CJ Leede

Honestly super disappointed by this book considering how well-received it is. I read it in two days and it helped me get out of a bit of a graphic novel slump (love graphic novels and starting to enjoy manga, just missed being able to read an entire "regular" book), so that absolutely counts for something, but as I texted my boyfriend while I was reading, "if i wanted to read about someones slow drift towards insanity i could have read my own journal imma be real." It all felt either pointless or I was repulsed just because I was grossed out. This was my first horror novel so maybe that's what the genre is all about, but I guess I was hoping for something else. Also, I predicted every plot twist. Seriously. Every one. And I typically suck at that sort of thing. Oh well. I would still say maybe it's just that the genre is just not for me, thus the (I would say) generous three stars.… (more)

Based on the cover alone, I knew that this book was going to be amazing. I wasn’t sure if it would be amazingly good or amazingly bad so I am quite pleased to report that it definitely falls into the good category for me. Now, this is not going to be a book for everyone but I really enjoyed it. I had hoped that it would be a little different when I picked it up and it was just that. It is gory, violent, and disturbing all rolled into one neat little package. I just couldn’t stop listening once I started.

Maeve spends her days working as a princess at Disneyland but her time away from work is often a bit more depraved. I don’t think that there is much that Maeve is unwilling to do and I really enjoyed just sitting back and waiting to see what she might do next. When she meets her best friend’s brother, Gideon, they seem to have an instant connection. I just loved the fact that basically, anything could happen within the pages of this novel.

This is the first time that I have had the opportunity to listen to Sosia Bacon’s work as a narrator and I must say that I was quite impressed. She really brought this story to life and added a layer of excitement through her reading. She had a very pleasant voice that was easy to listen to for hours at a time. I do believe that her narration added to my enjoyment of this story.

I would recommend this book to horror fans. I loved that this was a different kind of story that ended up being full of surprises. Maeve was not a nice character but I found that I liked her anyway. I will be on the lookout for future works by this talented author.

I received a review copy of this book from Macmillan Audio and Tor Nightfire.… (more)