Bad Girls Don't Die |  | Author: Katie Alender
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH
List Price: $15.99
Buy New: $9.25
as of 11/23/2009 12:01 CST details
You Save: $6.74 (42%)
New (23) Used (7) from $7.17
Seller: mah266
Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 120021
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 1423108760
EAN: 9781423108764
ASIN: 1423108760
Publication Date: April 21, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Alexis thought she led a typically dysfunctional high school existence. Dysfunctional like her parents' marriage; her doll-crazy twelve-year-old sister, Kasey; and even her own anti-social, anti-cheerleader attitude. When a family fight results in some tearful sisterly bonding, Alexis realizes that her life is creeping from dysfunction into danger. Kasey is acting stranger than ever: her blue eyes go green sometimes; she uses old-fashioned language; and she even loses track of chunks of time, claiming to know nothing about her strange behavior. Their old house is changing, too. Doors open and close by themselves; water boils on the unlit stove; and an unplugged air conditioner turns the house cold enough to see their breath in. Alexis wants to think that it's all in her head, but soon, what she liked to think of as silly parlor tricks are becoming life-threatening--to her, her family, and to her budding relationship with the class president. Alexis knows she's the only person who can stop Kasey -- but what if that green-eyed girl isn't even Kasey anymore?
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
 Book Nerds Review November 19, 2009
Anna Moore (Pinellas Park, FL USA)
This. Book. Was. Perfect.
I am a big ghost story fan, be it books, short stories, t.v. shows, etc - I'll read/watch it. (Oddly though I'm not a fan of the movie Ghost.. hmm.) I've been this way since I was a kid, always hunting out good ghost stories, wanting to visit `haunted' places, and you know what? Out of all of those stories I've read/seen/heard, this book takes the cake. And the trophy, ribbon, the red Corvette, and anything else you'd ever dream of giving a `winner'. The reason why? I managed to read this book in all of two sittings, I fought off sleep for hours to finish this book. Usually it takes me 3-4 days to read a book, and unless I LOVE it, it's usually read a few times before I sleep and maybe once or twice throughout the day. I started this book yesterday around noon, and I got just about half way through it. I woke up this morning at 4AM, and I swear when I saw it sitting on my desk next to my bed, I had to fight against picking it up just to go get something to drink. Katie also managed to scare me. Me. The person who ONLY gets scared when someone teases her that there is a miniature red-headed doll with a knife hiding in her closet. Go figure, I'd pick up a book with dolls in it.
Bad Girls Don't Die is a fast paced, exciting and enticing story. I was sitting on the edge of my seat (you know, assuming I was in a seat) through the entire thing wondering, What's going to happen next? Why is Kasey acting weird? Etc. (There are many more questions, but they'd give the story away.) I couldn't turn the page fast enough to find out what would happen next. There was not a slow, or dull moment throughout the entire book, never a moment I thought to myself: Well, I could have lived without knowing that. Even the beginning, where most books lack interest in favor of learning about the character, was fantastic.
The characters were all their own, the plot was, somewhat, cliche, but Katie wrote it in a way that completely made it new. It was vivid, and descriptive, and most of all it was a classic ghost story - something that is becoming rare nowadays. I fell in love with all of the characters, not just one or two of them. Alexis, Kasey, Megan, Carter, even Sarah. And the bad guy? Was creepy as hell. I hope to whatever powers there are that even though this doesn't end like there should be a sequel with these characters, that there is. That the next book will be about these same four people.
In short: There isn't one thing I would have changed about this book, not one single word.
 Creepy, creepy little sister November 13, 2009
Alexandra Cenni (hamilton, nj USA)
Very few young adult books keep the suspense going enough to terrify me. The Sweet Valley Twins books 97-100 (Too Scared to Sleep, The Beast is Watching You, The Beast Must Die and If I Die Before I Wake) and Saundra Mitchell's recent Shadowed Summer are part of the list. That's the honest truth. Not terrified in the Freddy Kruger sort of way, but in hits too close to home sort of way.
Alender does a wonderful job of creating atmosphere and tension. The progression of Kasey's behavior is steady and believable. Especially with their mother constantly working to earn a promotion and their father's inability to relate to them anymore, the fact that Kasey begins to act out to gain attention is perfectly understandable...right?
It was a little odd for me to see some of the things that Kasey did explained away so easily. I've done that before for my younger sister and didn't really think twice on it. Irrational mood swings, destructive behavior...even though there is a supernatural reason for Kasey's behavior, it could have very easily been self-destruction and schizophrenia.
The suspense part of the book is well developed and even if Alexis is not always sure of what is going on, we know enough of the puzzle to say 'No Alexis! Wrong assumption!' in exasperation. As for the non-Kasey supernatural portions I liked those the best. Perhaps I'm biased (much of what got Alexis in trouble in school I often caused during my HS years), but I think Alender perfectly captured the High School scene.
From the cheerleaders to the outsiders to the posers and not quite sures, they all inhabited certain stereotypes expected, but very often surprised me. There were, of course, several who still fit the bill perfectly of Queen Witch of the School, but in the end they weren't given a lot of time.
My only gripe is that certain things aren't tied off well. I wasn't really sure why Megan's grandmother chose to open up to Alexis about Megan's mother, but not to Megan. I wouldn't think it normal to tell your granddaughter's house guest private information you haven't even told your granddaughter yet. My guess is that it had to do with how Megan's mother died, the circumstances surrounding that, but its not addressed or explained.
Read the book with the lights on. Its not scary, but it might make you a little paranoid about shadows and strange lights for a little while.
Just the right amount of creepy! October 6, 2009
Sara (Kalamazoo, MI)
Bad Girls Don't Die was a great debut novel from Katie Alender! I really enjoyed the dialogue and characters. I think I liked the first half of the book better than the end though, as I felt that the end of the book was a bit rushed... At the beginning Alexis has a bit of a smart mouth and I found her conversations with Carter, the student council VP, to be amusing.
I also really enjoyed the haunting and possession aspects of this book, as I'm a big Supernatual (the CW show) fan! There were parts of this book that had me a little creeped out - like in the first chapter when Alexis is taking pictures. I used to be really into photography, so the idea of capturing a ghost on film is really spooky to me.
My one complaint about Bad Girls Don't Die is the fact that the last few chapters of the book seemed to be really rushed. I felt like there were many things that were glossed over or simply forgotten - like Alexis' parents relationship. I felt like that kind of detracted from the effect of the novel because I was left with a number of unanswered questions.
Wow! September 28, 2009
The Book Scout
This book was great. There were times I didn't even realize what was happening around me, I was so engrossed in what was unfolding in the book. The plot was original, and the horror angle was great- it was scary, but not blood and guts scary. At first small things were happening, and I wasn't getting worried yet. But not for long! Soon troubling things were happening that kept the book moving and kept me reading. The characters were all well developed and original. Every character fit into the book- Pepper, Megan, Carter, Miss Oliver, Mary... Another great part of this book was the fact that Alexis wasn't just another preppy, perfect main character. I hate when the main character is so perfect, nothing goes wrong in their lives. Alexis, with her pink hair, and skipping class, dealing with friend troubles, seemed like a normal teenager (well not that most teenagers have pink hair...) The sub-plots were great, too, and everything tied together in the end. Not only was this book creepy, it was also a mystery. We were trying to figure out a few mysteries throughout the novel, but all the loose ends were tied up, although, it did leave room for a sequel! This is a must read, I highly recommend it to everyone.
I really liked the fact that things weren't always what they seemed. You might be suspecting one thing to happen, when really you were completely wrong. I love books that keep you on your toes, and Bad Girl's Don't Die did just that. As I turned each page I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen next. Another thing, a lot of books claim to be horror, but they really aren't. Bad Girls Don't Die was amazing- scary, creepy, mysterious. The cover was also part of what attracted me to this book- the girl hiding behind the curtain, that just fit the book completely. I love how the girls dress goes with her toenails. I think another important part of the book was that Alexis learned a lot dealing with what was happening to her sister. Although, Alexis was in a lot of danger throughout the book, she handled it and worked out the mysteries just like Nancy Drew. I definitely recommend this book to everyone, and since it's already published you can go out and buy a copy today!
Rating;
Plot: 9/10
Characters: 9/10
Ending: 10/10
Enjoyment: 10/10
Cover: 10/10
__________
48/50= 96%
A gripping story from start to end September 15, 2009
Silvia (Spain)
I had read advices of not reading this book at night but I didn't mind and every night I grabbed Bad Girls Don't Die and sank in its pages. The first night I discovered the because of these advices. Bad Girls Don't Die is a Gothic story that will put your hairs on end. Passed a few chapters, the plot turns dark and horripilating. I started looking to the sides every five minutes and every single normal sound (the sound of the clockwise for exemple) sounded 100 times louder than usually.
I really liked the way it was written and the fact that no matter what would happen, Alexis didn't lose that point of humour in her thoughts.
While there are books I spend chapters and chapters to get into the story, this one caught me since the first one and as it was very well paced it was easier to follow track of the happenings.
I think that what I liked the most was trying to gess how all the events were related and why happened this and that, and how at the end all connect making a great background story.
Overall: I think this's been the first terror book I've read and I don't regret it. I'll be looking forward to read more books of Katie.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
|
|
|
|
