Tag Archives: R L Stine

PHBC – Beach Party by R L Stine

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Do you remember the Point Horror Book Series from the 90’s? The Point Horror Series was a series of young adult point horror books and was launched in 1991 by Scholastic always with the Point Horror banner on the spine and on the top of every point horror book. There were a number of authors that wrote these books for Scholastic: R L Stine, Diane Hoh, Caroline B Cooney, Sinclair Smith to name but a few.

Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on the re-read? Are you new to Point Horror? Has our opinion changed? Are they still as good? Do they stand up to modern day YA Horror? Or are they a whole load of cray cray?

Lets find out…

#pointhorrorbookclub

Join in the discussion with this months pick….

Beach Party by R L Stine

Don’t forget to use the #pointhorrorbookclub on twitter so I can see your thoughts or tweet me using @chelleytoy

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Vote for the next #PointHorrorBookClub read at the bottom of this post!

** Please note that as this is a discussion there will be spoilers**

The Tagline

Some come to party.  Some come to die.

Okay ….so…What’s It All About?

Karen lives in sunny LA and her best friend since they were 9, Ann-Marie, is coming all the way from New York to stay.  Karen ditches all parents and takes Ann-Marie to stay in an apartment by the beach for the month!

Oh wow!  Sun, sea and relaxation right?

Well…..no not quite, but there’s lots of dangerous snorkelling, polluted sea water which is as green as pea soup (*heaves*), creepy phone calls and messages, jellyfish and contaminated sun cream!

Sounds kosha to me to be honest…..

Let’s move on shall we!

I missed out a mention to the secret beach party’s, sunbathing, hot men, lots of snogging and some murder!

Murder?!  But you are destroying the dream!

Yes!  Murder my dear friends….murder.  This is Point Horror after all!  And when Karen gets involved with Jerry someone is not happy about it…..not happy at all!

The Girl

Karen Mandell with her straight black hair, oval face, dark skin that always looked like she had a tan, black eyebrows and shocking blue eyes which were so wide and so blue completely won me over at the start with her quick witted since of humour and sarcasm making me feel like she was going to be pretty kick ass.  And she was great….all with the exception of her attraction to danger which she always seemed oblivious too…. lets going snorkelling Karen even though I hate your guts, jump on my motorbike Karen even though you don’t know me and I might be a murderer …. you get the idea.

Mentionable nod to the fact that I was cheering Karen on for throwing THE BEST insults at Vince and his gang of friends who were circling her and Ann-Marie at the start of the book…..she was so close to kicking his botty before Jerry came swooping in to save the day *rolls eyes*

Karen liked driving fast in her navy blue mustang convertible that her Daddy bought her following his divorce from her Mummy and with her crystal from her ex boyfriend Mike (more on him later) around her neck she had a strange tendency to compare everyone to not only famous people of the 90’s (when this book was written), but also animals.

And Karen gets bonus points for not one but two holiday romances!  She snogged two boys!  Although after the snog she had with Jerry I wouldn’t be going back for more!  What a kiss from hell!  Ugh!

She was actually an okay Point Horror girl to be fair.

The Love Interest

Ugh goody two shoes Jerry….or should I say Todd? #PlotTwist Too soon?  *puts plot twist back into the book*  With his preppy looks, straight dark hair, light eyes, perfect straight nose, broad chest, powerful looking arms and a passion for the smell of coconut….he apparently looked like Tom Cruise!

Jerry got on my nerves just a little.  I mean he cheats on his girlfriend Renee and effectively kills her as Todd, but he was just too ugh for me and omg that kiss with Karen sounded excruciatingly painful that I was cringing!  Tom Cruise lookalike or not….I think I will pass.

And I can’t move on without mentioning the quickest ending of all Point Horror’s when we find out that Jerry’s brother Todd died a year before and Jerry, who felt so guilty as he couldn’t help Todd, took on a split personality of his brother Todd who just happened to be evil and a murderer.  How convenient!  The ending of this book was a complete blur following this revelation that we seemed to only have what felt like one paragraph to explain and digest everything.  It actually made me feel a little mad if I’m honest.

The Gang

Best friend Ann-Marie who had been friends with Karen since she was 9 and visiting Karen in LA from New York was not your typical Point Horror best friend.  She was the total opposite to Karen in everyway….thin, looked like a fashion model, straight blonde hair, fashionably short with high cheek bones, pale creamy skin and emerald eyes she had all the makings of a Point Horror best friend but too be honest she didn’t do much at all except get with Karen’s ex Mike and make tea.  Every time Karen was in danger or an “accident” had happened to Karen she was no where to be seen and yes she was our classic Point Horror red herring, but there still would have been a story without her.

Renee, Jerry’s girlfriend, who with her high pitched voice like a little mouse, oval face, big dark brown eyes, frizzy brown hair,  parents in Bel-Air (yes I did sing Fresh Prince), strange sense of humour and passion for Carrie Fisher’s gold bikini was a little possessive over her boyfriend Jerry, but to be fair he basically cheated on her with Karen in front of her face….or at least whilst she was standing in the shadows.  She loved him that much….that he killed her!  Yes!  She didn’t see that plot twist coming when she signed up for this Point Horror!  Poor Renee.  I was actually starting to like her a little too.

Bad boy Vince got Karen all hot under the collar with his bad boy looks and yes I knew exactly where she was coming from with this!  Tall and lanky, dimples in his cheeks, eight ball tattoo on his wrist, short blond spiked hair, a leather and denim combi and diamond stud earrings and to top all of this off …. a motorcycle!  Bad ass or what?!  And then Karen goes and compares him to Sting *bursts balloon with a slow screech*

*looks at picture of young Sting*

*blows balloon back up quickly*

Anyway enough of that….he kept the mystery going all the way through apart from being a complete and utter ugh at the beginning with his gang!  And he gets the girl!  What more can we ask for?!  Oh a proper ending….just putting it out there!

Then we had Mike, Karen’s ex, who just so happens to be in the same place at the same time as Karen.  With his straight brown hair, big broad shoulders, muscular arms, wide neck, round brown eyes and square forehead he seemed okay and I loved the fact him and Ann-Marie have a secret thing which of course Karen finds hilarious (she was the only one).  He looked like Jim Belushi according to Karen…..

Wow Karen has very different tastes in men!

Little mention goes to Marty who I would have liked to have seen more of as he seemed funny. With his curly brown hair, round puffs of cheeks, black eyes, round face, horse scratchy voice and skateboard ….. me and Marty could have been friends but he was whipped away from me!

And let’s not forget Stephanie….you know who I mean right?!

*looks at notes*

*Reads Marty’s girlfriend and long blonde hair*

*moves on swiftly*

Fashion Faux Pas

Ohhh lots of good old 90’s fashion in this one!  I spotted blue sleeveless t-shirts, lots of spandex bicycle shorts, tie dyed jean cut-offs and lots of Day-Glo!

Go 90’s!

Dialogue Disasters

Not so much dialogue disasters as in lines that made me chuckle a little….

“It was bright yellow, burning hot on the outside and frozen solid on the inside”

“Must have been lasagne”

“How did it taste?”

“Fabulous!”

Karen and Ann-Marie are auditioning for the next GBBO hosts!  Someone give them a job!

“Like gag me with a spoon”

Say what Ann-Marie?!  She’s from New York don’t you know!

“She was like a zombie for months.  She’d sit around playing her old Beatles records and cry”

Sounds like a standard Saturday night for me to be honest!

“And your Dad?”

“He’s driving a red corvette and he’s blow drying his hair”

“Weird”

Is it?  Is it really?

“But Karen do you really think this is a good idea?”

“Of course it is – what could happen?”

That old classic Point Horror line!  Your in a Point Horror girls….what do you expect?!

“He looks like a squirrel.  A fat squirrel storing up nuts for the winter”

Harsh Karen!  Harsh!

“That’s Kenny, Alisha, Normy and Seth”  Karen said hi to them forgetting their names immediately

Ah!  The names of the one page Point Horror characters….bless their little cotton socks!

“One kiss and your brain has turned to oatmeal”

To be fair after that kiss with Jerry Karen I don’t blame you!

“She looks like a really scary Jack O Lantern”

It’s the lighting okay?!  We can’t all be blessed with Point Horror standards you know!

Body Count

Oh this one had an actual murder!  And yes I do worry about how excited I got about this ….plus she kind of deserved it!

There was also one off page death from the past, but we all know it’s what happens in the Point Horror story that counts!

Is it scary?

Hmmmm not really scary to be honest however that nightmare/dream that Karen had lit my little horror heart a light with those two pages of gore!  Yes Stiney!  You legend!

Did the best friend do it?

No!  We could only have hoped that Ann-Marie had the umph in her to actually do something really couldn’t we?!

Some Mild Peril?

I would say the beach where they were staying was packed full of mild peril!  Polluted sea, gangs, lots of boys in heavy metal t-shirts (my kind of boys may I just point out) you know that kind of thing.

But yes other than that there was the usual drowning whilst snorkelling, drowning whilst snorkelling again, and jellyfish!  Yes imagine finding all those Jelly fish in your bed! Ugh!  That’s almost as bad as kissing Jerry!

Is it any good?

I actually quite enjoyed this one and flew through this quite quickly.  The ending was a little rushed and sudden and whilst I didn’t see the twist coming (and obviously nowadays I’m not sure if it should have been better handled), but I quite liked the premise and the actual feeling of a who dunnit in this one.

Also a nod to getting rid of the parents straight away at the start of the book with Karen’s parents being divorced and Karen and Ann-Marie staying an apartment owned by her Daddy for the summer who conveniently stayed away longer than planned.  In fact it wasn’t unit page 114 that we saw glimpse of a parent, because strange and scary things are happening to you, but pffftttt who needs their parents when you have sun, sea and jellyfish to contend with.

Final Thought

Stay away from Jerry……except if it’s Ben and Jerry’s because nom!

Cover Wars!

I found this really awesome foreign cover!  Which do you prefer?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over to you!

As well as your thoughts on the book I’ve added some fun questions to ponder!

  • Which Point Horror Boy….Jerry, Vince or Mike?  You decide!
  • Wouldn’t the jelly fish have stung Karen?
  • What was Ann-Marie ACTUALLY doing for the whole book?
  • What happened to Marty and Stephanie?
  • Ending?  Yay or Nay?

You can leave a reply by using the reply button at the top of the page!

Vote for the next #PointHorrorBookClub read here!

As the next #PointHorrorBookClub with be on the 13th February I have tried to pick a few romance-y Point Horror titles….if that’s even possible!

What will you pick?

Voting ends and the next Point Horror Book Club read will be announce on the 17th January 2018!

And the winner was…..a tie!

Therefore I have flipped a coin and picked The Invitation for next months #PointHorrorBookClub!

 

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Thanksor joining in….

PHBC – The Snowman by R L Stine

5 Replies

Do you remember the Point Horror Book Series from the 90’s? The Point Horror Series was a series of young adult point horror books and was launched in 1991 by Scholastic always with the Point Horror banner on the spine and on the top of every point horror book. There were a number of authors that wrote these books for Scholastic: R L Stine, Diane Hoh, Caroline B Cooney, Sinclair Smith to name but a few.

Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on the re-read? Are you new to Point Horror? Has our opinion changed? Are they still as good? Do they stand up to modern day YA Horror? Or are they a whole load of cray cray?

Lets find out…

#pointhorrorbookclub

Join in the discussion with this months pick….

The Snowman by R L Stine

Don’t forget to use the #pointhorrorbookclub on twitter so I can see your thoughts or tweet me using @chelleytoy

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Vote for the next #PointHorrorBookClub read here!

** Please note that as this is a discussion there will be spoilers**

The Tagline

A cold blooded killer

Okay ….so…What’s It All About?

Heather Dickson is one very unhappy girl.  She can think of nothing better than killing off her nasty, vile Uncle.  She has a loving boyfriend and a best friend and a job that she hates….what more could she ask for?!

A boy called The Snowman turns up in Twin Valley but he’s not all what he seems…….

The Snowman?!  Oh he sounds frightfully chilling!

He really is not that terrifying.  Heather seems to loose all common sense and gets swept away by The Snowman’s cool charms and good looks and starts cheating on her boyfriend with him whilst giving him lots and lots of money from her trust fund whenever he asks.

I’m not sure I like this Snowman guy!

Fear not dear reader, he does however redeem himself by killing the vile Uncle of Heather…..with his snowman red scarf!

I bet Heather loved him even more after that…I mean she hated her Uncle right?!

Hmmmmmm no……It’s then she starts to realise that not everything with The Snowman is as it seems……

The Girl

Wow!  Where do I start with unhappy Heather Dickson!  With her golden hair featuring an off centred pony tail, her dark blue almost violet eyes, her high cheek bones and creamy pale skin….she had high hopes to be a classic Point Horror girl didn’t she?  She turned out to be this and much much more…..worse.  I think I spent nearly every chapter screaming OH HEATHER!  WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING!  ARE YOU CRAZY! and shaking my head at her….lots!

Heathers parents died years before in a car crash and she is now living with an Aunt and Uncle for the last 13 years whom she hates with a passion.  And that passion made me chuckle on numerous occasions with her fantasies about killing Uncle James.  I mean she even fantasises about killing her Uncle whilst kissing her boyfriend…..need I say more!

Oh yes I can!  She also cheats on her boyfriend because she takes a fancy to the mysterious Snowman and thinks about him too whilst kissing her boyfriend…..poor Ben.

Always living her life in slow motion, her Dad’s lighter always at hand (phew) and with a trust fund stuffed full of money she threw money at The Snowman constantly!  Pay for this Heather, oh silly me I have forgot my wallet, LET ME BLACKMAIL YOU HEATHER AND THEN YOU CAN STILL GIVE ME MONEY.  Even at the end when he kidnapped Heather she was still offering him money!  Say what now!

Bless her!  She was captured under The Snowman’s spell!

The Love Interest

The Snowman!

Boo!  Hiss!  Boo!

With his amazing pure white (not silver) parted in the middle hair which was wavy and long, his apple breath, dark features, ruddy skin which was almost tanned, his adorable cleft in his chin and dark brown eyes that were like dark coals he made Heather swoon and swoon and swoon and throw money at him left right and centre.

He was kind of horrible to Heather, but evidence above indicates she kind of deserved it!  And lets face it he killed the horrible Uncle and destroyed our comedy value of fantasy deaths….I shall never forgive him!

The Gang

Ben with his large dark eyes, straight black hair and his Honda Civic was the perfect dumped Point Horror boy.  He deserved so much more than pining after Heather.  Evidence above indicates he is potentially not a good kisser either!

Uncle James with his narrow face, thin lips, yellowed false teeth, thick glasses, long boney arms and legs that made him look like a gigantic insect and ancient olive coloured overcoat was completely vile!  The best thing about this guy was they way Heather kept killing him over and over again in her dreams and of course when he finally got bumped off I have to admit I did a little giggle when the ambulance people left him on the front porch for the night!  Oh gosh this made me laugh more than it probably should have!

I guess I could put best friend Kim Slater in here as a severely unused point horror best friend can ever be.  Kim was short with brown curls and a hoarse scratchy voice.  Stiney also felt the need to point out to us that she was a little chunky even without the 3 long sweaters she wears (grrrrrr)…..but yeah she popped up every now and again and didn’t really do much to help her friend Heather.  She must have realised, like us, that Heather was past help!

Oh and poor Aunt Belle – she was the only character I actually felt sorry for in this book – bless her fragile bones and lilac smelling skin.

Fashion Faux Pas

I think I was that wrapped up in trying not to laugh too much at the Point Horror I didn’t notice any terrible fashion!

Dialogue Disasters

“He looks like a big green squirrel”

“You were fascinating that I was a large roast beef”

“He looks like a pencil with a red eraser at the top”

“He suddenly looked to Heather like a department store mannequin”

“He looks like a tooth pick”

“You look like a Heather…..You know.  All blonde and pretty.  Heathery”

“I dance like a water buffalo on roller skates”

“He looks like a toothpick”

There was a wide range of comparisons to things in this Point Horror!

“Coffee, tea or me?”

Heathers chat up lines are the best!  Take note!

“And through the gray thoughts, the bright pink head of her uncle appeared, like a flowering weed sprouting up through a concrete sidewalk”

No YOU laughed!  You did!  I know you did!

Body Count

1!  And lets face it….he deserved it right?!

Loved all the fake Uncle James deaths more though especially the sledding one!

Weeeeeeeeeee!

Is it scary?

No!  It’s really really not!

It kind of enforces the don’t fall for the mysterious stranger or any stranger you set eyes on vibe though!

Did the best friend do it?

Nope!  This book was what it said on the tin….all about The Snowman!

And not the walking in the air kind either!

Some Mild Peril?

I guess being chased by a car in the middle of the night in the icy snow could be classed as mild peril.  Other than that not really!  Unless we class snowman gate at the end as a contender?

Is it any good?

This one was mildly okay, but mainly for comedy value for me.  With a fab opening chapter and an egg cracking death by page 5 I thought it couldn’t possibly get any better…..how wrong was I?!

That’s right old Stiney thought that Raymond Briggs ending to The Snowman was for whimps and decided that the only possible ending was to but a live person inside a snowman to try and kill them….luckily Heather had seen the The Snowman on TV every Christmas and knows a snowman melts!

Final Thought

For once I am speechless……..

Cover Wars!

I found this really awesome foreign cover!  Which do you prefer?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over to you!

As well as your thoughts on the book I’ve added some fun questions to ponder!

  • Your given the title The Snowman to right a Point Horror – what would it be about?
  • What happened to The Snowman after the book?
  • Did Heather and Ben stay together?
  • Where was Kim throughout this whole book?!

You can leave a reply by using the reply button at the top of the page!

Vote for the next #PointHorrorBookClub read here!

What will you pick?

And the winner was…..

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Thanks for joining in….

PHBC – Halloween Night II by R L Stine

9 Replies

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Do you remember the Point Horror Book Series from the 90’s?  The Point Horror Series was a series of young adult point horror books and was launched in 1991 by Scholastic always with the Point Horror banner on the spine and on the top of every point horror book.  There were a number of authors that wrote these books for Scholastic: R L Stine, Diane Hoh, Caroline B Cooney, Sinclair Smith to name but a few.

Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on the re-read?  Are you new to Point Horror?  Has our opinion changed?  Are they still as good?  Do they stand up to modern day YA Horror?  Or are they a whole load of cray cray?

Lets find out…

#pointhorrorbookclub

Join in the discussion with this Halloween Special!

Halloween Night II by R L Stine

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Check out our thoughts on the first Halloween Night here

Don’t forget to use the #pointhorrorbookclub on twitter so I can see your thoughts or tweet me using @chelleytoy

Don’t forget next months #PointHorrorBookClub for the 13th November…..

417r2r5z4dl-_sx285_bo1204203200_For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

** Please note that as this is a discussion there will be spoilers**

The Tagline

Tricks, treats and…death

Okay ….so…What’s It All About?

One year after Halloween Night we return to the old gang of Fairview….on Halloween!

Oh No!  Not Halloween again!

Yep!  Clues in the title!  You remember how much Brenda loves Halloween….especially since her best friend and cousin plotted and tried to kill her previously…on Halloween.

You would think she’d be over hating Halloween by now!

*rolls eyes*

How can anyone hate Halloween?!

Well Brenda does, but she likes making films…..not those kind of films…scary films….with her friends Traci and Angela called Night of the Jack O’ Lantern….because you know Brenda has no reason to ever fear pumpkins!

She also has new boyfriend Jake who she loves with all of heart!

Awwwwww how sweet!

No he’s really not….trust me!

And once Brenda gets cheated on and dumped that’s when the creepy cards, rotten pumpkins and pumpkin pillow worms start….., but who could be responsible for ruining another Halloween for Brenda!

And how about a good Halloween trick to scare a victim to death……

*evil laugh*

The Girl

Copper haired Brenda Morgan is BACK!  Back with her downgraded green eyes (they were emerald previously), fair skin and freckles that darken when she gets angry!

Like before I had a very love/hate relationship with Brenda…although I did find her slightly more irritating this time around.  I mean her love for jack ass Jake was just plain annoying….she kind of deserved the Happy Last Halloween card that creeped her out so much!

I loved the fact that her pure hatred of her cousin Halley was still alive and kicking and Brenda’s little blue car was still rattling along.

And her freak out over the “fat man” who simply just wanted to return her lost wallet was hilarious.

It seemed that catching Jake and Halley together and snogging each others faces at the mall over a yellow table really pushed Brenda over the edge.  Poor Brenda really does not have good luck with boys….last time it was slime ball Ted and now jerk Jake!

I also loved how much Brenda hates Halloween for obvious reasons, but yet she was quite happy to go along with a revenge prank oh you know like the one that was played on her a year before!

Will she every learn!

The Love Interest

Jack Ass Jake….oh this boy made my blood boil.  He was a jerk from start to finish.  He loved his own reflection, was constantly late for everything, didn’t date girls for very long and basically loved himself too much for my liking.

Come to think of it he actually reminds me of one of my exes!

Ugh!

He was Brenda’s boyfriend who basically ran off with her cousin and then goes back to Brenda thinking she must be lucky he gave her a second chance!

Just no!

I was so so happy when the girls all started to plot to scare him to death and record it on camera…..it was an extra bonus to me that he actually got killed off!

I’ve never been so happy to lose a Point Horror boy before!

Best part of the whole book and if a coffin too!

No YOUR laughing!

The Gang

Lets start with newbie Angela Bowen.  The curly brown haired, dark brown eyed, chubby girl!  Yes you heard me right…..Stiney actually put a chubby girl in a Point Horror…..so of course she turned out to be the reveal/killer/weirdo.  And of course she had to have the most ridiculous Point Horror capture ever…..befouled by a pumpkin!  Right on the head!  And burnt by the candle inside!  Ouch!

But lets not forget she was fun to be with, had a good sense of humour and was a good understanding listener who liked orange nail polish and lived in a scary house that was like something out of a horror film.  She was pretty awesome right?!

I actually did like Angela…and although I guessed she would be the reveal I think we can all thank her for killing off the worst Point Horror boy EVER which I have to admit was a nice twist that made me cheer with joy!

Oh and silly me….she had a love for skeletons!

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Then we have best friend Traci (with an I) Warner back again with her long black hair and dark eyes (again upgraded from silvery last time) and this time around expert filmmaker.  She blended into the background of any fake scenario for the gangs film project for school which mainly just entailed cat fights over boys to be honest.  Again she kind of just went along with things like before, but I seemed to like her a bot more this time around.

Brenda’s cousin Halley was back again, but this time as a fully fledged Morgan.  Not content with going out with Brenda’s old boyfriend Ted (remember him?) with her sexy looking ways, blonde hair and sweet and spicy perfume she manages to steal Brenda’s boyfriend right in front of her face! I think this was payback as Brenda moaned on about Halley going out with her ex Ted so much even though jerk Jake was Traci’s ex!  All a bit Made In Chelsea if you ask me!

And then there was the return of Dina…..you know the one that tried to stab Brenda in the first book who conveniently doesn’t remember a thing about what happened last Halloween (you can recap here Dina).  Do you think this had anything to do with her tripping over that pumpkin last time?  In custody of her parents after being released from hospital and seeing a shrink she was still the tall, slender, pretty but pale dark eyed girl but this time with hair past her shoulders it’s just a shame that we didn’t get a whole chapter from her point of view again!

It was also great to see Brenda’s little brother make an appearance again although a slightly toned down version from the first book….but I still loved him anyway!

Fashion Faux Pas

Did anyone spot any?

I did spot Angela wearing a canary yellow t shirt and dark green denim jeans with dangling plastic earrings which made me think of Pat Butcher!

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Dialogue Disasters

Not many this time around but these ones made me chuckle…..

“She was definitely on the chubby side and always had to worry about her weight”

That’s no excuse for making Angela the reveal Stiney!

“They had this horrible court fight over who got Halley and the judge decided they were both unfit parents”

Say what now?

“You can’t break cd’s….their indestructible!”

Oh the 90’s!  Bonus points for upgrading from tape cassettes though.

“Tomorrow will be better Bren.  You’ll see”

“Yeah.  Better. Brenda echoed.  Much Better”

“But it wasn’t”

“The next morning, the vest she wanted to wear over her white t shirt had a stain on the front.  She had to change her whole outfit!  Then she couldn’t find her hairbrush!”

*screams*  OH THE HORROR!

And not to forget the best line of this whole book…..

“I just remembered my parents have a really large bull whip in the closet”

All I’m saying is if Angela’s parents didn’t exist I think we all know who the bull whip really belonged to don’t we Angela!

Body Count

1

And I think we were all thankful to Angela for that one!

Lets hope the footage gets leaked!

Is it scary?

Hmmmmm not really….more classic Point Horror through and through.

Although I think the biggest horror of them all was when Brenda lost her wallet AND DIDN’T GET TO BUY HER SWEATER!

Did the best friend do it?

DING DING!

We have another winner!

Okay so not the best, best friend, but the newbie best friend….it totally counts though!

I mean Brenda doesn’t have much luck with best friends does she?!

Some Mild Peril?

One word….pumpkins!

Yep I went there!

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Oh also the fact that Brenda’s parents do not show up in any way shape or form before page 67!  I class that as mild peril considering everything that was going on under their roof when they were meant to be responsible for two teenagers!

Oh how I love a good set of Point Horror parents!

Is it any good?

I enjoyed it, but it felt a little slow.  I enjoyed the Halloween feel to it and the haunted houses, pumpkins and tricks and I must admit that pumpkin ending gave me a good old chuckle and the sense of now I know what they covers all about!

Final Thought

*ponders if this book was sponsored by Coke as it appeared EVERYWHERE*

Cover Wars!

Which one do you prefer?

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Over to you!

As well as your thoughts on the book I’ve added some fun questions to ponder!

  • Did anyone miss Jake after his timely death?
  • Where were Brenda’s parents?
  • Was Dina totally under used?
  • Did the girls ever finish their horror film project – Night Of The Jack O Lantern?
  • If you were filming a typical Point Horror scene for your project what would you film?
  • What happened to the fat old man?

You can leave a reply by using the reply button at the top of the page!

See you at #pointhorrorbookclub on the 13th November to discuss Prom Date !

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For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Thanks for joining in….

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PHBC – Call Waiting by R L Stine

17 Replies

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Do you remember the Point Horror Book Series from the 90’s?  The Point Horror Series was a series of young adult point horror books and was launched in 1991 by Scholastic always with the Point Horror banner on the spine and on the top of every point horror book.  There were a number of authors that wrote these books for Scholastic: R L Stine, Diane Hoh, Caroline B Cooney, Sinclair Smith to name but a few.

Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on the re-read?  Are you new to Point Horror?  Has our opinion changed?  Are they still as good?  Do they stand up to modern day YA Horror?  Or are they a whole load of cray cray?

Lets find out…

#pointhorrorbookclub

 Join in the discussion with this months title!

Call Waiting by R L Stine

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Don’t forget to use the #pointhorrorbookclub on twitter so I can see your thoughts or tweet me using @chelleytoy

 There is a link to a poll at the bottom of this post to vote for your next #pointhorrorbookclub read! The next book will be announced on 22nd August 2016

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Also do check out our Q&A with the one and only Richie Tankersley Cusick that went live this month – here !

** Please note that as this is a discussion there will be spoilers**

The Tagline

Don’t pick up the phone….

Okay ….so…What’s It All About?

Right!

*flicks hair*

Karen Masters is so in love with douchebag hunk Ethan that when she thinks he is seeing Wendy behind her back she starts turning into Glenn Close circa Fatal Attraction era!

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Please don’t tell be Ethan had a bunny rabbit!?

Nope thank goodness he didn’t that’s all I’m saying!

Anyway, all Karen cares about is how much she loves Ethan and would do anything for Ethan etc etc and then Ethan drops the bombshell!

What she was right? He was cheating on Karen?!  We finally have a gay character in Point Horror?!

We can only dream of such a story line in Point Horror!

Well kind of but not with who she thought, but Ethan wants the best of both worlds and tells Karen that they should “see other people”!

Ugh!

Yep Ugh indeed!

This sends Karen spiralling out of control and she does the only thing she can possibly think of to keep Ethan …… pretend that she is getting creepy phone calls from someone who wants to kill her!  And these phone calls all happened whilst she is on the phone via her Call Waiting beeps!

But soon Ethan finds out that Karen doesn’t have Call Waiting!

OMG THE HORROR!

But that’s not the end of it…..then the calls really start happening!  FOR REAL!

Dum dum duuuuummmmm!

The Girl

Oh dear!  Oh dear!  Where on earth do I start with Karen Masters!?

With her dark short hair, dark eyes and very thin appearance I thought she would be one of those Point Horror girls that I would not forget in a hurry…..this was true, but maybe for all the wrong reasons!

With her parents divorced, brother always out with friends and birdlike Mum always working Karen was in the house on her own quite a lot.  But fear not as Point Horror love interest Ethan saved her from her loneliness….apparently!

Karen and Ethan both love bike rides, trivial pursuit and chessboards on rainy evenings…..the perfect romantic couple……that was until Karen thought Ethan was having it away with prop master Wendy!  Oh the horror!  So naturally Karen does the only thing that any girl should do…..stalk your boyfriend outside his own house to see what time he comes home!

And then get caught out by him whilst chatting to your friend about stalking your boyfriend on the phone!

Yep that’s right!  What a brilliant role model Karen was for all teenage girls (NOT!)…..she was very jealous indeed.

But nothing was going to stop Karen!  She loved Ethan with all her heart…he was even worth getting stressed over which gave Karen a very stiff neck indeed!

And do you know what a stiff neck is like?!  DO YOU?!

And this was just the beginning….when things start to come crashing down and falling apart between her and Ethan (mainly because Ethan was a douchebag – more on this later) Karen becomes a little unstable.  I mean making up receiving threatening phone calls just to keep your man is just the worst and then to get busted for doing it!

Oh Karen…..he’s just a boy!

Was it just me or did anyone else laugh when she started to get the calls for realises?!

Also I did admire Karen’s commitment to date nights and especially the new dance club…..horrific snowy bad weather outside is nothing to Karen!  Ethan still must take her to dance!

The Love Interest

Douchebag Ethan!

Ugh!

I mean he’s not the worst Point Horror boy we have ever had I guess!  He does stick by Karen in the end, but still!

With his long black hair, dark soulful eyes, broad forehead, silver earing through one ear and red Bonneville car he had so much Point Horror boy potential.  According to Karen he was funny, outgoing and playful, but all we got to see was him being a bad liar and lets be honest a bit harsh to poor old Karen.

He constantly broke date nights with Karen, he used the line “I think we should see other people” rather than lets break up AND “We can just go out on Saturday nights”. *rages*  He constantly hid behind his friend Jake who always seemed to be bailing him out of a Karen situation.  UGGGGHHHHH!

Ernie calling in sick so Ethan had to work seemed to be the tipping point!

Okay, okay so Ethan may have reminded me a bit of a guy I went out with at school who did the same to me and yes okay I may still be slightly bitter heartbroken about that whole time, but come on Ethan sucked big time!

I mean I guess he kind of redeemed himself in the end by sticking by Karen with the phone calls and “realising what she meant to him”, but he should have know that all along!

The perfect ending for me would have been Karen realising this and saying “look Ethan I may take you up on that seeing other people thing…hi Jake” but no! NO!

*mumbles under breathe*

What was with Ethan and Jake anyway?!  Ethan “rushing off to do math with Jake” *winks*.  Oh why couldn’t we just have a gay love triangle for once in a Point Horror!

The Gang

I have to start with best friend Micah Davis!  A bit of a flirt with blonde curly hair that she played with a lot, long nails, velvety voice that sounded like a sexy purr (?)  and a serious Kit Kat problem (who doesn’t?  Especially the peanut butter ones!) she was after Ethan all along the hussy!  She was meant to be Karen’s best friend and then when Ethan doesn’t break up with Karen she decides to push Karen further over the edge by actually making scary phone calls to her only to be busted by a chiming clock!  Ouch Micah!  Ouch!  Oh also the big finale girl cat fight!  Wow we haven’t had one of those for ages!  Me-ow!

Jake the best friend who had Ethan’s back ….ALL THE TIME.  Who didn’t want these two to get together?!  They would have been adorbs!  Anyway …. tall, with red wiry hair, long gangly arms, a horse voice that earned him the nickname Frog and who reminded Karen of a Grasshopper was severely under used and only there to get Ethan out of tricky situations with Karen.  I’m putting it out there that Jake fancied the pants of Ethan!  100%!  Who’s with me?

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Okay older brother Chris was our typical joker of a Point Horror character!  The college kid with his passion for comedy shows, practical jokes, sandy hair, millions of friends and apparently lots of girlfriends!  I have to admit some of his practical jokes on Karen were hilarious but maybe that was just me being cruel because it was Karen and it was so funny and…..okay I will stop now!

Cousin Adam was a bit of a pointless red herring character wasn’t he?  Not even his love of horror comics and horror movies or the fact that he was really into history could help him.  Having recently moved back into the area and with his rust coloured hair, dark eyes, black rimmed glasses, zits on his chin and skinny appearance he was the perfect extra character we all needed.  He was shy, had a silent laugh that sounded like coughing (?), carried a brown briefcase and liked calling his cousin after midnight!  Other than that he didn’t really do anything did he?!

And what about poor old Wendy Talbot!  Prop Master for the school production of Guys And Dolls with her straight red hair, grey green eyes and paper Mache head that was so heavy she fell down the stairs *sniggers*…. any way she got a lot of flack for apparently “flirting” with Ethan!  I felt a little sorry for her!  Was there something in that shoulder touch?! And that prop gun that Karen thought was real!!  She must have been the best prop master EVER!

Oh also a quick shout out to the two secretaries arguing over pencils and how dark they are!  THIS.  WAS. BRILLIANT!

Fashion Faux Pas

Oh I spotted a shaggy coat that made someone look like a bear!

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A pale blue down vest over a bulky yellow sweater and faded denim jeans with a hole in one knee.

And the crème de la crème of fashion faux pas’s ……Ethans silky, red and gold patterned shirt!

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Oh the 90’s!

Dialogue Disasters

Here are some bits of dialogue that made me laugh!

“You’re a nervous nut”

Micah being a good friend to Karen here *coughs*

“You’re so pale, Karen.  And you look positively anorexic”

Ugh!  Micah is the worst!

“She put her hand on his shoulder.  Like she owned him or something”

Karen advising us all that we mustn’t ever put out hands on a boys shoulder

“A Pop-Tart?  Since when are you such a health nut?!

Really?  Are Pop Tarts healthy?  I think not!

“Does Adam still spend all his time reading those old horror comics and watching old horror movies?”

*Cheers*

“She had a strong impulse to grab Ethan by the shoulders and shake him”

No Karen you must not touch a boy on the shoulders!!!

“Try to get yourself together okay?”

Ethan to Karen….after he has dumped said they should see other people…..RUDE!

“Karen, Ethan and your brother have just told me a disturbing story.  About Call Waiting!”

I’m starting to wonder if Karen’s Mum and I read the same book?

“Howcome your spending so much time with Jake these days?”

That is a very good question Karen!

Body Count

0!

Stiney offers us more or a “psychological” Point Horror rather than a blood thirsty heavy body count Point Horror this time around!

I’m sad there was no Piranha’s!

Is it scary?

Erm…..nope!  It really wasn’t.

I think I sat more open mouthed about poor Karen’s state of mind and everyone ignoring that fact than it being scary to be honest.

Did the best friend do it?

In the end YES!

DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!

But this was only after Karen got busted making up pretend phone calls to herself on her Call Waiting option so Micah thought she would do it for realises….you know to push Karen further over the edge AND TO STEAL HER MAN WHO SHE HAD BEEN SEEING BEHIND KARENS BACK!

Some Mild Peril?

I guess driving cars at high speed in the snow and ice could be classed as mild peril?  Other than that….not really!

Oh except a hot fire poker stick in the big finale of course!

Is it any good?

It was okay…..not the worst Point Horror we have read, but certainly not the best.

It was also not as good as some of the Point Horror Stiney offered us over his time writing Point Horror….it did made me ponder if this was ever really a Point Horror or just repackaged as such.

Final Thought

Did Karen turn into Ghostface from the Scream movies?!

Cover Wars!

Which one do you prefer?

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Over to you!

As well as your thoughts on the book I’ve added some fun questions to ponder!

  • Ethan – hot or rot?
  • Jake & Ethan – were they secretly together?
  • What flavour Kit Kat?
  • What happened to Ethan and Karen after the book?
  • Are Karen & Micah still friends?
  • Lets hear your scary phone call – what would you have said to Karen?
  • Which secretary was right?  Which pencil is the best?!

You can leave a reply by using the reply button at the top of the page!

Richie

Don’t forget our fab Q&A with Richie Tankersley Cusick that went live this month – here !

It’s like a dream come true!

See you at #pointhorrorbookclub on 13th September 2016 !

You can vote for your next #PointHorrorBookClub read here!

Voting closes on the 22nd August 2016!

And the winner was…….

phbcsept16

The next read will be announced on the #pointhorrorbookclub page here and on twitter using the hashtag #pointhorrorbookclub on the 22nd August 2016!

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Thanks for joining in….

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PHBC – The Hitchhiker by R L Stine

18 Replies

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Do you remember the Point Horror Book Series from the 90’s?  The Point Horror Series was a series of young adult point horror books and was launched in 1991 by Scholastic always with the Point Horror banner on the spine and on the top of every point horror book.  There were a number of authors that wrote these books for Scholastic: R L Stine, Diane Hoh, Caroline B Cooney, Sinclair Smith to name but a few.

Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on the re-read?  Are you new to Point Horror?  Has our opinion changed?  Are they still as good?  Do they stand up to modern day YA Horror?  Or are they a whole load of cray cray?

Lets find out…

#pointhorrorbookclub

 Join in the discussion with this months title!

The Hitchhiker by R L Stine

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Don’t forget to use the #pointhorrorbookclub on twitter so I can see your thoughts or tweet me using @chelleytoy

 There is a link to a poll at the bottom of this post to vote for your next #pointhorrorbookclub read! The next book will be announced on 17th May 2016

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Check the bottom of the post for information about a fab upcoming Point Horror Q&A!  Get your questions in!

** Please note that as this is a discussion there will be spoilers**

The Tagline

Don’t stop now!

Okay ….so…What’s It All About?

Two girls, Christina and Terri have been living dangerously and visiting…… Florida!

Florida!  But everyone in Florida walks around in Mickey Mouse ears and goes to Disneyland every day and smile lots and lots and lots!

Ermmmmmm…..ookkkkaaaayyyy….

 Other than putting people off visiting Florida for life (I joke) the two girls decide their next destination is Tampa as they just cannot deal with everyone in Florida driving 15mph!  This is when they decide to pick up a Hitchhiker called James who shows them how to work the a/c in their car!

Oh wow!  What a man!

I dare you to say that to the poor diner man who James beats up along the way and his cousin who he leaves unconscious on his front lawn!

Anyway, the three characters travel along and soon realise they are being followed….but by who!  And with reports of an elderly man being killed by a hitchhiker suspicions soon fall on the bad tempered James.

Well I sure hope the person who killed that old man get’s their comeuppance!

Oh yes they do!  They do indeed!  And I think it’s one of the best Point Horror endings….ever!

*evil laugh*

The Girls

Oh where to start!

I mean both girls were 17 with there birthdays weeks apart it’s hard to choose…..

Okay I’m going for it…..

Christina Jenkins…with her boyish, thin and wiry (?) figure, teasing smile, mischievous face, dramatic dark eyes brown playful eyes, slender shoulders and blonde corkscrew curls that she really should learn to brush was a typical Point Horror girl.  She was impulsive, loved to drive fast and who’s every sentence seemed to involve the word “boys”.  Even seducing our Point Horror slime ball love interest James (That whole back of the car scene was just cringey).

I have to admit I only guessed she would be the twist towards the end as until then I’m not sure I could see what direction this book was going in other than that a hitchhiker had killed an elderly man good enough to offer a lift.  But her excuse for killing him….. “Terri and I only wanted his car” #Saywhatnow

I would like to say I didn’t like Christina, but a little niggle in the back of my mind kind of makes me laugh a little at how she lured James in and then threw him under the bus or should we say tried to get him eaten alive at the end.  OMG I feel so evil!

Terri Martin….the seemingly exact opposite to her best friend Christina.  Who knew that a mention of her being an awesome swimmer at the start of the book would come in use at the end of the book…not once, but almost twice!  GO TERRI!  She was uneatable to say the least!

With her straight black hair, sky blue eyes, creamy white skin and chubby “full bodied” appearance (finally a chubby girl in point horror!) who showed us that you don’t have to be skinny to survive a Point Horror! *hi fives Terri*.

She was a bit or a worrier and far more cautious than Christina but that was completely understandable when her best friend was basically a murderer and a femme fatale!  Although I smelt a rat when although she claimed to be scared of James she quite happily went off for a walk in a remote wood with him and kissed him.

I actually kind of liked Terri other than the fact that she should have done the right thing from the offset and not waited until they were on a cliff with a Phirana pool below!

The Love Interest

With his olive green eyes, handsome face, powerfully built with a broad football player neck and short blonde buzzed hair you would either think this was a description of Vanilla Ice 90’s style….

Vanilla IceOr some gorgeous Point Horror boy for Chelley to swoon over at least!

Well NO!

James Dark and his love of country music and slapping mosquitoes was definitely not swoon worthy.  His temper and anger and the way it was just dismissed made me a little ragey!  I mean that poor diner guy!  And his cocky attitude towards women i.e. thinking her could have both Christina and Terri made me feel physically sick.

I mean I totally get that he was meant to be this mysterious hitchhiker who was going to cause the girls trouble and presumably we were not meant to like him and I do admit I reluctantly warmed towards him towards the end, but part of me really wanted him to end up in that piranha lake with the rest!  He deserved that at least rather than the full circle ending he got.

He deserved to learn more lessons other than “hanging around with the wrong women” really didn’t he?!  I mean it sums him all up really that he constantly thought the two girls were arguing over him and not the real reason that one of them was a murderer!

*angry face*

The Rest Of The Gang

Well everyone else was basically just fish food in the story but I wanted to mention a couple of them anyway….

Paul and Paula with his thining hair, potbelly and lively blue eyes and her pink plastic glasses, and small face they made me think of these characters from Keeping Up Appearances….

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I mean why leave a wallet of cash laying around the house and then let strangers and your cousin in the house….that’s just asking for trouble.  I really hope Paul was okay though?!?

Poor old Roger Eckridge….his death didn’t even happen on the page, but he still needs a mention as obviously he is pivotal to the plot that surfaced.  Killed by Christina and dumped on the side of the road.  What a why to go!

And then there’s Blue Taurus man otherwise know as Art Eckridge, Rogers son, a young man with black-rimmed glasses who somehow after dropping his Father to hospital, after spotting Christina and Terri dumping him on the side of the road whilst he was driving the other way up the highway, manages to track his Father’s killers down, run them off the road only to loose them again to then stumble across a half conscious Terri in the woods who has been beaten to a pulp by her best friend to then manage to pick Christina and James up on the side of another road hitchhiking to then kidnap them and take them to a remote cabin next to a phirana lake to then only be killed by his best friends phiranas!

Phew!

There’s a joke in all that description I’m sure of it!

Fashion Faux Pas

Ding!  Ding!

I spotted a reference to a very 90’s oversized chartreuse t-shirt and green spandex bicycle shorts combo!

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Also Paula’s pink plastic eyeglasses!

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Dialogue Disasters

Here’s some lines that made me chuckle…..

“Life isn’t a soap, Terri”

Yep listen to Christina Terri…..or maybe don’t.  This is Point Horror!

“He’s okay – He’s a truck driver Terri”

After Christina drives a truck driver off the road and can’t be bothered to check he’s okay, because this is the 90’s and she’s watched Terminator Two you know and they are always fine and walk out of accidents like this!

*shakes head*

“James giggled for some reason.  A high pitched giggle.  It just escaped from him like air whooshing out of a balloon”

*sniggers*

“Freddie Kreuger’s little boy”

I wonder if Stiney is referring to himself here?

“But he’s so cute.  He’s just like a big cuddly teddy bear”

Only Christina could call James the sleezeball this description!  Feed her to the piranha’s quick!

“He’s always been a little squirrely”

Squirrel-Halloween-Costume

“Window shopping for what?  Tractor Tyres?”

Terri and Christina couldn’t work out how to turn on the a/c in their stolen car so they are upgrading!

“Terri and I didn’t have enough money to call home”

Well don’t worry Christina it seems that your parents weren’t even worried about you at all.

“Listen Art, I’ll do something really nice for you if you let us go”

Don’t do it Art!  She’s only after your…..car!

“Don’t kidnappers only kidnap rich kids so they can get a big ransom?”

Sometimes you have to feel a little sorry for James don’t you *coughs*

“Show me the money”

Uh Oh!  I’m sure this is from a movie staring Tom Cruise.  But what came first The Hitchhiker or Jerry Maguire?  #lawsuit

Body Count

3!

That’s right!  THREE!

One off the page death (Roger Eckridge) and two rather bloody deaths at the end!

*celebrates*

You rock Mr Stiney!!!!

Is it scary?

No!  More violent than our usual Point Horror!

Although that whole Piranha Lake ending and the description of it….Stiney did not hold back!

They only thing is as the Piranha lake was revealed I started getting a little excited and smiled at the fact that these characters where going to face such a horrible scary death!

I’m slightly worried about myself!

Did the best friend do it?

And we have another winner!

Yes!  The best friend did do the deed…..of killing the person who was kind enough to pick her and her friend up and then kill him just for his car so she could get back home to her not so worried about her parents and then whilst on the way picked up another hitchhiker who she then tried to seduce, pin the murder on to save her own skin (literally) and push him in a piranha lake!

So the best friend well and truly did it this time!

Some Mild Peril?

One word!

PHIRANAS!

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Stiney upgraded us from his usual egg cracking death with a new splash, chomp and go style death!

There was even a new way of getting rid of Point Horror parents from the story….smeared across the highway!

Oh and Christina’s driving!

Is it any good?

Hmmmmmm….I have to admit I wasn’t a fan of this book until about the last 50 odd pages when the blood bath basically kicked off!  It was slow up until that point.

Although I can’t tell if I liked the last 50 pages because I was hoping (praying) that Stine would kill Christina and James off in what I think is the best Point Horror climax of them all….a Piranha lake!

This ending alone added an extra star to the book on my Goodreads page!  I’m not quite sure what that says about me as a person?!

And I thought this Point Horror contained quite a bit more violence and guns than our average point horror and I did find some of it a little disturbing I have to admit.

Final Thought

Swampy!

Cover Wars

I couldn’t find much of a different style in cover for this book really – just the writing style…

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Over to you!

As well as your thoughts on the book I’ve added some fun questions to ponder!

  • What happened to Paul?
  • Would you rather have an egg cracking Point Horror Death or Death By Piranha?
  • Did Christina’s parents ever realise she was missing?
  • What happened to Terri and James after the book finishes?

See you at #pointhorrorbookclub on 13th June 2016 !

**EXCITING POINT HORROR BOOK CLUB NEWS**

I also have some exciting news for you all!  Following previous brilliant Point Horror Q&A’s with Peter Lerangis and A Bates (find it on the Point Horror Page here) and after a little bit of stalking detecting I have managed to get a Q&A with Point Horror legend – author Richie Tankersley Cusick!

OMG RIGHT?!

  Do you have any questions for her you would like me to ask her?  Leave these in the comments and I will add them to mine 🙂

You can vote for your next #PointHorrorBookClub read here!

Voting closes on the 17th May 2016!

And the winner was….

phjune16

The next read will be announced on the #pointhorrorbookclub page here and on twitter using the hashtag #pointhorrorbookclub on the 17th May 2016!

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Thanks for joining in….

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PHBC – Hit And Run by R L Stine

28 Replies

n30981point1-510x180

Do you remember the Point Horror Book Series from the 90’s?  The Point Horror Series was a series of young adult point horror books and was launched in 1991 by Scholastic always with the Point Horror banner on the spine and on the top of every point horror book.  There were a number of authors that wrote these books for Scholastic: R L Stine, Diane Hoh, Caroline B Cooney, Sinclair Smith to name but a few.

Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on the re-read?  Are you new to Point Horror?  Has our opinion changed?  Are they still as good?  Do they stand up to modern day YA Horror?  Or are they a whole load of cray cray?

Lets find out…

#pointhorrorbookclub

 Join in the discussion with this months title!

Hit And Run By R L Stine

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Don’t forget to use the #pointhorrorbookclub on twitter so I can see your thoughts or tweet me using @chelleytoy

 There is a link to a poll at the bottom of this post to vote for your next #pointhorrorbookclub read! The next book will be announced on 17th March 2016

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

** Please note that as this is a discussion there will be spoilers**

The Tagline

Look before you leap!

Okay ….so…What’s It All About?

A group of friends are due to take their driving test, the good girl, the joker, the jock and the shy guy and after playing too many practical jokes on one of the group Eddie they decide one night ,when their parents are not around obvs, to take the car out for a spin and some get in some extra practise!

But isn’t that illegal?!  What if they got caught?!

Pfft!  Chill there’s totally nothing to worry about!  Nothing whatsoever….I mean they only run over a guy and leave him for dead on the side of the road!  No biggie!

But that’s called a Hit and Run!

Ohhhhhhh now I get why the book is called Hit & Run!

Anyway onwards we must go….

So the four friends try to forget about the poor dead guy, Brandt Tinker (not a joke)…..

*sniggers*

I’m trying to tell a synopsis here!

Anyway….then the phone calls start and the threatening letters turning up….you know the drill, but this time they appear to be from the dead guy, Brandt Tinkers!  Could he really be alive and out to get revenge?!

The Girl

With her crimped blonde hair, face full of freckles and lively green eyes I kind of liked Cassie Martin.  A normal 16 year old girl who’s short, thin athletic appearance made her look twelve. She hung out with her three best friends and she even had a secret crush on the one, Scott Baldwin.  This being said I loved how Cassie always gave us the plus and negative sides to her friends and her inside thoughts ie wishing Winks to be more serious and Scott, her crushes laugh making her teeth itch!

*scratches teeth*

It made me growl a little that her athletic tendencies seemed to be used as an excuse for hanging out with three boys instead of girls.  I don’t think this should have been an issue that kept needing to be brought up throughout the book, especially when the three boys were….lets say idiots Point Horror Boys!

Cassie did make me laugh though when she receives a phone call and the operator tells her it’s the supposed dead man they ran over and she accepts the call!  I mean would you?!

She wasn’t the worst Point Horror Girl we have come across, but just not the best….

The Love Interest

Scott Bladwin was described as more of a follower than a leader by Cassie.  A sheep rather than a tiger.

*growls*.

The big, blonde jock with brawny shoulders, broadneck and brains.  He was the full back on the football team, all state wrestler, class representative on the student government, held a solid B Plus Average, held an after school job (that he never seemed to be at throughout the book) and an all round guy who’s picture is in every year book.

I mean wow!  Can this guy be any better!

Unfortunately his personality was not the best Point Horror Boy we have ever had.  He has no idea Cassie has a crush on him and a really annoying laugh apparently and is described as good looking in a teddy bear sort of way?!!

I mean ….whaaaaaa???

thY8WHAY99He was the classic red herring!

He did go up in my estimation for that yellow poloroid camera though, that awkward kiss with Cassie and the way he didn’t really care if people took the mickey out of him.

The Gang

Bruce “Winks” Winkleman….upon first description I knew he would have been the boy that 15 year old Chelle would have swooned over.  Stringy brown hair down to his shoulders, short pudgy nose, blue denim jacket with his Fathers war medals pinned to it, faded jeans with gaping holes, black rimmed Buddy Holly glasses slightly to big for his slender face, one kind of smile, a devilish grin, the joker and a good guy once you get to know him.

Apparently!  Yes I soon changed my mind!

I realised very quickly that he took his “dumb jokes and schemes” way to far and literally would do anything for a laugh.  He practically bullies poor Eddie and gets everyone else to join in on the bullying!  Was it just me who laughed when he got run over by the “corpse”?  I did a little ha you deserved it sucker at my book!  🙂

His eyeball trick was plain gross….even I would have fainted and his car trick with the brakes was really all just about setting him up as the suspect in the story.

Eddie Katz the short, quiet, timid and frightened looking friend with his curly black hair, dark red circles on his cheeks, who wants to be a doctor but appears to not be able to deal with people let alone dead bodies and blood and who blushes far to easily.  He is the subject of Wink’s practical jokes and I really felt for him.  Everyone plays the jokes on him and he is a good sport about it all…..well that is until he decides to get payback on his “friends”.

It was a little obvious he was the one playing the tricks and who set up the whole hit and run scenario in my opinion.

Brandt Tinkers….the dead guy!  Yep that’s right the already dead guy that Eddie “claims” he ran over and killed even though he was already dead!  So stiff he could stand up on his own!  I mean the poor guy!  Not only does he have to suffer the name Brandt Tinkers he gets run over, shoved in and out of different cars and trunks and I do not even want to think about how he must have smelled!  OMG!

A little mention to Jerry, Eddies cousin who worked at the morgue and who supplied the eyeball to Winks and a dead body (which I’m pretty sure is illegal) to Eddie all in the name of a practical joke!  Tall and broad sholdered, built like a fall back, with long, frizzy blonde hair that fell unbrushed around his micheivious face.  He was like a cross between Winks and Scott and completely the opposite to his cousin Eddie.  He loved his diamond stud and cowboy boots and although helping Eddie initially with his so called joke it took him far to long to realise that the joke had gone to far!

I want to do a shout out here to the parents in this book too!  Oh how they made me laugh!  I did fear the worst for the parents when on page three the classic “the parents are out” is mentioned and then as we went on the parents were either at the cinema or in bed or out for dinner, but then something changed!  About halfway into this book the most rare thing happened.  The parents became involved in their childrens lives and were real people with real personalities.  Grounding their children and wearing bath robes and answering the phone at 3am in the morning and actually caring about there child being laid up and left for dead in the hospital!  I mean what craziness is this!  Yes Mr Stine!  Yes!

I especially liked Mrs Katz who just wanted everyone to love her yellow moist cake!

A part of me did wish that they were the evil twist in this book and were playing the pratical jokes on the kids as some type of Point Horror revenge gone wrong!!

*evil laugh*

Fashion Faux Pas

This book mentioned clothing all over the place!

It mentioned pump up sneakers…..a sign of the 90’s for sure!

th3P2G4BZ9A Bart Simpson t-shirt….

keepitrealvtg_34251383878136And best of all Wink’s bright yellow sweater and green corduroys that made him look like a chicken….

thVV9LTYS0

Dialogue Disasters

I have to admit I didn’t find many in this one….but these few made me chuckle…

“Cassie has been athletic all her life, playing sports, swimming, bike riding and hanging out with the boys in her neighbourhood”

*coughs*

With an opening sentence like this I thought this was going to be Point Romance!

“We won’t need headlights.  Winks can run ahead of us in that sweater”

Lol

“Brandt Tinkers Eddie said staring at his corpse.  Brandt Tinkers”

Yep we were all thinking the same….who came up with this name #ClassicPointHorrorName

“Even though it was only seven thirty she was already in a flannel night gown and bathrobe”

I’m normally in mine by 6:30!

“Eddie had pulled into himself like a frightened turtle”

Peek A Boo!

TQUe8fZ

Body Count

A lame one….and even he was already dead!  Disappointing to say the least!

Is it scary?

No no no!  Not scary at all I’m afraid.

Did the best friend do it?

Well yeah….one of the best friends did do it!

*throws confetti*

Some Mild Peril?

Hmmmmm I guess being run over and left for dead and being told to run for your life whilst a car tries to mow you down classes as mild peril.

Other than that I’m not sure…..

I know one thing for sure definitely not a threatening note written in purple crayon lol

Is it any good?

I actually kind of liked this one…it was like a first version of I Know What You Did Last Summer with a few more plot wholes and before they cast Sarah Michelle Geller….I enjoyed it.  Okay the twist was guessable and the threats not really that scary, but it was enjoyable.

Also did anyone else notice the obsession with the colour yellow in this book?  Yellow food, yellow clothes, yellow camera, yellow cake, yellow lights…….and there was that hospital that was….wait for it….. pea soup green.  All green.  Green every where ruining my mellow yellow coma that I was in.

Final Thought

Fluffy the cat!

*sniffles*

Cover Wars

Which do you prefer?

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Over to you!

As well as your thoughts on the book I’ve added some fun questions to ponder!

  • What practical joke would you have played on Winks?
  • Were the parents in on it?
  • What was Brandt Tinkers back story other than being a poor homeless guys who’s body was used for prank purposes?
  • What yellow thing would you have added into the book?

See you at #pointhorrorbookclub on 13th April 2016 !

You can vote for your next #PointHorrorBookClub read here!

Voting closes on the 17th March 2016!

And the winner was…..

PHAPR16

The next read will be announced on the #pointhorrorbookclub page here and on twitter using the hashtag #pointhorrorbookclub on the 17th February 2016!

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Thanks for joining in….

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PHBC – Halloween Night by R L Stine

13 Replies

 

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point

Do you remember the Point Horror Book Series from the 90’s?  The Point Horror Series was a series of young adult point horror books and was launched in 1991 by Scholastic always with the Point Horror banner on the spine and on the top of every point horror book.  There were a number of authors that wrote these books for Scholastic: R L Stine, Diane Hoh, Caroline B Cooney, Sinclair Smith to name but a few.

Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on the re-read?  Are you new to Point Horror?  Has our opinion changed?  Are they still as good?  Do they stand up to modern day YA Horror?  Or are they a whole load of cray cray?

Lets find out…

#pointhorrorbookclub

 Join in the discussion with this months title!

Halloween Night by R L Stine

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Don’t forget to use the #pointhorrorbookclub on twitter so I can see your thoughts or tweet me using @chelleytoy

 There is a link to a poll at the bottom of this post to vote for your next #pointhorrorbookclub read! The next book will be announced on 17th October 2015

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

We also have a fantastic guest post from the lovely Anne Finnis who was part of the team responsible for bringing the Point Horror books to the UK in the 90’s.  It’s so wonderful!  Check it out here!

** Please note that as this is a discussion there will be spoilers**

The Tagline

This party is a killer…

Okay ….so…What’s It All About?

WOW!  Where to start!  Brenda and her friends are plotting a Halloween party with homemade terrifying Halloween costumes including a clown, a monk and the most terrifying of all ever Halloween costumes….a peacock!

A Peacock?!

Yes you heard me right!  But that’s the least of Brenda’s worry and woes!  Halley, Brenda’s cousin, is staying whilst her parents sort out their divorce and not only is she content in pinching Brenda’s bedroom and Luke Perry poster she sets her sights on Brenda’s boyfriend Ted too!  And over a truck full of buns and a hard gear stick Ted falls for Halley and snogs her under Brenda’s bedroom window!  This makes Brenda mad enough to plot revenge!

Revenge?!  Like jumping out on her in her clown outfit?!

Pfffftttt don’t be silly!  Brenda means business….murder!  But not any old murder!  A Halloween Murder!  Whilst writing an assignment with her two friends Dina and Traci about the fictional murder of her cousin and after Halley dumping Ted and moving onto Traci’s boyfriend, but then back to Ted and then many study dates with other boys (?!) Brenda convinces her friends that the murder should become a reality!  For realises!!!  Especially after some strange goings on!

Strange goings on?!  This can’t be true of a Point Horror!!?

Oh yes indeed!  Someone is trying to scare Brenda with blood messages and off meat in her bed with added maggots!  Who could it be?!  Brenda points the finger well and truly at Halley!  But could it be true?!  And will Brenda really murder her for revenge?!  Or will some perfectly placed air vents scupper her plans?!

*Tosses hair*

The Girl

Emerald eyed, copper haired, Luke Perry loving Brenda Morgan!  Don’t make her angry or her freckles with darken in rage!  She is a sewing master and thinks her cousin Halley is a monster and mean natured!

Brenda decides that to murder Halley is the only option!  I mean how could that be the only option!?  Did she not read The Babysitter?!  *tuts*

She really was very self centred and a little bit annoying, but then in a way this was good as it made me laugh when she got scared of the creepy mask in her window and the creepy messages to beat all messages….SEE YOU ON HALLOWEEN!!!  I mean the horror!  Perhaps someone just couldn’t get through on the phone so went for a more traditional way of messaging in the 90’s with a Halloween vibe.  Quite frankly I think Brenda over reacted!

AND that’s not all!  Picture the scene!  Your hatred for your cousin who you are plotting to kill for being mean, stealing your boyfriend and Luke Perry poster spiralling out of control, but yeah sure it’s okay you can borrow my car Halley!  NO BRENDA NO!

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Don’t get me wrong I was cheering Brenda on a few times with how she handled Ted the slimeball….but then she went and got back with him…..then he went and abandoned Brenda at the prom and copped off again with Halley!  OMG!

Don’t forget though Brenda always did her best thinking with a needle in her hand!  Did she drop the needle?!

I think it’s fair to say I had a love/hate relationship with Brenda!  Most of my love came from the catfight scenes with Halley over the table and then on the driveway!  Meow!

It was nice to see that Brenda’s parents were in this particular Point Horror…although they may well have not have been!  They were as unsupportive and as useful as a chocolate teapot!  They even made her sleep in her blood stained room!  There was a point where I actually did feel sorry for Brenda but don’t tell anyone!

The Love Interest

I can’t believe I have to call Ted the slimeball the love interest!  Ewwwwww!  His thick mane / mop of curley brown hair and crinkly eyes did nothing for me except infuriate me into a Point Horror rage!

It annoyed me as I kept imagining him as Robert Sheehan!  Although Robert Sheehan would NOT be such a slimeball!

Robert-Sheehan-2

But fear not surely Stiney put a back up love interest in Halloween Night!

Pfftttt This ain’t no Point Romance!  Silly me!

I present to you Noah!  NOAH!  With a high pitched laugh that set peoples teeth on edge, straw coloured hair and pudgy hands…who could resist!  Well certainly not Halley who steals him of Traci (with an I) !

Basically Stiney gave us rubbish love interests who were selfish and thought they were gods gift to women!

Rant over!

I feel better now!

The Gang

Traci (with an I) Warner aka Milky Way lover!  With her straight black hair that she tosses over her shoulder so many times I lost count, her silvery eyes and her copy of Seventeen magazine that was originally going to be the murder weapon (I know how Stiney was thinking pre edits!).  She was a bit gullible and basically hung on Brenda’s every word and just went along with things.  You know as you do!

Long legged, tall, slender, short brown haired Dina Smithers who could rock a cat suit for Halloween and holding down a job at a vets as well as school was always complaining about her looks and sticking up for Halley!  She had her time to shine 3/4 of the way through the book when Stiney must have forgotten he was writing from Brenda’s point of view and switched to Dina for …wait for it….A WHOLE CHAPTER!  Full Point Horror glory right there!  Well that was until she tripped over the pumpkin and right into the hands of two policeman!  How shameful to say you were busted by a pumpkin!  Kudos to Dina for refusing to be part of the planned murder which ended up not being a planned murder but a trick to lure Dina into admitting she was the one behind the nasty (hilarious) tricks on Brenda.  I liked Dina!

Talk of the devil!  Little old Halley!  Oh dear oh dear!  To quote Point Horror book club member Paul….her milkshake brought ALL the boys to the yard!!!  Yep indeed!  Giving women drivers a bad name with her reverse parking, flirting with Ted and Noah and Ted and a pumpkin (probably) and taking Brenda’s things I really did not like her!  But then I guess I was not meant to?!  It had nothing to do with her gorgeous blonde hair, blue eyes, dry sarcastic sense of humour and a little miss perfect routine!  I highly disagree!  That gorilla scene when she jumps on the table was Point Horror gold!

Shout out to Randy Brenda’s ten year old brother who made me lol especially over pandagate and his enthusiasm over Prince Of Persia!  I LOVED THAT GAME!

Fashion Faux Pas

Did anyone else notice that we seemed to be told about what everyone was wearing in nearly every new scene?!

There were jumpers, turtle necks, leggings…you know the norm!

Until!

A leopard skin style jacket made it’s appearance on Dina!

It was so very Kurt Cobain!

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Woooohhoooooo!  I have never been so happy for a fashion faux pas in my life!

Dialogue Disasters

“Brenda thinks Halley is a monster”

Monster is a bit harsh I guess?

“You don’t even have room for your Luke Perry poster”

EVERYONE should have room for a 90’s Luke Perry poster!  *stares at Luke Perry poster on the wall*

“She promised she’d help me fertilize the rhododendrons this afternoon”

Brenda’s Mom is in the wrong book!  This is Point Horror Brenda’s Mom!  POINT HORROR NOT 50 SHADES!!!

“I wish a fly would fly into her mouth”

Brenda knows ALL of the evil plot twists!

“Maybe her face will crack and disintegrate into a thousand pieces”

Early Botox voodoo spell!?

“Lets murder her!”

See it was all your idea Traci with an i!

“It isn’t hard….once you get the back in”

*spits out buttery popcorn in horror* Ted is such a stud!

“That whole truck is filled with buns….amazing”

Ted really knows what to say to the ladies!

“Wow!  It doesn’t take you a lot to get excited does it!”

*coughs* Nope just a truck load of buns!

“Well plotting a murder mystery isn’t going to be easy”

Stiney has read The Boy Next Door and is looking at you Sinclair Smith!

“It’s a gorilla”

Something I never thought I would quote from a Point Horror!

“Why would Halley do a dumb thing like that?”

No comment!

“No.  Forget strangling.  It’s too good for her!”

No it really isn’t!  Do it already!  Oh come on I’m not the only one who shouted this at the book am I?

“It should be the person you never suspect”

Why did Dina have to say this?  Why?!  It was like waving a flag saying oh it’s me they would never suspect me!  Grrrrrrrr

“Yay”  She cheered “I’m a murderer”

Oh Dina!  If only buns did it for you like Ted!

“You look like a racoon”

Dina has ALL the insults!

“Goosebumps climbed her bare arms”

*Hi fives Stiney for some self promotion there*

“I’ll shove it down the laundry shoot.  No one will ever think to look there!”

We will let Brenda off as this was in the days before CSI!  They ALWAYS look in the laundry shoot Brenda!  ALWAYS!

Body Count

We can only dream!  0!

With the exception of many pumpkins!

Is it scary?

Not really!  But I did find that scene with the pumpkin coming alive in Brenda’s dreams and turning an talking quite terrifying and it made me dream I was pumpkin (this is not a joke!)!

I mean who knew that an evil pumpkin coming alive would make a wet sucking sound!  Mind = blown!

Also dead headless bird!  GROSS!

And also the most scary part of all was people dressing up as Princess Di and Cindy Crawford for a Halloween party! Just me who didn’t get the joke here?

Did the best friend do it?

DING DING!  We have a winner with this Point Horror!  One of the best friends did do it!  Or tried to and failed *curses Brenda’s sewing skills and extra padding*

Some Mild Peril?

Well apart from the constant hair tossing over the shoulder (did anyone else notice this?) the only mild peril was the hope that whoever was in the Gorilla suit was really brown bread!

Is it any good?

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about this book.  I think I liked it, but yet I’m not sure.  It took a long time to get going and the Halloween Night party was in the last 20 pages or so.  I do admit I did like the end although I had a feeling it was Dina I liked the uncertainty and I was hoping I was wrong.  I think the only character I liked was Dina (except Randy) and look how that ended!

Final Thought

Pudgy!

Over to you!

As well as your thoughts on the book I’ve added some fun questions to ponder!

  • Who would you go to a Halloween Party dressed as?
  • What happened to Dina after Halloween Night?
  • Ted or Noah?!
  • What extra prank should Dina have played on Brenda?

You can leave a reply by using the reply button at the top of the page!

See you at #pointhorrorbookclub on 13th November 2015 !

Billy is back with his Halloween Night in emoji’s!  I love it!

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You can vote for your next #PointHorrorBookClub read here!

Voting closes on the 17th October 2015!

And the winner was….

Capture

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Don’t forget to check out the fab guest post with Anne Finnis who was part of the team responsible for bring Point Horror to the UK here

Also the lovely Anne has said we can put some Point Horror related questions to her!  Do you have a question for Anne?  Let me know and I will include it in my Q&A with her which will go live next month!

The next read will be announced on the #pointhorrorbookclub page here and on twitter using the hashtag #pointhorrorbookclub on the 17th October 2015!

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Thanks for joining in….

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PHBC – Beach House by R L Stine

6 Replies

 

Beach-House

 

point

Do you remember the Point Horror Book Series from the 90’s?  The Point Horror Series was a series of young adult point horror books and was launched in 1991 by Scholastic always with the Point Horror banner on the spine and on the top of every point horror book.  There were a number of authors that wrote these books for Scholastic: R L Stine, Diane Hoh, Caroline B Cooney, Sinclair Smith to name but a few.

Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on the re-read?  Are you new to Point Horror?  Has our opinion changed?  Are they still as good?  Do they stand up to modern day YA Horror?  Or are they a whole load of cray cray?

Lets find out…

#pointhorrorbookclub

 Join in the discussion with this months title!

Beach House by R L Stine

Beach-House

Don’t forget to use the #pointhorrorbookclub on twitter so I can see your thoughts or tweet me using @chelleytoy

 There is a link to a poll at the bottom of this post to vote for your next #pointhorrorbookclub read! The next book will be announced on 17th August 2015

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

** Please note that as this is a discussion there will be spoilers**

The Tagline

Don’t go near the water…

Okay ….so…What’s It All About?

All reet!

We get two Point Horrors with lots of characters for the price of one with the Beach House!  One half set in 1956 and one in present day with Mickey Mouse blankets in 1956, MTV blankets in the present day, swimsuits and burmuda shorts in 1956 and very tight blue spandex trunks and bikinis in present day..you get the picture!

Basically the gang in both 1956 and present day just want a relaxing holiday on the beach, but what they get is murdered!

Murdered?

Yes that’s right!  Well most of them anyway!  Some one is set on murdering the group of friends in 1956 and questionable goings on echoing the 1956 murders in the present day bear a spooky resemblance to the unsolved mystery!  Mind twirls!  And in both 1956 and present day there is a Beach House!

A Beach House?  Still standing after all those years are you crazy wouldn’t it rot?

Apparently it was one sturdy beach house hiding a secret which one member of the gang has discovered!

Spoiler alert – it may involve time travel oh an a huge closet ….basically this is the Narnia of Point Horror!!!!  Yes you heard me right Time Travel in Point Horror!  And with added chapter headings taking the tension to unbearable Point Horror status!

Chapter Headings?!  Your kidding right?!

Yes!  All this time travelling, murder spree beach holiday book was split into chapters with CHAPTER HEADINGS!  Woah I hear you say!  This can’t be true!  But yes!  CHAPTER HEADINGS ROCK! And maybe blew my tiny Point Horror mind a bit!  My personal favourite heading was WORRIED ABOUT SHARKS….not your average Point Horror you know!

The Gang

There were that many characters in this book I’m going to split them into different catergories this month…and lets face it the story was told from different point of views and they were all swapping partners like they thought they were on Love Island or something?!

So here goes….

The Girls

First up let’s talk about Maria with her straight black silky hair and dramatic brown eyes and her fun enthusiastic personality…basically she’s to blame for the whole Buddy turning all murderer by going on a date with Stuart tipping poor Buddy over the edge and then becoming shark food!  I actually thought she was TSTL (Too stupid to live) by falling for all of Buddy’s wobbly bottom lip but turning out to be the some what questionable twist in the end was a genuine surprise so she went up in my estimastion….she basically survived JAWS!!!

Amy “Mouse” with her tight blond curls, small boyish figure, grey blue eyes tiny button nose she resembled a mouse!  A very cute mouse!  I did actually kind of laugh when she was running from Buddy in fear #sorrynotsorry.  I feel she was thrust into the spotlight as Maria became shark food and was a little typical Point Horror girl I feel.

Ashley…the model…. and wannabe WAG… thin and beautiful with straight silvery blonde hair, high cheekbones, striking green eyes, perfect straight nose and delicate heart shaped lips!

*eye rolls*

Oh and wants a rich man!  aka future WAG!

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She literally would flirt with anyone….even the life guard…even Buddy!  Enough said!

Shout out to her swim suit which let Stiney get a cheeky reference to Madonna in!  *air punch*

The Boys

Ronnie was so tall and lanky he resembled a long lanky giraffe when he ran!  This is basically the only notes I made about Ronnie!  Uh Oh!  Was he that forgettable!  He was one of the main characters *mind goes blank*

Stuart ….Mr Rock and Roll.  Mr Real Cool Cat.  Mr I love Brylcreeme. The Joker.  Trying to look the tough guy but apparently he was too cute and funny!  Look where that got him!  Steeling Maria off Buddy got him clobbered of the head with a log and dead!  Our typical joker of a Point Horror character!

Ross “Matt Dillon” lookalike with straight black hair, heavy eyebrows, intense serious face and apony tail…he was a little bit possessive, but Ashley could calm him down with a kiss….I find this quite disturbing!  He got dumped and I laughed! #opppssiieess

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The Extras!

And not forgetting Mr Vanilla Ice on a bad day look alike himself…Kip with his diamond stud earring and rather protective over his ice cream!

Vanilla-Ice

And of course auburn hair, enormous eyes, freckled Lucy!

Yep I forgot about them too!  #Gonetoosoon….they fell victim to the Point Horror extra discarded at the first chance Stiney had!  The poor children back in 1956 had no ice cream after poor Kip went missing and that’s just pure wrongness! *cries*  He’s a baad dude!

And classic point horror naming could not go a miss in this Beach House with Denny Drake (the animal!)….jumping out on poor Ashley at every opportunity and nicknamed Hulk!  He was a bit stalkerish!  I felt like he was jumping over from another Point Horror and just got muddled up in this story!  The Beast!  He beat up Ross…although I think he may have deserved it!

Oh I also want to mention the 1956 policeman, deep voiced, Officer Barrett, who with his short topped hair and blue eyes apparently looked like Tab Hunter (below)….do you think he conducted his investigations like this?

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BRAD.BUDDY.BUDDY.BRAD! 

Buddy in 1956, grey blue eyes who just popped up in the sand beside Maria one day, shy, aukward and clumsy….oh except when killing people!  Duh!  He wasn’t exactly a million laughs!  He basically seduced Maria to get in the sea with a towel….watch and learn peeps…watch and learn!  All this being said I really think he came out of his shell as the book went on…albeit normally when he was murdering people with a certain glint in his eyes but still!

All over a pair of stolen swimming shorts!  Was he worried the sea was too cold?! *winks*

Buddy was Brad in present day and basically the same so it was a bit guessable that he had something to do with the 1956 murders!  Oh and he wore blue spandex trunks that were very tight *my burning eyes* and t shirts that were too big for him (making up for the excuse of the coldness of the sea?  Proving a point? he he he).  Living in the posh mansion of Ocean Drive!

On a side note whenever Brad was Buddy I kept thinking of this song and film….

And whenever Buddy was Brad I kept thinking of this song….

HELP ME!

Fashion Faux Pas

There were lots of Hawaiian style swim trunks that people were running about in!

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Also reference to Orange Day Glo Baggies??!  Anyone?

And not forgetting those tight spandex shorts!  *wolf whistles*

Dialogue Disasters

“Buddy hates jokes like that”  “He’s so square he’s cubed”

I wouldn’t say that to Buddy if I were you…he will feed you to the sharks!

“When he tries to smile he looks like Howdy Doody”

Who?  Well I actually googled it!  Brace yourselves….

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“I can borrow my Dad’s Thunderbird tonight.  We can go to the drive in in style”

AWESOME!  5.4.3.2.1….Thunderbirds are go!

“You have a Thunderbird!  What colour?”

“Pink with grey leather seats and convertible!”

Yep…still would!

“All boys are immature”

Coughs!

“I’ve never seen his parents”

THIS IS POINT HORROR AMY!  POINT HORROR!  Amy has all the jokes!

“Where are Buddy’s parents?  Why haven’t they contacted the police”

Sighs!  Points to above!

“My mom isn’t here Buddy said quickly.  She had to go….somewhere”

I bet she did! “Somewhere” indeed”

“Here come your parents”

Last page joy *celebrates*

“I’ve always wanted a house with wings”

Awwww I hope Kip’s dream came true…where ever he ended up!

“What am I going to do?  She asked the moon What am I going to do?”

Awwww poor Amy never had Siri in 1956…poor thing!

“If it’s too loud your too old”

Rude Ashley!  Rude!

“My hair is soaked I must look like little Orphan Annie”  “No you don’t you look like Marilyn Monroe”

Buddy knows how to charm the ladies before he murders them!  Possibly Billy’s new chat up line?

“Elvis Presley?  That’s a stupid name isn’t it?  Is he any good”

I like Mr Stines jokes!  Although did people really say the phrase he’s really gone?!

“No-one likes to be laughed at”

These characters should have thought of this before laughing at Buddy / Brad!  Have they never read Point Horror!  Disgusting!

“He’s a crazy murderer”

It took Amy long enough to realise this!

Body Count

SO.MANY.DEAD.PEOPLE!

Yep this book knocked up a few of the old dead bodies!  There were people getting killed and disappearing all over the place in both 1956 and present day!  I definitely agree that Point Horror knocked up the body count as the books became more popular!

To sum up (and I hope I have this right!)

3 confirmed dead (Amy, Stuart…and eventually Buddy/Brad)

2 possibly dead not confirmed (Ronnie, Buddy / Brad)

2 missing (Lucy, Kip) – sent back to the past!

1 presumed dead, left to be eaten by the sharks, but became the shock twist ….oh and then presumably died (Maria / Mary)!

Like the Beach House at the end of the book – Mind blown!

Is it scary?

I actually thought the scene when Maria was in the sea and disorientated was actually quite scary!  And then Buddy coming for her with the knife!  I mean where did he keep the knife up until that point?!  He only has Bermuda shorts on! *winces*…..this could have led to a whoooollleeee other type of Point Horror story indeed!

Did the best friend do it?

Well not the best friend exactly no…but some one that both groups befriended on the beach!  I feel this is a warning to teenagers and their holiday romances!  Lol

Some Mild Peril?

Sea, Sharks, wooden logs, Buddy, a time travelling closet in a beach house, knives being pulled out of very tight shorts and lots of running, tennis and volleyball!  Lots of mild peril!  Lots!

Is it any good?

I actually really really enjoyed this one!  A few boom boxes aside it didn’t feel that dated and time travelling wardrobe / beach house aside also I liked the premise.

Yes there were a few plot holes (I want to know how Maria managed to get back to present day and ended up working as a servant!) and yes the 1956 part of the story needed more than a few TV and music references (Sh-Boom, Sh-Boom, Sh-Boom) to feel like the 50’s, but I actually really enjoyed this one.

I feel this was one of the better Point Horrors…I mean it was a plus Jenny from the Babysitter didn’t turn up to offer her services!

Final Thought

Classic Point Horror absent parents were evident in this book….although how dare they show up to comfort Ashley right on the very last page!  Rude!

Later, alligators!

Over to you!

As well as your thoughts on the book I’ve added some fun questions to ponder!

  • What happened to Denny Drake?
  • Was Ross the Chuck (from the babysitter) of this story?
  • If you has a time travelling Beach House where would you go?
  • How did Maria get to the present day?
  • Were those spandex shorts really too tight?!

You can leave a reply by using the reply button at the top of the page!

See you at #pointhorrorbookclub on 13th September 2015 !

Vote for the next #pointhorrorbookclub read here – what will you pick?

And the winner was….

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I’m thinking of running a post of peoples favourite Point Horror Books or Point Horror Moments soon – so have a think about that over the next few months and we will see what we can come up with!

Also in other Point Horror news I have managed to get in touch with the lady who bought Point Horror to the UK and possibly someone who had something to do with

The next read will be announced on the #pointhorrorbookclub page here and on twitter using the hashtag #pointhorrorbookclub on the 17th August 2015!

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new, Point Horror guest posts and interviews with Point Horror authors please click here

Thanks for joining in….

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PHBC – The Babysitter II by R L Stine

18 Replies

 

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Do you remember the Point Horror Book Series from the 90’s?  The Point Horror Series was a series of young adult point horror books and was launched in 1991 by Scholastic always with the Point Horror banner on the spine and on the top of every point horror book.  There were a number of authors that wrote these books for Scholastic: R L Stine, Diane Hoh, Caroline B Cooney, Sinclair Smith to name but a few.

Are the Point Horror books we loved as a teenager still our favourites on the re-read?  Are you new to Point Horror?  Has our opinion changed?  Are they still as good?  Do they stand up to modern day YA Horror?  Or are the a whole load of cray cray?

Lets find out…

#pointhorrorbookclub

 Join in the discussion with this months title!

The Babysitter II by R L Stine

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Don’t forget to use the #pointhorrorbookclub on twitter so I can see your thoughts or tweet me using @chelleytoy

 There is a link to a poll at the bottom of this post to vote for your next #pointhorrorbookclub read The next book will be announced on 17th March 2015 :-)

For links to #pointhorrorbookclub posts old and new please click here

** Please note that as this is a discussion there will be spoilers**

The Tagline

Knock, Knock, Who’s there?…Don’t ask!

Okay ….so…What’s It All About?

So Jenny Jeffers is back!  In the sequel!  Back with her wild imagination and her constant talking out loud to herself!  And to be honest….very much the same Jenny as we met before!  Jenny is seeing a shrink due to being so traumatised by previous events with Mr Hagen….  You would think after the Babysitter 1 she would look for a career change….but….well nope…good old Jenny goes back to the job that nearly got her killed and traumatised her for life…babysitting.  But this time it will be different…a 10 year old can’t be that difficult to look after right?  RIGHT?!  WRONG!

“Is he some kind of monster or something?”

A monster?

OMG!  Yes!  Eli is a nightmare not even dressed like a daydream as Taylor Swift would say! More on Eli later!

But that’s when the phone calls start!

Mysterious phone calls and strange goings on?

Yes!  Someone is out to get Jenny…again!  Who could it be?!  With whispery phonecalls, dead trantulas, being chased around car parks, streets and the mall someone is out to get her?  And they seem to know all of Mr Hagens old tricks….is Mr Hagen back from the dead and coming to get her?!
Dum Dum DUUUUUUMMMMMM!

The Girl

“I’m not the same person”

This is a quote from the main lady herself Jenny!  She hasn’t really changed …not really…she still talks to herself like all the time and runs from everything….well except the shrink whos ripping her off but more on that later.

Jenny also has an usual scream….

“YAAAAAAAII!”

Eli

Yes this little cherub *coughs* gets a section alllll to himself!

OH.MY.DAYS!

With a goofy high pitched laugh, an IQ of over 180 that made poor old Jenny feel dumb, three tarantulas and a home made mobile phone Eli the tantrum throwing evil genius brat was something else!

In a kind of way I loved him as a character, but oh how I would have him constantly in the naughty corner if he was my child!

Also I think he actually fancied Jenny…calling her at home and hugging her a lot near the end of the book….this is NOT the Eli we came to hate during the course of the book!  Look what love does to you Eli!  Turns you normal!  We want evil genius brat Eli back!  In a weird kind of way….

That included fake blood and pretending to be dead to scare the babysitter after one of many strops and you know…just for a laugh like you do.

And don’t even get me started on his parents Mr and Mrs Wexner who let their 10 year old watch horror films for fun hoping that he will get blood and gore out of his system that way! Scenes of Eli enjoying the blood spattered murder scenes and laughing every time someone got killed!  And not watching the end as he doesn’t like watching the bad guy get caught!  OMG!  What were they trying to raise!!!  I’m actually horrified!  *thinks of Damien from the Omen*

I did admire his love for Stephen King though!  Credit where credit is due I guess!

The Love Interest

Oh dear…was he really a love interest?  Cal?  The Hawaiian shirt loving, scratched up Dodge Dart Car, scar on chin, I’m no good at anything but I secretly am really Cal!

Meeting in a mall over rap and pop-rock cassettes and chasing poor “everyones coming to get me”  Jenny into a corner and then after two sentences and the promise of ice cream bagging a date with her!  You gotta respect the boy!  Well except his ideas of dates were not the best dates ever really were they….a dead party with lots of snogging couples and a beer keg, roller skating…swimming in the quarry, meeting Jenny by the dark and unlit clothing bins in a car park….one can only dream for such a romantic man….oh wait!

Whenever I think of Cal and Jenny this is who I kept picturing…I don’t even know why!?  Help me!

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The Gang

Wrestler Chuck was back in the sequel with his goofy Huck Finn grin but after being dumped by Jenny was not taking it well at all …even wrestling poor Jenny to the floor!  NO CHUCK!  JUST NO!

New friends Rick, the good looking jock with curly black hair and a goofy smile and  serious Claire who was very tall and thin who according to Jenny was not really pretty, but she would be one day (ouch!  harsh! Jenny!  Harsh!) were nice little stocking fillers of friends.  Rick stole the limelight from Claire a lot with his failed attempt to snog Jenny and THAT tennis match!  Rick Vs Cal…..Death by tennis ball!  Ding Ding! Or maybe because his shorts were too tight?!

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Then we have Dr Schindler….oh dear oh dear!  I really started to wonder why Jenny kept going back to him.  He spent more time looking at his watch with money signs in his eyes and telling Jenny she was basically crazy….but remember the word crazy is not allowed in his office!  Jenny said herself that he made her feel worse after each session!  WHY GO BACK JENNY!?  WHY?!  Especially with his expressionless face and sleeping pill pushing ways! *shudders*

Oh well I suppose we can forgive him really…after all as Jenny kept telling us he really didn’t look like a shrink (?!).  Remember he was too handsome, too young, too tanned, too tall with wavy coppery hair, blond eyebrows and startling green eyes.  Little bit picky don’t you think Jenny?!  But rest assured he had the diplomas to prove he was the real thing!

Fashion Faux Pas

Tie Dye was all the rage in the 90’s – I loved my tie dye skirt and I’m so glad it made an appearance in this book with Jenny wearing a tye dyed tshirt that Mrs Gurney thought was very pretty.  And we all now what Mrs Gurney finds pretty don’t we!

I loved the faded Bart Simpson t shirt and jean cuttoffs mentioned also.

I also loved how little bratt Eli wore a Turtle Power t shirt and green spandex cycle shorts!  Not so badass now are you Eli?  Eh?

I cannot begin to pass over this topic without mentioning good old Mrs Gurney and her….GLASSES!  Yep bright red plastic framed glasses dotted with rhinestones!  A must for anyone trying to attract a sexy shrink or turn into a psycho killer!

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Is it me or did everyone else imagine Dame Edna Everage or was it just me?

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And as for that picture of me circulating on twitter!  Mrs Gurneys style glasses rule ok!  Plus it was world book day so that’s my excuse!

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Dialogue Disasters

Not so much a dialogue disaster but definitely a special mention and hats off to R L Stine for getting this classic point horror line in within the first 10 pages of the book!

“Then I heard the cracking sound his body made when it hit the rocks below”  “I still hear that sound.  Crack.  Like an egg breaking”

Yep there it is…Point Horror book club member Billy will be happy 🙂

“Oh No!  If we’re late Uncle Bill will take away my shoehorn!”

The end of the world for poor Rick!  To live life with out a shoehorn!  Oh the horror!

“Small puddles of water glistened across the pavement like hundreds of glowing eyes”

*cries for Mommy*

“I’m all alone, Jenny thought.  I can do anything.  I can dance, I can sing!  The whole glowing fresh world is mine!”

You go Jenny!  Dance like no ones watching!

“She wanted to make him bleed”

I give you two guesses as to who this is about!

Body Count

0 – well except a dead tarantula I guess, but nope Stiney keeps the body count to zero!

Is it scary?

Hmmmm not reeeaaaalllyyy…well I didn’t think it was…but Stiney does a fab job of flesh corroding descriptions that make you look twice at that spag bol your about to eat!

Did the best friend do it?

Hurrah!  No!  Yay!  But it was a tiney weeny bit guessable.  Although I remember being shocked by the reveal as a teen!  It was those glasses that gave it away!  Tell tale sign!  Although I really did want it to be Eli!  Is that bad of me?

Some Mild Peril?

Meh?  What mild peril when it’s quite amusing reading about Jenny running around arms flapping and her imagination running wild….surely comic genius!?

Is it any good?

Not the best point horror, but Eli stole the show for me!  And again classic point horror and along the lines of urban myths of babysitters, phone calls and scares…what’s not to love!

Big shout out to the magazine to beat all magazines!  Sassy Magazine!  *checks on ebay…I have to have a copy!!!*

Final Thought

I want to remind you all of the description / vision Jenny had of Eli after meeting his parents but before meeting the little brat!

“She pictured a monster waiting for her at the top of the stairs, a short, hunched creature with bulging red eyes and an open, drooling mouth, giggling hideously to himself, waiting to pounce on her the second she came into view”

Enough said Jenny!  Respect!  For once your imagination was so spot on!

ELI = DAMIEN!

Damien in The Omen (1978)

Over to you!

As well as your thoughts on the book here are some questions to consider.

  • Your thoughts on Eli?  What will he grow up to be?
  • Is the Babysitter II a worthy sequel?
  • Team Rick or Team Cal?
  • Describe your ideal glasses to beat Mrs Gurney’s!
  • Would you employ Jenny?

You can leave a reply by using the reply button at the top of the page :-)

See you at #pointhorrorbookclub on 13th April 2015 !

As well as the book club we hopefully will have a point horror style guest post from fab author Lou Morgan about her love for all things point horror!  Yay!

Vote for the next #pointhorrorbookclub read here – what will you pick?

And the winner was…..

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The next read will be announced on the #pointhorrorbookclub page here and on twitter using the hashtag #pointhorrorbookclub on the 17th March 2015!

Thanks for joining and don’t answer the phone it may be Eli! *evil laugh*

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