Spooktober

A Beginners Guide To Thrillers & Horrors

- Bunny Leave a comment

Hi Friends,
This year, I have gotten into reading thriller books. I don’t know why I have never been interested in them before, since I am a fan of horror movies. It could be the fact that the horror/thriller genre is mainly geared more towards adult books.

If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time, than you know I generally only read young adult and some middle-grade books. This isn’t to say I won’t pick up an adult horror, but they aren’t my first reading choice. Still, I thought I’d share my tips for getting into this widely popular book genre. Keep in mind this is from a newbie’s perspective.

It might be tempting to read something along the lines of ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ by Alvin Schwartz, but that book might freaky you out enough to not give the genre a chance. I would suggest reading an easier thriller, since you are simply dipping your toes in this genre pool. I recommend starting with something like Fear Street: The Beginning by R.L. Stine or They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman.

‘It’ by Stephen King maybe the ultimate scary book, I mean what Stephen King novel isn’t creepy. However, many of King’s novels are huge commitments. Give yourself sometime to work up to the longer books and keep your first couple of reads short. A lot of Neil Gaiman and Gillian Flynn books are under 400 pages. Also, they aren’t going to keep you awake all night.

This tip doesn’t only apply to thriller/horror newbies in my opinion, but to all readers. Don’t just read one genre. Once you get the urge to read thrillers, you may not want to take a break from them. However, that could lead to a reading burnout. Try spacing out your thriller reads, and including other genres, too. Perhaps only reading one thriller a month might be a good idea. It is always nice to have a contemporary and fantasy book on your TBR. If you still want something in the paranormal realm (with, of course, a romance element) you could always go for the ‘Twilight’ books. Yep, I did just recommend them.

So those are my tips for a getting into this ever-growing genre. I know there aren’t a lot of tips, but I think the are main ones that are important to keep in mind. Leave any tips you might have in the comments below, and don’t forget to like and share this post! Finally, if you’d be so kind as to follow my blog as well, it really does help!

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

Last Minute Bookish Halloween Costumes

- Bunny 1 Comment

Hi Friends,
I know that choosing the perfect Halloween costume can be tough, and sometimes we wait until the last minute to make a decision. As a book lover, I thought it would be fun to share some bookish costumes that you can prepare at the last minute.


She is a classic book character that has a knack for solving mysteries. Her look is fairly simple to create, though you might not have all these pieces in your closet. Also, The CW’s Nancy Drew series has made the character surge in popularity.


This would be such a fun costume since you can go all out with different patterns. There are so many versions of the character, so there are a lot of ways to go about this costume. I decided to mix all the Mad Hatters from different movies to create this look. A lot of the items are easy to find, but the most important aspect is the hat, of course. What is a mad hatter without a hat?


If you are a book lover, like myself, why not go as a reader. This is certainly the most chill and easiest costume to put together. Honestly, I think that this one might be my favorite costume idea. All you have to do is wear your most comfy attire or whatever you like to read in. It is that effortless. Add some books to help complete your look. For books, I would pick horror and thriller novels since it is Halloween. The Starbucks cup is optional, but I find most readers love a good cup of coffee or tea.

Let me know if you liked these costume ideas, and tell me in the comments what you’re dressing up as this Halloween. Please like and share this post since it helps out my blog. Don’t forget to give the blog a follow as well.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder // Book Review

- Bunny 2 Comments

About The Book
The case is closed. Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by Sal Singh. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But having grown up in the same small town that was consumed by the murder, Pippa Fitz-Amobi isn’t so sure. When she chooses the case as the topic for her final year project, she starts to uncover secrets that someone in town desperately wants to stay hidden. And if the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?
Buy The Book: https://amzn.to/3XGxtnJ

My Rating

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder is the first book in a YA mystery, thriller trilogy. These books are highly popular and seen as great introductory books to the YA thriller genre. In this book, we follow Pippa, a high-school senior, working on her capstone project. Her topic is a murder that happened five years prior. The case went cold when the prime suspect killed themselves. Pippa believes the wrong person was accused of the murder, and wants to uncover the truth.

I can completely see why other readers would suggest the book to thriller newbies, or even people that don’t particularly fancy the horror and thriller genre. It read more like a contemporary than a traditional thriller, which was a nice. Especially for someone, like myself, that primarily read YA contemporaries. However, if you are looking for a dark, suspense-filled thriller than this probably isn’t the book for you. I found the plot to be fairly tame and not too nail-biting.

Pippa was a solid enough female-lead with some stereotypical aspects. She boarders the ‘smart girl’ and ‘I’m not like other girls’ personality cliches. The other characters weren’t very prominent in the story, so I am in different to them. I don’t love them or hate them.

“I’m not sure I’m the good girl I once thought I was . I’ve lost her along the way”

There were times when this book gave me ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ vibes. I can’t explain why, because they aren’t similar at all. The only comparison I can come up with is that both have twists when it comes to the killer. You think that you know who the murderer is, but at the last minute you realize you were completely wrong.

Overall, I don’t have a lot of cons, but I did find there to be one too many suspects. Perhaps the author wanted to keep us reader on their toes, since you don’t know who to trust. But I found it hard to keep track of all the suspects. Still, it did keep me guessing, which kept me interested. Everyone was suspicious making the case not so cut and dry.

I don’t know about you, but I enjoy quick reads, especially when it comes to the thriller genre. I think mysteries, horrors and thrillers should have fast-paced stories. A thriller should be engaging with a lot of story development, and rarely any pointless chapters. Although, this mystery does take while to piece together, their wasn’t much downtime within the story.

I will be continuing on with the series, and excited to see what Pippa tackles next. If you want a list of all the trigger warnings that this book contains please visit Book Trigger Warning. Feel free to comment on your thoughts below. Share, like and follow so you can show your support for my blog.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

 

If You Like This // Halloween Edition

- Bunny 2 Comments

Hi Friends,
I wanted to do an ‘If You Like This…’ post, since I’m a fan of them myself. In this post, I recommend three spooky movies for you to watch if you’re a fan of three different (also spooky) books. I hope that made some sort of sense.

‘The Final Girls Support Group’ and ‘Final Destination’
This comparison might seem a bit odd, but it works, in a weird way. In ‘The Final Girls Support Group’ by Grady Hendrix, the last girls standing from mass murders start getting targeted once again. It seems like death has come back to get them.

Final Destination has that same aspect of death coming back around. A bunch of high school students avoid a plane crash, but soon enough they each start dying in the order they were sitting on the plane. They might not be a perfect match, but there is a similar theme between them.

‘These Witches Don’t Burn’ and ‘The Wicker Man’
I have to admit, I got some help from my husband with this one. However, I can see the comparison between the two. In ‘These Witches Don’t Burn’ by Isabel Sterling, two exes (who happen to belong to the same witch coven) come face to face with someone that is out to destroy them and their lives.

‘The Wicker Man’ follows Edward, who is drawn by his ex-fiancee to an all-female society of Neo-pagans. Unknown to Edward, he is in danger of being burned alive. These two don’t follow the same story-line, but both share a mystery element and other plot points.

‘Living Dead Girl’ and ‘The Quiet’
I think the main reason I put these two together was that they are both hard to take in. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott follows a 15-year-old girl who was kidnapped by a sexual predator at the age of ten. She refers to herself as the living dead girl, and anxiously waits for the day when her abuser finally kills her.

In ‘The Quiet’, teenage Dot is sent to live with her godparents, Paul and Olivia, after her father dies. She learns that Paul has been having a sexual relationship with his teenage daughter, Nina. Dot learns that Nina hates that her father takes advantage of her and plans to kill him. The book and movie are both psychological thrillers that have a sexual abuse theme. Also, they both chill my bones to this day.

I hope that you have somewhat understood why I paired these books and movies together. Let me know if you would like me to do more of these kinds of posts. Give this post a like and share, and please follow to show your support!

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

One Of Us Is Next // Book Review

- Bunny Leave a comment

Title: One Of Us Is Next
Author: Karen M. McManus
Published: 2020
Genre: Young Adult/Thriller
Rating:Full, star, bookmark, favorite, favourite, like, rating icon - Download on IconfinderFull, star, bookmark, favorite, favourite, like, rating icon - Download on IconfinderFull, star, bookmark, favorite, favourite, like, rating icon - Download on IconfinderFull, star, bookmark, favorite, favourite, like, rating icon - Download on Iconfinder

Synopsis
Come on, Bayview, you know you’ve missed this. A ton of copycat gossip apps have popped up since Simon died, but in the year since the Bayview four were cleared of his shocking death, no one’s been able to fill the gossip void quite like he could. The problem is no one has the facts. Until now. This time it’s not an app, though—it’s a game. Truth or Dare.

This is the companion novel to ‘One Of Us Is Lying’, which I have a review up for as well. In this book, we are following a new group of teens, one of whom is Maeve Rojas (Bronwyn’s sister, that we saw in book one), as well as appearances from characters in the previous book. A few characters had already been introduced in ‘One Of Us Is Lying’, which was a nice bonus. The plot walked the line between mystery and thriller. We follow this group of teens as they deal with a dangerous game of Truth and Dare. It was engaging, but then again I find that many Karen M. McManus books are (at least to me).

I enjoyed each character, and not one perspective bored me. There were a few parts that felt like unnecessary filler, and didn’t add anything to the story. However, it wasn’t common enough to be a problem for me. Overall, the story unfolded at a nice pace. I was happy to see that there wasn’t a best friends to lovers story in play. I am not opposed to that all, but it was nice to see the author go a different, less cliche route.

One of my favorite characters was Phoebe. She had a lot going on, and made some stupid choices, but was unapologetically herself. She didn’t hide her faults, and tried her best to own up to her mistakes throughout the book. Maeve was a solid character, and mini Nancy Drew, which is always fun to read about. Knox (Maeve’s best friend/ex-boyfriend) was the nice guy, but out of all of them, he was the least fleshed out. I didn’t feel like I got a true sense of his personality.

“I don’t understand why the world insists on stuffing kids into boxes we never asked for, and then gets mad when we won’t stay there.”

There was a bit of romance in this book, and I adored it. Maeve and Luis had great chemistry, and it was nice to watch their relationship unfold. But the pairing that I shipped most of all was Phoebe and Knox. They had some great moments together, so I could see them having real couple potential. Also, I liked that they were different, but grew closer as the book went on.

I am pretty bad at mysteries, but I did have my suspicions on where the plot was going. And, while I was sort of right, the ending shocked me. It was such a good twist, and the last chapter was amazing. I truly wanted to know what was going to happen next. I think a good book keeps you wanting more, which is exactly what Karen M. McManus achieved with ‘One Of Us Is Next’.

I would say that if you are in between fantasy books, you should give this one a read. It’s a good novel to pick up when you need a break from reading big, plot-heavy books. It’s an easy one to follow, and a fairly quick read. Don’t worry if thriller isn’t your preferred genre, it leans more towards the mystery side.

If you liked this review, then give this post a like and a share. Comment down below if you read this book, and your thoughts on it. Also, following the blog helps keep me going, so show your support!

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

The Halloween Book Tag

- Bunny Leave a comment

Hi Friends,
In honor of the spooky season, and Spooktober Day 2, I wanted to do a Halloween-inspired book tag. I found the ‘Halloween Book Tag’ which seemed like a perfect fit. There are only a few questions, but it was a good tag to get me in the Halloween mood, since it is getting closer.

1) Carving pumpkins- what book would you carve up and light on fire?
This was a hard one, since I don’t normally hate a ton of books. But one that comes to mind was There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins. I talked about this in my adaptions post, but I really didn’t care for this book. It probably isn’t my least favorite book, yet I thought it would be a good pick being that it’s a YA horror.

2) Trick or treat- what character is a treat, what character is a trick?
I like Jacob a lot from the ‘Cassidy Blake’ series. I think her would be a entertaining best friends and not just because he’s a ghost. As for the trick, I would go with Leda from ‘The Thousandth Floor’ she’s kind of a loose cannon and unpredictable.

3) Candy corn- what book is always sweet?
P.S. I Like You by Kasie West! This book make me happy. It is a lighthearted enemies-to-lovers contemporary story that was done perfectly. Kasie West is a queen when it comes to YA contemporaries. I really need to reread it soon.

4) Ghosts- what character would you love to visit you as a ghost?
I don’t want any of my favorite characters to die, but I’m going to say Bet from ‘Little Women.’ This might be a cop-out since she passes away in the book, but she’s so sweet and kind. I think she’d be excellent company even in ghost form.

5) Dressing up in costume- what character would you want to be for a day?
Probably, Bonnie McCullough from ‘The Vampire Diaries’, yep, it was a book series first. Bonnie is a psychic and witch, which is pretty awesome. Also, who doesn’t want to be around hotties like Damon and Stefan.

6) Wizards and witches- what is your favorite Harry Potter moment?
I don’t support J. K. Rowling in any shape of form, but I will go ahead and answer the question. I have only read the first two books, but my favorite moment would have to be in ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ when professor Lockhart lost his memory. That whole scene was funny.

7) Blood and gore- what book was so creepy that you had to take a break from it for awhile?
‘The Project’ by Courtney Summers. I think I mentioned before, or in my review, that this book was haunting. It isn’t a horror book by any means, but it creeped me out.

There you have the ‘Halloween Book Tag’! I tag all of my fellow book lovers to do this tag. If you do it please let me know in the comments below. Before you go share and like this post, and give the blog a follow.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny

Scarecrow // Halloween Tutorial

- Bunny Leave a comment

Hi Friends,
Happy first day of Spooktober! I am excited to not only be doing the ’13 Days Of Spooktober’ but also share another Halloween makeup tutorial with you all. This is a simple and cute scarecrow look. However, I feel like I should be singing ‘If I Only Had A Brain.’

Products Used

L.A. Colors Truly Matte Foundation

L.A. Colors Translucent Setting Powder

Maybelline The Matte Bar Eyeshadow Palette

Revolution X Friends ‘I’ll Be There For You’ Eyeshadow Palette

Wet n’ Wild MegaLiner Liquid Eyeliner

Rimmel Ultimate Kohl Kajal Eyeliner (Black)

Mascara, Blackest Blackest

Wet n’ Wild Fantasy Makers ‘Smokey’ Paint Palette (Only used the black for outlining)

Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers ‘Pastels’ Paint Palette (Mixed both the blues to fill in the triangle)

Revolution X Friends ‘We Were On A Break’ Eyeshadow Palette (Used the bright orange shadow on nose and cheeks)

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick The Luscious Mattes (Shameless)

If you decide to do this look for Halloween or fun please let me know below. You can also share it with me on Twitter. Follow the blog to get notified about all my Spooktober post.

Until The Next Chapter,
Bunny