Thursday, April 23, 2009

Bad Girls Don't Die - Katie Alender


Summary:

Alexis thought she led a typically dysfunctional high school existence. Dysfunctional like her parents' marriage; her doll-crazy twelve-year-old sister, Kasey; and even her own anti-social, anti-cheerleader attitude.

When a family fight results in some tearful sisterly bonding, Alexis realizes that her life is creeping from dysfunction into danger. Kasey is acting stranger than ever: her blue eyes go green sometimes; she uses old-fashioned language; and she even loses track of chunks of time, claiming to know nothing about her strange behavior. Their old house is changing, too. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in.

Alexis wants to think that it's all in her head, but soon, what she liked to think of as silly parlor tricks are becoming life-threatening--to her, her family, and to her budding relationship with the class president. Alexis knows she's the only person who can stop Kasey -- but what if that green-eyed girl isn't even Kasey anymore?

Review:

To start: I'm going to start this review by saying that I usually don't like scary things. Scary movies, scary pictures, scary whatever, I usually don't like them... because, well, I get scared. haha. But this book was a scary book. I knew it was supposed to be scary going into it, but the cover and idea sounded so good, I figured I'd give it a shot. And it did what it was supposed to, and even more.

Plot: I thought the plot was really good. It was original and I haven't read too much about this idea in young adult novels.

Characters: The characters were very defined, especially the main characters. Two very main characters were, obviously, the two sisters. Before weird things even start to happen, you are able to see the differences in between the characters so that when these things start to happen, it doesn't seem too weird. I think some of the minor characters could have been defined a little bit more than they were, but they were still written very well.

Wow Factor: I actually was really wow-ed with this. I had high expectations for it, and the book met and exceeded it.

Other Notes: I really enjoyed this book. It had a very interesting plot and it was executed really well. If I could change one thing, I would just have some of the minor characters be described a little more than they were.

FIVE HEARTS.

I just started this reviewing style today -- do you like this better than what I was doing before? Which one do you prefer?

hope.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

I really like this review style better. It makes it easier to follow the review and has it alot more organized! I vote this style for sure :)

Unknown said...

and when i start reviewing, if you are okay with it, i think i will follow this style as well :)

Shooting Stars Mag said...

Oh, I really do love the new style. I think you should keep it up. Great review though. I really want to read this one. It just keeps sounding better and better as I see it around. :)

-Lauren

Unknown said...

The new style is easy to follow, and a great review.

Keep up the good work..Happy St George's Day

Barry

So Many Books, So Little Time said...

The new style is great.

I don't like scary stuff either and I think this books sounds so creepy which is definitely reinforced by the cover!

Emily Ruth said...

actually I like this style a lot better! It's easier to read and I can jump to the sections I care about :) lol

gr. I want to read this!

Katie Alender said...

Well, I personally think it's fantastic! Or maybe I just love my five hearts! Thanks so much, Hope. Glad you liked it!

Which characters would you like to know more about? I'm curious! You can email me if you want. ;-)

Anonymous said...

I really want to read this one!

Michelle B. said...

I like this style of reviewing as well. Very organized! :)

This book also looks really awesome. It's good to know the story is as good as the cover. I can't get over how nice it looks.

Erika Powell said...

great review and I do like the new style.

Sarah Woodard said...

This book sounds good.
I like the new review style.

Heather Zundel said...

I do like this style quite a bit, my favorite part being the five "hearts." That seems so appropriate for your blog somehow. :) It would be really cool if you could get heart icons that you could fill up, but I don't know where you could get those. But love the new system!