ellenareads's reviews
434 reviews

Did I guess the killer by the middle of the book? Yes.
Did the ending go a bit wild and kinda unbelievable? Yes.

But boy did I have fun. I absolutely loved the tone differences between the written book vs the real story. I found the character believable and I understood her actions which is half the battle in thriller books for me. If you don't mind your triller going a bit on the campy side you are gonna love this fast paces thrill of a book.

I think this book is a great bridge book for those coming from YA genre into more adult fantasy. 

I personally wanted a bit more depth and a little less hand-holding in this book. While a lot happened in this book, I found that a lot of scenes in the middle part of the book could have been cut or replaced and the ending still would have been the same so it left me feeling like a lot of it was filler. There were scenes that furthered character bonds without actually furthering the plot and vice versa.
I still really like the world and some side characters in this to pick up the next book in this series as soon as it's released.

This is the book that probably told me why I might not be the right reader for slashers. I can't even list all of the things I found wrong with this book. From some absolutely glaring plot holes to some bizarre shit going on(and I mean it literally). I guess this wasn't supposed to be taken that seriously but more on the campy side of horror but I just could not vibe with it.

My immediate thought after finishing this book is - does the ending make my reading experience worth it? I'm not sure hence it doesn't quite get up to the 4 stars. 

I really struggled with Maeve's rambling internal thoughts. It went on so many flashbacks and random rambling thoughts about LA and its history at absolutely random points that it just took me out of the story. I'm not saying the flashbacks weren't interesting or important to the story and relationship in it, but I just found that there were moments I wished we stayed in the moment rather than the side tangents it went on. I also see the importance of that information about the city and how it ties to who Maeve is, but I just didn't care about it every time so it brought my enjoyment down.

The whole stalker plotline was so obvious that I was surprised at the reveal because I was so sure it had to be some sort of misdirection. Also, I really wanted more tension and denial by both of MCs parts. I just wanted more resistance to the relationship. Also, I didn't like how the whole part of him still acting as her bodyguard while in a relationship worked since he was kind of holding back things from her as well as being maybe a bit overprotective.

I picked this book up for r/fantasy bingo challenge, but it's not worth forcing myself to finish it since I'm just not vibing with it.
There are a lot of degrading thoughts of the main character about their body that just made my reading experience with this book challenging. At moments I found them more disturbing than the graphic gory scenes, which definitely was the point but I just personally didn't enjoy reading about it.

I really enjoyed this one a lot more than I expected. I've been trying to get more into horror books this year and this one seemed like a pretty popular slasher so I decided to give it a try and see if I'd enjoy it. Since writing this review I've read a few more slashers and I can confidently say that it's definitely not gonna be on a short list of my favorite horror sub-genres. 
I didn't really care for all of the characters that were getting killed, which probably isn't the point since all of the reviews mainly mention the way the kills were happening but I just don't think I'm ever gonna be able to give a book in this genre more than a 4 star because of it.

But that being said, I really appreciated all of the setup of the characters and their motivations at the start of this book. It definitely had me creeped out at certain points and guessing who the killer was the whole time. Also, I really enjoyed how fast-paced it was and the length was perfect IMO.
I had a fun time and I'm happy I gave it a chance.

I did not care for these characters whatsoever. Not even a little bit. And I really wasn't kept at the edge of my seat with the suspense so I basically had nothing to read it for. 
It sucks since it's such a short read and I love fast-paced thrillers but nothing worked for me in the 30% that I read.