*Feature Friday is a meme I came up with to feature YA books that have not yet been released by reviewing them on The Tattered Page.*
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: 9.30.2014
Pages: 288
Source: ARC
The Story:
R.L. Stine's hugely successful young adult horror series Fear Street is back with the first new book in almost 2 decades. With more than 80 million copies sold around the world, Fear Street is one of the bestselling young adult series of all time. Now, with Party Games, R.L. Stine revives this phenomenon for a new generation of teen readers, and the announcement of new Fear Street books caused a flurry of excitement both in the press and on social media, where fans rejoiced that the series was coming back.
Her friends warn her not to go to Brendan Fear's birthday party at his family's estate on mysterious Fear Island. But Rachel Martin has a crush on Brendan and is excited to be invited. Brendan has a lot of party games planned. But one game no one planned intrudes on his party—the game of murder. As the guests start dying one by one, Rachel realizes to her horror that she and the other teenagers are trapped on the tiny island with someone who may want to kill them all. How to escape this deadly game? Rachel doesn't know whom she can trust. She should have realized that nothing is as it seems… on Fear Island.
R.L. Stine makes his triumphant return to Shadyside, a town of nightmares, shadows, and genuine terror, and to the bestselling series that began his career writing horror for the juvenile market, in the new Fear Street book Party Games.
Rating: THREE Gold Stars!!!
My Review: One word: SUSPENSEFUL
To begin, I have not read anything of R.L. Stine's since I was in middle school. My great-aunt is a librarian who would bring boxes of books and most of those books were from the Goosebumps series. Having said that, when I was at BEA this year and heard that Stine would be signing for his newly minted series for Young Adults, Fear Street, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy. Alas, here we are, bookies!
Rachel Martin is a typical 17-year-old girl who lives in Shadyside where she works as a waitress at the local diner because her money is tight in the family and she wants to help out. Downside though to working in the local diner, she has to wait on her own classmate. As the stars would have it, her luck would change. Insert Brendan Fear. The guy Rachel has had a huge crush on since forever. So, when Brendan comes to the diner and asks Rachel to attend his exclusive birthday party it is an offer she cannot refuse.
Popular, cute, outgoing, Brendan is still a Fear. And being a Fear comes with a dark, deadly family tree.The Fears are a wealthy, eccentric family with a reputation of mischief, murder and good ole fashioned residential ghosts. But Rachel knows Brendan is different. And against her best friend's wishes, Rachel's plan to attend Brendan party does not falter. Not even when she receives an anonymous warning: a dead rat in her bed.
As soon as Rachel and the other guests arrive on Fear Island, there is a tragic accident. The boat captain takes bloody fall into the water. Still, determined not to let the incident ruin the party the group moves on for a night of fun. Brendan has a reputation as a gaming mastermind and his masterpiece is a creepy scavenger hunt in the haunted Fear mansion. The party games are all fun and games until they take a sudden deadly turn. Guests start dropping like flies and bodies start popping up, there is no cell reception or boat to escape.
Transforming from a game of fun to a game of murder, Rachel must fight to survive. But whom can she trust when the murderer can be any of the other guests? Worst of all, what is the horrific surprises is the idea of the mastermind. The of suspenseful, scary games was Brendan's idea after all. And rumor has it, many years ago the Fear family was itching for fun and decided to go all PURGE on their servants. It has been said that the servants were released in the woods and hunted down, their corpses buried somewhere on the island.
Is Rachel's fate that same as the other lives lost on Fear Island? Is Brendan's meticulously planned night of party games a revamped family tradition? Will be thrown into an unmarked ditch filled to brims with the bones of hunted servants? Will Rachel win the party games when the goal is to be the last one left alive?
Excited to jump into the world of Fear Street, I did not waste anytime read the book -- done in one sitting. The storyline is great -- birthday party in an island mansion gone fatal, a scavenger hunt, mysterious boy with a questionable family history, kissing -- so that drew me in. Party Games is suspenseful, entertaining and keeps you drawn, curious. But while Party Games has its many merits, one thing that put me off from the story is the tone of writing. I still felt like I was reading something in middle grade.
Also, I want to say thanks to St. Martin's Press for a copy of Party Games!
To begin, I have not read anything of R.L. Stine's since I was in middle school. My great-aunt is a librarian who would bring boxes of books and most of those books were from the Goosebumps series. Having said that, when I was at BEA this year and heard that Stine would be signing for his newly minted series for Young Adults, Fear Street, I knew I had to get my hands on a copy. Alas, here we are, bookies!
Rachel Martin is a typical 17-year-old girl who lives in Shadyside where she works as a waitress at the local diner because her money is tight in the family and she wants to help out. Downside though to working in the local diner, she has to wait on her own classmate. As the stars would have it, her luck would change. Insert Brendan Fear. The guy Rachel has had a huge crush on since forever. So, when Brendan comes to the diner and asks Rachel to attend his exclusive birthday party it is an offer she cannot refuse.
Popular, cute, outgoing, Brendan is still a Fear. And being a Fear comes with a dark, deadly family tree.The Fears are a wealthy, eccentric family with a reputation of mischief, murder and good ole fashioned residential ghosts. But Rachel knows Brendan is different. And against her best friend's wishes, Rachel's plan to attend Brendan party does not falter. Not even when she receives an anonymous warning: a dead rat in her bed.
As soon as Rachel and the other guests arrive on Fear Island, there is a tragic accident. The boat captain takes bloody fall into the water. Still, determined not to let the incident ruin the party the group moves on for a night of fun. Brendan has a reputation as a gaming mastermind and his masterpiece is a creepy scavenger hunt in the haunted Fear mansion. The party games are all fun and games until they take a sudden deadly turn. Guests start dropping like flies and bodies start popping up, there is no cell reception or boat to escape.
Transforming from a game of fun to a game of murder, Rachel must fight to survive. But whom can she trust when the murderer can be any of the other guests? Worst of all, what is the horrific surprises is the idea of the mastermind. The of suspenseful, scary games was Brendan's idea after all. And rumor has it, many years ago the Fear family was itching for fun and decided to go all PURGE on their servants. It has been said that the servants were released in the woods and hunted down, their corpses buried somewhere on the island.
Is Rachel's fate that same as the other lives lost on Fear Island? Is Brendan's meticulously planned night of party games a revamped family tradition? Will be thrown into an unmarked ditch filled to brims with the bones of hunted servants? Will Rachel win the party games when the goal is to be the last one left alive?
Excited to jump into the world of Fear Street, I did not waste anytime read the book -- done in one sitting. The storyline is great -- birthday party in an island mansion gone fatal, a scavenger hunt, mysterious boy with a questionable family history, kissing -- so that drew me in. Party Games is suspenseful, entertaining and keeps you drawn, curious. But while Party Games has its many merits, one thing that put me off from the story is the tone of writing. I still felt like I was reading something in middle grade.
Also, I want to say thanks to St. Martin's Press for a copy of Party Games!
*** Check out R.L. Stine's website for more information about him and Party Games: HERE
Happy Reading!
