Say Her Name

My favourite reads of 2016

AlyssaLeave a comment

Hello! Alyssa here.  As fictionforteens.com enters its 3rd year I thought I’d look back through by book reviews from the past year and pick out my favourites for you. Please click on the title of each book to see the full review.

Say her name, Juno Dawson 

say hey name

Say her name is based around the legend of Bloody Mary, but with a twist. A group of teenagers try to summon the ghost of Bloody Mary, unaware of the consequences. The tension in the book grew as the story went on, making it very gripping. The plot twists were completely unpredictable as the reason behind the events in the book were slowly revealed.

Chaos Walking trilogy:

The Knife of Never Letting Go

The Ask and the Answer

Monsters of Men

By Patrick Ness

the knife of never letting go

After reading other books by Patrick Ness and really enjoying them, I was eager to read the Chaos Walking trilogy. I really like the writing style and the vivid characters which really came to life, especially Todd, the protagonist of the trilogy. I saw A Monster Calls In the cinema last week and absolutely loved it, so I’ve bought the book and I will review it soon. 

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare 

city-of-bones

City of Bones is the story of Clary Fray who finds out that she is a Shadowhunter, half-angel demon slayers tasked with keeping the human world safe. Clary and her friends encounter vampires, warlocks and werewolves in this action-packed fantasy novel. I’ve already begun reading the second book, City of Ashes which I’m enjoying so far.

Are there any books you’ve enjoyed recently? Please let me know in the comments!

Say Her Name by Juno Dawson – Book Review

Alyssa2 Comments

say hey name

One night, a group of friends decides to try and summon the ghost of Bloody Mary, just for a laugh. Anyway, what’s the worst that could happen? With a camera ready, they chant Bloody Mary five times into their bathroom mirror. Strange things begin to happen when one of the friends, Bobbie, discovers a message in the mirror – “five days,” it says. As they try to unravel the mystery, they learn that while many have tried to say her name for a dare, all Mary wants is the world to know the truth…

Say Her Name is based on a version of the legend of Bloody Mary. Piece by piece, the story is uncovered and it is not until the very end that there is an explanation of some of the scary goings-on in the book.

Even then, there are some things that are left open for you to interpret yourself. It was so gripping that I didn’t want to put it down over the two days during which  I read it. The dialogue between the teenagers was so realistic that it really made the characters come to life and made it even more believable.

The book was scary in parts, mainly because as the story went on, there were many plot twists and details added that meant that you couldn’t predict how the story would work as the story progressed.

Overall, I loved this book – when I thought it couldn’t get any scarier, I really struggled to construct any theories about what was really going on. There was always something around the corner that would make me want to read on!