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pointofvin's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
netslummer's review against another edition
5.0
Riley is not happy to have relocated to Little Brook, Maine. Her parent's got divorced, she left all of her friends, and she's miserable at school. Her mom got a new job with Titan Technologies and, in Riley's opinion, uprooted their whole lives for no good reason.
She's lonely and has no friends in Little Brook so, on the night of the homecoming game, Riley spends the evening alone with her dog Tigger watching, and promptly falling asleep during, Stranger Things on Netflix. When she awakens during the evening, she is surprised to see how bright it is outside; an unnatural orangish light. She steps outside to find the entire town on fire, with the fire moving closer and closer to her house. She grabs her dog, some clothes, and jump into her beat-up old truck to flee the town. As she is leaving, she happens across Aspen Montehugh, a popular (and, in Riley's opinion, beautiful) girl who is walking slowly in a dazed, zombieish state.
The pair, after a discussion with Riley's dad, decide to meet him in Minneapolis to fly to Seattle as air travel on the eastern US is grounded.
As they travel the girls are accosted by strange men in non descript SUVs; something is up with Aspen and Riley is determined to find out what.
This book was so much fun! There's fun body horror and monster vibes. Clandestine scientific experiments. Crazy governmental cover-ups. Its got it all. I really enjoyed this, especially with the first chapter being a scene of Day 10 of the journey first. It really gets you into the story and helps set the pace right away. Importantly the book is an exploration of grief and trauma covered in a lovely queer monster horror. There was a bit of a romance between the girls that felt a little rushed, but they only had like 10 days to fit it in...and shared trauma does tend to bond people pretty easily. If you enjoy queer horror or science fiction or massive monsters, I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to Tiny Ghost Press who provided me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
She's lonely and has no friends in Little Brook so, on the night of the homecoming game, Riley spends the evening alone with her dog Tigger watching, and promptly falling asleep during, Stranger Things on Netflix. When she awakens during the evening, she is surprised to see how bright it is outside; an unnatural orangish light. She steps outside to find the entire town on fire, with the fire moving closer and closer to her house. She grabs her dog, some clothes, and jump into her beat-up old truck to flee the town. As she is leaving, she happens across Aspen Montehugh, a popular (and, in Riley's opinion, beautiful) girl who is walking slowly in a dazed, zombieish state.
The pair, after a discussion with Riley's dad, decide to meet him in Minneapolis to fly to Seattle as air travel on the eastern US is grounded.
As they travel the girls are accosted by strange men in non descript SUVs; something is up with Aspen and Riley is determined to find out what.
This book was so much fun! There's fun body horror and monster vibes. Clandestine scientific experiments. Crazy governmental cover-ups. Its got it all. I really enjoyed this, especially with the first chapter being a scene of Day 10 of the journey first. It really gets you into the story and helps set the pace right away. Importantly the book is an exploration of grief and trauma covered in a lovely queer monster horror. There was a bit of a romance between the girls that felt a little rushed, but they only had like 10 days to fit it in...and shared trauma does tend to bond people pretty easily. If you enjoy queer horror or science fiction or massive monsters, I highly recommend this book.
Thank you to Tiny Ghost Press who provided me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
mngwa's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
alreadsbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This was such a good read! Thanks Tiny Ghost Press for the ARC!
It’s horror, it’s gory, it’s queer, it kept me on my toes, it’s creepy, it’s funny at times, there’s a road trip involved - it’s everything I could have wanted from it! This book dealt with grief and trauma as well as love and learning how to manage all of them at once, which was done really well in my opinion. I could genuinely feel the emotions that Riley and Aspen were feeling during so many points in this book.
Plus Tigger the dog is the absolute greatest and deserves all the head scratches.
It’s horror, it’s gory, it’s queer, it kept me on my toes, it’s creepy, it’s funny at times, there’s a road trip involved - it’s everything I could have wanted from it! This book dealt with grief and trauma as well as love and learning how to manage all of them at once, which was done really well in my opinion. I could genuinely feel the emotions that Riley and Aspen were feeling during so many points in this book.
Plus Tigger the dog is the absolute greatest and deserves all the head scratches.
kevinscorner's review against another edition
2.5
I’m sorry, but several things in Monstersona just did not work for me. Monstersona is a YA scifi horror book following two young women. Riley has just moved to a small town with her recently divorced mom. On the night of the homecoming game, she wakes up to the whole town on fire and a monster on the lose. As she flees, she encounters her disheveled classmate Aspen on the road and gives her a ride. On the way to meet up with her dad across the country, they are pursued by some mysterious characters for unknown reasons.
I thought the book was well paced with its time-bound structure (the whole book takes place in the span of two weeks) giving it a sense of forward momentum. It also didn’t shy away from gore and even had some mild body horror (I don’t normally like body horror, but this did not bother me). I thought the book tried to give the atmosphere a post-apocalytic/dystopian feel, but it doesn’t really make sense given the contemporary setting and the fact that aside from what happened at the beginning, the rest of the country was otherwise running normally. This also removed much of the tension that I should have been feeling because they could have gotten plenty of help at any point in time if they had just thought to ask.
I started off liking Riley, but she wore thin as the story progressed. I started finding her insufferable with her hypocrisy, poor choices, and improper priorities. If there was a scale between her dad and Aspen’s actions, she tipped it completely the wrong way. Aside from proximity, I never actually got what Riley and Aspen saw in each other, thus I never bought into their exceedingly fast romance. Then the book ends quite anticlimactically with a relatively benign resolution to what was supposed to be a high stakes show down.
Monstersona had some great bones, but the meat was a bit off.
*I received an eARC from Tiny Ghost Press in exchange for an honest review.
I thought the book was well paced with its time-bound structure (the whole book takes place in the span of two weeks) giving it a sense of forward momentum. It also didn’t shy away from gore and even had some mild body horror (I don’t normally like body horror, but this did not bother me). I thought the book tried to give the atmosphere a post-apocalytic/dystopian feel, but it doesn’t really make sense given the contemporary setting and the fact that aside from what happened at the beginning, the rest of the country was otherwise running normally. This also removed much of the tension that I should have been feeling because they could have gotten plenty of help at any point in time if they had just thought to ask.
I started off liking Riley, but she wore thin as the story progressed. I started finding her insufferable with her hypocrisy, poor choices, and improper priorities. If there was a scale between her dad and Aspen’s actions, she tipped it completely the wrong way. Aside from proximity, I never actually got what Riley and Aspen saw in each other, thus I never bought into their exceedingly fast romance. Then the book ends quite anticlimactically with a relatively benign resolution to what was supposed to be a high stakes show down.
Monstersona had some great bones, but the meat was a bit off.
*I received an eARC from Tiny Ghost Press in exchange for an honest review.
saloninareads's review
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
2.5
I went into this one thinking end-of-the-world dystopian kaiju shenanigans/ Thelma & Louise road trip but they're gonna be girlfriends, however, after the initial destruction and chaos its mostly just a small road trip through even smaller towns. I do think this is a fun, if maybe too short, read and the violent and gory bits are very well done, I just think there should be more of them! The ending leaves things open for a sequel and I'd definitely be open to reading one if that ends up happening.
Side note- I read this after watching Godzilla: Minus One so maybe I was too overcome by kaiju awesomeness from that film to fully appreciate this book, so I may raise my rating after sitting on this one for a bit.
Side note- I read this after watching Godzilla: Minus One so maybe I was too overcome by kaiju awesomeness from that film to fully appreciate this book, so I may raise my rating after sitting on this one for a bit.
olivurrreads's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
haliespages's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0