Harper Teen; 330 pages; Amazon

If you read yesterday's review for Return To Fear Street: You May Now Kill The Bride, then you would know I have been a fan of R.L. Stine's Fear Street series since I was a kid. No, the Fear Street books weren't my first introduction to the world of horror, as I had first watched the slasher classic Halloween when I was seven-years-old. (There will be more on that topic on Oct. 31st.). As you can probably imagine, I was more than thrilled when I heard about the new Return To Fear Street books.

The second book in the Return To Fear Street series, titled The Wrong Girl, was published last month by Harper Teen. The plot centers around Poppy Miller, a teenager who loves to write poetry and dreams of receiving a scholarship to the drama department at Carnegie Mellon. She's pretty much your typical teen who is into all the normal teenage stuff. She has a boyfriend named Keith, who she doesn't really like, but she keeps him around anyway. Ivy Tanner is her BFF, who is currently dating Jeremy Klavan. And then there's Manny, the musical genius of the group, who happens to be allergic to just about everything.

Poppy's life takes a sudden turn into the danger zone after becoming friends with the new Shadyside High student, Jack Saber, who is quickly accepted into the group. Jack is a wild child with a taste for fear. He insists they all start doing dangerous things, such as causing a car accident while they are filming it on their cell phones. Then they would put the video on YouTube, so they can become famous.

Things turn to the dark side after they play a prank on Poppy while they are attempting to rob a store. Poppy swears she will get revenge on them all!

Harper Teen; 346 pages; Amazon

I have always wondered why a movie studio has never attempted to adapt any of the Fear Street books into a horror film series. There's was some talk a year or two ago about a film company making back-to-back Fear Street films, but nothing has ever officially been announced. Until such a day comes about, I will keep rereading the old Fear Street books, as well as the newer entries.

As you can tell by the title of this post, today I'm reviewing Return to Fear Street: You May Now Kill The Bride by R.L. Stine, who is one of my favorite authors. The book was published by Harper Teen during the summer and I kept the book back just so can I review it for near Halloween.

The book takes place during two different timelines - 1923 and 2018. In 1923, the plot centers around sisters Rebecca and Ruth-Ann Fear. Rebecca is the spoiled of the two and always gets what she wants, even if it means betraying her sister. Ruth-Ann isn't someone to mess with. She had stumbled upon a few books of witchcraft that were hidden in their family's home, and she has learned a few tricks, but her powers might not be strong enough to stop the "curse" that has been haunting their family for many generations.

Fast Forward to the present, where we meet two other sisters - Marissa and Harmony Fear. Coincidentally, Marissa is soon to be married at the exact same resort where Rebecca's wedding ending in disaster all those years ago. Just like Ruth-Ann, Harmony has a taste of for witchcraft, which her powers will be put to the test when Marissa is kidnapped. 

Harmony must find a way stop the family's curse forever!

St. Martin/s Press; 281pages; $18.99; Amazon

Today, I'm posting my final "Spring Reads" reviews of 2017, which happens to be a book I read last month, but I'm just now getting around to writing the actual review for it.

What is the name of book?

Well, it's called Give Me A K-I-L-L: A Fear Street Novel by R.L. Stine. I'm sure almost every reader has at least heard of the author's name, as Mr. Stine has over 400 books in print worldwide and his titles have been translated into thirty-five languages. His most popular book series are Goosebumps and Fear Street.

The very first Fear Street young adult novel, The New Girl, was published in 1989. The series was popular with teens during the early 1990s, but the franchise began to fizzle towards the end of the second millennium. R.L. Stine brought back the franchise in 2014 with a revamped "A Fear Street Novel" book series. 

Give Me A K-I-L-L centers on a teenager named Gretchen Page, who has just transferred to Shadyside High School. She was the star of the cheerleader squad at her old school, and she hopes that her talents will win her spot on the Shadyside cheerleader squad. Unfortunately, due to cutbacks of funds, there is only one spot available in the squad.

While the competition to win the open slot should be fun, it actually turns out to be terrifying as somebody ends up dead!

St. Martin's Press; 276 pages; $18.99; Amazon

Once upon a time, there were young adult horror novels that didn't contain glittering vampires, dystopian worlds, or supernatural romances. Yep, back in the middle 1980s throughout the 1990s, there were a slew of YA horror novels, mostly published by Point Horror. Of course one of the most popular series at the time was Fear Street by R.L. Stine (who later created the Goosebumps series). Each novel played out like an 80s' slasher flick with the main character typically being a female teenager who is either being stalked by a killer or has stumbled into a supernatural plot involving the Fear family.

In 2014, R.L. Stine brought back the Fear Street series with Party Games. Now available from St. Martin's Press is the fifth installment in the relaunch series, titled The Dead Boyfriend: A Fear Street Novel.

Set in the fictional Shadyside, Ohio, the novel centers on a teenager named Caitlin, who is thrilled to be dating the new boy in town, Blade. Despite the objections of all her friends, she quickly falls in love with him. Sadly, Blade doesn't feel the same for Caitlin. After a brief public argument, Caitlin kills Blade in self-defense. With no witness in sight, she flees the crime scene, hoping she can get away with the murder.

Unfortunately, this is a horror story, so things don't go quite as easy as Caitlin thought it would be. It seemed Blade had another admirer - Deena Fear, a descendant of Simon Fier (Fear). The girl has never been popular in school, mostly thanks to her Gothic looks and cold-hearted attitude. Her obsession with Blade goes way beyond the grave when she uses a little bit of witchcraft to bring him back from the dead.

St. Martin's Giffin; 288 pages; $18.99; Amazon

During my middle school years in the early 1990s, I always had a Point Horror novel in my backpack. I was addicted to those horror stories and I just couldn't get enough of them. One of my favorite book series back then was called "Fear Street" written by R.L. Stine.

The series centered on a fictional town of Shadyside, Ohio, where the "Fear Street" was located at. Centuries ago, an evil man named Simon Fier (later changed to Fear) killed innocent souls on the land where Fear Street now lies, and the street just happens to be cursed.

Many of the "Fear Street" books are standalone stories; though there are a few spinoffs with continuing storylines, like 99 Fear Street; Cheerleaders; Fear Street Sagas, etc.. R.L. Stine revived the series in October 2014 with Party Games; followed by Don't Stay Up Late, and The Lost Girl.

Now available to purchase in bookstores from St. Martin's Griffin is the newest installment, titled Can You Keep A Secret?: A Fear Street Novel. The novel centers on Emmy (Emma), a high school teen who has suffered from nightmares ever since she was bitten by a dog when she was a little kid. As a teenager, she is into everything a girl her age should be into, like driving around town and hanging out with her new boyfriend, Eddie.

Ever since his step-father was suspended from the police department, Eddie has been trying to provide for his family; which means he takes any job he can get, including working at a pet cemetery.

Late one night, Eddie and Emmy head out to the Fear Street woods to hang out with their friends and drink beer. That's when they stumble upon a bag full of hundred-dollars bills. Eddie instantly believes this is the answer to his family's money problems, but Emmy convinces him to hide the money until they can figure out if someone had stolen it.

With the money hidden safely in the pet cemetery, Eddie, Emmy and their friends are going to wait it out before splitting the money. However, something terrible happens - the money disappears from the hiding spot. Did one of their friend's take it? Or has the original owner come back to claim the money?

Don't Stay Up Late
A Fear Street Novel
by R.L. Stine
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pub. Date: April 7, 2015
ISBN: 9781250051622
Pages: 304
Buy Link: Amazon

Review:
 
It's almost hard to imagine that the Fear Street series by R.L. Stine first started in 1989! I was an eight-year-old back then and I didn't start reading the series until several years later. I believe the first book that I read in the series was Fear Street Cheerleaders: The First Evil.

The Fear Street series was extremely successful with teens throughout the 90s', but the fad disappeared quickly that is until R.L. Stine brought the series back last year with Party Games. The second novel in the new series is arriving in bookstores on April 7th and is titled Don't Stay Up Late! As you can see by the cover, the book has an 80s' horror vibe to it.

Don't Stay Up Late centers on Lisa Brooks, a teen that almost loses everything in one single car crash. After mending her wounds, she returns to Shadyside High and reunites with her boyfriend Nate and her friends Saralynn and Isaac. While the guys plan on helping Saralynn make a horror movie for her film project for school, Lisa searches for an after-school job to help her mother pay the bills.

Thanks to her shrink, Dr. Shein, Lisa gets a job babysitting Brenda Hart's eight-year-old son, Harry. There's only one rule to follow, Harry is not allowed to stay up late. Of course, Lisa thinks absolutely nothing about this rule, that is until she sees a strange green creature in the Hart's house. Of course everyone, including her shrink thinks she's crazy, but when a few murders occur, Lisa is convinced that there's a creature on the loose on Fear Street.

Silent Night 2  takes place a year later after the events of the first novel, and Reva Dalby has not changed a bit. She is once again working at her father’s department store, and once again being rude the customers.

Late one night, Mr. Dalby receives a phone call that his daughter has been kidnapped, but there is one little problem for the kidnappers - Reva was at home. The kidnappers had kidnapped her cousin, Pam. The kidnappers let Pam go.