There’s Someone Inside Your House + Release Book Reviews

There’s Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

Review by Lauren

Source: copy from ALA17; all opinions are my own

Official Summary (add on Goodreads): One-by-one, the students of Osborne High are dying in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, the dark secrets among them must finally be confronted.

Review: This book seems to have some pretty middle of the road reviews, but don’t let that scare you from checking it out. Personally, I really liked this book. It felt like a Stephanie Perkins novel in the sense that Makani and Oliver’s relationship does take up a good deal of the book. It’s sweet and lovely, and I totally shipped them throughout. At the same time, some horror has been added to the mix because someone is killing off people from their high school. Up until the killer was revealed, I had no idea who was doing it – and it was a bit shocking to learn their identity. However, the killer becomes “known” a little over halfway through the book, so a lot of it isn’t so much “who is doing this?” but “why? And will they kill again before we catch them?”

Like I said above, the relationship in this book was very much on par with Perkins’ earlier novels. Makani is a new student from Hawaii, hiding the secret she’s now living her grandma and not with her parents. As for Ollie, he lives with his older brother and lives a relatively quiet life at school, though many rumors surround him. Makani is intrigued by Oliver from the beginning – there is an issue in the beginning of their relationship though, due to lack of communication, but most of this is pre-book and it does make sense. After that, things pick up with these two and I just really appreciated how they were there for each other. There is also Alex and Darby (a transgender male student) who befriend Makani when she moves to town. I loved these two! They add a lot of the humor, especially Alex.

There’s Someone Inside Your House follows Makani’s point of view except when David is after a victim – then you get a chapter from that person’s point of view, to see what happened before they were horribly killed. These moments are awful but not too grotesque.

It’s weird to say this was a fun read – but it was! Perfect for the fall/Halloween season!

Release by Patrick Ness

Review by Lauren

source: copy from ALA17; all opinions are my own

Official Summary (add on Goodreads): Adam Thorn is having what will turn out to be the most unsettling, difficult day of his life, with relationships fracturing, a harrowing incident at work, and a showdown between this gay teen and his preacher father that changes everything. It’s a day of confrontation, running, sex, love, heartbreak, and maybe, just maybe, hope. He won’t come out of it unchanged. And all the while, lurking at the edges of the story, something extraordinary and unsettling is on a collision course. 

Review: This is actually the first book I’ve read by Patrick Ness, but it won’t be the last! I absolutely loved this one, though it wasn’t quite a five-star read for me. The reason being is that this book is sort of two in one – we get the mostly contemporary story of Adam Thorn and this one day in his life, but we also get the fantasy story of a ghost intermixed throughout the book. While these two stories actually do come together, I can’t say as I was as fond of the ghost aspect as I was simply following Adam about his day. I feel like this is a common thought based on other reviews I’ve seen, but that doesn’t mean I think you should skip reading this. It very much deserves to be read and enjoyed. I loved Adam and his friends, including his best friend Angela and boyfriend, Linus. It’s not easy being Adam and he deals with a lot, especially with his family who are very religious and okay with him being gay. This day in the book is when Adam decides to be more honest with his father, though he immediately regrets it as his dad shows that religion will always come before Adam. It’s sad, really, and I know there are families out there that are the same. They kick their kids out, or make them go to conversion camps, or just don’t love them the way a family should. This is another reason I love Adam’s friends, because they show him that family is sometimes the people you choose and not always the ones you are born into.

I really liked the idea of following Adam for one day, but I’d happily take more! I thought it was a realistic story about a character that felt like an actual teen. I also appreciated that Ness portrayed sex between two guys in an accurate, normal manner. A lot of teen novels fade to black or just focus on straight couples, but Ness gives Release a realistic sex scene but one that’s not gratuitous. It’s not erotica, it’s just real. I wish more authors would do this – though I have noticed it’s becoming a bit more common. Whether the reader is gay, straight, etc., there are aspects in this book that I feel almost everyone could understand or relate to, because at its core, it’s a novel about being a teenager and learning what that means.

Definitely recommended – even if I wasn’t as fond of the ghost aspect of the book; it’s still an intriguing part of the book! And you’re sure to fall in love with Adam and company, so that should be reason enough to give it a shot.