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manwithanagenda's review against another edition
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Fear Street # 14
We have a new girl at Shadyside High. Lea is about the eighth new student at Shadyside since the series began. It's taken about two years for the books thus far to be published (June, 1989-Sept, 1991), and about the same time seems to have passed in Shadyside. That's a fairly normal number for a town this size, especially as the books do let some time pass. Not normal is that at the start of 'The Secret Bedroom' Shadyside High has seen (including Shannon's brother who died before the series started) 2 students dead, 2 moved away because of tragedy and 7 more presumably imprisoned and/or hospitalized 'to get the help they need'. That number at least should raise an eyebrow among parents. I'm not including those who may be dying at Shadyside's other, 'poor' high school, Shadyside South - we know of at least one.
Lea Carson may have been thinking about these statistics when she trips in the lunch room and spills chili onto Marci Hendryx's white, cashmere sweater. A cute boy named Don Jacobs helps her pick up her tray and asks her out. When Lea happily tells her new friend Deena (from 'Wrong Number') about this silver lining, Deena informs her that Don and Marci have been steady for, like, ever. This is the first of many signs that Don is a terrible person.
Not to be outdone, Marci starts a vicious smear campaign against Lea that Don does nothing to prevent, he makes it worse by continuing to flirt with Lea when Marci is out of sight and being spineless whenever Marci swoops in. Naturally, Lea's animosity is almost entirely focused on Marci, because boys can't help themselves.
So we have this 'Mean Girls' dynamic, which is fun, but I haven't even touched the best part: the Secret Bedroom! Soon after spilling all of that chili, Lea thinks back on the day her parents closed on their house on Fear Street. Lea's parents love fixing up old houses. Their work is never done, because when the house is all spruced up one of them gets transferred and it's time to start all over again. There's a great scene with Lea, her parents, and the realtor Mrs. Thomas (who is Suki Thomas' mother! This book lost points for not giving us the girl herself) going through the house and showing off the large family room, the sunny bedrooms and the boarded up murder room in the attic....Lea shines as a sarcastic teen here.
Mrs. Thomas explains that most houses on Fear Street have these kind of stories, you understand. The Carsons are totally fine with the boarded-up room and move on.
As Marci's campaign to humiliate Lea increases, Lea begins to hear noises above her room that must be coming from the boarded up room in the attic. She even hears a voice calling out to her to open the door....
I would love to get into this more, but I don't want to give it away. It was interesting there was confirmation of time actually passing when Deena remarks to Lea that she had "had a bad experience" on Fear Street a year before. 'Wrong Number' came out in March of 1990 and 'Secret Bedroom' in September of 1991. It's legit! This is only the second Fear Street book to have a supernatural plot (out of 13 plus 1 Super Chiller), and it was bonkers and I loved it. More should have been written like this one.
Fear Street in Publication Order
Next #15: 'Silent Night', Super Chiller #2
Previous #13: 'Lights Out', Fear Street #12
We have a new girl at Shadyside High. Lea is about the eighth new student at Shadyside since the series began. It's taken about two years for the books thus far to be published (June, 1989-Sept, 1991), and about the same time seems to have passed in Shadyside. That's a fairly normal number for a town this size, especially as the books do let some time pass. Not normal is that at the start of 'The Secret Bedroom' Shadyside High has seen (including Shannon's brother who died before the series started) 2 students dead, 2 moved away because of tragedy and 7 more presumably imprisoned and/or hospitalized 'to get the help they need'. That number at least should raise an eyebrow among parents. I'm not including those who may be dying at Shadyside's other, 'poor' high school, Shadyside South - we know of at least one.
Lea Carson may have been thinking about these statistics when she trips in the lunch room and spills chili onto Marci Hendryx's white, cashmere sweater. A cute boy named Don Jacobs helps her pick up her tray and asks her out. When Lea happily tells her new friend Deena (from 'Wrong Number') about this silver lining, Deena informs her that Don and Marci have been steady for, like, ever. This is the first of many signs that Don is a terrible person.
Not to be outdone, Marci starts a vicious smear campaign against Lea that Don does nothing to prevent, he makes it worse by continuing to flirt with Lea when Marci is out of sight and being spineless whenever Marci swoops in. Naturally, Lea's animosity is almost entirely focused on Marci, because boys can't help themselves.
So we have this 'Mean Girls' dynamic, which is fun, but I haven't even touched the best part: the Secret Bedroom! Soon after spilling all of that chili, Lea thinks back on the day her parents closed on their house on Fear Street. Lea's parents love fixing up old houses. Their work is never done, because when the house is all spruced up one of them gets transferred and it's time to start all over again. There's a great scene with Lea, her parents, and the realtor Mrs. Thomas (who is Suki Thomas' mother! This book lost points for not giving us the girl herself) going through the house and showing off the large family room, the sunny bedrooms and the boarded up murder room in the attic....Lea shines as a sarcastic teen here.
Mrs. Thomas explains that most houses on Fear Street have these kind of stories, you understand. The Carsons are totally fine with the boarded-up room and move on.
As Marci's campaign to humiliate Lea increases, Lea begins to hear noises above her room that must be coming from the boarded up room in the attic. She even hears a voice calling out to her to open the door....
I would love to get into this more, but I don't want to give it away. It was interesting there was confirmation of time actually passing when Deena remarks to Lea that she had "had a bad experience" on Fear Street a year before. 'Wrong Number' came out in March of 1990 and 'Secret Bedroom' in September of 1991. It's legit! This is only the second Fear Street book to have a supernatural plot (out of 13 plus 1 Super Chiller), and it was bonkers and I loved it. More should have been written like this one.
Fear Street in Publication Order
Next #15: 'Silent Night', Super Chiller #2
Previous #13: 'Lights Out', Fear Street #12
hannahreads1070's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked this book but i didn't give it 5 stars because i would have loved to see the conciseness of people finding out that she killed that girl. I gave it and extra star because the character on the cover looks like a young Molly RIngwald and she was hot.
abetterbradley's review against another edition
3.0
Fear Street might have scared me as a kid but it does nothing for me as an adult. I read this as part of my summer reading program for the prompt dealing with a book that makes you nostalgic for summer. Every summer I would devour books (I was a nerd) and I went through my Goosebumps/Fear Street phase. I found this copy in one of those Little Free Library boxes and I should have left it there because Fear Street #13 did not age well.
#popsugarsummerreading
Prompt: book that makes you nostalgic for summer
#popsugarsummerreading
Prompt: book that makes you nostalgic for summer
ladylu's review against another edition
1.0
Para empezar, este me ha parecido uno de los libros más feos de la colección, comenzando con el hecho de que siquiera siento que encaje con ésta, sino con la de La Casa del Terror.
Tiene una historia un poco hueca, sin buena trama y con personajes sosos. Lea, la protagonista se me ha hecho hasta tonta en algunas ocasiones: se cuestionaba mucho sobre cosas que eran tan obvias que me enojaba el hecho de que no se diera cuenta.
No hay personajes además de ella, ya que los únicos que aparecen, son completamente de relleno.
La trama del libro no se conoce hasta más de la mitad en realidad, ya que lo que se nos cuenta antes son detalles pequeños, pero la verdadera historia se nos muestra corta y el clímax de la historia realmente dura nada más que un solo capítulo.
Desde el comienzo no esperaba mucho, ya que cuando suelen contener un poco más de fantasía, estos libros no me gustan mucho y ya con la sinopsis pude darme cuenta de ello.
Tiene una historia un poco hueca, sin buena trama y con personajes sosos. Lea, la protagonista se me ha hecho hasta tonta en algunas ocasiones: se cuestionaba mucho sobre cosas que eran tan obvias que me enojaba el hecho de que no se diera cuenta.
No hay personajes además de ella, ya que los únicos que aparecen, son completamente de relleno.
La trama del libro no se conoce hasta más de la mitad en realidad, ya que lo que se nos cuenta antes son detalles pequeños, pero la verdadera historia se nos muestra corta y el clímax de la historia realmente dura nada más que un solo capítulo.
Desde el comienzo no esperaba mucho, ya que cuando suelen contener un poco más de fantasía, estos libros no me gustan mucho y ya con la sinopsis pude darme cuenta de ello.
superspecs's review against another edition
2.0
Returning to Fear Street: In which I revisit my favorite childhood book series.
Well, here we are, back on Fear Street. We barely made it out alive last time, but we're older and wiser now. Will Fear Street finally get the best of us?
The Good:
One of my favorite things about the Fear Street books is that none of these kids live in a vacuum. Just because a character manages to get to the end of a book alive doesn't mean Fear Street is done with them. These kids continue to show back up, mostly in supporting roles, but still there, still being effected by the Fear curse. This time Deena Martinson is back as the only friend Lea's managed to make.
I also loved that, despite Lea being one of Stine's shy mousy girls, she manage's to keep her cool several times (interspersed with every time she acts weak or spazzy, but still). Most of Stine's shy girls are limp noodles 100% of the time. It was nice to see a little bit of backbone from Lea...a very little bit.
The Bad:
Flat, stock characters. The mean girl has no identity beyond being mean, Lea is the shy nice girl that fronts so many of Stine's novels, and the parents seem to be oblivious to everything that isn't new paint samples and cabinetry. Then there's Don, the sort of love interest. He's weak, mean and seems to have no personality and yet, Lea keeps forgiving him! She continuously blames Marci and forgives Don. That kid is not worth her time.
The Scary:
The imagery and language did not do much to add tension or atmosphere to the ghosts in Lea's house. I'm not sure this booked creeped me out, even as a child. On the other hand, there is something quite terrifying about having another being control your body. Plus, the thought of something scary happening to me and having nobody believe it is quite a frightening idea. I think these concepts were much scarier than any ghosts or murders that happened.
Well, here we are, back on Fear Street. We barely made it out alive last time, but we're older and wiser now. Will Fear Street finally get the best of us?
The Good:
One of my favorite things about the Fear Street books is that none of these kids live in a vacuum. Just because a character manages to get to the end of a book alive doesn't mean Fear Street is done with them. These kids continue to show back up, mostly in supporting roles, but still there, still being effected by the Fear curse. This time Deena Martinson is back as the only friend Lea's managed to make.
I also loved that, despite Lea being one of Stine's shy mousy girls, she manage's to keep her cool several times (interspersed with every time she acts weak or spazzy, but still). Most of Stine's shy girls are limp noodles 100% of the time. It was nice to see a little bit of backbone from Lea...a very little bit.
The Bad:
Flat, stock characters. The mean girl has no identity beyond being mean, Lea is the shy nice girl that fronts so many of Stine's novels, and the parents seem to be oblivious to everything that isn't new paint samples and cabinetry. Then there's Don, the sort of love interest. He's weak, mean and seems to have no personality and yet, Lea keeps forgiving him! She continuously blames Marci and forgives Don. That kid is not worth her time.
The Scary:
The imagery and language did not do much to add tension or atmosphere to the ghosts in Lea's house. I'm not sure this booked creeped me out, even as a child. On the other hand, there is something quite terrifying about having another being control your body. Plus, the thought of something scary happening to me and having nobody believe it is quite a frightening idea. I think these concepts were much scarier than any ghosts or murders that happened.
chandrareads's review against another edition
3.0
2.5
This was okay but I feel like it could have been better. Considering the storyline of "The Secret Bedroom" there was potential for it to be a lot creepier than it was.
This was okay but I feel like it could have been better. Considering the storyline of "The Secret Bedroom" there was potential for it to be a lot creepier than it was.
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