Thursday, July 7, 2016

The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy

When Stella was 6, she went into the woods with Jeanie... she came back, but Jeanie was never found.  The mystery of Jeanie has haunted the town of Savage for 11 years, but Stella can't remember anything that happened that day.

Now Stella is celebrating her summer before Senior year by partying with her friends and crushing on cute lacrosse boys.  She's doesn't want to remember her past, she wants to move on.  Then a body of a young girl surfaces on the anniversary of Jeanie's disappearance, and Stella knows that the key to stopping the madness is her blocked out memory.

The path she goes down leads her to legends, myths, monsters, and murderers.








I totally loved this book.  It was not perfect by any means-- There was "teen talk" (the phrase -tastic is tacked onto WAY too many words for my liking), Stella wasn't the strongest female lead in the world (and she definitely had some thoughts in her head that enraged me), and the main friendship between Zoey and Stella was definitely NOT the healthiest-- and I didn't care in the least!!  Sure, I would have changed a few of those things if I had my way, but the things I loved about this book COMPLETELY outweighed the things I didn't.

Stella is in a popular girl clique that didn't want to get involved in the mystery of the town and what happened to Jeanie.  This leads Stella to turn to a former friend (someone that her BFF Zoey doesn't approve of)-- Sam, King of the Dorks.  Sam and Stella have a history and some pretty serious chemistry-- and the boy just cares so damn much!  Every scene he was in I was just like-- SWOON!!  I couldn't think straight... so basically 70% of this book could suck and I wouldn't know it because when Sam was around, I was in a love haze.  Okay, seriously 70% of this book DOES NOT SUCK.  I made that up :)

For real though-- I was wishing that the Zoey/Stella friendship was a TAD healthier.  I'm kind of sick of "frenemy" relationships in YA.  These characters care about each other a lot more than typical "frenemies", but Zoey is so mean and controlling that I had trouble understanding Stella's love for her.  Even though this book is 400 pages, I still felt like the ending felt rushed.  Like it just crept (LOL) up on me all of a sudden and played out so quickly, I could hardly wrap my brain around it.

What this book has in A+ quantities is ATMOSPHERE.  I don't think this was a scary, horror-type book, but it definitely lived up to it's title- CREEPY.  I was reading it at night after everyone in my house was asleep and I had a few moments where I thought I heard noises and had to go check.  That doesn't happen too often to me with books.  I was super intrigued whether the monsters in this book were real.  I would be 99% sure they weren't, but one chapter later, I'd be thinking that YES they totally are.

The other A+ thing was the Sam/Stella relationship.  Stella treated Sam like crap again and again after Zoey exiled him, but it didn't deter his love for Stella.  While maybe people like that don't exist in real life, I wish that they would.  And extra points that Sam was not described as this mega-hot guy living in a nerd disguise.  He was just an okay looking boy who Stella knew she could count on.

OVERALL: I was addicted to the mystery and the romance in this book.  I'm not the biggest fan of romance, but the relationship in this book was beyond adorable.  I couldn't NOT like... and it basically made the book for me.  I totally recommend this!!

Date Published: 8/18/2015
How I got this book: Library
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers


This Book Contains:
  • Mystery
  • Swoony romance
  • Savage, Minnesota
  • Creepy woods
  • Dead animals
  • Monsters
  • Occult
  • Some disturbing/stomach-turning descriptions
  • Some sexual situations
  • Mean girls
  • Unhealthy friendship
  • Absentee parents





My Rating: 4.5/5














Character: Zoey
Book: Those Girls by Lauren Saft

  • Zoey would LOVE Mollie, she just would.






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8 comments:

  1. I won a copy of this one some time back, but I haven't had the chance to read it yet. It sounds terrific though. I have to agree with you on toxic friendships. They seem to be very popular in YA, and I'm not generally a fan of them. The romance sounds cute though and I think I'd like the mystery. I'll definitely have to check out my copy!

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  2. I hadn't heard of this book, but just added it to my TBR thanks to you!

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  3. Great review! You cannot go wrong with romance and mystery! I like your description of the atmosphere in this book, definitely adding to my TBR!!

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  4. Okay, after reading this review and seeing that cover, must read!

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  5. I love a creepy atmosphere!! Sounds like despite its flaws it was a really great read. This totally wasn't on my radar but is now - Great review!

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  6. Atmosphere!!! I love a book with good atmosphere. I've been wanting to read this one for a while. I'm glad that you enjoyed it despite a few issues. Excellent review!!

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  7. I TOTALLY agree with you on this one! The atmosphere was on point, no question! I loved that part SO much. And of course, SAM. And I liked that Stella had a lot of character growth and development. I do wish that Zoey hadn't been so awful though. And the absentee parent thing was BAD. Like, kind of too much to believe, for me at least. (And I actually almost DNFed because of the "teen talk" stuff- but I am glad I didn't!) FABULOUS review, I am so, so glad you loved this one!

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  8. I was really intrigued by this book when it came out last year and never got around to it. Sounds like I need to! Teen talk is def annoying when it feels manufactured like that but I loooove creepy atmospheres and swoony romance!

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