Review Time! - Say Her Name by Juno Dawson

Title: Say Her Name

Author: Juno Dawson

Genre: YA, Horror, Ghost Story

Amazon: UK - USA

A few starting notes:

I read Hollow Pike (UK - US) by Juno Dawson ages ago because a paperback copy in my local library had purple-edged pages.

So I picked it up because, y'know, I'm easily amused/attracted by pretty colours. Lucky for me, that book rocked.

So, since then, I've wanted to read the rest of Dawson's books - and I eventually got around to this one! (Again, lucky for me!)

Premise:

People fool around with it all around the world - say 'Bloody Mary,' five times, in front of a mirror, at midnight, by candlelight.

Then her ghost is meant to show up... apparently.

People do it all the time. Nothing ever happens... right?

So, when Bobbie and her friends agree to it as a dare, nothing will come of it... right?

Or so they think. But time's running out.

In five days, she will come.

Best bits:

I loved this book - hands-down loved it!

It could have been soooo clichéd - but instead, every time it started to ever-so-slightly veer in that direction POW! - a new twist.

(Yes, I just used 'POW!' - In a book review. Deal with it.)

The characters were fab, believable, and not intensely stupid. (Which is always good.)

Bobbie? I loved her. She was really relatable and quite bookish (yay!) without being pretentious.

She's also really sweet - which is always nice - but not boring, which was a relief (yay for nice-but-not-boring characters!!!!!)

(Yes, I've had coffee. Coffee is good.)

The plot a) keeps you guessing, and b) refuses to be held down by all the urban legend Bloody Mary stuff that came before, while also not ignoring it.

(Which is skilful - and impressive. *Nods approvingly.*)

This was one of those books which was like: one more chapter - just one. And six chapters later, you're still there, and still reading.

And while it is creepy, it's not so creepy that you want to give up half-way through. (But then, I like horror, so other people may have a different opinion.)

I'll say it again: I loved it ;)

Not so great bits:

There's not a lot of things I can really argue with here...

It does deal with subjects that a lot of people may find distressing: references to self-harm, abuse, murder, suicide, etc. etc. But it doesn't feel overly-heavy with it.

And if you have a mega-fear of ghost-girls, mirrors, and/or ghosts in general, this is probably not your book.

There's some mild violence, gore, etc.

There's also some mild swearing (cr*p, etc.) Honestly, I doubt it'll bother anyone, but if I don't mention it, someone's bound to come back on me about it. Because that's usually how my luck goes.

Oh, and there's some references to sexy-times, but nothing overtly graphic.

I guess my only real issue is the whole absentee-parents thing that YA gets away with a lot.

But as that trope goes, I really can't argue with the way it's handled here - the boarding-school deal-y neatly sidesteps the issue.

Verdict:

I loved this book - it's fresh and original where it could've been clichéd and rusty, it draws you on, it has great characters...

Basically, this is a great YA horror. And I definitely recommend it.

Buy Now UK – Buy Now USA – Goodreads – Author's Site

Liked this post? Try these:

• Review Time! - Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
• Mini-Review - One by Sarah Crossan