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Teen SRC 2021 – As Dead As It Gets by Katie Alender

Written by Olivia X
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As Dead as it Gets: Alender, Katie: 8601200550580: Books - Amazon.ca

As Dead As It Gets, a mystery/horror book by Katie Alender, is the third book in the Bad Girls Don’t Die series. This is going to be a relatively short review, just because I’ve already written reviews about the first few books which use very similar writing styles, tones, plot lines, etc.

Again, I thought this was a pretty blood-chilling and relatively thrilling read. I won’t go into detail or be too repetitive about that, though, because there were also other things I liked which I haven’t talked about before. For instance, the title. I mean, come on, you’re going to have to be one bland soul if you see a book titled As Dead As It Gets and have the audacity to walk away without picking it up. 8/10 for this novel, again I found it to be a nice read but not too surprising.

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Teen SRC 2021 – From Bad to Cursed by Katie Alender

Written by Olivia X
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From Bad to Cursed (Bad Girls Don't Die, #2) by Katie Alender

From Bad to Cursed, a teen horror novel by Katie Alender, was another one of those books that I just happened to pick up while browsing through the shelves at a library. I’ve mentioned before that my FAVOURITE kind of book is the “fantasy, horror, and psychological thriller mix that keeps you awake past midnight thinking about the plot” type, and this novel fits the above criteria perfectly.

I think it was a great book, or at least the horror aspects of it were pretty amazing. This includes the plot, villains motives, and pacing, which I thought were on pretty on-point. The characters? Wasn’t necessarily so great.

First of all, what is with the sudden mood changes? One chapter you’re reading about Alexis snuggling against Carter watching Twilight Zone, while the next provides you with a detailed description of how she’s in the bathtub vomiting up some evil poltergeist that just possessed her to kill her family. The thing is, the author doesn’t really introduce these things beforehand, so you’ll often find yourself flipping back a few chapters to see if you missed anything. The characters weren’t very realistic and just rather flat, boring, and predictable. They basically did everything that would help the plot move along/make sense, with no sense of personality whatsoever.

I’d recommend this book, but only if you’re into horror/thrillers like I am. Otherwise, there’s really not much else in this novel that’s entertaining nor worth reading. Again, the horror aspects were intense and the plot was well-developed, making it just interesting enough to read. I think a solid 8/10 is reasonable for me!

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Teen SRC 2021 – We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Written by Olivia X
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We Were Liars – a psychological thriller by E. Lockhart – is about seventeen-year old Candence and how she is struggling to recover from her injury. Something happened two years ago, during her fifteenth summer, that left her with constant migraines and memory loss. Candence doesn’t remember what happened during her injury, and no one seems to want to talk about it, so it’s up to her to figure it out herself.

Personally, I rather enjoyed Lockhart’s writing style. I know there’s a lot of readers out there who find it a little boring, but I think if you stop to think about some of the quotes, there’s more to it than just the story. That’s why I think this novel is like the classic example of “showing, not telling” the reader, because the author put so many layers to the story and in-depth descriptions.

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Teen SRC 2021 – Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Written by Angela Y
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Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky is a striking and sharp analysis/retrospective of one man’s remorse and mental conflict regarding the murder of his pawnbroker. Even though it might seem to only concern itself with the crime committed by the protagonist, the novel seeks to make insightful and arguable opinions regarding the very concept of moral superiority among the human psyche.

   Rodion Raskolnikov is a cynical yet intelligent former student who holds a strong belief that those who are “exceptional” within society are not held to the same moral constraints as the rest of the populous, in which people with Napoleonic personalities are given a moral right to be above the law, as they are intersected in more utilitarian goals relating to the idea of “necessary evil” to bring about a higher level of peace and stability. To test his radical theory, Raskolnikov murders his unscrupulous pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, and by lack of foresight, Lizaveta Ivanovna, the pawnbroker’s submissive sister. The rest of the novel is dedicated to gradually expand Raskolnikov’s internal struggle to comprehend the weight of his actions, which leads him on a path of redemption as the police slowly come to realize the truth behind the murders as Raskolnikov’s guilty conscience causes him to undergo a fundamental shift in his beliefs and nihilistic worldview.

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