Young Adult Revisited

Tess, our heroine, is at The Boardwalk, which is the hottest place to hang out, and waiting for her best friend Gina. After Gina gets there, they talk about how she's totally over her ex-boyfriend Beak and can't wait to hook up with this new guy Doss. And yes, these are real named. Tess is less enthused about Doss because he's kind of an ape, and she's also worried about herself. See, Tess lived with her dad and brother Guy Joe. Again, a real name. A few years after their mother died, their father remarried a woman 15 years younger than him named Shelley. Shelley left him after a few years and took Tess with her, or at least Tess willingly left with her because her dad didn't seem to give a shit. Shelley recently announced plans to bum around Europe with her best friend because Tess is old enough to live on her own. After they fight over Tess's ex-boyfriend Sam, Tess goes to the bathroom by herself to cool down and sees what looks like someone in...

Althea was once a popular girl with friends, a great skier, and an award winning horseback rider. When she got to high school through, everyone went their separate ways. Despite having a dance and athletic background, she lost a spot on the cheerleading squad to a freshman, Celeste. The ancient evil who lives inside her home offers her a deal: bring him Celeste and he'll make Althea popular. See, Althea's house has a turret with shutters on the inside and outside of each window. A vampire lives inside that room, and despite being told multiple times not to go inside, she did and met the creature that would change her life. He promises that Celeste will just get tired and that she'll actually be back to school the day after “it” happens. Still not sure what to do, she decides to ingratiate herself into Celeste's life. Althea suddenly goes to practice and goes out of her way to be friends with the younger girl. At every turn though, she gets shot down. Ce...

Martha is one of the most annoying characters I ever encountered in one of these books, but I do feel bad for her. Her dad recently married a woman named Sally who has a son the same age as Martha named Conor. Martha and her dad lived in Chicago, but Sally found a house for them out in the middle of nowhere. Since Martha is a huge weenie, she instantly freaks out over seeing shadows on the walls, a scarecrow outside in the field, and especially Conor, who nothing seems to bother. The first night she's there, she gets so freaked out because she thinks her closet door opened on its own that she sleeps with a light on. She then gets a call in the middle of the night urging her to check outside, which leads to her seeing a bloody corpse outside her window. Conor rushes in and finds out that it's just the scarecrow and decides it was probably kids playing a prank on the new people. The next day, their parents send them to town to look for picture hooks. While lo...

A bride grabs an antique letter opener, holds it up to the light, and then plunges it directly into her bridesmaid's hand. Hah-ha, not really. The bridesmaid, actually Allison, doesn't laugh it off because it goes between her fingers and nicks one. The photographer and his assistant just keep snapping pictures and oohing and ahhing. We learn that the bride is Blaine Harrod, and that she's kind of a bitch. She gets her assistant to send Allison a dozen roses and claims, unconvincingly, that it was an accident. Cut to little Jamie begging her parents to let her go to her cousin Blaine's wedding. Blaine, once called Charlotte Blaine Harrodson, changed her name to something more "exotic" and left town. After struggling for a few years, she reinvented herself as Blaine Harrod. Um, does she know how this works? Anyway, she's now some huge supermodel and she invited her younger cousin to come to her wedding early, go to some huge party with her fancy f...

Did anyone know that they brought back the Point Horror series? I was checking out the Wikipedia page tonight to see what books I was missing, and noticed that there were four new books added to the list. 2013 Defriended (Ruth Baron) Identity Theft (Anna Davies) 2014 Wickedpedia (Chris Van Etten) - July 1st Followers (Anna Davies) - July 1st The two books that come out this year I've never heard of (obviously), but I totally didn't know there were two released under that name last year! Has anyone picked them up or read them? I'm wondering if they were just as good as the originals. I also discovered that there are a number of R.L. Stine ebooks now available, including some of the original Fear Street books. I'm not really interested in spending $5-6 on a small Fear Street book when I just finished the Divergent series and paid less than that for each of those books. I did notice a couple of newer titles that I haven't read before, so I might pi...

The Coffin starts out with some random crazy guy (or gal?) talking to himself. He keeps mentioning that he hates the dark and hates being kept away. I think I'll just stick with he from right now because I'm not even sure how many chicks are in this book! It then jumps to some random housekeeper named Mavis cleaning up at work when someone grabs her from behind and kills her. Then we get introduced to Tanner, the main character of the book. Tanner lives with her dad because he's a professor at Salem University, which means she gets free tuition. After her parents divorced, she moved in with her dad. Her dad is incredibly strict and mean, while her mom is wild and crazy. Her dad also teaches psychology, and most of her friends took his class and did really bad. She thinks about how her dad has this fancy music room because he plays 11 instruments, while she only plays one. She hates the room so much that she rarely goes in there. Her friends all try convincin...

Janice, better known as Jan, heads to a party at class president Randy’s house. The only reason she goes is because she wants to get her hands on the delectable Bobby Walker, a relatively new kid in school. Hen looks like James Dean or at least I think so, given that he wears a white tee-shirt, jeans and a black leather jacket. Randy convinces her to go over and talk to him. Bobby barely gives her the time of day, especially when a cheerleader by the name of Suzy interrupts the party because she wants to make a big deal over her squad mate Caroline’s birthday. Bobby calls her over and gives her a tape by a singer named Black Walker. She pretends that she’s heard of him and they do some minor flirting. Right before she leaves from the party drunk and ticked off, Randy asks Janice to give Caroline a ride home. She doesn’t want to, but he forces the issue until she agrees. At first Caroline is quiet, but then she warns her to stay away from Bobby. They argue over him...

Mark works in a wax museum/attraction called the House of Horrors, even though he is secretly afraid of the figures. His crush Lisa spots him after the last group goes through and tells him that they are throwing an after hours party. Mark sticks around and runs into his co-worker Elliott. Elliott warns him that the boss is coming, so he hides in the museum. Mark hears everyone leave for the night and sees the lights go out. Still thinking that the party is coming up, he hides out. It takes him far too long to realize that he is on the only left there. He runs through the museum, freaking out because he keeps thinking that he hears someone. Suddenly, a shadow falls over him. He trips, falls on a couch and screams in horror. The next day, Lisa arrives at work, laughing to herself over how stupid Mark is for thinking they were throwing a party. She pauses, seeing one of the figures in a new position, standing over the couch. When she gets closer, she realizes that the figure on the cou...

Shea did a really, really bad thing. She stole a copy of her upcoming test from her professor’s office. When the book opens, she’s sitting with her roommate Tandy, friend Diane and Diane’s boyfriend Sid. They introduce her to a new guy Coop and they hit it off right away. Professor Stark is nearby and they all talk about how much they hate her. Shea gets a mysterious phone call at the restaurant from someone warning her that they know her secret. At the end of their next class, Professor Stark announces that someone stole a copy of her test. She has proof because she had a camera recording the room. She decides to show the tape at their next class. Shea decides to just admit that she stole the copy and goes to her office. She finds the teacher face down on the floor and runs off in fear. Apparently someone hit her over the back of the head and took off. The teacher is paralyzed and can’t move her legs. Shea freaks out, wondering if she left behind fingerprints or other evidence tha...

A fisherman stumbles on a black box stuck in the side of a cliff. A few months earlier, Abby and her sister Lindsay moved to a new house after their parents’ divorce. After moving into the creepy old house, she decides to clean out the attic. Upstairs she finds an antique porcelain doll in an old leather case. Her mom thinks the doll might be valuable, but she thinks it is pretty enough to display in her room. Her friend Erin spends the night and thinks the doll is just creepy. Abby has a dream that she’s a little girl hiding in the hallway. Then she hears a scream, wakes up and finds that Erin almost fell down the stairs. Erin swears the someone or something tripped her. Mark, the hot guy in school, asks Abby out on a date. He comes by the house and Lindsay shows him the doll. She tells Abby that the doll was sitting in the middle of the hallway. Mark thinks it’s cute that she has a doll and that while pretty, the doll is not as pretty as her. Abby has another dream. This time s...

Forgive me if this one is lacking some details. It started out kind of interesting, but then got super boring and I started speed reading and skimming. Amelia “Mel” is a cheerleader and worried about her co-cheerleader and best friend Jillian. Jillian was dating the football quarterback, but he was seriously injured in a game. He went into a coma and died almost a year ago. Her boyfriend Garth was supposed to guard him during the game and he kind of blames himself for what happened. At the first pep rally, Jillian begs off, saying she can’t handle seeing everyone get so worked up. After the cheerleaders finish cheering, the lights go out and smoke blows across the room. Suddenly Reggie, the dead quarterback walks into the room, wearing his famous uniform. He waves to the crowd and then quickly disappears. Everyone thinks Coach Pal was behind it, but he thinks it was just a disgusting prank. He uses it to get the crowd fired up for the next game. Amelia sneaks backstage and sees a...

This is the book that started it all. Jess has just moved into the off campus dorm Nightmare Hall. She meets her new roommates Linda, Milo, Jon, Cathy and Ian, as well as the handyman Tucker. On the first night, their house mother falls down the stairs and breaks her hip, leaving the kids all alone. Ian makes the mistake of telling them the story of Gabrielle, who lived in the dorm before. She was a well liked girl, but one day came home and hung herself in her room, the same room Jess now lives in. Of course weird things start happening. When Ian says it was a suicide, a window slams shut. When Linda calls it a suicide, the mirror in her room explodes. Jess keeps noticing cold spots in her room that no one can explain. Then she comes home and finds muddy footprints leading into her room and then disappearing. Weird things happen to other people too. Cathy spends weeks working on a paper, only to have it disappear. She blames Milo and rips apart his room, but finds nothing. Someone...