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Book Review: There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins (Halloween Week of Horrors: Day One)

Title: There’s Someone Inside Your House

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Published: September 26th, 2017

Publisher: Dutton Books For Young Readers

Find the Author: Goodreads 


Disclosure: I bought this book myself and this is NOT a sponsored post. As always, my reviews are fair and unbiased.


Scream meets YA in this hotly-anticipated new novel from the bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss.


One-by-one, the students of Osborne High are dying in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, the dark secrets among them must finally be confronted.


International bestselling author Stephanie Perkins returns with a fresh take on the classic teen slasher story that’s fun, quick-witted, and completely impossible to put down. 


First Thoughts

Everyone: the queen of YA is back! I seriously couldn’t wait to have this book in my hands! After the Anna, Lola and Isla books ended, I was crushed and to this day, there still hasn’t been a young adult book series that’s made me feel the same way. So when I heard about There’s Someone Inside Your House, I was dubious. But then the synopsis! Oh my goodness. It went on my TBR faster than I could breathe and when it got here, I had to painfully wait to read it until it was closer to Halloween time (you know, perfect Horror weather). In related news, WELCOME TO THE HALLOWEEN WEEK OF HORRORS DAY ONE!


Review

Young Adult Horrors have always been hit and miss for me. I either really love it or it’s just not my kind of read (but the latter very rarely happens). Luckily for my own sanity and love of Stephanie Perkins’ writing, this was one of the YA Horrors that I loved. 

Makani is completely different to those Stephanie’s written before. She’s got this secret that adds to her character in a complex, borderline mysterious way and I can already tell from the first few pages that it’s going to be a darker novel than I’m used to from her, too. It doesn’t take long for Makani to gel with new people after moving from Hawaii to a new small town and attending Osborne High, but she doesn’t expect to be footsteps away from a killer with bloody motives. In between the heavy make-out sessions (she’s the queen of romance in YA, what did you expect?!), people are dropping dead in gory and blood-ridden ways. With every new death, Makani doesn’t know what to do but try to stay alive now that the hunt is on to find out who the killer is and what their motive continues to be. But the closer that people get to finding out the truth, the more deaths that follow. And with every horror-filled night, comes another spree of deaths that keep the mystery going. 

I was totally expecting to be scared by There’s Someone Inside Your House, but I wasn’t. It wasn’t that kind of scary, but more thrilling and nail-biting. But don’t get me wrong, this isn’t for the fainthearted. There’s still a lot of blood and gore, and the deaths are slasher-movie worthy. This is still one of the best YA horrors I’ve read in a long time. It’s not my favourite book that Stephanie has written (I’m looking at you, Isla!), but it’s deserving and a solid gold novel by one of my favourite authors. The writing was sharp and cut-throat mixed with snarky, it had a lot of diversity (just YES!) and Scream had better watch it’s back! It’s a total contender for being the next CW Horror show. Can you just imagine that kind of magic?! Sign me up!

Overall, There’s Someone Inside Your House rings true and cuts a four-star shape in the YA Horror genre. Stephanie Perkins at one of her best, and I’m so excited for every new thing she does! She can never go wrong. 

If your interested in winning a copy of THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE, look no further!

Rating & Recs

For fans of Stephanie’s writing, YA Readers and Horror/Thriller fans!


Have you read There’s Someone Inside Your House?


Let me know what you thought in the comments or on twitter @LittleMemoirs!


happy reading!

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Book Review: “Dreamfall” by Amy Plum

Title: Dreamfall

Author: Amy Plum

Published: May 2nd, 2017

Publisher: HarperTEEN  

Find the Author: Goodreads 


I received this book for review on my blog! As always, my reviews are fair and unbiased.

Cata Cordova suffers from such debilitating insomnia that she agreed to take part in an experimental new procedure. She thought things couldn’t get any worse…but she was terribly wrong.
Soon after the experiment begins, there’s a malfunction with the lab equipment, and Cata and six other teen patients are plunged into a shared dreamworld with no memory of how they got there. Even worse, they come to the chilling realization that they are trapped in a place where their worst nightmares have come to life. Hunted by creatures from their darkest imaginations and tormented by secrets they’d rather keep buried, Cata and the others will be forced to band together to face their biggest fears. And if they can’t find a way to defeat their dreams, they will never wake up.


First Thoughts

When I got this in the post, you can surely say that I was FREAKING OUT. Amy is one of my favourite authors and her Die For Me series is still one of my epic loves. If you haven’t read it, go check out my reviews for them and go get it! You won’t regret it – I swear. So upon reading a little and book stalking Dreamfall online, I really got into the sound of it. Recently, when it came to the top of my TBR, I was more than excited to start it. 


Review

Dreamfall is the first in a new duology by the amazing Amy Plum. I’ve always been significantly intrigued by dreams and nightmares and the whole lucidness of remembering them, controlling them and knowing what dreams and nightmares actually mean, so Dreamfall ultimately sounded like it was going to gel with me completely. 

Cata is our predominant narrator, a sixteen year old girl with severe insomnia and other forms of mental anxieties (but we also meet Fergus and other patients soon). She suffers greatly with nightmares and it’s noticeably distressing for her and reading about it, as I also suffer with severe insomnia and anxiety disorders, with occasional nightmares: but Cata and the other teens are very different to just your typical sleep disorders. They want out of it – and so they move to a clinic where experimental doctors confine that they have a cure. First, the teens are hooked up to these weird things that I would run from, and they begin their cure – but it goes terribly wrong, and suddenly their worst fear comes true and they are stuck in the nightmares, completely helpless. Without a way out, they have to face their deepest and darkest fears and things that have scared them for this long, to find a way to return to their reality. 

I was expecting something completely different when I started Dreamfall – something much more Die For Me, but I was surprised by a twist in this different tale. The characters are intricate and very well written and Cata and the other characters were written on point. While I didn’t love it as much as I was hoping to, it was still a fierce horror with science fiction aspects that made this a genre I couldn’t put my finger on – something unique and almost life-like. I totally believed the genuine terror of the characters, and Amy (queen of YA Fantasy romance?) wrote a little something between Cata and Fergus that I’m hoping to see more of in the next book. 

Overall, Dreamfall is a series I’ll definitely be continuing. I was on the edge of my seat at the cliffhanger so I’m desperate to read the next instalment! If you love intrigue, steady pace and a plot to make you keep a night-light on, this is your next read. Huge love for this.


Rating


Perfect For

YA Horror fans.

Have you read Dreamfall?


Let me know what you thought in the comments or on twitter @LittleMemoirs!


happy reading!

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