There's Someone Inside Your House

This is the first book I’ve read by Ms. Perkins. I know she’s written some very popular books, but I think this is the perfect one for me to start with. There are many things to like about this book. First are the diverse characters. Many authors writing stories set in small town middle America will allow themselves to get comfortable with mainly straight, white characters. Or they’ll go to the other extreme of focusing their writing on how hard it is to be diverse in a small town. In There’s Someone Inside Your House, you have a book that is written from the perspective of a person of color who just happens to live in a town mainly populated by white folks. The fact that Makani is of mixed race is acknowledged, but it’s not show more really the focus of the story line. She’s dating a white kid, but it’s not an issue. One of her friends is transgender, but no one seems to notice it much. Don’t get me wrong, kids in minority groups do face more than their fair share of hate, but it’s nice for an author to be bold and kind of say “small town doesn’t have to mean small minds”.
The characters, both main and supporting, are sufficiently complex and fleshed out. The reveal of Makani’s “big secret” at first felt like a letdown, but the more I thought about it, the more I could understand why what happened impacted her so strongly. I enjoyed the romance, because it wasn’t dramatic or schmaltzy. My favorite part of this reading experience is the whole teen slasher movie feel. It was like seeing Scream again for the first time. As a whole, I just plain liked this book. The only complaint I have is that the title implies a dynamic that wasn’t really there for me. Yes there was someone in her house, but that wasn’t the primary focus of the book, so that felt off to me.
I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys teen slasher movies and isn’t too squeamish. show less

Makani Young moved from Hawaii to Nebraska in the middle of her junior year of high school to get away from her past, and to take care of her aging grandma. But really, it was so her narcissistic parents don't have to deal with her while they go through a nasty divorce. Now it's October of her senior year and she's still the outsider in this small town. And then the town starts getting smaller. A brutal serial killer murders the lead of the school play, and then the star of the football team. Who is next? Who is the killer? Why does Makani's grandmother keep leaving cabinet doors open?

As usual, Perkins' book is completely un-put-downable. I read the second two-thirds in one sitting. She has a vivid way of writing that makes you feel show more like a scene was several pages long, but then you look back and realize it was only 4 sentences. I would not consider myself a horror/thriller/slasher movie (or book) fan, but this did seem to scratch some kind of itch. The plot isn't anything revolutionary; we never get inside the killer's mind, nothing happens that doesn't usually happen in this type of story. It's just GOOD. I particularly liked that every time a character is going to get murdered, the chapter starts from their point of view (close 3rd person). That way we know who is going to be murdered before they actually do, without having to be inside the killer's head or learning who the killer is before the main characters do. Very clever. The story also deftly avoids the sexist and purity-related tropes that are frequently found in the genre.

And of course, because it's Stephanie Perkins, there's a delicious romance, with no "will-they-won't-they" about it.

Highly recommended if you like this sort of thing, tentatively recommended if you don't like books about murder. show less

So, I never actually intended to ever read a Stephanie Perkins novel. Ever.

When I went to the Southern Festival of Books and saw that Perkins had a panel, I was kind of like, “Yeah, ok, maybe I’ll check that out” since there weren’t any other panels I was interested in. It’s not that I think Perkins is a bad writer… over the top contemporary YA with big sweeping romances just isn’t my thing. I was especially turned off by the cheating in ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS and just sort of gave up on anything Perkins related.

But.

But then I sat in on her panel and she is charming and engaging and an adorable little gem… that’s also full of spook. It felt like finding a kindred spirit, so I knew I wanted to get her last book and show more her sign it. Would I ever read it? I mean… maybe. Probably not. But when my friend wanted to buddy read it, I decided to give it a go. A few chapters a day wouldn’t kill me, right?

I finished the book in one day.

My friend is so mad.

I’ve seen a lot of negative things about this book but I absolutely adored it. In all honesty, I think you have to be a fan of cheesy, B-movie slasher films to truly appreciate just how good this book is. This isn’t meant to be a psychological thriller. It’s not to be some grand mystery. This is Cherry Falls meets I Know What You Did Last Summer.

I was really impressed with the killer’s “tell”. If you don’t know what a tell is, think of every slasher movie you’ve ever seen. How do you know when the killer is just around the corner? Some movies use music. Some movies go silent. Perkins used a really great tell- things just slightly askew, not quite where the character remembered putting them. That’s pretty genius. Not only does it confuse the character, but it gives the reader a heart stopping “heads up” that… well, someone’s about to die. It also makes us paranoid! How many of us have sworn the cup of water was JUST RIGHT THERE but now it’s not? Now I have to think “Did I actually put it somewhere else… or am I about to get whacked…”

There have been lots of complaints that there isn’t much of a plot and… I mean, I agree. I think most slasher films don’t have a plot either. Sometimes just staying alive in the midst of a tragedy is a good enough plot. Perkins isn’t claiming to be Stephen King- she wanted to write a campy slasher book and she got it right. The other complaints I’ve seen are that there was too much romance and not enough murder. In 287 pages, we see 3 teenagers get murdered and 5 others be brutally assaulted. That’s an average of 1 stabbing every 35 pages. Y’all. As for the romance, it’s not overdone. Every slasher film has a romantic element to it… it kinda makes you root a little harder for the young lovers to survive.

I also want to address some of the issues around Darby’s character. I am not trans so this is definitely not my lane and I am open to linking reviews done by trans people that talk about Darby. Before I read this, I knew there was some controversy surrounding Perkins using Darby’s deadname. In the book, the MC is talking about her friends and she mentions that Darby’s legal name is still Justine Darby but that he goes by Darby. My friend who is reading the book with me (Or, well, was… I’m so sorry, Seth, I can’t help that I read it that fast) is trans and saw no problem with the passage. I have other trans friends who saw problems with it. I have other other trans friends who said that it wasn’t the best way to handle it but it wasn’t exactly problematic. I think it goes back to the point that we aren’t a monolith and there’s no 100% right way to handle every character. Another thing people were upset with was the fact that Grandma Young doesn’t allow Ollie into Makani’s room but has allowed Darby in her room in the past. The feeling is that Grandma Young is misgendering Darby or still sees him as being female. I feel like it was more poor wording than malicious intent by Perkins. Growing up, I was allowed to have male friends in my room but not boys that my parents thought I was interested in (joke’s on you, parents, you should have been watching the girls). I definitely felt more like “I know you’re interested in this boy so y’all stay down here” than anything else.

This lost a star for me just because I thought revealing the killer half-way through the book was, eh, a little too soon. Perkins made this reveal work, but I still like being surprised at the end. Product of the Scooby-Doo generation, I like my bad guys to have their masks ripped off at the end.

Again, I loved this book! If you’re looking for a little romance, a lot of gore, and some teenagers getting whacked, this one is for you! show less

This is the first book I’ve read by Ms. Perkins. I know she’s written some very popular books, but I think this is the perfect one for me to start with. There are many things to like about this book. First are the diverse characters. Many authors writing stories set in small town middle America will allow themselves to get comfortable with mainly straight, white characters. Or they’ll go to the other extreme of focusing their writing on how hard it is to be diverse in a small town. In There’s Someone Inside Your House, you have a book that is written from the perspective of a person of color who just happens to live in a town mainly populated by white folks. The fact that Makani is of mixed race is acknowledged, but it’s not show more really the focus of the story line. She’s dating a white kid, but it’s not an issue. One of her friends is transgender, but no one seems to notice it much. Don’t get me wrong, kids in minority groups do face more than their fair share of hate, but it’s nice for an author to be bold and kind of say “small town doesn’t have to mean small minds”.

The characters, both main and supporting, are sufficiently complex and fleshed out. The reveal of Makani’s “big secret” at first felt like a letdown, but the more I thought about it, the more I could understand why what happened impacted her so strongly. I enjoyed the romance, because it wasn’t dramatic or schmaltzy. My favorite part of this reading experience is the whole teen slasher movie feel. It was like seeing Scream again for the first time. As a whole, I just plain liked this book. The only complaint I have is that the title implies a dynamic that wasn’t really there for me. Yes there was someone in her house, but that wasn’t the primary focus of the book, so that felt off to me.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys teen slasher movies and isn’t too squeamish. show less

All I can say right now is what the frick did I just read?

Rarely am I completely incoherent to my own thoughts on a book immediately after finishing this book, but There's Someone Inside Your House has left me completely confused. I am giving the book two stars; I obviously didn't like it, but I still don't know how I feel about it.

I adored Perkins's Anna and the French Kiss trilogy, and though initially I was some what excited when she was coming out with a new book, I didn't really anticipate or hype this book up to myself. I can't say I was disappointed by this book, simply because I had no expectations going into it, but I still...was?



From the first chapter, there was a touch of humor and I thought this book would just be poking fun show more at those cheezy high school murder mysteries with a romantic subplot. I was wrong. By the first chapter, I thought I would enjoy it, but after that, things just started feeling...off. Strange.

One of the first issues I had with this book was our love interest, Ollie. He's the quiet, bullied kid who our main character has a crush on. They did some stuff over the summer, but then just stopped talking to each other. For no reason at all. While Ollie did grow on me a little at the end, he just really came off as creepy. He openly admits to googling her, and even gets her number - not through asking her, get this but through finding it through his older brother, whose a police officer.

The second problem I had with this book was how Perkins handled diversity.

I think diversity is important in books, but the way it was presented in this book felt very...forced. It was like Perkins picked up on some trend and was like welp, gotta add a ton of diverse characters because that's what people do! It was like she created characters and then sat down and thought, what are the easiest ways to make my book more diverse.

Like I said, diversity is important in books and authors are getting better, but in this situation, it felt like she was just using labels: this is the transgender character, this is the feminist character, this is the person of color, this is the person who deals with mental health. Her approach could have been better.

This was kind of one of those things were I didn't stop reading it just because it started getting more and more gruesome and one of those things were it's so bad you just can't look away. Other than that, the plot was repetitive and predictable. The twists and turns were disappointing and I kept hoping for a bigger twist but nothing really happened. Our main character has this "terrible past" that we don't know about for awhile, but even that "reveal" was just...n o .

Stephanie Perkins should just stick to the cute contemporaries. I applaud her for branching out and doing something different, but this wasn't her, and it wasn't good. show less

I really enjoyed the first half of this. Perkins is a master of sweet, smart, sexy relationships. And the mystery was shivery, creepy, gory. Unfortunately the payoff just wasn't there for me. The killer's motivation was a bit of a letdown, and the more I think on it, the less satisfied I am that the book is fully developed. I think much more could have been done with Darby, Alex, even Makani's parents. Makani's big secret was well handled, but not a great explanation for her guilt. I did like how the chapters from other students' perspectives was done. I think it added depth.
All in all, I'm glad I read it, but I'm just left wishing for a little bit more.

I had a blast reading this book. It hit my nostalgia real hard. I grew up reading teen slasher novels (my favorite was Horrorscope) and it totally took me back to that period of time. It's just a fun ride and you can't think too deeply about it because it's the type of story that falls apart under scrutiny. I do think that the reveal was underwhelming. So much so, that I kept thinking that there had to be more going on. Also, I wish that the killer's motivation was made clearer and that the characters figured it out earlier. This book isn't prefect, but it was perfect for me.