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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
This one was... fine. It ended like everything else like it does; I’ve taken to calling it The Flinch. When authors set up for a cool monster, something supernatural, but then go all Scooby Doo on me and do the “The only monsters are human” shit. What’s so bad about a monster? An honest to God Nordic child eating monstrosity would have been FUCKING AWESOME. I wouldn’t have slept for weeks. Instead I get neat little bows tied in the story. I would have been ok with the Scooby Doo ending IF the author had gone with the twist that Sam had done it. They kind of set it up and I was like “This would actually be an awesome plot twist” but NO, he’s the boy who’s too good, the boy who’s loved her all along. Call me cynical, but fuck off with your teen love bullshit already.
I dislike Stella, even after everything. She’s whiny. She’s a walking stereotype. So are her friends. All of the characters except for the old lady are cardboard.
Pretty much the only reason I stayed with this one instead of hurling it onto the DNF pile was that some of the details were massively fucked up, and I genuinely thought I would get a child-munching monster hunt. But I guess I’m doomed to reading Scooby Doo reruns.
I dislike Stella, even after everything. She’s whiny. She’s a walking stereotype. So are her friends. All of the characters except for the old lady are cardboard.
Pretty much the only reason I stayed with this one instead of hurling it onto the DNF pile was that some of the details were massively fucked up, and I genuinely thought I would get a child-munching monster hunt. But I guess I’m doomed to reading Scooby Doo reruns.
This novel was not as hyped as it should have been. I LOVED this novel. I loved everything about it. From the writing style, the characters, the plot, and the suspense! I loved it! I don't give very many 5 stars, but this is deserving of so many more.
So the plot is that when Stella and Jeannie were 6 years old, they were having a play date behind Jeannie's house. They went into the woods, and only Stella came out. Jeannie just disappeared and the only thing Stella was able to say was "If you hunt monsters, you will find them." 11 years later, another little girl ends up dead and Stella starts remembering.
The story takes you along with Stella and her friends as they go down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out what happened.
This novel was the perfect mix of suspense, horror and paranormal. Without being paranormal.
Highly recommend this book!
So the plot is that when Stella and Jeannie were 6 years old, they were having a play date behind Jeannie's house. They went into the woods, and only Stella came out. Jeannie just disappeared and the only thing Stella was able to say was "If you hunt monsters, you will find them." 11 years later, another little girl ends up dead and Stella starts remembering.
The story takes you along with Stella and her friends as they go down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out what happened.
This novel was the perfect mix of suspense, horror and paranormal. Without being paranormal.
Highly recommend this book!
Disclaimer: Thanks to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for the free ARC! This has not influenced my review (beyond the simple fact that it enabled me to read this).
The Creeping was one of those books that reminded me of a cable horror movie some moments, and a spooky Southern Gothic novel at others, and both facets could be good or bad--I'm the type that happens to like both, and it worked here for me. I have to give the author a lot of credit for her characterization of the MC, Stella; you might not always like her, but Sirowy does a good job of showing how and why Stella ended up as a sort of shallow seeming, popular girl whose main concern was keeping up her social circle, even when it means making her unlikable at times, and then shows evolution without it seeming too contrived.
Pros: the PLOT, trope resistance, the ENDING (and the themes that go with it), the adult detective, and the romance, if only because I'm happy that it wasn't the one I thought it was going to be when the book started and I think being preoccupied with the idea of a guy was totally in character for Stella.
Cons: Nothing really stands out for me that I can recall a week later, but I do remember kind of slugging through the last half before the ending really built up, which isn't the best of signs. Also, Stella's supposed to be one of the most popular girls in school, so shouldn't she be better at reading people and manipulating situations? Her BFF really did the heavy lifting on that.
tl;dr: The Shining this is not, but that's part of what makes it work. Also, I bumped this up an extra star because of the ending was awesome and worth sticking around for.
The Creeping was one of those books that reminded me of a cable horror movie some moments, and a spooky Southern Gothic novel at others, and both facets could be good or bad--I'm the type that happens to like both, and it worked here for me. I have to give the author a lot of credit for her characterization of the MC, Stella; you might not always like her, but Sirowy does a good job of showing how and why Stella ended up as a sort of shallow seeming, popular girl whose main concern was keeping up her social circle, even when it means making her unlikable at times, and then shows evolution without it seeming too contrived.
Pros: the PLOT, trope resistance, the ENDING (and the themes that go with it), the adult detective, and the romance, if only because I'm happy that it wasn't the one I thought it was going to be when the book started
Spoiler
(I was so glad that it wasn't Jeanie's bitter, older, mysterious brother.)Cons: Nothing really stands out for me that I can recall a week later, but I do remember kind of slugging through the last half before the ending really built up, which isn't the best of signs. Also, Stella's supposed to be one of the most popular girls in school, so shouldn't she be better at reading people and manipulating situations? Her BFF really did the heavy lifting on that.
tl;dr: The Shining this is not, but that's part of what makes it work. Also, I bumped this up an extra star because of the ending was awesome and worth sticking around for.
Intriguing and spooky, right up my alley. Main character is a little annoying, but not to the point that I did not like her.
The ending really disappointed me a lot. It was almost as if everything led up to just nothing.
overall I enjoyed this book. A bit a slower pace, but I liked it. Kinda kept with the story of the creepy murder story. Stella was a pretty good main character no complaints. Zoey was eh not really a favorite at all. Sam, loved him has such a pure heart. Daniel & Caleb ... well you know ... yikes.
I had an idea of who the murderer was & I turned out to be right. I wasn't expecting who else was involved that part I was in complete shock.
I had an idea of who the murderer was & I turned out to be right. I wasn't expecting who else was involved that part I was in complete shock.
I find myself in a bit of a quandary – I’m not entirely sure how to review this book. The most critical thing I need to talk about is the way the ending completely changed my appreciation of the story, but I can’t truly do so without sharing major spoilers.
For the first 9/10ths of the book, I was planning to award The Creeping a single star. The plot plodded, the characters irritated me, and I wasn’t the least bit scared. Once I reached the ending, though…wow. I was completely unprepared, and that doesn’t happen often. I finally saw what Sirowy had been setting up for the entirety of the book, and she blew me away.
The storyline follows Stella Cambren, who’s something of a local celebrity in her hometown of Savage, Minnesota. At the age of 6, Stella and her best friend Jeanie disappeared from Jeanie’s front yard. Stella came back unharmed. Jeanie was never seen again.
Stella, apparently traumatized, retains no memory of what happened the day Jeanie vanished. In fact, she barely has any memories of Jeanie at all, just vague recollections of what she was like based on the stories of others. In the years following the disappearance, Stella does her best to put the past behind her and live a normal life. She does a decent job of it…at least until the body of another little girl is discovered the summer before Stella’s senior year. A little girl with hair that's red like Jeanie’s was, and whose corpse just happens to show up on the anniversary of Jeanie's disappearance.
This incident triggers something inside of Stella, and she begins to experience little flickers, flashing back to images of Jeanie on the day she disappeared. It’s not enough to completely restore Stella’s memory, but it is enough to freak her the hell out and inspire her to get to the bottom of the disappearance before any more people are victimized.
In order to solve the mystery, Stella is forced to rekindle her relationship with Sam Worth, her childhood sweetheart and another former companion of Jeanie’s. Together Sam and Stella struggle to piece together a picture of what really happened the day Jeanie vanished, poring over photographs from their childhood, delving into old newspaper clippings, and interviewing Jeanie’s creepy old neighbors.
The investigation leads Stella and Sam to some disturbing discoveries: animal sacrifices, tales of an ancient monster living in the Minnesota woods, unsolved cases of other little redheads disappearing from their homes. As spooky as this sounds, though, I actually wasn’t all that scared for the majority of the book. Probably because I spent most of my time either bored or annoyed. The pace is incredibly slow, which made it challenging to stay focused; I almost didn’t finish this book. The scraps of information Stella and Sam retrieve during their search for answers are so spread out, so hard to come by, that there were times it felt like nothing was happening. I suppose that’s not entirely true – there was romantic stuff developing between Stella and Sam – but I wasn’t really interested in that. Sam is great – sweet, nerdy, loyal, supportive – but he just didn’t light my fire, if you know what I mean.
Another thing that had me ready to give this book a 1-star rating was that I didn’t care much for Stella or her friends. They’re your typical high school dream team, popular and judgmental and mean. I especially loathed Stella’s best friend Zoey. I spent the entire book wanting to smack her across the face for being such a hateful, self-centered bitch. I wanted to smack Stella, too, for putting up with it and letting Zoey dictate her life.
But then…the ENDING! It changed everything for me. Though I may not have been scared for the majority of the book, I was definitely shaken up by the conclusion. The more I think back over the course of The Creeping, the more freaked out I get. Even as I write this review, all of the lights in my house are blazing, and I find myself jumping at the slightest noise.
Thank you, Alexandra Sirowy, for writing the first book in ages that has been able to catch me unaware AND scare the pants off of me. This story is going to stick with me for a long time, and I have a feeling that it's going to be a while before I'm able to fall asleep without a nightlight again.
This review can also be found on my blog, Angela's Library.
For the first 9/10ths of the book, I was planning to award The Creeping a single star. The plot plodded, the characters irritated me, and I wasn’t the least bit scared. Once I reached the ending, though…wow. I was completely unprepared, and that doesn’t happen often. I finally saw what Sirowy had been setting up for the entirety of the book, and she blew me away.
The storyline follows Stella Cambren, who’s something of a local celebrity in her hometown of Savage, Minnesota. At the age of 6, Stella and her best friend Jeanie disappeared from Jeanie’s front yard. Stella came back unharmed. Jeanie was never seen again.
Stella, apparently traumatized, retains no memory of what happened the day Jeanie vanished. In fact, she barely has any memories of Jeanie at all, just vague recollections of what she was like based on the stories of others. In the years following the disappearance, Stella does her best to put the past behind her and live a normal life. She does a decent job of it…at least until the body of another little girl is discovered the summer before Stella’s senior year. A little girl with hair that's red like Jeanie’s was, and whose corpse just happens to show up on the anniversary of Jeanie's disappearance.
This incident triggers something inside of Stella, and she begins to experience little flickers, flashing back to images of Jeanie on the day she disappeared. It’s not enough to completely restore Stella’s memory, but it is enough to freak her the hell out and inspire her to get to the bottom of the disappearance before any more people are victimized.
In order to solve the mystery, Stella is forced to rekindle her relationship with Sam Worth, her childhood sweetheart and another former companion of Jeanie’s. Together Sam and Stella struggle to piece together a picture of what really happened the day Jeanie vanished, poring over photographs from their childhood, delving into old newspaper clippings, and interviewing Jeanie’s creepy old neighbors.
The investigation leads Stella and Sam to some disturbing discoveries: animal sacrifices, tales of an ancient monster living in the Minnesota woods, unsolved cases of other little redheads disappearing from their homes. As spooky as this sounds, though, I actually wasn’t all that scared for the majority of the book. Probably because I spent most of my time either bored or annoyed. The pace is incredibly slow, which made it challenging to stay focused; I almost didn’t finish this book. The scraps of information Stella and Sam retrieve during their search for answers are so spread out, so hard to come by, that there were times it felt like nothing was happening. I suppose that’s not entirely true – there was romantic stuff developing between Stella and Sam – but I wasn’t really interested in that. Sam is great – sweet, nerdy, loyal, supportive – but he just didn’t light my fire, if you know what I mean.
Another thing that had me ready to give this book a 1-star rating was that I didn’t care much for Stella or her friends. They’re your typical high school dream team, popular and judgmental and mean. I especially loathed Stella’s best friend Zoey. I spent the entire book wanting to smack her across the face for being such a hateful, self-centered bitch. I wanted to smack Stella, too, for putting up with it and letting Zoey dictate her life.
But then…the ENDING! It changed everything for me. Though I may not have been scared for the majority of the book, I was definitely shaken up by the conclusion. The more I think back over the course of The Creeping, the more freaked out I get. Even as I write this review, all of the lights in my house are blazing, and I find myself jumping at the slightest noise.
Spoiler
Caleb and Daniel turning out to be the culprits behind Jeanie’s death was FAR more terrifying than a monster ever could have been. It was totally unexpected but totally believable, which was part of the horror; looking back, everything made sense, and you could easily see how the events of that fateful day had spun out of control. One line really stood out to me and gave me chills: “Jeanie wasn’t afraid of the things that tap at your window at night. She was afraid of the boy who lived in the bedroom down the hall.” And that's a sad truth, isn't it? We don’t need to dream up monsters. Human beings are frightening enough on their own.Thank you, Alexandra Sirowy, for writing the first book in ages that has been able to catch me unaware AND scare the pants off of me. This story is going to stick with me for a long time, and I have a feeling that it's going to be a while before I'm able to fall asleep without a nightlight again.
This review can also be found on my blog, Angela's Library.
"If you hunt for monsters, you'll find them."
Two little girls (Jeanie and Stella) go into the woods, but only one of them returns. The missing girl is never found, and the survivor has no memory of what happened that summer day.
Years later, on the anniversary of Jeanie's disappearance, Stella finds another young girl's body, and the girl looks eerily similar to Jeanie. Stella sets out to finally face what really happened that day, and goes hunting for the monster in the woods.
Gorgeous cover art. Creepy.
Two little girls (Jeanie and Stella) go into the woods, but only one of them returns. The missing girl is never found, and the survivor has no memory of what happened that summer day.
Years later, on the anniversary of Jeanie's disappearance, Stella finds another young girl's body, and the girl looks eerily similar to Jeanie. Stella sets out to finally face what really happened that day, and goes hunting for the monster in the woods.
Gorgeous cover art. Creepy.