Tag: RL Stine

Ever since a car accident killed her father and put Lisa and her mother into the hospital, Lisa can’t think straight. She’s plagued by nightmares and hallucinations that force her to relive the accident over and over again in vivid detail. When Lisa finds out that a neighbor is looking for a babysitter for her young son, she takes the job immediately, eager to keep busy and shake these disturbing images from her head.
But what promised to be an easy gig turns terrifying when Lisa begins to question exactly who — or what — she is babysitting.

Pros – I genuinely enjoyed this book. Possibly the best of the Relaunch titles.

Cons – Terrified me to never babysit again.

Note – This is less a review and more of a quiz…? Read my Status Updates!

Continue reading “Book Review: Don’t Stay Up Late” →

 

At Shadyside High, cheerleading can be a scream!

For the first time since the original series, R.L. Stine brings back his most beloved characters—the cheerleaders of Shadyside High.

The cheerleading squad at Shadyside has always been strong, but now there are rumors that lack of funds may mean the end of cheerleading at Shadyside. That would be a shame for Heather Wyatt, who has just transferred from her old school, where she was a star, and is eager to join the squad. There’s only one other girl who stands in her way—rich, spoiled Devra Dalby, who is also trying out for the one open slot. The competition to join the squad is anything but friendly—and it ends in murder. Will Heather make the squad—if there’s even a squad anymore—or will she end up dead?

Packed with screams and guaranteed to send a shiver up your spine, this is a terrifying installment in Stine’s bestselling Fear Street series.

Pros – none. Well ok Stine writes as energetically as usual.

Cons – Possibly everything.

Spoiler – You know what, who cares – read my spoilers below.

Note – My level of livid is pretty high here folks.

Continue reading “Book Review: Give Me a K-I-L-L” →

 

Her friends warn her not to go to Brendan Fear’s birthday party at his family’s estate on mysterious Fear Island. But Rachel Martin has a crush on Brendan and is excited to be invited. Brendan has a lot of party games planned. But one game no one planned intrudes on his party—the game of murder. As the guests start dying one by one, Rachel realizes to her horror that she and the other teenagers are trapped on the tiny island with someone who may want to kill them all. How to escape this deadly game? Rachel doesn’t know whom she can trust. She should have realized that nothing is as it seems… on Fear Island.

Pros – Fear Island! Fear Family! MURDER ON AN ISLAND

Cons –  Well. I’m confused by what really happened here?

Note – As the start of the non-Canonical return to Fear Street, this was an interesting effort. I 100% recommend you read my status updates from when I first read this.

Continue reading “Book Review: Party Games” →

Caitlyn has never had a real boyfriend before. When she starts seeing Blade, she throws herself into the relationship with fervor. She ignores her friends who warn her that Blade may be a phony and that she is taking the whole thing too seriously. Caitlyn is smitten. She doesn’t care if she loses her friends. All she wants is Blade. When Caitlyn sees Blade with another girl, she completely loses it. She snaps. Everything goes red. When she comes back to her senses, she realizes that Blade is dead-and she has killed him. But if Blade is dead, how is he staring at her across a crowded party?

Pros – My status updates are just…precious jewels of wit, Stine’s inadvertent use of the “yandere” trope

Cons – Less sense than most Shadyside teens, overuse of “Diary”, patently unbelievable lies

Spoiler – I’m going to ruin the “twist” to this book. Not that it matters.

Note – as of writing this review I could not find a different synopsis than the one I have here. I found this one on Teenreads.com…but the names were different (Caitlin vs Caitlyn, Colin vs Blade, which is funny considering what really happens in the book).

Continue reading “Book Review: The Dead Boyfriend” →

Eddie and Emma are high school sweethearts from the wrong side of the tracks. Looking for an escape their dreary lives, they embark on an overnight camping trip in the Fear Street Woods with four friends. As Eddie is carving a heart into a tree, he and Emma discover a bag hidden in the trunk. A bag filled with hundred-dollar bills. Thousands of them. Should they take it? Should they leave the money there? The six teens agree to leave the bag where it is until it’s safe to use it. But when tragedy strikes Emma’s family, the temptation to skim some money off of the top becomes impossible to fight. There’s only one problem. When Emma returns to the woods, the bag of money is gone, and with it, the trust of six friends with a big secret.

Pros – My status updates reached a new level of snarkiness, Callie, actual death

Cons – the wolf plotline, practically everything about these kids, inconsistency of plot (which is saying a lot)

Continue reading “Book Review: Can You Keep a Secret?” →

New student Lizzy Palmer is the talk of Shadyside High. Michael and his girlfriend Pepper befriend her, but the closer they get to her, the stranger she seems… and the more attractive she is to Michael. He invites her to join him on a snowmobile race that ends in a tragic accident. Soon, Michael’s friends start being murdered, and Pepper becomes convinced that Lizzy is behind the killings. But to her total shock, she and Michael are drawn into a tragic story of an unthinkable betrayal committed over 60 years ago.

Pros – Stine delivers on the terrifying factor (if you don’t walk away with at least two new fears of how to die I’ll be shocked), its not just a dude in a mask, my fear of horses is completely vindicated

Cons – convoluted plot, annoying characters, useless adults…honestly this is a Fear Street novel so these aren’t really cons as much as typical attributes of the books you tolerate because you’re not reading these for fine literature

Continue reading “Book Review: The Lost Girl” →