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mehsi's review
3.0
New girl in town gets secret admirer, but does that guy have the right intentions or not?
So, me and the story got reunited again. Long time ago I read a ton of these Point Horror books in Dutch, including this one. I bumped against this one again, and thought it would be nice to read it again and see if I liked it as much as I did back then. Mm. Yes and no. It was still good, still creepy at points, but also very easy to figure out, the MC was just dumb as hell, and who the hell leaves their 16/17 year old alone in a new place for so long?
Jenny is the new girl in this tiny town, I should say tiny tiny tiny tiny town. She lives in a gorgeous house, far far away from things. Yes, her new friend lives down the road, but that road is apparently (going by the descriptions) pretty long. The first day she meets someone (Sally) and so gets to join the annual scavenger hunt but things happen there that will stay with her for much longer. She thought she would have a nice time, but from that moment things go wonky.
Jenny should really just have shut up her mouth that she heard something when she was on the cliffs. But then we wouldn't have had a story. :P
There were tons of spooky and scary parts that had me on the edge of my bed (sick and mostly in my bed these past days). When Jenn's dog went bonkers (which just gave me goosebumps, it is the middle of the night and the dog is whining and scratching at one of the doors like a mad man), when she found those presents (the good and the bad presents both), when all sorts of other things happened that escalated as the story continued.. Yes, despite me rolling my eyes at times because of how cliché it all was, it was still very exciting to read. It has been years since I last read this one, so I had no clue how it would end. Would she survive? Would someone save her? Would Diana live?
As I said in the first part, I can imagine you can leave a 16/17 year old alone in a home for 2 or so days, but this long? And in a new place? With no real connections if something goes wrong. Oh and you just let her deal with some painters (who you don't know). It just felt weird and off. Convenient plot device so that all the events could take place. Plus, conveniently, Jenny just stays at home throughout everything. Barricading her home with cans of food and forks. :P She did try to get her new friend to stay over, but her new friend is just very suspicious and seems to have plans all day and all night. But I still wish she would have talked to her parents. Sure, they seemed to be a bit too busy to care about their daughter, but I am sure one of them could have come home if she had at least told them about her worries. About the gifts.
The admirer? Gee, it was just so obvious what kind of guy that was and what his plans were. But I had a laugh that Jenny truly thought he was some kind of sexy dude who wanted to give her attention. Sorry, but this guy just screamed stranger danger to me. I guess no matter the time kids make stupid mistakes like this. These days it is people pretending to be good people on the internet, back then you just left presents and messages. And if you are lucky and got a dumb person, they will meet up with you. *sighs*
The ending was pretty good, though also a bit anticlimatic. I kept waiting for something else to happen, but then the book was over and we got to the author's note.
But all in all, even with a dumb MC who annoyed me at times, a suspicious best friend, cliché stuff, I still had fun reading this one. There were plenty of exciting and scary parts, and I had fun figuring out who the baddie was in the story (so many red herrings).
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
So, me and the story got reunited again. Long time ago I read a ton of these Point Horror books in Dutch, including this one. I bumped against this one again, and thought it would be nice to read it again and see if I liked it as much as I did back then. Mm. Yes and no. It was still good, still creepy at points, but also very easy to figure out, the MC was just dumb as hell, and who the hell leaves their 16/17 year old alone in a new place for so long?
Jenny is the new girl in this tiny town, I should say tiny tiny tiny tiny town. She lives in a gorgeous house, far far away from things. Yes, her new friend lives down the road, but that road is apparently (going by the descriptions) pretty long. The first day she meets someone (Sally) and so gets to join the annual scavenger hunt but things happen there that will stay with her for much longer. She thought she would have a nice time, but from that moment things go wonky.
Jenny should really just have shut up her mouth that she heard something when she was on the cliffs. But then we wouldn't have had a story. :P
There were tons of spooky and scary parts that had me on the edge of my bed (sick and mostly in my bed these past days). When Jenn's dog went bonkers (which just gave me goosebumps, it is the middle of the night and the dog is whining and scratching at one of the doors like a mad man), when she found those presents (the good and the bad presents both), when all sorts of other things happened that escalated as the story continued.. Yes, despite me rolling my eyes at times because of how cliché it all was, it was still very exciting to read. It has been years since I last read this one, so I had no clue how it would end. Would she survive? Would someone save her? Would Diana live?
As I said in the first part, I can imagine you can leave a 16/17 year old alone in a home for 2 or so days, but this long? And in a new place? With no real connections if something goes wrong. Oh and you just let her deal with some painters (who you don't know). It just felt weird and off. Convenient plot device so that all the events could take place. Plus, conveniently, Jenny just stays at home throughout everything. Barricading her home with cans of food and forks. :P She did try to get her new friend to stay over, but her new friend is just very suspicious and seems to have plans all day and all night. But I still wish she would have talked to her parents. Sure, they seemed to be a bit too busy to care about their daughter, but I am sure one of them could have come home if she had at least told them about her worries. About the gifts.
The admirer? Gee, it was just so obvious what kind of guy that was and what his plans were. But I had a laugh that Jenny truly thought he was some kind of sexy dude who wanted to give her attention. Sorry, but this guy just screamed stranger danger to me. I guess no matter the time kids make stupid mistakes like this. These days it is people pretending to be good people on the internet, back then you just left presents and messages. And if you are lucky and got a dumb person, they will meet up with you. *sighs*
The ending was pretty good, though also a bit anticlimatic. I kept waiting for something else to happen, but then the book was over and we got to the author's note.
But all in all, even with a dumb MC who annoyed me at times, a suspicious best friend, cliché stuff, I still had fun reading this one. There were plenty of exciting and scary parts, and I had fun figuring out who the baddie was in the story (so many red herrings).
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
sangd's review against another edition
3.0
This is the first Carol Ellis's novel I've read. I enjoyed reading this one despite the fact that I guessed the ending halfway through the novel. I liked the writing style. While I found Jenny totally ridiculous, I recognized myself in her irrational fears throughout the novel.
Il s'agit du premier roman de Carol Ellis que je lis. J'ai apprécié la lecture de celui-ci malgré le fait que j'ai deviné la fin à la moitié du roman. J'ai bien aimé le style d'écriture. Tout en trouvant Jenny totalement ridicule je me suis reconnue dans les peurs irrationnelles de Jenny au courant du roman.
Il s'agit du premier roman de Carol Ellis que je lis. J'ai apprécié la lecture de celui-ci malgré le fait que j'ai deviné la fin à la moitié du roman. J'ai bien aimé le style d'écriture. Tout en trouvant Jenny totalement ridicule je me suis reconnue dans les peurs irrationnelles de Jenny au courant du roman.
book_worm23's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
madeyesjojo's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
bookishwyvern07's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
wyrmbergmalcolm's review
3.0
This is my second foray in the realm of Point Horror. The first innings, Trick or Treat really impressed me. This one, not so much. Aside from the extremely tropey parents who having just moved into a new house abandon their 16 year old daughter, Jenny, for a few days, Jenny was a walking trop factory. Insta-love, ditsy and gullible she simply reacts to things at the most basic level. As the story unfolds, which admittedly did have a reasonable level of whodunit to keep me guessing she goes on an rather uncharacteristic and stupid endeavour where the big reveal happens. The twist was not totally surprising but the motive was just ridiculous.
The story also ended with a couple of unresolved issues regarding the pervert painters and Sally's irritating aunt. Glad I didn't read this on first.
The story also ended with a couple of unresolved issues regarding the pervert painters and Sally's irritating aunt. Glad I didn't read this on first.
stagasaurus's review against another edition
3.0
Reminds me of: Mother's Helper
"It was probably just a practical joke" moment: Rattlesnake in a box. This is actually a genius prank gift.
"You probably just imagined it" moment: Rocks falling, screams, shadows, cranking the window down for the dog.
Innocent victims?: Let's take a minute to talk about Peaches. What kind of teen horror writer writes a horrible attempted dog murder and then doesn't show us a happy dog at the end? I was more upset about Peaches than anything. Oh and I might have felt sorry for Jenny until she went up on the rimrocks to meet her "admirer". Left her brain in the mini-mart.
How blindingly obvious?:I didn't guess who it was - I was hoping it was the painter's lad. But once you know the plot and Dean's motive, it's actually just a case of Ferris Bueller Gone Bad.
Plot holes / Unfinished plot lines: Why was Sally so moody? Why does the cover show Jenny looking through curtains when the book repeatedly says her house has no curtains?!
Inappropriate happy ending: I would have liked to have seen Peaches eat a big bowl of steak or something. But we only care about new boyfriends apparently.
"It was probably just a practical joke" moment: Rattlesnake in a box. This is actually a genius prank gift.
"You probably just imagined it" moment: Rocks falling, screams, shadows, cranking the window down for the dog.
Innocent victims?: Let's take a minute to talk about Peaches. What kind of teen horror writer writes a horrible attempted dog murder and then doesn't show us a happy dog at the end? I was more upset about Peaches than anything. Oh and I might have felt sorry for Jenny until she went up on the rimrocks to meet her "admirer". Left her brain in the mini-mart.
How blindingly obvious?:I didn't guess who it was - I was hoping it was the painter's lad. But once you know the plot and Dean's motive, it's actually just a case of Ferris Bueller Gone Bad.
Plot holes / Unfinished plot lines: Why was Sally so moody? Why does the cover show Jenny looking through curtains when the book repeatedly says her house has no curtains?!
Inappropriate happy ending: I would have liked to have seen Peaches eat a big bowl of steak or something. But we only care about new boyfriends apparently.
liamunderwood's review against another edition
3.5
I'm currently alternating between a Goosebumps book and a Point Horror book, and I must confess that now, after reading two of each, I'm much preferring the Point Horror books. Which is surprising to me, as I have very vivid memories of events that occur in the Goosebumps books, and practically zero memories of what happens in the Point Horror books. I know I definitely used to own My Secret Admirer, but I have no memory of actually ever reading it. Maybe I didn't? I don't know.
Anyway, the most important and shocking thing about this book is how much the author, Carol Ellis, hates Peaches, the dog. Poor Peaches is relentlessly fat shamed throughout this book, and let me tell you something - Peaches is the best. In all honesty, the treatment of Peaches is only so obvious because so little else actually happens in this book. Compared to The Lifeguard, by Richie Tankersley Cusick, which I described as 'basically an '80s slasher movie in book form' (and had a lot of fun reading), the pace here is way slower and events of note are remarkably infrequent. However, that said, I did still enjoy reading My Secret Admirer and I did find it to be better written than The Lifeguard.
I'm still not particularly wise to the mystery elements, so once again I didn't guess who did it. I don't know if that's a comment on the book being well crafted with good red herrings, or, (more likely) a comment on my inability to guess who did it. Thankfully most of the frustrating tropes in The Lifeguard are absent here. So, to summarise: Carol Ellis hates Peaches and needs everyone to know how fat the poor dog is; My Secret Admirer is, in several ways (but mostly the writing), better than The Lifeguard; but I still found The Lifeguard to be a more enjoyable book overall. Both have been an absolute joy to read though and I'm so excited to see what the next Point Horror book brings.
3.5/5
Point Horror Ranked
1) My Secret Admirer - 3.5/5
2) The Lifeguard - 3.5/5
Anyway, the most important and shocking thing about this book is how much the author, Carol Ellis, hates Peaches, the dog. Poor Peaches is relentlessly fat shamed throughout this book, and let me tell you something - Peaches is the best. In all honesty, the treatment of Peaches is only so obvious because so little else actually happens in this book. Compared to The Lifeguard, by Richie Tankersley Cusick, which I described as 'basically an '80s slasher movie in book form' (and had a lot of fun reading), the pace here is way slower and events of note are remarkably infrequent. However, that said, I did still enjoy reading My Secret Admirer and I did find it to be better written than The Lifeguard.
I'm still not particularly wise to the mystery elements, so once again I didn't guess who did it. I don't know if that's a comment on the book being well crafted with good red herrings, or, (more likely) a comment on my inability to guess who did it. Thankfully most of the frustrating tropes in The Lifeguard are absent here. So, to summarise: Carol Ellis hates Peaches and needs everyone to know how fat the poor dog is; My Secret Admirer is, in several ways (but mostly the writing), better than The Lifeguard; but I still found The Lifeguard to be a more enjoyable book overall. Both have been an absolute joy to read though and I'm so excited to see what the next Point Horror book brings.
3.5/5
Point Horror Ranked
1) My Secret Admirer - 3.5/5
2) The Lifeguard - 3.5/5
the_bookubus's review
3.0
3.5 stars
Jenny has just moved house and is left home alone while her parents have to travel back to the old house to take care of some business. She starts receiving messages on her answerphone from a secret admirer who also leaves her gifts at her house. But soon things turn nasty and she has to figure out who the secret admirer is and if she can really trust them or not.
This was well written and enjoyable. I liked the cast of characters and the suspense. I would have given this 4/5 but part of the story was too similar to another Carol Ellis book so the reveal wasn't as impactful as it should have been and I knocked off half a star.
Jenny has just moved house and is left home alone while her parents have to travel back to the old house to take care of some business. She starts receiving messages on her answerphone from a secret admirer who also leaves her gifts at her house. But soon things turn nasty and she has to figure out who the secret admirer is and if she can really trust them or not.
This was well written and enjoyable. I liked the cast of characters and the suspense. I would have given this 4/5 but part of the story was too similar to another Carol Ellis book so the reveal wasn't as impactful as it should have been and I knocked off half a star.