Synopsis:
What’s your worst nightmare?
For Ivy Jensen, it’s the eyes of a killer that haunt her nights. For Parker Bradley, it’s bloodthirsty sea serpents that slither in his dreams.
And for seven essay contestants, it’s their worst nightmares that win them an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at director Justin Blake’s latest, confidential project. Ivy doesn’t even like scary movies, but she’s ready to face her real-world fears. Parker’s sympathetic words and perfect smile help keep her spirits up. . . at least for now.
Not everyone is so charming, though. Horror-film fanatic Garth Vader wants to stir up trouble. It’s bad enough he has to stay in the middle of nowhere with this group—the girl who locks herself in her room; the know-it-all roommate; “Mister Sensitive”; and the one who’s too cheery for her own good. Someone has to make things interesting.
Except, things are already a little weird. The hostess is a serial-killer look-alike, the dream-stealing Nightmare Elf is lurking about, and the seventh member of the group is missing.
By the time Ivy and Parker realize what’s really at stake, it’s too late to wake up and run.
For Ivy Jensen, it’s the eyes of a killer that haunt her nights. For Parker Bradley, it’s bloodthirsty sea serpents that slither in his dreams.
And for seven essay contestants, it’s their worst nightmares that win them an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at director Justin Blake’s latest, confidential project. Ivy doesn’t even like scary movies, but she’s ready to face her real-world fears. Parker’s sympathetic words and perfect smile help keep her spirits up. . . at least for now.
Not everyone is so charming, though. Horror-film fanatic Garth Vader wants to stir up trouble. It’s bad enough he has to stay in the middle of nowhere with this group—the girl who locks herself in her room; the know-it-all roommate; “Mister Sensitive”; and the one who’s too cheery for her own good. Someone has to make things interesting.
Except, things are already a little weird. The hostess is a serial-killer look-alike, the dream-stealing Nightmare Elf is lurking about, and the seventh member of the group is missing.
By the time Ivy and Parker realize what’s really at stake, it’s too late to wake up and run.
*(summary courtesy of Goodreads)
My Review:
I've been waiting to get my hands on this book for what seems like forever. Just a FYI, my nickname since childhood was Goosebumps, hence the appeal of this story for me. Originally I thought this was a stand alone novel, but it actually has a sequel, much to my amazement.
While I was reading, this I was camping out in the woods at night. Suffice it to say I was getting a little creeped out every time I heard a twig snap, which only added to the horror ambiance of this book. There was a decent amount of suspense, albeit towards the middle of the book. The first half was okay; some parts were interesting, others were kind of a drag. I appreciated the fusion of R.L Stine meets the Real World in the beginning; but the characters were exactly like I would have seen in the latter and not in a good way.
Cliché, cliché, cliché. Basically the description of each character. You have: the scary, timid girl #1; cute, weird girl who hurts herself #2; random girl who leaves early #3; sweet, artistic guy #1; and the love triangle between: cute rocker guy #2; pretty, insensitive tease of a girl #4; and gothic jerk guy #3. All of these characters were your average, cookie cutter, watered down characters in the YA genre. I didn't like any of them and only tuned into the book to see who would die first. Shockingly it wasn't the black person LOL.
While we're on the topic of clichés, the only one not in this book is the aforementioned "black person always dies first" and the "black person is scared and runs away from danger". The "scary, bad guy" of the story is an evil Christmas elf. Really? REALLY? Why is it that the "big scary dude" is always in some ridiculous outfit?: i.e. Chucky, Scream, Leprechaun. It really doesn't;'t get more ridiculously cliché than an elf. Then you have the token love story that manages to be in almost every scary movie. I'll let you guess as to who it is.
Anyways, back to the characters. Their decisions had me shaking my head. Especially Natalie, who should have listened to her brother; I bet she feels really stupid now. I did like that Frankie called out Shayla on her "fakeness", it was one of the best scenes in my opinion. Shayla was the most irritating, after Garth of course (I was glad he got the axe... no pun intended).
If I were those kids, I would have never told my worst nightmare, or at the very least pulled a double all-nighter so the Nightmare Elf wouldn't have wormed its way into my nightmares. On a serious note, I thought that it was going to be all make believe at the very end like Inception; it's all in your head. The ending was even better than that.
368 pages
Published July 22nd 2014 by Disney-Hyperion
Rating: 🔔🔔🔔
Recommend? It's a decent book as long as you don't mind the clichés.
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