Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by noellesmagicallibrary
Play or Perish by John Peragrine, Paige Andrews
3.0
Loved the premise, didn't love the execution. I'm not sure who the intended audience is meant to be -- I thought it would be NA (new adult) but it read more as YA.
My problem with the story though is I didn't like the main character Shondra. She's constantly making bad decisions that leads to more problems, and it isn't in a funny or likable way. Towards the end of the book, I think the authors tried to say that a cursed garden gnome was causing chaos in the shop and that's why she was making these poor choices, but that still doesn't make it more palatable.
And to top it off, most of the secondary characters didn't have much appeal either. They felt one-dimensional and I found myself not really caring about them.
There were also way too many pop culture references. I get it, you're a nerd. So am I. But every other thought doesn't need to have a reference associated with it.
BUT I did like the idea of paranormal antiques and a group of people keeping the dangerous items out of public reach. I loved the action in the basement when the board game came to life -- Justin's story was honestly the one I was most interested in.
My problem with the story though is I didn't like the main character Shondra. She's constantly making bad decisions that leads to more problems, and it isn't in a funny or likable way. Towards the end of the book, I think the authors tried to say that a cursed garden gnome was causing chaos in the shop and that's why she was making these poor choices, but that still doesn't make it more palatable.
And to top it off, most of the secondary characters didn't have much appeal either. They felt one-dimensional and I found myself not really caring about them.
There were also way too many pop culture references. I get it, you're a nerd. So am I. But every other thought doesn't need to have a reference associated with it.
BUT I did like the idea of paranormal antiques and a group of people keeping the dangerous items out of public reach. I loved the action in the basement when the board game came to life -- Justin's story was honestly the one I was most interested in.