Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label horror. Show all posts

Wednesday, 20 March 2019

Carrie by Stephen King || Review



“People don't get better, they just get smarter. When you get smarter you don't stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it.” 







Name: Carrie
Author: Stephen King
Rating: 3.5 Stars
Pages: 248
Publisher: Hodder
Year Published: Originally 1974 
Movie Adaption?: Yes (1976, 1999, 2002, 2013)


Carrie White has a power, a power that terrifies her religiously devout christian mother. A power that scares her sometimes. This power is something that will change her life forever. If being abused at home by her mother isn't enough,  Carrie is known for being the weird one in school, ridiculed and bullied relentlessly by those more popular than herself in school, especially after experiencing her first period in the open in school. It's following this she is asked to the prom by one of the most popular boys in school, and a horrific prank is carried out that leads to Carrie getting revenge on the town that shafted her as the weird girl. 

This book wasn't what I expected. Stephen King is known for straight up horror, I read It last year and it chilled me right to my core. I found myself looking around corners when I was reading that one, but this book just made me sad. It's something that I found myself aching for Carrie at times because really, she didn't stand a chance. She was never going to come out of this positively, I knew bits of the plot before I read the book but I didn't know how extreme the situations were. 

Starting with her mother, her mother was literally the most hateful person in the whole book for me. She continuously took her own trauma out on Carrie and yes, Carrie's telekinesis power is terrifying and to those of a religious opinion, may seem demonic, that was still her child. Her child that had to stay in a closet and pray to God, a child who wasn't so much as allowed a pillow to sleep on, or wasn't told what her period was and was told it came from sin. Her mother had zero likeable qualities and I'm a little shocked by how Carrie put up with the abusive behaviour for such a long a time.

Secondly, her school life was awful too. The only likeable people from the school were Sue and Tommy and it's so sad that they ultimately got dragged into this whole thing, even though Sue did play a part in the initial bullying act, her intentions weren't malice towards the end of the book. It's sad that Carrie didn't get the ultimate support she needed. Something about Carrie and her life really stirred and empathy within me and it has something to be said about what some teenagers experience within a school environment. Now, I'm not saying that the average teenager will go and explode a town, but I am saying that it should be noted that you never know when somebody has had enough.

Stephen King's writing is great, and I'm glad that I'm finally getting to read the books of his that I own, but I would not peg this book as a horror book. I'd say it's more a psychological book, with paranormal-esque influences. 

As always hit me up on my socials, what did you think of this book?

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Friday, 29 January 2016

ARC Review: Can You Keep A Secret?







Title: Can You Keep A Secret? 
Series: Fear Street Relaunch #4
Author: RL Stine
Publisher:  St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: April 12th 2016
Pages: 272


I received a digital copy of this book for free from the publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review, with thanks to both St. Martin's Griffin and Netgalley. 








Emma and Eddie are from the wrong side of the tracks. 

Emma has nightmares about being a wolf.  *

Eddie's family can barely make ends meet.

But they're in love, so what else could matter? Deciding to take a camping trip as an escape from the lives they lead, they have no idea the drama that they're about to get warped in to. Finding a briefcase with thousands of dollars in it, they decide hide this suitcase filled with money. It could solve all their problems. 

But it might just create some more...

Where did this money come from? 

And where did the money go? 

Going back to the spot where they hid it, the teens quickly discover that the money has went missing, but nobody but the six of them know about it...

(*This is an important part of the story*)


Of course I loved it, let's not beat around the bush here. 

I am a massive fan of RL Stine's books, I've read the whole Goosebumps series, I've read most of the Point Horror books he's written, I'm planning on read spin offs and the main Fear Street series this year...So it's only natural that I'm obsessing over this relaunch series!  Every time I see a new one on Netgalley, I am hands down going to request it. 

Stine's books are so fast paced, and short enough to read in one sitting. They're intriguing and will always keep you enchanted. I'm a fan of these relaunch books solely because they're for my generation now. Things don't seem as outdated as some of the older books do, they read so well and the character building is excellent. 

Another thing that I enjoy about these books is that every story is individual in it's own right, you don't need to read the previous books in the series to read this one. 

I still haven't got my hands on Books one and two in the Relaunch *hint hint to the book gods* 

This book had two stories running through it, which made it slightly different to some Stine books, on one story, it was reading like a paranormal book, and on the other, it was reading as a crime story. Two genres that I love. And at the end they tie together in a brilliantly unique way. 

I didn't see any of the ending coming, and that's exactly what I want from this genre of book!

My final rating is 5 stars. 


QOTD: Have you ever read any RL Stine books? 

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Friday, 30 October 2015

Friday Favourites: Horror Books


Friday Favourites is going to be a monthly post that talks about my favourite books in certain genres; most likely they'll be catered around seasonal holidays/events. It is essentially five or more mini reviews of some books I really enjoy! 

October Friday Favourites: Horror in honour of our favourite spooky month!

1) The Lost Girl by R.L. Stine (Fear Street Relaunch #3)



The Lost Girl is definitely one of the best Stine books I've ever read and as a massive fan of his work, that's a big statement from me! Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read this book before it's release via Netgalley. 

The book starts the same way any of Stine's work does, with a lot of suspense! A young girl named Beth witnesses her father's brutal death at the hands of Martin Dooley, and suddenly we're into the future, and Michael Dooley, his grandson, and his girlfriend; Pepper, befriend the new girl Lizzy. On a dramatic snowmobile ride, themselves, their friends and Lizzy kill a man...And one by one Martin's friend's begin to die. 

Does Lizzy have something to do with it?

Halloween is never complete without a Stine book!


2) The Ghost Next Door by R.L. Stine (Goosebumps #10)


Everybody has that one spooky book they read as a child that stays with them, and for me, it was this. The Ghost Next Door. Reading this even now, as a legal adult, I still get shivers. For me, this is the best book in the Goosebumps series. 

Hannah has a horrible dream, fire killing her whole family but when she wakes up everything is fine again...except things have changed. There's people living in the house next door, despite it being empty the day before. Her best friend hasn't wrote from camp. And the boy next door seems to just appear...

The logical conclusion: He's a ghost.

But as people who've read the Goosebumps series know, nothing is as it seems. 



3) It by Stephen King


A horror category just wouldn't be complete without the king of horror himself. 

As this book is the reason why a lot of people are afraid of clowns and some people find it triggering to that fear, I won't go into a lot of depth, but you may be thinking, it it really worth it? The answer is YES. 

I was apprehensive going into this, it's a very long and very daunting book but the story line is just absolutely genius and although I was scared out of my wits for the most part, I really loved reading this book. I've bought 4 more King books because of it. 









4) The Girl from the Well by Rin Chupeco (The Girl from the Well #1)


I read this book as part of the YA Buddy Reader Corner's group Mega Month Challenge on Goodreads as it was one of their Group Buddy Reads. And I wasn't expecting to enjoy it. 

But immediately I was obsessed. It was like reading the Ring mixed with an anime, but that was solely due to it's japanese mythological background, with a touch of Dexter with the whole killing bad people thing as that's what the girl from the well does. She takes down the bad people of society, the child molesters etc, and she makes sure they'll never do it again.

It creeped me out to no extent and I was absolutely blown away by the mystery of it, it kind of was like the Ring, so if you like the whole Samara storyline, you'll enjoy this novel!




5) The Fear Street Saga Trilogy Books 1-3 by R.L. Stine 






Okay I know that I'm kind of cheating by putting into a trilogy, but hey, this is my blog!

This trilogy is again by R.L. Stine, if you hadn't have guessed by now, he's one of my favourite authors. This was the first trilogy, or first books, I think I ever read that related to the Fear Street series in anyway. Of course I knew of it, but I never really took the chance to read them, and I was so scared reading these books that I stopped reading them at night and had to limit my reading to daytime reading. 

They aren't very long, a max of 200 pages per book, and I flew through them. I definitely recommend these for the spookiest time of year!

QOTD: What's your favourite spooky reads/are you planning on reading anything this halloween? 




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Goodreads: sunstormsandthunderclouds or Connie

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Twitter: @conniedalt

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