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A review by sarahtrala
Monsters Under My Bed by M.J. Marstens
4.0
Story 3*, but I Added a Star for the Artwork
IT STARTED OFF SO GOOD! I fell in love with the idea that the monsters under her bed wanted her for reasons other than to fill their scare meters (haha). That the boogeymen had even followed her to another country, really showed their determination to keep tabs on her.
After a general setup though, the story felt super rushed. I wouldn’t have minded the spicy scenes to last a bit longer, and I wished there had been more character development. It seemed like variations of “people change in twelve years” was dropped quite often. With as much time hopping that happened between flashbacks and journal entries, it may have been better to have those moments play out rather than just explained.
Lexie makes it sound like the boogeymen were these horrible creatures, monsters, nightmare fuel, but as the story is told, those descriptions lose traction. She makes it sound like SHES the monster, but, even that thought doesn’t go very far. She’s convinced the town believes she’s crazy, but there’s no real proof of that. It’s all just in her head. Maybe that’s the point? That she can’t trust her own inner dialogue? She can’t trust her own memories? If so, leaning more into that idea would’ve been great.
Also, the best friend character, Roxy, did anyone else feel like she just popped up randomly? Or was she mentioned before the scene when Lexie (The FMC) went into her childhood bedroom and spotted the hoodie/jacket she’d left behind just before she was abducted and I completely missed it?
Overall, not a bad story. It lost me a bit in the last few chapters, but, I did finish it. I’ll add book two to my list to check out once it releases.
I did quite love the drawings inserted into parts. It was a fun surprise. Bonus star for those.
IT STARTED OFF SO GOOD! I fell in love with the idea that the monsters under her bed wanted her for reasons other than to fill their scare meters (haha). That the boogeymen had even followed her to another country, really showed their determination to keep tabs on her.
After a general setup though, the story felt super rushed. I wouldn’t have minded the spicy scenes to last a bit longer, and I wished there had been more character development. It seemed like variations of “people change in twelve years” was dropped quite often. With as much time hopping that happened between flashbacks and journal entries, it may have been better to have those moments play out rather than just explained.
Lexie makes it sound like the boogeymen were these horrible creatures, monsters, nightmare fuel, but as the story is told, those descriptions lose traction. She makes it sound like SHES the monster, but, even that thought doesn’t go very far. She’s convinced the town believes she’s crazy, but there’s no real proof of that. It’s all just in her head. Maybe that’s the point? That she can’t trust her own inner dialogue? She can’t trust her own memories? If so, leaning more into that idea would’ve been great.
Also, the best friend character, Roxy, did anyone else feel like she just popped up randomly? Or was she mentioned before the scene when Lexie (The FMC) went into her childhood bedroom and spotted the hoodie/jacket she’d left behind just before she was abducted and I completely missed it?
Overall, not a bad story. It lost me a bit in the last few chapters, but, I did finish it. I’ll add book two to my list to check out once it releases.
I did quite love the drawings inserted into parts. It was a fun surprise. Bonus star for those.