From Bad To Cursed
I have returned to the blogoshpere, munchkins. I hope you're not mentally deficient and can sense that the above title is the book I have come (forced at gunpoint) to review. It's the second book in the Bad Girls Don't Die series, and probably my favorite, but I haven't read the third one in a long time so hmmm.
These books disappoint me with their non-scariness. But then again, I'm the kinda person that watches Scream and Saw as play date movies. I'm a horror freak. So it's no surprise that a book probably targeted to 6th to 9th graders doesn't affect me. While I technically fall into that category, I was reading eighth grade books in the fourth grade, and now in the ninth I read college books. Woo hoo.
In this book, we see some repercussions from the first book. Kasey has been in a mental institution as a cover up, the family house is unbearably, sterile white, and Alexis is at her best. She has a best friend and her boyfriend Carter and all this ghost junk is behind her. She's normal.
But then Lydia, queen of the Doom Squad messes it all up.
Around one of the first few nights of Kasey being back from her mental institution field trip (which are not actually that bad), Alexis lets her tag along to a party. And then someone whips out a Ouija board.
Side note: Ouija, the movie, was so totally lame.
And then Kasey, who has, of course, become the resident freak, makes a rag tag group of friends to hang around with. Alexis' character arc has landed her in a kind of shallow, boring, popular zone for now, so she doesn't care. Not until it's too late.
Kasey and her three friends let something loose at a sleepover one night. They call Alexis, asking her to help look for the dog.
It's not a dog they set loose.
At this point, some sense has been jarred into Alexis' stupidly pink head. She picks at it a little, but never gets too much information. It's starting to worry her. One girl loses her cane, even though she has a degenerative disease that has rendered her body shutting down at fourteen. The four girls look prettier, and healthier, and smarter, and then they announce it- the Sunshine Club.
Evil never sounded so yellow.
They start recruiting and Kasey finally tells Alexis, and she and Megan (said bestie) join the club to figure out what's going on. Alexis, being her scrappy, naive self, thinks she can escape taking the oath by using her left hand instead of her right. Oh, Alexis, will you ever learn.
Inside lives a ghost named Aralt. He's been using the Sunshine Club for hundreds of years, making women perfect, but also serving something dark. Alexis can't stand herself anymore. Her hair becomes brown and she's graceful and beautiful and perfect. The only thing that gives it away is the black tears.
Realizing the club is evil, she enlists Megan and Kasey's help to take it down, but it takes a lot of will power. I don't think this even happens until 4/5 into the book. The spell at the end, for the Sunshine Club to graduate, goes wrong. Turns out, surprise surprise (actual surprise) Megan is evil and Lydia's grandmother has been trying to warn them from the grave. Once again, Alender's books are flawless on foreshadowing. She weaves a masterpiece with words.
In the end, all has been foiled and we're left with a dead Lydia and a Megan with a shattered knee. Tragic. Alexis and Carter break up. All Alexis has is her sister. And you think all is over.
Until you see Lydia's ghost at the funeral.
But I can't tell you too much about that. That's where the books ends. I shan't be reviewing it, for I just spent sixty dollars at Books-A-Million stockpiling five new horror books. Gleeful singing ensued. So, be looking forward to a wonderful book with a new view on changelings and the fae. If you don't know the lore, look it up! It's your homework from your generous benefactor. Now, it's late, and I like to have some time to do absolutely nothing before I go to bed. Goodnight, m'ladies and.... m'gents?
