Dare Me

This writing style, it is not for me. I thought it handled grooming in an interesting way, but over all I don't plan to read more books by this author.

This gave me secondhand anorexa, my god the entire description is drenched in how thin and taught they all are. It was becoming kind of disgusting at the end. All the characters are generally the same and unlikeable. But also I didn't really get the point of the story.  Nothing changed throughout, no one learned anything. There is no character development at all. I didn't much enjoy the writing style or the story but it was very well thought out and written and made me feel super tense for what would happen. Though I still felt it went all super slow. 

I apparently need a shelf for things I read because it turns out that I need more books than I can carry for two weeks in Europe and there's no English language bookstores in the Swiss Alps and my library app limits what I can download internationally.

This book is utter crap. Complete and utter crap. Paper thin characters. The least mysterious mystery. I'm not totally sure Megan Abbott was ever a teenage girl, but, wow, that is NOT what it's like. Also, it reads super slowly. I seriously considered DNF'ing it despite having literally no reading alternative. Not really any redeeming features.

As I delved into Dare Me by Megan Abbott, it was almost like I was transformed back to my highschool days, one of the worst times of my entire life. I had a very hard time in high school and got bullied and picked on alot. So, right of the bat, this book was about a topic that hit really close to home for me. It was almost like a nightmare but at the same time I couldn't stop reading it because it was exhilirating and had many twists and turns I really didn't see coming at all.

One of the things that drew me in most about this book, was that it approached the high school topic from a different angle, a different perspective. Instead of being from the side of the “good girl”, who gets picked on and made fun of, we get a glimpse into the world of the “bad girl”, or the one who does the making fun. I got a very good look into the downside of being the popular girl and all the negatives that come with that. Nice to know that everybody has their challenges in high school and that I was not alone.

Megan Abbott writes in a very unique style, that is a little harder to get used to but is very addictive once you get used to it. For a little while, I actually thought that I would be giving this book four stars and not five, for this exact reason. However, after a few chapters, the writing style didn't bother me at all and the rest of the book flowed smoothly and effortlessly. I also loved the shortness of the chapters, because this kept the book moving and prevented it from dragging. I think most of the action actually happens towards the end of the book, but because the chapters were so short and the topic was one I was really interested in getting a better understanding of, I didn't mind this one bit.

Characterization speaks for itself here because any author that manages to get the reader to sympathize with a “bad” character is a master in that area. I didn't want to like Addy, or even Beth, but I couldn't help but feel for them or even with them. And Coach, I could never forget Coach, a prime example of money not being able to buy happiness. I understood all of them, even when I didn't want to admit it and this made them all the more realistic.

Another amazing thing is how this book had a little bit of everything. It had romance, mystery, crime, drama and many other genre categories, all packed into one terrific book. For this reason, I think anybody would enjoy this book, because they would never get bored.

All in all, even though I originally expected to be disappointed in this book because it seemed to me like something that you would read in a Middle School literature class, I was highly impressed. Not only does this book have a very intense and exhilirating plot, but it is also packed with larger-than-life characters, all of whom are flowed in many ways. For this reason, I recommend this book to anyone who can appreciate a good novel.

aaaaaah! teenage girls, cheerleaders, love, death! would recommend.

I was so invested in this, and I don't even care about cheerleading. Abbott sure knows how to bring all the noir out of teenage girls.

For listening while running. Got bored of music again so I'm gratefully back to books read by sexy sassy lady voices. (The Cocktail Waitress was what I first listened to when I started running, and it was the best. The voice here is similar but with a lot less innocence.)

How far will you go to keep what you think what you think it's yours?? That's what Megan Abboot writes in her book. Worth the read