Just know from the start that it wasn’t supposed to go like this. All we wanted was to get near them. That’s why we got a room in the hotel where they were staying.

We were not planning to kidnap one of them. Especially not the most useless one. But we had him—his room key, his cell phone, and his secrets.

We were not planning on what happened next.

We swear. (Goodreads)

For the past several months I have been in a rather deep and annoying reading slump and I feel that most of the books I have reviewed this year thus far have made that pretty evident (plus I think I am currently burned out when it comes to fantasy YA). I got Kill The Boy Band as a reward for myself and had no intention of reviewing it. The title and simplistic cover immediately grabbed my attention and the summary instantly drew me in. Because of my reading slump, I figured it would take me at least a week to get through it, but surprisingly (and for the first time in a very long time), I practically devoured this book in one sitting. Kill The Boy Band gives a pretty accurate description of modern fangirls and the insanity that goes along with being obsessed with a boy band these days. The way Goldy Moldavsky described the community and the bonds (that are also easily broken) was spot on. That means that the majority of the story is actually pretty believable. Even though it was pretty dark it still managed to also be very funny and had me actually laughing and chuckling out loud multiple times.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 4/5


Also check out: Boring Girls by Sara Taylor (Similar, but WAY darker and less comedic)

The first half of this book left me feeling both frustrated and annoyed. The dialogue did not sound realistic at all and the stereotyping was taken to the extreme. It also felt like a bit of a rip-off of several recent popular sci-fi-related YA books. Oh, and do not get me started on the names of the majority of the characters. They just sounded ridiculous. I was also bothered by the book being set in 2017. It just did not make sense to me for these events to be set in the current time period. However, around the middle of the book, things began to improve immensely. I finally began to feel invested in the story and what happens to the characters (especially Nico) and by the end of the book all I could say was "wow". It felt like it was going to be very predictable, but it actually went in a direction I did not expect.


Rating: ★★★☆☆3.5/5


If you read this and like it, but want something darker, I would recommend reading 172 Hours On the Moon. Also, the format is similar to the Illuminae Files series, so if that is something you enjoy, check out those books as well.

Megan Stewart, 14, and her best friend Amy Herman, 13, though opposites in personality, are best friends. Megan carries the front of being the most popular girl in school, but this masks a lifestyle of hard partying, drugs, alcohol and indiscriminate sex. Amy, unpopular and socially awkward, clings to her relationship with Megan as a lifeline to social acceptance. Together, these two young girls forge a deep friendship based on their mutual needs. The two girls regularly communicate by web chat cameras or cell phone and even meet boys online. As Megan seeks friends who are different from her usual posse of hangers-on, she is introduced by a friend online to a 17-year-old boy named Josh in a chat room. Megan and Josh bond quickly, leaving Amy feeling a bit left out. One day, Megan goes to meet Josh in person, and she is never seen again. Amy launches into a concentrated effort to find her friend. As the media swirls around the story of Megan's disappearance, Amy discovers the horrifying truth about what happened to her friend. Based on research into seven actual cases of child abduction, MEGAN IS MISSING is an uncompromising, gut-wrenching view of the world children live in today. Harrowing in its realism, the film uses only fact-based incidences to depict the lives of ordinary kids walking in the midst of extraordinary evil. (IMDB)

This review was originally posted on July 27th, 2016. It has been updated to meet new blog standards.

I found this on Hulu and decided to give it a shot. I was expecting a Lifetime-style drama about how talking to strangers on the internet is bad. What I got, however, was a found footage-style thriller/horror film. It opens by explaining this is based on true events and then goes on to portray the footage as "real". You are told from the beginning when the girls go missing. The majority of the film is spent following the very stereotypical girls doing cliche teenage stuff. The acting goes back and forth from being painfully believable and just feeling really forced. After Megan's disappearance, the creepy element really starts to kick in. There is one scene where Amy is sitting under a bridge with a teddy bear. While she is explaining why she keeps it there, a figure appears in the background behind some bushes. It is a very simple thing, but the way it was done creeped me out. From here on the movie takes a turn for the very dark and disturbing in a way that I wish I had been warned ahead of time about. The last 20ish minutes is very hard to watch and I would not recommend that anyone who is easily triggered watch this. It has been a few days since I watched this movie, and the images from the last half are still sticking with me.

Rating: ★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆5.5/10

For a movie that spends 90 minutes from the point of view of a moping girl with no more than 3 facial expressions, it did a great job of projecting complex emotion. The lack of score in this film enhances the realism of each scene; and while the main character's actions and attitude may seem frustrating or annoying at times, it does feel real.  I can remember feeling this way when I was a little girl, specifically during the "self-burial' scene. The movie uses side characters to address a few of the standard 'coming of age' themes in a way that seems natural and not forced, which adds something special to the story.  Overall, the product is a realistic and sincere representation of a young girl's experience of having her entire life transformed in an instant.

Really, who hasn't felt this way at least once in their life?

Rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆7/10