Customer Reviews

Bad Girls Don't Die

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had high hopes for this book given the description. I was ooooooh a creepy doll this'll be good! But sadly it was a little anti-climactic. The characters were pretty shallow, and the romance was boring. Allender could have expanded a lot more on Carter especially, with his background of suicide and whatnot, but he fell just as flat as the others. There wasn't much of a mystery either, I figured out pretty much within two chapters what was going to happen. There was a lot of potential here, but nothing really 'wowed' me. The only character I actually liked was Kasey, as she seemed to have at least SOME depth.

TL;DR - Decent story that could have been better in a different author's hands. Shallow characters and no real mystery. If you want a REAL teen horror novel I suggest the Vours series by Simon Holt, which are awesome and scary.

Katie Alender's Bad Girls Dont Die

What a wonderful book! The beginning is sort of boring, but once you get to the middle and end it's bone chillingly amazing. The characters are realistic, and it's third person, from Alexis's point of view. It's definetly a 5 star book.

It was a great book. I thought the beginning of the story was a little slow, but it was good once i got into it. I was a little disappointed, it wasn't as scary as it looks. Infact i would say it isn't scary at all.

Summary: Lexi wants to pretend that there's nothing wrong, that her dysfunctional little family is acting normally. But when she hears that her little sister, Kasey, attacked another girl and broke her arm, she has to face the truth: something is seriously wrong. It seems there's an evil spirit influencing Kasey, and her obsession with dolls starts to look like something a lot more sinister than a simple hobby. Kasey seems to be on a mission to destroy all her enemies, and if Lexi doesn't find a way to stop her, she might just be next on the list.

Opening line: "I stood perfectly still, looking up at the house and the dark sky behind it."

My thoughts: This might not have been the best choice of reading material for a long, sleepless night spent caring for a sick baby. But how was I supposed to put it down? Once I got started on this story, I just couldn't stop. Bad Girls Don't Die has the perfect level of scary creepiness to keep you hooked in and on edge, without reducing you to a gibbering ball of terror. Love it.

On the downside, the romantic storyline really felt like an unnecessary afterthought. The love interest served no purpose in the plot other than to be a love interest. Is it illegal to publish a YA novel with no romance? Just wondering. I was also bothered by the "my parents are so self-involved they completely ignore me" stereotype. It's been a little overdone.

Overall, great book! I'm not even a big fan of horror or scary stories, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The perfect level of creepiness.

Alexis might not be perfectly well-adjusted to high school life, but she finds her niche as an outspoken pink-haired smart-aleck quite satisfying, thank you very much.

Her four-person family is far from perfect, but they have always managed to get by, in their spooky architectural jumble of a house. Alexis' mother spends more time at work than at home, but so do millions of other moms across America. Kasey, her doll-obsessed little sister, is sometimes too passive for her own good, but hopefully the doll-collecting is something she will grow out of. As for her father, they aren't exactly close, but he could be worse.

One night, after a family argument leaves Kasey in tears, Alexis comes to the rescue in the role of comforting big sister. Kasey requests a story, so Alexis soothes her with a made-up story off the top of her head. Since it is for her baby sister, the story revolves around a little girl and her doll, Kasey's favorite topic. Naturally, Alexis doesn't think much of the story, though come to think of it, it is a bit strange at how smoothly the spontaneous story rolls off her tongue.

However, shortly after Alexis' tale, Kasey starts behaving weirdly. More strangely than normal anyhow. It starts small, with her eyes sometimes changing color from blue to green and using old-fashioned language, like "oughtn't." At first, Alexis tries to brush away her foreboding feelings, deeming the odd vibes she is getting from Kasey as a figment of her imagination, nothing serious.

When mysterious lights appear in the middle of the night, doors close themselves, and the air conditioner goes haywire to the point where Alexis can see her breath in the house, she knows it is no overactive imagination. She has no idea what exactly is going on, but something weird is happening in their house, and much as she hates to admit it, Kasey has something to do with it.

Events spiral rapidly out of control, as midnight wanderings progress to thievery and even attempted murder. Alexis has no idea who to turn to - does anyone even believe in the supernatural anymore? People might just lock Kasey up as schizophrenic, but Alexis knows better. Her little sister is not crazy. Kasey is possessed.

Katie Alender's BAD GIRLS DON'T DIE is a haunting tale of one town's murderous history and a ghost that wants revenge.

Reviewed by: Amber Gibson