Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Released: 5th October 2017
My Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Find it on Goodreads
I loved Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins so when I found out she was writing a YA horror novel, I was a bit confused but also pretty intrigued. Being a squeamish scaredy cat who hides behind pillows whenever scary movies are on, I’m not usually one for horror, but I thought I’d give it a go since it was Stephanie Perkins and I’d liked her writing style before.
Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with this book. It was just a bit all over the place, but I think my main issue was that I didn’t really connect to any of the characters. For me, characters are the most important part of a book, and I felt like we didn’t really know anything about them.
Makani was our protagonist, and while I think she had great potential, I feel like her character wasn’t really explored as much as it could have been. For example, Makani kept mentioning how her parents hated her or didn’t care about her, which could have been really interesting to delve into deeper. However, nothing more was really said about it. We never found out why Makani’s parents felt this why, we never really got an insight into how this treatment made Makani feel - I mean, why bother mentioning it if it’s never going to be explored? Similarly, this “terrible secret” Makani seemed to have again had no point - it didn’t really tie in with the story and then when we found out what the secret was, I was more underwhelmed than anything else.
Ollie, the love interest, was a bit boring to be honest. I didn’t get why Makani liked him. I understand this book was inspired by teen slasher movies, which aren’t known for their character development, but I just didn’t care for their relationship and was skipping past the romance scenes. Honestly, I’m all for romance usually, but I guess I was expecting less romance, and a bit more tension and suspense.
I did like how diverse this book was and it was quite funny at times, but overall, the characters were lacklustre, and it wasn’t really scary. The murders were somewhat gruesome, but because none of the characters (especially the side characters) were very fleshed out, there was no real tension when someone died. The killer was also pretty disappointing - I won’t reveal who it was, but in the end, I still couldn’t understand their motive.
Overall, I didn’t much enjoy this book. I’ll still read whatever Perkins writes next, but I’ll try to avoid having such high expectations.
Released: 5th October 2017
My Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Find it on Goodreads
Love hurts...
Makani Young thought she'd left her dark past behind her in Hawaii, settling in with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska. She's found new friends and has even started to fall for mysterious outsider Ollie Larsson. But her past isn't far behind.
Then, one by one, the students of Osborne Hugh begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasingly grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and her feelings for Ollie intensify, Makani is forced to confront her own dark secrets. (from Goodreads)
I loved Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins so when I found out she was writing a YA horror novel, I was a bit confused but also pretty intrigued. Being a squeamish scaredy cat who hides behind pillows whenever scary movies are on, I’m not usually one for horror, but I thought I’d give it a go since it was Stephanie Perkins and I’d liked her writing style before.
Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with this book. It was just a bit all over the place, but I think my main issue was that I didn’t really connect to any of the characters. For me, characters are the most important part of a book, and I felt like we didn’t really know anything about them.
Makani was our protagonist, and while I think she had great potential, I feel like her character wasn’t really explored as much as it could have been. For example, Makani kept mentioning how her parents hated her or didn’t care about her, which could have been really interesting to delve into deeper. However, nothing more was really said about it. We never found out why Makani’s parents felt this why, we never really got an insight into how this treatment made Makani feel - I mean, why bother mentioning it if it’s never going to be explored? Similarly, this “terrible secret” Makani seemed to have again had no point - it didn’t really tie in with the story and then when we found out what the secret was, I was more underwhelmed than anything else.
Ollie, the love interest, was a bit boring to be honest. I didn’t get why Makani liked him. I understand this book was inspired by teen slasher movies, which aren’t known for their character development, but I just didn’t care for their relationship and was skipping past the romance scenes. Honestly, I’m all for romance usually, but I guess I was expecting less romance, and a bit more tension and suspense.
I did like how diverse this book was and it was quite funny at times, but overall, the characters were lacklustre, and it wasn’t really scary. The murders were somewhat gruesome, but because none of the characters (especially the side characters) were very fleshed out, there was no real tension when someone died. The killer was also pretty disappointing - I won’t reveal who it was, but in the end, I still couldn’t understand their motive.
Overall, I didn’t much enjoy this book. I’ll still read whatever Perkins writes next, but I’ll try to avoid having such high expectations.
