is all very fast-paced. The thriller aspect put me off of the story because, while I finished the book very quickly, I am not the biggest fan of thrillers. I like mysteries, but thrillers to me are more chase scenes and fights and lots of running, which is what this book felt like. There is a mystery because the MC is trying to figure out who she is and what is going on. Some of the mystery is really intrigued and I did find myself wanting to know more, but I found myself unsatisfied with the mystery. What I like about mysteries is trying to guess along with the MC. In this book, things happened so quickly, that I was not able to guess or, because of the MC’s dumb choices, I felt like I was forced into knowing only what she figured out. I did not feel like I could guess on my own. There were some twists that I found very surprising, but sometimes they did not make sense. [highlight to view spoiler] We find out that Ben is a Watcher, but... I have no idea what that is. It is not really clear what the Watchers are, but it upsets the MC even though she should not really know what that is. [end of spoiler]

IN CONCLUSION
I was disappointed in this book. I liked the narration and the mystery as intriguing, but I found myself frustrated by the romance and the MC’s decisions. This was also more thriller than mystery which is fine but not really my cup of tea. The book does end on a pretty good cliffhanger and I am curious about what is going to happen next, but I do not really want to read more in the series. I do have another book from Anna Carey on my TBR, This Is Not the Jess Show, and I do still intend on reading that.

I hereby give this book

2.5 Stars

Meaning: I almost liked it, but not quite

REVIEW: Undead by Kirsty McKay

Out of sight, out of their minds: It's a school-trip splatter fest and completely not cool when the other kids in her class go all braindead on new girl Bobby.

The day of the ski trip, when the bus comes to a stop at a roadside restaurant, everyone gets off and heads in for lunch. Everyone, that is, except Bobby, the new girl, who stays behind with rebel-without-a-clue Smitty.

Then hours pass. Snow piles up. Sun goes down. Bobby and Smitty start to flirt. Start to stress. Till finally they see the other kids stumbling back.

But they've changed. And not in a good way. Straight up, they're zombies. So the wheels on the bus better go round and round freakin' fast, because that's the only thing keeping Bobby and Smitty from becoming their classmates' next meal. It's kill or be killed in these hunger games, heads are gonna roll, and homework is most definitely gonna be late.

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MY THOUGHTS
I read this book as part of my Cleaning Out My TBR challenge. I originally added this book to my TBR in 2012 and lately, I've been wary about those books on my TBR added in 2012 because my tastes have changed a lot since then and I haven't had a whole lot of luck with them. With this book, I'm glad to say that I actually did enjoy it. It was an entertaining and thrilling read!

Bobby has recently moved back to the UK and what better way to get to know her school classmates than to join them on a ski trip? At least, that's what Bobby's mother thinks. So far, no one seems to want to talk to her and the trip is feeling like hell. On the way back from the trip, their bus stops by a cafe. Bobby decides to stay inside the bus, but her classmates wander off for lunch, with the exception of Smitty, the trouble maker who is told to stay on the bus. Things seem normal until their classmate Alice comes running back to the bus claiming that everyone else is dead and one of their newly dead teachers tried to grab her. This can't be believed until they see for themselves that their classmates and everyone else in the cafe is dead, but is walking towards them. They have to find a way to escape, but that's easier said than done when you're in a snowstorm, in a bus running out of gas, and no way out of town to escape the surrounding zombies.

I admit that I was surprised by how entertained I was from this book. The plot sounds like it comes straight from a cheesy horror movie. The book does feel at times like you are reading a cheesy horror movie, and it does start out that way. Our main cast is isolated, in a snowstorm, with no way to get help. Bonus points that they are young people. The longer in the story, though, the more complicated the storyline gets. I just kept wanting to turn the pages in this book because I wanted to see the characters make it out of this dangerous situation. There was never a break in the action in this book and the thrill level just went up and up and up.

The story also takes the typical zombie plot into absurd directions. Sometimes the absurdity of the book was difficult for me to take in or believe (that's what makes it absurd!). Oddly enough, though, it worked for the book. For instance: <highlight to view spoiler> The carrot juice and the carrot man. I guessed early on that this was the cause of the zombie virus, but it's such an odd premise! Also, I am now going to be very distrustful whenever someone tries to give me a free food sample.<end of spoiler> The absurdity also brings some humor into the story, from the witty banter between the characters to the unconventional methods the characters use to kill the zombies.

The characters in the story seem to be, at first glance, the stereotypical characters. Smitty is the rebel, Alice is the princess, and later we also get the nerd. Bobby, our main character, is likely considered to be the average one, which works for the story because we need someone who we can relate to because we certainly can't relate to the situation, but as the story continues Bobby becomes more than just the average girl. One of the difficulties I did have with Bobby's character, though, is her history. Her history eventually becomes important, but for most of the story we don't know her history or it is vague. This is understandable since we don't want to take a break from the action to learn her story, but some parts of her history seem to affect her deeply and have changed her. Not knowing much made her feel less developed.

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I did enjoy this book. I found it to be very entertaining, equal parts thrilling and absurd. I give this book a rating of three stars, which is my "I liked it" rating. While I enjoyed reading this book, the book did not make me think or make a huge connection with me, it was just a fun read. The book ended in an abrupt way that made me immediately put the next book on hold, so I will be continuing this series.

I hereby give this book

3 Stars

Meaning: I liked it.

REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Every Big & Little Wish by E.C. Moore

E.C. Moore’s young adult novel, Every Big and Little Wish, opens in late spring 1970. Sixteen-year-old Jacy Wilbert’s Mom got promoted, so her parents sold their Victorian home in California and moved to a townhouse in Oregon.

Torn away from the only home she's ever known, forced to leave her beloved German shepherd behind, Jacy feels misplaced. Exacerbating an already terrible situation, her dad runs off with the bombshell real estate agent who sold them their townhouse. And, just when it seems things can’t get any worse, her mom loses the stupid job they left California for in the first place and begins to drown her sorrows with pink wine, night after night. Jacy’s caught in the middle, struggling to maintain a relationship with her AWOL dad while tolerating his annoying, much-younger girlfriend.

Missing old friends back in California, and feeling like an outsider, Jacy needs to build a new social life in a new school. Not the sort of girl to wait around for what she wants to come her way, she sets her sights on Neil Wilder, the best-looking boy around.

Everything changes when Jacy Wilbert knocks on the wrong door. 

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MY THOUGHTS
This book was most certainly not what I was expecting, not that that's a bad thing. This book was an interesting coming of age story with an odd backdrop of a thriller. I had some misgivings with this book, but I liked this one.

This book is about a girl, Jacy, who comes from a currently broken family. Her mom lost her job, the only reason why they moved from California. And her dad went off to be with his new girlfriend, who isn't that much older than Jacy. Jacy wants and friend and she gets one, from Neil Wilder, a boy who comes from an even more messed up home.

The pacing in this book, though, is awfully slow. Many more realistic reads, especially coming of age stories, are slower pace, so it makes sense. But I kept expecting something to happen, maybe a twist. Part of it was the line in the synopsis "Everything changes when Jacy Wilbert knocks on the wrong door" and the addition of Casper's actions throughout the book. I was kind of disappointed when nothing big happened, until I guess the end. I kind of felt like I spent most of the book waiting.

But the setting, characters, and friendship were great. This book takes place in the early 1970s and the setting was very vivid. As for characters, there was a very wide cast, many from broken homes and I thought that all the characters were wonderfully represented. I also liked seeing Jacy grow and the friendships she formed, both with Neil and other characters throughout the book.

I did have issues with the very very end, as I thought that the events in the end happened very quickly and was a bit of an abrupt ending.

IN CONCLUSION
Despite some of my issues with the pacing and ending, I liked this book. It was a very interesting coming of age story dealing with broken families and I recommend this book to fans of coming of age books.

I hereby give this book

3 Stars

Meaning: I liked it.

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REVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Shade Me by Jennifer Brown

 

Nikki Kill does not see the world like everyone else. In her eyes, happiness is pink, sadness is a mixture of brown and green, and lies are gray. Thanks to a rare phenomenon called synesthesia, Nikki’s senses overlap, in a way that both comforts and overwhelms her.

Always an outsider, just one ‘D’ shy of flunking out, Nikki’s life is on the fast track to nowhere until the night a mysterious call lights her phone up bright orange—the color of emergencies. It’s the local hospital. They need Nikki to identify a Jane Doe who is barely hanging on to life after a horrible attack.

The victim is Peyton Hollis, a popular girl from Nikki’s school who Nikki hardly knows. One thing is clear: Someone wants Peyton dead. But why? And why was Nikki’s cell the only number in Peyton’s phone?

As she tries to decipher the strange kaleidoscope of clues, Nikki finds herself thrust into the dark, glittering world of the ultra-rich Hollis family, and drawn towards Peyton’s handsome, never-do-well older brother Dru. While Nikki’s colors seem to help her unravel the puzzle, what she can’t see is that she may be falling into a trap. The only truth she can be sure of is that death is a deep, pulsing crimson.

Shade Me is award-winning author Jennifer Brown’s first book in a thrilling suspense series about Nikki Kill.

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MY THOUGHTS

I'm not usually one for thrillers, but I'm always been curious about synesthesia and a thriller focusing on a girl using her synesthesia to solve a mystery made me very curious. This wasn't quite what I expected, but it was a great thriller and mystery.

Nikki Kill sees colors where others can't. Certain letters, numbers, words, have their own colors, and she can even see colors of emotions. One day Nikki gets a phone call. At first she thinks it's a wrong number, but they clearly say 'Nikki'. Later, the hospital calls. They need her to identify someone who was brought in very critical condition and Nikki's number was the only number on the phone found. Turns out that she was called by Peyton Hollis, a popular, rich girl that Nikki has barely talked to. Nikki has no attachment to the girl and doesn't know why hers was the only number on the phone, but Nikki needs to find out who tried to kill Peyton.

I may not be one for thrillers, but I still like them. This one was no different. I kind of wish that the synethesia had a larger focus, but that's not what this book is about and it's just a part of Nikki's life, so it's more in the background. I thought that the addition of synethesia was unique. The main reason why I don't read many thrillers I because they all seem the same to me, so this one felt a little bit different. In the book, Nikki uses her synethesia to follow clues that seemed to have been meant for her. They were interesting, but specific clues meant for someone always make to suspicious, because how do they know for sure that the person will actually follow your clues? It did seem a bit convenient, but I tried to ignore that fact. Otherwise, the mystery was very interesting and engaging.

Nikki as a character is very different than most YA MCs I've read. She's not a good student, she's a bit of a loner, she has a bad attitude, she smokes, and she makes stupid decision. I didn't really like her attitude, at times she was rude and again, her decisions were questionable. Her bad qualities, though, did make her more of a real person, rather than an idea of a person and some parts of her personality make it easier to jump in and solve this mystery.

The pacing of the book is actually very fast-paced. Sometimes the pacing is very slow in mysteries when the MC is uncovering clues, but Nikki unlocks clue after clues and gets even more questions in such a way that the book doesn't seem to slow, but speeds up.

As for romance, there wasn't a whole lot. The focus of this book was on the mystery, which I am thankful for. I hate it when the romance takes over.


IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I liked this book. It was a very engaging mystery and it brought something new to the genre. This is supposed to be a new series and I get the feeling that this will be a compelling series!

I hereby give this book

3.5 Stars

Meaning: I liked it!

Jennifer Brown is the author of acclaimed young adult novels, Hate List, Bitter End, Perfect Escape, Thousand Words, and Torn Away. Her debut novel, Hate List, received three starred reviews and was selected as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, a VOYA "Perfect Ten," and a School Library Journal Best Book of the Year. Bitter End received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and VOYA and is listed on the YALSA 2012 Best Fiction for Young Adults list. Her debut middle grade novel, Life on Mars, was released in 2014, and her second middle grade novel, How Lunchbox Jones Saved Me from Robots, Traitors, and Missy the Cruel will be released in summer 2015. She also writes women's fiction under the name Jennifer Scott.Jennifer writes and lives in the Kansas City, Missouri area, with her husband and three children.

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REVIEW: A Madness So Discreet by Mindy McGinnis

Grace Mae knows madness.

She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum.

When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past.

In this beautifully twisted historical thriller, Mindy McGinnis, acclaimed author of Not a Drop to Drink and In a Handful of Dust, explores the fine line between sanity and insanity, good and evil—and the madness that exists in all of us.

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MY THOUGHTS
I had very high expectations for this book. It sounded completely creepy and I was excited to dive in! While I did like this book, it was definitely not what I expected and it didn't blow me away.

Grace has been through horrific things, one of which gave her the bulge in her belly. Now, Grace is in a mental asylum to hide the family secret. Grace has kept her voice locked away until one moment when she breaks, and is sent to the cellars. A visiting doctor discovers her, seeing the intelligence in her mind, the doctor takes her with him. She's to help him study crime scenes and find killers, with a serial killer possibly on the rise.

I admit that I go into books without rereading synopsis of the book, so I was thrown when the book changed setting. I was expecting the asylum to be the major setting. That's not a big deal, really. I found the crime studies interesting and I thought this book handled madness very well! Mindy McGinnis is a wonderful writer and I also thought that the historical setting was not only interesting, but well written.

Now, to get into what I wasn't expecting. The madness in this book carried throughout this book, but the plot was surprising to me. It felt like the plot kept changing. I can't really get into the changes, less there be spoilers, but it's hard for me to get into a book when my expectations keep changing. 

The characters were great and I loved Grace's character growth, but I had a hard time connecting with the characters for some reason. This book was in third person, which I always have difficulty with (with the exception of fantasy books), so that's probably why.

As for romance, THERE IS NONE! A fact that I actually liked!

IN CONCLUSION
Overall, I liked this book, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting. Still, this is a great historical thriller and a very interesting read.

I hereby give this book

3.5 Stars

Meaning: I liked it, but it wasn't quite amazing.

REVIEW: Cold Fury by T.M. Goeglein

Jason Bourne meets The Sopranos in this breathtaking adventure

Sara Jane Rispoli is a normal sixteen-year-old coping with school and a budding romance--until her parents and brother are kidnapped and she discovers her family is deeply embedded in the Chicago Outfit (aka the mob).

Now on the run from a masked assassin, rogue cops and her turncoat uncle, Sara Jane is chased and attacked at every turn, fighting back with cold fury as she searches for her family. It's a quest that takes her through concealed doors and forgotten speakeasies--a city hiding in plain sight. Though armed with a .45 and 96K in cash, an old tattered notebook might be her best defense--hidden in its pages the secret to "ultimate power." It's why she's being pursued, why her family was taken, and could be the key to saving all of their lives.

Action packed, with fresh, cinematic writing, Cold Fury is a riveting and imaginative adventure readers will devour.

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MY THOUGHTS
I picked this book up sort of impulsively at a cheap used book sale. I didn't really know much about this book except that it's a thriller. I was a bit disappointed, it wasn't as actiony as I expected, but it was very interesting!

Sara Jane thought her family was normal. They're a bunch of bakers, that's all. Then she comes home to find her family missing and her home ransacked. Turns out her family is part of the Chicago Outfit, basically a long-running mob. Now, Sara Jane is the keeper of the notebook, full of the Outfit's secrets, and must prevent it from getting in the wrong hands, as well as trying to survive, and find her family.

My main problem with this book is that it takes forever for things to happen. The first 150 pages is mostly just backstory. It isn't until then that her family disappears, though Sara Jane alludes to it in the very beginning. I was expecting a thriller, but the first half was a bit dull and just was leading up to the family disappearance, which it took way too long to get to. The second half was much more action packed, with made me happier. I finally got to know what was going on, though was some info-dump but that's okay mostly because Sara Jane didn't know what was going on either. I ended up finding the whole Outfit interesting as well as how everything was organized!

As a main character, Sara Jane is a great one. She's tough and smart. Many others in her situation wouldn't know what to do, but she was able to keep it together and figure things out. Still, she felt real. The other characters in the book didn't feel so real, they felt like there were just there, but most of them were necessary so...

As for romance, there is supposed to be some, but it's hardly there and it just felt so important. Sara Jane kind of has a crush on a boy, but nothing really happens with him. I also really didn't care about him because he was really flat. Good news: the romance didn't distract from the plot.

IN CONCLUSION
I sound like I'm just complaining, but I did like this book. It had a compelling plot and a great MC, it just was slow-paced for a thriller and the other characters felt too flat. I don't know if I'll read the next book or not, mostly because I've heard the the second book is a bit of a slump. Maybe I'll read it if I come across it, but otherwise I might pass.

I hereby give this book

3 Stars

Meaning: I liked it