THE CORPSE QUEEN By Heather M. Herrman

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THE CORPSE QUEEN By Heather M. HerrmanThe Corpse Queen by Heather M. Herrman
Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on 9/14/21
Genres: Historical, Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Young Adult
Pages: 416
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Soon after her best friend Kitty mysteriously dies, orphaned seventeen-year-old Molly Green is sent away to live with her "aunt." With no relations that she knows of, Molly assumes she has been sold as a maid for the price of an extra donation in the church orphanage's coffers. Such a thing is not unheard of. There are only so many options for an unmarried girl in 1850s Philadelphia. Only, when Molly arrives, she discovers her aunt is very much real, exceedingly wealthy, and with secrets of her own. Secrets and wealth she intends to share—for a price.

Molly's estranged aunt Ava, has built her empire by robbing graves and selling the corpses to medical students who need bodies to practice surgical procedures. And she wants Molly to help her procure the corpses. As Molly learns her aunt's trade in the dead of night and explores the mansion by day, she is both horrified and deeply intrigued by the anatomy lessons held at the old church on her aunt's property. Enigmatic Doctor LaValle's lessons are a heady mixture of knowledge and power and Molly has never wanted anything more than to join his male-only group of students. But the cost of inclusion is steep and with a murderer loose in the city, the pursuit of power and opportunity becomes a deadly dance.

Short and Sweet Review

Molly Green has lived in an orphanage and soon after the mysterious death of her best friend Kitty, Molly is sent to live with an aunt she’s never meant or heard of. When Molly meets here aunt she learns that she’s wealthy and she became wealthy by robbing graves and selling the corpses to medical students to practice. Molly’s aunt Ava wants her help in getting the corpses, though Molly is hesitant at first she agrees. Molly spends her day exploring the mansion and trying to get a peak at the anatomy lessons that Dr. Lavalle holds at the old church on her aunts property. Molly want’s to join the class but that requires more of her working with the dead than she would have ever expected, and the cost is dangerous especially with a killer on the loose.

Let me just start by saying the premise was far more interesting than the story was maybe because the execution wasn’t the best. Molly wasn’t a great character I found her annoying and her thoughts were all over the place she as a character was all over the place. The plot was just Molly moving in with her aunt and going around getting the bodies for her aunt at night and acting like a high society lady during the day. Molly also has a romance with Tom a guy that works for her aunt and goes with Molly to get the bodies. This romance is lackluster and ridiculous, mainly because he’s known her for less than five seconds but thinks he can tell her what to do with her life. Anyway Molly also learns that there’s this person named the knifeman going around killing people around the area and she wants to find out who it is because this person could have killed her best friend Kitty so that’s a subplot. Moving on Molly also joins Dr. Lavalle’s classes much to the annoyance of the male students in the class. I found Molly to be extremely annoying during the scenes in class, she seemed smart and like she knew what she was talking about but when she was asked to demonstrate she would hesitate and start acting weird and proving the point of the male students that she didn’t belong and then she would huff and puff and get angry. She definitely had a lot of mood swings and I was not into it.

There were things that were confusing in this book and the ending was not the best. I still feel like if things were excited better this book would have been a solid read.

WHITE SMOKE By Tiffany D. Jackson

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

WHITE SMOKE By Tiffany D. JacksonWhite Smoke by Tiffany D. Jackson
Published by Katherine Tegen Books on 9/14/21
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Marigold is running from ghosts. The phantoms of her old life keep haunting her, but a move with her newly blended family from their small California beach town to the embattled Midwestern city of Cedarville might be the fresh start she needs. Her mom has accepted a new job with the Sterling Foundation that comes with a free house, one that Mari now has to share with her bratty ten-year-old stepsister, Piper.

The renovated picture-perfect home on Maple Street, sitting between dilapidated houses, surrounded by wary neighbors has its . . . secrets. That’s only half the problem: household items vanish, doors open on their own, lights turn off, shadows walk past rooms, voices can be heard in the walls, and there’s a foul smell seeping through the vents only Mari seems to notice. Worse: Piper keeps talking about a friend who wants Mari gone.

But “running from ghosts” is just a metaphor, right?

As the house closes in, Mari learns that the danger isn’t limited to Maple Street. Cedarville has its secrets, too. And secrets always find their way through the cracks.

Short and Sweet Review

Mari and her blended family have just moved from California to Cedarville. Her mom accepted a job with the Sterling Foundation and with that comes a free house, one that seems to be haunted. The construction workers can’t seem to get out of the house fast enough and Mari’s younger stepsister Piper becomes friends with someone named Ms. Suga. The house is in between dilapidated houses and the neighbors surrounding the area are less then welcoming. Things start to get strange when things go missing, voices can be heard through the walls, and there’s a smell coming through the vents. Mari learns that her house isn’t the only thing that’s dangerous, Cedarville is full of secrets.

When we meet Mari her and her family are arriving to Cedarville, we learn that something happened to Mari back in California that required her to need a fresh start but we aren’t entirely clued in until later on in the book. We also see that Mari has a phobia to bed bugs and it’s very extreme. Mari doesn’t have the best relationship with Piper or her stepfather Alec so when Piper keeps going on about this Ms. Suga wanting Mari out of the house they think Piper is talking about an imaginary friend. The hauntings in the house are creepy things are being moved, Mari’s phone is being messed with. After that Mari starts to do some more digging into the town’s history which gets her into trouble because someone in town is watching her every move. A small problem I had was the way Mari talked to Piper, I know Piper was annoying but the way Mari would cuss at her was a bit much.

White Smoke was creepy and held my attention until the very end. I just wanted to know what was going on in that house and in that town. I feel like the ending could have been better, I wanted to see them confront the Sterlings but oh well. Some elements of this book were based off of true stories and I’m interested in knowing what they are because Cedarville was an interesting town. White Smoke was a good book and it’ll keep you on the edge of your seat!

CATACOMB By Madeleine Roux

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

CATACOMB By Madeleine RouxCatacomb by Madeleine Roux
Series: Asylum #3
Published by HarperCollins on 9/1/15
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 332
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Sometimes the past is better off buried.

Senior year is finally over. After all they've been through, Dan, Abby, and Jordan are excited to take one last road trip together, and they're just not going to think about what will happen when the summer ends. But on their way to visit Jordan's uncle in New Orleans, the three friends notice that they're being followed . . . and photographed. Then Dan starts receiving messages from someone he didn't expect to hear from again—someone who died last Halloween.

When the trio arrives in New Orleans and the strange occurrences only escalate, Dan is forced to accept that everything that has happened to him in the past year may not be a coincidence, but fate—a fate that ties Dan to a group called the Bone Artists, who have a sinister fascination with notorious killers of the past.

Now Dan's only hope is that he will make it out of his senior trip alive.

Short and Sweet Review

Senior year is over and Dan, Abby, and Jordan reconnect to go on a road trip before starting their first year in college. The group is on their way to New Orleans to visit Jordan’s uncle, but along the way they make a few stops and notice that someone is following them and taking pictures. Things only get worse in New Orleans when a group called the Bone Artists seem to have a connection to Brookline.

This is the last installment in this trilogy. I will admit that this wasn’t my favorite book. The first 25% where they kept stopping so that Abby could take pictures for her project was slow. Dan is getting messages from Micah that are sort of like a warning and one of those texts clues Dan in to the fact that the group is being followed. We also get more information about Dan’s birth parents which I liked. The group meets Oliver and Sabrina, Oliver was a friend of Micah’s and he’s also been getting text. Oliver thinks that Dan can help him repay his debt to the Bone Artists. Jordan and Abby don’t trust Oliver and Sabrina and they were really rude to them and spent most of the book being mad at Dan and blaming him for the things that were happening. Abby and Dan are still dating, but I don’t understand why because there doesn’t seem to be any chemistry between them. The ending was good but it also felt a little rushed.

Overall this was a good book but I think the first two books are the best. The plot is good and I liked the mystery surrounding Dan’s parents and how the Bone Artists had a connection to things that went on at Brookline.

SANCTUM By Madeleine Roux

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

SANCTUM By Madeleine RouxSanctum by Madeleine Roux
Series: Asylum #2
Published by HarperCollins on 8/26/14
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 353
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Dan, Abby, and Jordan remain traumatized by the summer they shared in the Brookline asylum. Much as they'd love to move on, many questions remain, and someone is determined to keep the terror alive, sending the teens photos of an old-timey carnival, with no note and no name. Forsaking their plan never to go back, the teens return to New Hampshire College under the guise of a weekend for prospective students, and there they realize that the carnival from the photos is not only real, it's here on campus, apparently for the first time in many years.

Sneaking away from sample classes and college parties, Dan and his friends lead a tour of their own—one through the abandoned houses and hidden places of a surrounding town. Camford is hiding a terrible past, and the truth behind Dan's connection to the asylum's evil warden is more terrifying than Dan ever imagined.

Short and Sweet Review

Dan, Abby, and Jordan are going back to Brookline. After the traumatizing summer they had there it seems like even when they left someone wants to keep the terror going. The trio has been receiving photos and even Felix gave them a set of coordinates to properties close to campus. So the three go to campus as prospective students and try to get answers.

Our characters are back at New Hampshire College and that’s when they realize that the pictures they’ve been sent featuring a carnival is actually happening on campus grounds. Dan and his friends know that the only way to get answers is to sneak away from their guides for the weekend and visit the coordinates that Felix gave them. This book still has the creepy vibes that the first book gave us. Dan still sees things through the eyes of Daniel Crawford and he’s also seeing the ghost of children.

The group learns a lot more about the past of Brookline and even learn that there’s a cult in the midst of everything. It was interesting to see how much the group uncovered. This book had me flipping through pages just to see what would happen next. I was always worried for the characters something about the campus and the people on it are not right.

I’ve enjoyed reading the first two books in this series and I’m excited to see what’ll happen in the third especially because we’re leaving Brookline behind. What I love most about this series is the creepy vibes and the pictures sprinkled in it!

ASYLUM By Madeleine Roux

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

ASYLUM By Madeleine RouxAsylum by Madeleine Roux
Series: Asylum #1
Published by HarperCollins on 8/20/13
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 321
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, the New Hampshire College Prep program is the chance of a lifetime. Except that when Dan arrives, he finds that the usual summer housing has been closed, forcing students to stay in the crumbling Brookline Dorm. The dorm was formerly a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.

As Dan and his new friends Abby and Jordan start exploring Brookline's twisty halls and hidden basement, they uncover disturbing secrets about what really went on at Brookline . . . secrets that link Dan and his friends to the asylum's dark past. Because Brookline was no ordinary asylum, and there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.

Short and Sweet Review

Dan is at the New Hampshire College Prep program for the summer. This is important to Dan, he’s an outcast at his school so this is his chance to make friends before college. The only thing that’s not exactly easing to think about is the fact that the dorm the students are staying in used to be an asylum. Dan does make some friends, Abby and Jordan. The trio end up exploring the asylum and learn some disturbing facts about their new home for the summer.

I found Asylum to be an enjoyable read. I will admit that some parts were predictable but that didn’t really bother me. I thought the setting was creepy and the pictures just added a lot to the book. Sometimes I found the pictures scarier then what was actually happening. Dan, Abby, and Jordan all have some unexplainable things happen to them that kind of makes them feel like they’re losing it especially Dan. We do learn that Dan may have a connection to the asylum which maybe why he feels like things are speaking to him and why he’s having strange dreams about being places in the asylum he’s never seen before. I didn’t really care for the romance I thought it was better when Dan and Abby were just friends. There was a cliffhanger at the end. I plan on finishing the rest of the series just to see how everything works out. Even thought the book may have been predictable it kept me engaged and I just wanted to see what would happen next!

#NOESCAPE

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

#NOESCAPE#NoEscape by Gretchen McNeil
Series: #MurderTrending #3
Published by Freeform on 9/15/20
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 352
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Seventeen-year-old Persey feels worthless much of the time. Her parents prefer her smarter, more enigmatic big brother to her, and she can't quite seem to succeed-let alone fit in-at school. But there is one thing she's good at: escape rooms. So when she's invited to compete in an escape room competition that carries a prize worth millions, Persey is all over it.

Persey enters the competition along with seven other young contestants, but while most escape rooms are about teamwork and collaboration, this one is all about being cut-throat-literally. When contestants start getting killed off, Persey must solve a series of bizarre and gruesome puzzles, riddles, and games to make it out alive. Along the way she learns the contestants are mysteriously related-and someone is out for vengeance.

Twenty years before Dee Guerra and the Death Row Breakfast Club took down The Postman and Alcatraz 2.0 in #MurderTrending, long before Becca survived The Juggernaut and Who Wants to Be a Painiac? In #MurderFunding, the murder games first began with one awful day at Escape-Capades, Ltd.? And there's no telling who might have made it out alive, or what they may have later become.

Short and Sweet Review

20 years before there was an Alcatraz 2.0 there was Escape-Capades. After beating an escape room Persey is invited to Las Vegas to compete in a new escape room with a grand prize. Persey along with 5 other teens enter the escape room where there’s individual puzzles and some that require teamwork. This isn’t a normal escape room, contestants begin to get killed off, and while solving puzzles we also learn that the contestants have secrets and they’re all connected in some way.

This book is only from Persey’s POV, we get to see what the escape room is like from her eyes we also get flashbacks of what her life was like before. I liked seeing all of the different rooms and how the puzzles were solved. Things do start to get gruesome when contestants start meeting their ends in different rooms. Our contestants think its a joke at first until it becomes obvious that it’s not. Persey feels the need to save everyone and look out for them even though most of them don’t deserve it. I did like Persey as a character she had a bad upbringing, but through it all she actually was smart in her own way. Some of the characters were annoying so I wasn’t too sad when they ended up being killed off.

Overall this was a pretty good book! It does give us some insight on the first book #murdertrending. I think that reading this book first instead of last and then moving on to the other two books would be a good way to read this series!

THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE By Stephanie Perkins

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE By Stephanie PerkinsThere's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
Published by Dutton Books for Young Readers on 9/26/17
Genres: Contemporary, Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 304
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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It's been almost a year since Makani Young came to live with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska, and she's still adjusting to her new life. And still haunted by her past in Hawaii.

Then, one by one, the students of her small town high school begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, Makani will be forced to confront her own dark secrets.

Short and Sweet Review

I will make this review really short and not so much sweet. Makani lives in Nebraska with her grandma. Someone is killing the students in town in pretty gruesome ways. Thats pretty much it Makani lives in a small town with a serial killer on the loose. I just could not deal with this book there were times when I would just read something sigh and put my kindle down. Makani has a romance with Ollie and geez you would think that for a story about a killer in town there would be less making out and sex and more trying to stay safe and find out who the killer is. There’s also a plot line about Makani dealing with something that happened in her past and once I got to that part I sighed and put my kindle down, honestly that whole thing about what happened in Hawaii was a waste of time and irrelevant to anything happening. Also no one will guess who the killer is because it’s not anyone relevant, their motive is stupid, and it just leaves you wondering why you read 291 pages of nonsense. 3 days later and I’m still trying to clear my mind of the ridiculous mess that this book is. Honestly girl, small town, killer, lots of making out, and nonsense, that’s it!

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD By Adam Cesare

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

CLOWN IN A CORNFIELD By Adam CesareClown in a Cornfield by Adam Cesare
Series: Clown in a Cornfield #1
Published by HarperTeen on 8/25/20
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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Quinn Maybrook and her father have moved to tiny, boring Kettle Springs, to find a fresh start. But what they don’t know is that ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory shut down, Kettle Springs has cracked in half.

On one side are the adults, who are desperate to make Kettle Springs great again, and on the other are the kids, who want to have fun, make prank videos, and get out of Kettle Springs as quick as they can.

Kettle Springs is caught in a battle between old and new, tradition and progress. It’s a fight that looks like it will destroy the town. Until Frendo, the Baypen mascot, a creepy clown in a pork-pie hat, goes homicidal and decides that the only way for Kettle Springs to grow back is to cull the rotten crop of kids who live there now.

Short and Sweet Review

Quinn and her dad just moved to Kettle Springs. But they learn fast that the town is split between the older folks who want to make Kettle Springs great again and the younger kids who just want to have fun and pull pranks. Ever since the Baypen Corn Syrup Factory closed its doors there’s been a divide, and now the mascot of the factory a clown named Frendo seems to be out for revenge and he’s killing all the kids he can get his hands on.

Quinn is new in town and immediately she ends up hanging out with a group of kids who are known for their prank videos, which aren’t very popular with the adults in town. So bring in the killer clown on the loose who is obviously siding with the adults, he’s done with the kids and is ready to take them all out on a murder spree.

Quinn is a good character she’s from the city so being in this small town is different for her. She was smart but also a little judgmental of her new “friends.” We see a lot of Cole mainly because he’s the one who started a fire in the factory so the clown really has a bone to pick with him. I wish there was more of Rust in the book we meet him in the beginning and we don’t see much of him until the end. The other characters were okay but we don’t really get to learn about them.

There’s a lot of gruesome scenes in this book (just a warning.) I liked this book it kept me on the edge of my seat just wondering what was going to happen and who the homicidal clown was. Most of the clown in a cornfield scenario takes place in a cornfield obviously but just when you thought that the kids were safe there was just more hurled at them. I wasn’t expecting some of the twists that took place.

I enjoyed this book, it was a good thriller and there was a lot of suspense. It reminded me a lot of #MurderTrending by Gretchen McNeil. I would recommend it I think it’d be a great read especially around Halloween!

POSSESS By Gretchen McNeil

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

POSSESS By Gretchen McNeilPossess by Gretchen McNeil
Published by Balzer + Bray on 8/21/12
Genres: Fantasy & Magic, Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Paranormal, Young Adult
Pages: 400
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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Fifteen-year-old Bridget Liu just wants to be left alone: by her overprotective mom, by Matt Quinn, the cute son of a local police sergeant, and by the eerie voices she can suddenly and inexplicably hear. Unfortunately for Bridget, the voices are demons—and Bridget possesses the rare ability to banish them back to whatever hell they came from. Literally.

Terrified to tell her friends or family about this new power, Bridget confides in San Francisco's senior exorcist, Monsignor Renault, who enlists her help in increasingly dangerous cases of demonic possession. But just as she is starting to come to terms with her freakish new role, Bridget receives a startling message from one of the demons. And when one of her oldest friends is killed, Bridget realizes she's in deeper than she ever thought possible. Now she must unlock the secret to the demons' plan before someone else close to her winds up dead—or worse, the human vessel for a demon king.

Short and Sweet Review

Bridget can hear the voices of demons and she has the ability to banish them back to where they came from. Bridget is being trained by Monsignor Renault a senior exorcist who enlists Bridget to help him with dangerous exorcisms. When Bridgets friend is killed, Bridget realizes that the demons have a message for her and now she has to figure out how to stop the demon king before he claims a human vessel.

Bridget is one those characters who likes to be left alone, she just doesn’t want to be bothered. I liked Bridget it was interesting to see how her ability worked and I liked that she was able to help with the exorcisms. The demons could communicate with Bridget and gave her a message about what the demon king planned to do, I like how this progressed the plot. Bridget also had a love interest, Matt Quinn and he’s the police sergeants son. Matt and Bridget used to be best friends when they were younger but drifted apart. I liked seeing how Bridget and Matt reconnected, they did have chemistry and they were a good fit he was very protective over her. Bridget’s friend is killed during the halfway point in the book and that’s when things really started to progress. My favorite things about this book was seeing Bridget go to the exorcisms and her piecing together what the demon king had planned and where her ability came from.

I love all of Gretchen McNeil’s books and this one was also entertaining and fun! I liked the whole exorcism aspect and the little bit of mystery that was also in there!

#MURDERFUNDING By Gretchen McNeil

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

#MURDERFUNDING By Gretchen McNeil#MurderFunding by Gretchen McNeil
Series: #MurderTrending #2
Published by Freeform on 8/6/19
Genres: Horror & Ghost Stories, Mystery & Detective, Thrillers, Young Adult
Pages: 336
Format: Ebook
Source: Reviewer Purchase
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WELCOME TO WHO WANTS TO BE A PAINIAC?, the latest reality TV show on the hunt for the next big-hit serial killer. But don't worry-no one is actually going to murder anyone, as real as the fake gore and pretend murder may appear . . . uh, right?

Seventeen-year-old Becca Martinello is about to find out. When her perfectly normal soccer mom dies in a car crash, a strange girl named Stef appears and lets Becca know that her deceased mom was none other than one of Alcatraz 2.0's most popular serial killers-Molly Mauler. Soon, Becca ends up on Who Wants to Be a Painiac? to learn the truth about her mom's connection to Molly, but things turn sinister when people are murdered IRL. Will Becca uncover dark secrets and make it out of the deadly reality show alive? Or will she get cut?

Short and Sweet Review

Becca’s mom just died in a car crash, but when a stranger comes up to Becca and tells her that her mom was actually Molly Mauler and died on Alcatraz 2.0 and not in a car crash Becca can’t believe it. When Who Wants to Be A Paniac? a new reality show looking for the next serial killer holds auditions Becca realizes that this is her chance to learn if her mother really was Molly Mauler. Becca and Stef head to LA and audition while also looking for anything that will prove or disprove Stef’s theory about Becca’s mom. I thought this sequel was great we get new characters and we also get to see the characters from the last book. Everything comes around full circle the new characters end up trying to escape psycho killers and the old characters are trying to find out who was behind Alcatraz 2.0 and Who Wants to be A Paniac?. Becca and Stef had a lot of tension but the more trials they face and the more time they spend together the more their feelings for each other come out. I was on edge while reading this I felt bad for the characters Who Wants to be a Paniac? was supposed to be a nonviolent show but what they got was the complete opposite. I’m glad that Becca found out what she needed to and that the other characters from the past book fought for justice. I love this series and I’m excited to see what the next one brings!