Young Adult Revisited

  Joe and grandpa switched bodies at the end of the last book. As they attempt to do a spell to switch back, grandpa disappears. Joe hears strange noises in the wall and thinks he might be in there. When he touches it though, weird good appears on his hands. His mom then wanders in and reminds him to put on his costume for the night. She tells him that if things don't go well, they might lose the hotel. When he finally gets ready, she asks him to go out and get some ice for the opening night party. Joe has no idea how to drive and almost causes a massive accident. He survives and does well at the party, only to wake in the middle of the night with the feeling that someone is trying to suffocate him. It's the goo again, which covers his face and slides down his throat. Joe tries to run away and runs into the wall. It becomes soft and lets him go through it. There he finds a bunch of webs covering every square inch as well as grandpa. Joe gets to him and fights off the web...

  Joe just moved to Shadyside with his parents and brother Neddy to open a hotel with their grandfather. Grandpa claims that they're related to the Fears and wants to open a hotel on Fear Street called Hotel Howie named after him. Joe quickly makes a new friend named Nick and invites him over for dinner. Grandpa delights them with family stories, but it's Nick who notices a portrait of a boy who died in the 1800s who looks exactly like Joe. He then joins his friend's new club where they hunt monsters. They all claim that they believe in monsters and hunted them before. Robin, one of the girls, goes missing at the end of the meeting and seems a little strange when she comes back. The next day, she comes up to Joe in school and tries to bite him. No one really believes him since she seems normal, but they do notice that she has a drop of blood on her shirt. Joe then heads home and finds his brother acting weird. Neddy's hair is sticking straight up, and he's su...

Hallie and Jenna were besties until Hallie and her parents moved away to Shadyside. Since it's summer and she has nothing to do, Jenna hops on the train to visit her. Hallie's parents welcome her with open arms and make her a peach pie, which is her favorite. After dinner, Hallie tells her all about the Fears and some of the rumors about them floating around town. She also insinuates that she hasn't really made any friends yet. Jenna reminds Hallie of when they used to tell each other ghost stories, which leads to Hallie suggesting that they go somewhere special. It turns out to be the cemetery on Fear Street. She also tells Jenna about how the Fears had two daughters who died and how everyone thinks they're crazy. They wind up finding the girls' headstones and scare each other because they think the girls aren't dead when they hear something. That something is actually Angelica Fear who invites them to stick around and listen to her talk about her gi...

It's 1858 and Timothy Fier, 18-years old, gathers his friends together to tell them a horrible ghost story. He swears it's all true but that he changed the names because the real individuals now live in their same city. It's now the 1850s and Maggie and Henrietta are best friends and sisters. They buried their father that morning and are pretty sad about his passing since they lost their mother years ago. That's when the constable shows up with his men and some urgent news. It seems as though someone poisoned their father. When Henrietta makes a big deal out of how Maggie was home alone with her father the night he died after having a huge fight with him when he forbid her to see her beau, they decide to check her room. They find a vial of poison and immediately take her away to lady prison. There, she gets a rough haircut and new clothing that is unlike anything she ever wore before because she was always super rich. Her cell mate is a woman named Eliza...

The Sign of Fear starts out with Matthew Fear bricking William Goode up in a room. He starts thinking about the family amulet and what he did to get it from a girl named Christina. Christina, as it turns out, lived in the New World in the early 18 th century with her dad and Aunt Jane. When we first meet her, it's at her father's funeral. She keeps crying about how her aunt was so horrible to her when he was alive and how it will just get way worse now. Aunt Jane snaps at her as they put dirt in his grave for showing too much emotion and how it will make people think bad of them. Some poor woman walks by with her two kids, one kid falls, and crows come out of nowhere to attack the poor kid. She fights the birds off and manages to get her hands on something silver in one of the bird's mouths. Christina loses her balance and falls right in her father's open grave. She apparently passes out because she wakes up later back at home. Aunt Jane is right ...

Even though the last book took place in the early 1900s, this one takes us all the way back to the Civil War. Amy Pierce is on her way to New Orleans to live with her mother's cousin, Angelica Fear, as well as Angelica's husband Simon Fear. Amy's own father was injured in the War, her mother went to be with him, and it's way too improper for a young woman to live on her own. She arrives and meet her cousins Hannah and Julia. Angelica also introduces her to Nellie, one of the servants. Hannah is pretty much your spoiled little rich girl, while Julia isn't as pretty but much nicer. Angelica goes out of her way to give Hannah anything she wants and makes a big deal out of her at the same time ignoring her other daughter. Nellie talks an awful lot but seems pretty nice. Julia stops by that night and warns Amy to never open her door at night, no matter what she might hear. She explains that she once saw a servant disappear into a fog. Her parents told her it ...

I actually went to a secondhand bookstore, Second and Charles, where I keep stocking up on the newer Nancy Drew books cheap and decided to check out the “teen” area. Imagine my surprise when I found eleven of the Fear Street Sagas books. After reading through the first two, I have to say that this series is pretty gnarly! In case you didn't read the Fear Street Saga set, Nora Goode was a woman who fell in love with Daniel Fear despite their families being sworn enemies. The Fear Mansion caught on fire, a bunch of random shit happened, and everyone except her died. The cops show up, refuse to believe her story, and finally put her in the nut house until she agrees to tell them what really happened. About a year later, Nora is still there and gave birth to her son, Nicholas. The head nurse comes in to remind her that it's bath time and leaves the baby with a 12 year old patient. Nora comes back and surprisingly does not find her son mutilated in pieces. He's ...

Tim loves magic and dreams of being a professional magician like his idol Amaz-O. Until then though, he just puts on shows for his friends. His sister, Ginny who is a total brat, keeps interrupting and making him look stupid. During one show, she starts trying to attack him with karate moves as the other kids laugh. Since this is an R.L. Stine book, his parents do nothing. He and his best friend Foz head to the local magic shop. Mr. Malik, the owner, rushes out of nowhere with a sword sticking through his chest. After begging them to help, he laughs and shows them it was just a trick. He makes rude comments about how they never spend any money while showing them a bunch of $200-500+ tricks for sale. Right before they leave, he gives them two tickets to the Amaz-O show at the Midnight Mansion. Ginny naturally assumes that she will go with him since Foz can't because of his aunt's birthday. They fight over the ticket until their parents tell them that since it...