Not good ( )

Goosebumps was one of my all time favourites as a kid. I scrambled to the library at every chance to get my hands on any Goosebumps novel. I didn't care if I read them over and over and knew the story by heart, I'd read them again! And then hope the library got the television show and movie versions so I could watch them.

As an adult, I've been trying to find the Goosebumps series in my home town without much luck. Then, lucky me found five at a local thrift shop and my inner child went wild.

Fortunately, these books were just as good as I remembered!

Monster Blood follows Evan and Andy at Evan's great-Aunt's house. They buy some monster blood, slime like toy and suddenly all heck breaks loose! Evan's dog grows in size, the cat is evil and his Great-Aunt Kathryn is seemingly weird. Is she a witch?! Is she crazy?! Either way, that monster blood is taking over the city!

This book was a hundred pages of pure fun and mild terror. As a kid these were so much scarier, but they were still just as epic! I loved the story moving quickly, being full of wild twists and turns and being a great book for both children and adults. This book also brought me back to my childhood with lots of nostalgia. Do you have any Nintendo games?!

Was there any negatives about the book? Yes. Trigger was an elderly dog who acted very young. Was it super duper scary? No. I think it might scare the middle grade readers who this book is aimed to scare, but it's not scary to adults. Either way, it was still a fun and easy read that had me chuckling along the way. I enjoy R.L. Stine's writing style. It's not meant to be taken seriously (it's not It or Carrie or any Stephen King book). This book was meant to bring the younger demographic a little horror novel and introduce them to the genre. Can every Goosebump book be an absolute winner? No.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! It's a little spooky and is totally getting me in the mood for Halloween and October!

Four out of five stars! ( )

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I try to express only my most honest opinion in a spoiler-free way. If you feel anything in my review is a spoiler and is not already hidden in spoiler brackets please let me know. Thank you.

It was ok. It wasn't as good as the last two we read. It just didn't have much in the sense of scary. Which was hard for my daughter to really stay interested in. So that's why I feel I have to leave it at a 3 star, but we are excited to continue on and hope for the next book to be better. ( )

The story opens with Evan Ross arriving at his creepy aunt Kathryn's for some much-needed vacation time. His aunt is an old, deaf witch who has spent much of her life living alone, not communicating with anyone or anything except her black cat, Sarabeth. Evan befriends a neighborhood girl named Andy, who embodies everything Evan is not. The two kill time at a local toy shop while getting to know one another. What they find is a container of Monster Blood, a type of silly putty the store owner has trouble parting with, fearing what may happen. At first, the Monster Blood acts just as silly putty should: It's a goopy, thick substance the two have a ball throwing back and forth and all over Aunt Kathryn's furniture. Pretty soon the Monster Blood starts exhibiting other strange powers, including a taste for human flesh and the ability to expand far beyond its original size.