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lisaluvsliterature's review against another edition
5.0
Loved it! Full review to come on my blog, Lisa Loves Literature, soon.
haleyp898's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Super fun read. Unique compared to a lot of other YA Horror/Thrillers. I loved the characters and use of sarcasm. I chuckled throughout.
beautynherbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Review:
Thank you so much to Raincoast Publishing for sending me this novel in exchange for my personal and honest review.
The first thing that I thought of when I first read this synopsis was the episode of Gravity Falls where the wax figures are created and Stan thinks that there out to kill him, or it’s something along those lines I believe.
Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Anyways, to the review.
This book is highly recommended for readers of smart, dark humour.
Fans of Hellhole and the Croak book will absolutely fall head over heels for Gina’s new book, WAX.Gina Damico mixes teen angst with totally bizarre situations, stirs thoroughly, then sits back to enjoy the fun, and fun it is. I have never read a book in which wax figures start to come to life and begin replacing townspeople.
WAX takes place in Parrafin, Vermont, which is the tourist trap/company town of the Grossholtz Candle Factory. While Parrafin is mostly known for its candles, it is also home to Poppy Palladino, who became an unwelcome viral sensation after an unfortunate performance on national television. Things take a serious turn, however, when Poppy discovers the townsfolk a slowly being replaced with living wax duplicates. Murder, mayhem, and a cute wax guy all play a part. The ending was a crazy thrill ride and the very last part was quite touching. It was fast-paced, unique, and funny as hell.
Without giving away too much, I highly recommend this book to join your TBR pile. It is a perfect summer read when you need a few strange antics and humour to brighten you day.
-Read On Darlings!
Thank you so much to Raincoast Publishing for sending me this novel in exchange for my personal and honest review.
The first thing that I thought of when I first read this synopsis was the episode of Gravity Falls where the wax figures are created and Stan thinks that there out to kill him, or it’s something along those lines I believe.
Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Anyways, to the review.
This book is highly recommended for readers of smart, dark humour.
Fans of Hellhole and the Croak book will absolutely fall head over heels for Gina’s new book, WAX.Gina Damico mixes teen angst with totally bizarre situations, stirs thoroughly, then sits back to enjoy the fun, and fun it is. I have never read a book in which wax figures start to come to life and begin replacing townspeople.
WAX takes place in Parrafin, Vermont, which is the tourist trap/company town of the Grossholtz Candle Factory. While Parrafin is mostly known for its candles, it is also home to Poppy Palladino, who became an unwelcome viral sensation after an unfortunate performance on national television. Things take a serious turn, however, when Poppy discovers the townsfolk a slowly being replaced with living wax duplicates. Murder, mayhem, and a cute wax guy all play a part. The ending was a crazy thrill ride and the very last part was quite touching. It was fast-paced, unique, and funny as hell.
Without giving away too much, I highly recommend this book to join your TBR pile. It is a perfect summer read when you need a few strange antics and humour to brighten you day.
-Read On Darlings!
catra121's review against another edition
4.0
I was really, pleasantly surprised by this one. I was expecting some really cheesy, bad horror...clearly didnt look at a description or when this was published. Instead I got a young adult horror that was actually kind of fun. Very low on the scare meter but it was well written and a good, spooky time.
dandelionsteph's review against another edition
4.0
An excellent book, with a well-paced and engaging narrative. It takes a lot to make me laugh, so I rarely outright laughed when reading this. Nonetheless, I was frequently amused by humorous turns of phrase.
I'm depriving it of a full five stars only because of some mildly lewd situations and dialogue, along with its fairly frequent use of profanity. I feel the profanity could have been cut from the book without any loss of quality.
I'm depriving it of a full five stars only because of some mildly lewd situations and dialogue, along with its fairly frequent use of profanity. I feel the profanity could have been cut from the book without any loss of quality.
allisonhollingsworth's review against another edition
“No, I—I was having a traumatic stationery-related flashback.”
This book was so different than I expected it to be, haha. Just based on the cover, it looked like it was going to be a horror movie along the lines of House of Wax. But this is definitely less horror and more comedy of errors. Don’t get me wrong, there are a LOT of creepy things that happen, but the main character never really feels, like, seriously in danger because of the comedic voice woven throughout the story. While it’s not what I expected I do love the humor. The dialogue is so snappy and hilarious and the characters’ personalities — even the non-main characters — really shine through. Our MC is Poppy, a high schooler who is really into drama and acting, but it infamous in her town because of an unfortunate on-screen incident that happened to her in which she had gotten injured on stage, causing blood to cascade down her nose and onto her chin, but she kept on performing. The whole town and world has seen it, and it’s forever followed her. She’s tried to be a good sport about it, but she’s constantly living in its shadow. Jill is Poppy’s best friend and was one of my favorite characters in the book. As friends, the two of them had such witty chemistry and comedy about them. They almost always made me laugh when they were interacting. The two of them are a part of the drama department at school with a bunch of other misfits. The town that they live in is famous for the candle factory there, and it’s constantly giving tours to tourists and has just started coming out with new candles and it makes the whole town smell constantly terrible. One day when Poppy is in the factory she sneaks off down a hallway and she finds this old woman with a bunch of old wax figurines. Poppy was there to find out if anyone could make a wax figure of her nemesis, who had done the same to her, but stumbled into something far bigger. The next thing she knows, she’s running away from the woman and her waxen figures that may or may not be alive and escaping in her car, only to find when she gets home that there’s a wax teen boy in her trunk. She manages to convince her parents that he’s a foreign exchange student, and that’s why he doesn’t know how to use utensils or what basic words mean, and not because he’s a giant wax figure that’s just gained sentience. As you can imagine, this lends itself to loads of comedy. From here, Poppy is trying to figure out why this old woman left her story behind to Poppy, and Poppy uncovers an evil plan by the owners of the candle factory. Turns out, they are actually using wax figures to make themselves immortal; their souls can jump from wax figure to wax figure. And they’re slowly trying to take over every person in the town. Poppy can’t tell who to trust around her. Toward the end we event find out that Jill was taken over. With the help of Dud, her wax friend, Poppy is able to defeat the evil candle makers when Dud tricks them into entering a tank and then melting them. Sadly, this also means that Dud is melted, but he makes a return when Poppy finds out that the old lady Madame Grosholtz put a flicker of her soul into a hollow so it can live on — that’s dud! We get an epilogue of the two of them talking over the candle factory and making it into what it was supposed to be for the town. It was a cute ending and I honestly didn’t expect them to “end up” together (I even thought there was going to be some hate to love with the enemy that ended up dying haha). Anyway, this story wasn’t scary like I thought it was going to be, but it was certainly unique and the humor alone bumped it up a star. I enjoyed it.
mar_gier's review against another edition
4.0
Such a fun little romp! I was getting a little burned out on the series I was reading, so I decided to take a little break. Gina Damico has kinda been on my radar for awhile, but I've never read any of her books, so I thought I'd give this one a shot.
Spoiler Alert: It was a great read. Poppy Palladino was filled with all kinds of personality and was a joy to follow. But the real star of the show -- for me at least -- was Dud, her new and impossible companion: a teenage boy made entirely of wax. It was fun to see him literally grow and develop a personality, and his and Poppy's interactions were sweet.
It was also kind of nice to see a YA book with basically no romance for once, since most YA books are filled with it. It was also funny -- Damico writes this book with more of a comedic tone, even if a lot of the stuff happening in the latter half of the book is horrific, though it is not a parody it's simply just the tone. So yeah, it isn't a straight up horror novel if you were looking for that.
If I had to pick a favorite part of this novel, I'd have to say the last two chapters and the epilogue. Everything comes together so well, and the emotions filling up my chest were all over the place.
I didn't really have too many issues with the book either. It's pretty competently written and did very little to annoy me. There is an expositional aspect to ynr storytelling at some parts that I didn't really care for as much (except near the end), but that is pretty minor. Definitely highly recommend this book.
Spoiler Alert: It was a great read. Poppy Palladino was filled with all kinds of personality and was a joy to follow. But the real star of the show -- for me at least -- was Dud, her new and impossible companion: a teenage boy made entirely of wax. It was fun to see him literally grow and develop a personality, and his and Poppy's interactions were sweet.
It was also kind of nice to see a YA book with basically no romance for once, since most YA books are filled with it. It was also funny -- Damico writes this book with more of a comedic tone, even if a lot of the stuff happening in the latter half of the book is horrific, though it is not a parody it's simply just the tone. So yeah, it isn't a straight up horror novel if you were looking for that.
If I had to pick a favorite part of this novel, I'd have to say the last two chapters and the epilogue. Everything comes together so well, and the emotions filling up my chest were all over the place.
I didn't really have too many issues with the book either. It's pretty competently written and did very little to annoy me. There is an expositional aspect to ynr storytelling at some parts that I didn't really care for as much (except near the end), but that is pretty minor. Definitely highly recommend this book.
witchofthemountains's review against another edition
4.0
I stumbled into Croak one day at work and that set me off on a whirlwind of Damico books. Wax was the last one I read and it is probably one of my favorites. The premise is fantastical, but then again this is Damico we're talking about! Evil wax workers and constructs bent on world domination. At least... most of them anyway. Damico builds her worlds as adeptly as she builds her characters, and though the book is more or less set in the real world, you still have no trouble believing in the impossible things she's set up to happen. Another work from a great, creative author who brings a fresh look at something as common as a fear of wax dummies.
crewgurl's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting concept, but the plot was a little thin and there wasn't much character development. I also had a hard time believing her her parents were that gullible. But a fun quick read overall.