Reading The Riot Act: stephanie perkins

Sunday, 18 February 2018

There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

Makani Young thought she'd left her dark past behind her in Hawaii, settling in with her grandmother in landlocked Nebraska. She's found new friends and has even started to fall for mysterious outsider Ollie Larsson. But her past isn't far behind.

Then, one by one, the students of Osborne Hugh begin to die in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasingly grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and her feelings for Ollie intensify, Makani is forced to confront her own dark secrets.

Reading the Riot Act

There's someone inside your house by Stephanie Perkins
289 Pages

We all remember Stephanie Perkins of Anna and the French Kiss. It feels as though it has been a million years since we last heard from her but finally, just in time for Halloween, she released a new horror novel for us to enjoy.

Now, I am not a horror fan. I have an overactive imagination and deep, deep paranoia that really just does not suit well to fans of the horror genre. Thankfully, this book serves as almost a precursor to the horror genre. I mean there are murders, and gore like any self=respecting horror book. But this is entry level horror for the wimps out there like me.

We follow Makani, who in horror tradition has just moved to town. There is all this secrecy in regards to her past. Why did she move suddenly? Why won't she talk about what happened there? Then, enter the murders. Students are slaughtered left right and centre. Perkins has set up a hell mystery.

The murderer seems to be coming only for Makani, they are after her for some reason. At this point, I thought I had the book figured. I was expecting a Johnny Depp, The Secret Garden sort of plot line. TWIST MAKANI IS THE MURDERER! But that didn't happen.

We get side-tracked by this love story. And I'm into it, the guy is hot and I'm rooting for my Hawaiian babe to get a bit of action. Then, out of nowhere, they figure out who the murderer is, and I can't even tell you - because he's such a small character. Here is where everything begins to fall apart.

It's not so much a shock, as a....who? Who the hell is that guy? Oh, that's right he was in the peripheral at the beginning and seems to have no actual motive. The murders and Makani's shady past have no connection whatsoever. The plot begins to reek of broken promises.

Let me make this clear...there is nothing wrong with subverting expectation. But this book didn't seem to be doing it for any reason. It read more like Perkins realised the murderer was easy to guess - so bullsh**ted. I can see her now, furiously typing on a keyboard yelling 'FUCK IT!' at the top of her lungs.

Girl. I feel you - but there is such a thing as reader expectations.
Follow the genre tropes or subvert it, but don't do both.

You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads and Facebook. Until then...Happy Reading.

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins.

Louise Wilkes 02:54:00 0

Warning: Spoilers! (duh.)

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year at the School of America in Paris. And after a chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

I want to start off with a quick background. I loved Anna and the French Kiss, how could I not, all the characters were delightful. However, Lola and the Boy next door, was not for me honestly I hated Lola I thought she was nasty and selfish and too much of a caricature. Therefore I was so so about reading Isla. But following this months theme, I was very wrong.

Isla is definitely my favourite ( and not just because my boyfriend is called Josh, although that does help) I felt for her, I couldn't fully emphasise with Anna's situation and I hated Lola so there was no one I fully related or attached too, and now there's Isla. She different and equally shy as she is loud. Not as innocent as people assume and yet still sweet. I thought she was wonderful, tough but not hardened, and she really disliked herself. Which most unfortunate people can understand.

The thing I like about these books is that the cast is very limited, it involves cameos from the other books and obviously there are minor characters but they aren't what you'd say focusing on subplots too much. The story is about them and it proceeds as such. It makes sense it takes away all the dribble we have to read through to get back to the main plot and it gets rid of it.

Now, I'm not a big romance fan. I didn't like Twilight, Nicholas Sparks makes me murderous, but this book is just gushy, girly sweetness...and I loved it. It was just too darn cute. Even my hardened outer candy shell melted to the squishy middle reading it. Sometimes you just want to read something cute and happy that will stay with you afterwards for the happiness, not because it taught you something or it was insightful or tragic, but just because it was a sudden ray of sunshine breaking through storm clouds and when it did, it was nice.

This book was a lot different to it's counterparts, the others have a similar structure ending with the couple getting together, this book starts with them together and then goes from there which I really liked. I don't think enough books talk about what happens during the relationship...time apart, jealousy, arguments. It's all just kind of fluffed over with a Happily Ever After (Yeah, I really did that.)

I don't want to talk specifically about the plot because it's kinds of erratic, lots happens and it's a whirlwind of wonder, romance, hilarity and misery. It was just a delight, get it down your neck!

Happy Reading.