Young Adult/Supernatural/Paranormal
384 Pages
Published by Delacorte Press (28th March 2023)
Purchase from | Amazon AU* | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Fishpond AU* | Booktopia | Dymocks | QBD | Angus & Robertson |
My rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Theo’s summer is ruined. After her and her brother Marco threw a party of epic proportions that turned into an absolute mess, they’re shipped off to Nightfall to spend the summer with their grandmother, whom they’ve never met. If that’s not bad enough, Nightfall is a rainy little beachside town that promises to be boring as all get out, not only that but her grandmother has one house rule: be home before dark. Then Theo and Marco meet Minnow and her friends. They’re charismatic and alluring and Theo and Marco can’t stay away. As the town’s midnight swim gets closer and closer, Theo starts to realise that there’s something up in Nightfall, and then realises why her grandmother’s only house rule is so important, after dark in Nightfall means death, can Theo and her family escape its clutches?
I found this book randomly in Angus & Robertson. The cover caught my eye from across the bookstore and when I picked it up, I read half of the blurb and turned to my bestie. I handed her the book and said, “Read the back of this and tell me what’s the first thing to pop into your mind.”. I then did the same thing to my brother when I got home. Both of them gave me the same answer, “The Lost Boys”. Now, that was honestly the selling point of this book for me. The Lost Boys is my all-time favourite movie. I first saw it when I was 8 years old, my brother had hired it from the video shop. It was a VHS. I am old. That movie is one year younger than I am. It’s a movie that stuck in my head from the first time I watched it, and I spent the next ten years looking for it. That iconic line of “You’re eating maggots Michael, how do they taste?” has stuck with me for the past 19 years, and I will never not get giddy when The Lost Boys pop into my head. So, I found this book incredibly hard to rate because it’s an exact replica of that movie, just gender swapped. I knew exactly how things were going to ultimately play out, because I’ve seen it before. Obviously, the addition of the podcasters in place of the Frog brothers was a minor change, and the fact that, to me, I did not find vampires in this book. Yes, the creatures had vampire like rules, but I read them as (view spoiler) Every other review that I’ve read says vampires. Forgive me if I’m wrong about this as It’s been like 4 months since I read the book.
The story, as said above, is pretty much exactly the same as the plot of The Lost Boys. So, nothing was a surprise for me here, except for the possible difference of creature. There was no big reveal or anything because I already knew it all. However, this did not stop me from flipping pages long into the night. Even though I knew the story, I couldn’t put the book down. That’s why it’s been so difficult for me to rate this read. I guess it may have something to do with the fact that The Lost Boys is my favourite movie of all time, and it gave me some nostalgia feels? I couldn’t even tell you. If you HAVEN’T seen Lost boys, may I recommend that you do that as soon as humanly possible? Call in sick or something, just watch it. If you haven’t seen it, this story will possibly be a fresh read for you. I did not find anything in the story that had me feeling BTVS, original movie OR SMG TV show. So, I’m not sure where that comparison came from, but they should probably talk to their people. I can see why they may have wanted to have the comparisons on the cover, but in a way, I feel like it may have hurt the reception of the book itself. People are going into the book comparing it to the two things mentioned. Lost Boys is kinda unavoidable because of how it’s essentially a gender swapped version of the exact same story, but I’ve seen a lot of other reviews that also did not find the BTVS comparison correct.
I liked the idea of the podcast and the podcasters, but I agree with what someone else had said in another review I’d seen – it wasn’t utilised to its highest potential. It was thrown in there, and then it was just sort of left hanging and that was that. I’m not sure why it was included if it wasn’t going to be used as a plot driver in a bigger capacity. I guess it was a way for the author to inject the sordid history of the town into the story without it feeling like an info dump in a way. I just wish it was used as more than what it was. The narration of the story and the voice of Young was super engaging, and I really loved the flow of it all. It was a super easy read and I felt drawn immediately into the story. The descriptions that Young used throughout really set the scene and made me feel like I was there.
The characters were fun, I liked the relationship between Theo and Marco, and Minnow and her friends were well written. All of the main players were written well and had very distinct personalities and voices which is always a bonus. I loved the personalities that came through with all of them, and I did like the love interest. I wanted a better story arc for him. The star of the show for me though, was Nonna. She was just the pinnacle of this story, and I adored her. I loved the tenuous relationship between her and her grandkids as they’d never met before. I love how she really fell into the grandmother role without even having to try.
All in all, this was a page turner for me, but it was way too much like an exact retelling of my favourite movie of all time. Again, that made this such a hard book to rate for me because I couldn’t put it down, but it irked me that it was The Lost Boys. If you like a YA supernatural tale that has decent mystery if you haven’t seen or read the source material, give this one a go.
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