Reviews with content warning for Bullying - There's Someone Inside Your House

Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

31 reviews

bookbrig's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated

Not really my type of book. I almost gave up on this one, because about 3/4 of the way through it was pretty clear I couldn't bring it to a middle school visit and I might be pushing it to bring it on a high school visit. The murder violence isn't awful, but there's a fair amount of swearing and some sexy times and

the sheer amount of bullying, alcohol, and profanity during the hazing flashback is pretty intense

. Also, I don't really like contemporary YA much. I skimmed most of the end, but I know how it finishes which was nice. It might be a good fit for someone who wants a romance with some added gore and a few jump scare moments

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bookishgoob's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

“People live through such pain only once; pain comes again, but finds a tougher surface.” the creepiness of this book starts IMMEDIATELY. some parts were slow but this book kept me entertained throughout. the reveal happens about a little more than half way through which i didn’t know if i liked, but i actually did enjoy reading about how they handled knowing who the killer was rather than having the book end after finding out who the killer was. this author is well known for romance, so there is a sweet aspect of romance between the main character and another. some of the scenes very truly captured the feeling off a crispy cold fall in the midwest and that made my heart happy. it’s a great read for if you want to read a scary book but aren’t too prepared to actually be fully scared. it’s got scary elements but it isn’t horrifying. overall, i’ll give it a 3.5/5. i didn’t hate it, i actually really liked it, but i don’t think i liked it enough to rate it a full 4.

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charlsbookshelves's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

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tkatt20's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

I needed a quick and interesting read and this book delivered. It read exactly like some of my favorite teen slasher films and had me devouring every page as the tension grew. The first 50 or so pages read more like a contemporary romance and was not what I was expecting but I stuck with it and and very quickly realized how necessary it was to lure you into a false sense of security. All of the characters were extremely well written and diverse. Each major character especially had their own trauma and flaws but it wasn't an excuse for the characters to be irrationally rude or unpleasant, which seems to be a trend with YA books I've read in the past. Every character seemed extremely fleshed out (no pun intended) and had their own personality and I was so shocked at how accurately this book portrayed the media and community response to the tragedies that were happening and how screwed up it was.

I highly recommend this book for any horror/slasher movie fans out there. Some other reviews mention that the killer' motive wasn't realistic and ended up being disappointing but I didnt get that at all. I was very realistic to me and terrifying since it shows that you never really know what goes on in someones head. There was a perfect balance of heart-pounding scenes and lighter and funnier moments in between so nothing became to over or underwhelming and the writing style was perfect for me. I loved these characters and if the author ever decided to bring them back for future books I would be first in line for a copy.

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voidboi's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

When this book was announced, I felt some disappointment that one of my favorite YA authors was moving into a genre that I wasn't particularly interested in, and I never got around to reading it. In retrospect, I'm glad that I didn't, because now I was able to read it with a fairly newfound appreciation for horror and slashers. This book is suspenseful and gory, but it still has qualities of Stephanie Perkins' work that I have always loved- Makani is real, relatable, flawed, and self-aware just as the author's heroines always are (which I found particularly refreshing and comforting as a teenager, because I always knew she took her readers seriously), but she's distinctly her own self. The honesty in how the romance is approached, by the characters and in the writing, feels particularly strong for the genre, again in line with Stephanie's track record. I didn't feel quite the same "swept off my feet" emotions as I did with Anna, Lola, and Isla, probably because it was replaced by apprehension and paranoia- I couldn't quite trust anything for the majority of the book. That said, I think the relationship was developed incredibly well, and I was utterly engrossed.

I do have a few complaints. I felt that Darby and Alex were underdeveloped and somewhat cartoon-y, and I wish they'd gotten past that before the end. I also thought that the reveal of Makani's past was a bit anti-climactic. Reading about what she'd been put through was horrific (though a bit weirdly formatted), but in the end what she actually did just paled in comparison to to actual bad things in her past and present, and it seemed unrealistic that the response would have been so world-ending for her.

Honestly, if Jasmine had actually died I think it would have hit home, and created a stronger conflict between victimhood and guilt.

And the end of the book felt very abrupt. It needed either a little less or a little more resolution.

This was a great spooky season read, and I'm so glad Steph Perkins was able to write this. Her voice is perfect for the messy and dark parts of adolescence.

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alcerion's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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kharlagrace's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

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gobo5519's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Overall, i enjoyed this book. I love the chilling, cold Nebraska atmosphere that the author created. The death scenes were also super intense and a few of them *actually* scared me. The only things that I didn’t enjoy was the slow beginning (which felt more like a romance than a horror) and the dialogue. Sorry, but teenagers really don’t talk like that lol. Overall, I enjoyed!!!

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mariahkindareads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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house_of_hannah's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Unfortunately, this really didn't feel like a thriller until the last 50 pages. Up until then it was a boring romance with a lot of teen drama thrown in. A good chunk of the book was just the two MCs, Makani and Ollie, trying to be alone to get into each other's pants. Pass.

The very first chapter is the first murder, so it starts off promising, but quickly tapers off. In this first chapter we get to see what is probably the best part of this book: the way the killer toys with the victim's minds. They are constantly doing things like opening drawers/cabinents, moving mundane objects, rearranging furniture, and other things like that to make the person second-guess themselves. I thought this was a really interesting aspect to the murders.

One thing that took me by surprise is that we discover the identity of the killer about half way through the story. It felt way too soon, and made the book feel longer than what it is. This combined with the abrupt ending, and Makani's "secret", just left the whole book feeling very unsatisfying.

But seriously, wtf was up with her secret ? They were being fucking hazed, and everyone was drunk/exhausted/pissed. Cutting someone's hair with a knife is pretty tame compared to everything else that was happening that night, and better some hair than someone's arm or something.

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