Release Date: August 18th, 2015
Genre: YA, Mystery, Thriller, Norse Mythology
Buy the Book: B&N, Amazon, IndieBound
Twelve years ago Stella and Jeanie vanished while picking strawberries. Stella returned minutes later, with no memory of what happened. Jeanie was never seen or heard from again.
Now Stella is seventeen, and she's over it. She's the lucky one who survived, and sure, the case is still cloaked in mystery—and it's her small town's ugly legacy—but Stella is focused on the coming summer. She's got a great best friend, a hookup with an irresistibly crooked smile, and two months of beach days stretching out before her.
Then along comes a corpse, a little girl who washes up in an ancient cemetery after a mudslide, and who has red hair just like Jeanie did. Suddenly memories of that haunting day begin to return, and when Stella discovers that other red-headed girls have gone missing as well, she begins to suspect that something sinister is at work.
And before the summer ends, Stella will learn the hard way that if you hunt for monsters, you will find them.
"If you hunt for monsters, you'll find them."
There is nothing more satisfying than loving a book you have been dying to read and having it live up to your wild expectations. THE CREEPING was the perfect balance of my literary loves: mystery that kept me turning pages like a crazy-woman, a touch of romance that added to the story rather than detract from more important aspects and hauntingly beautiful imagery that made me feel a part of Stella's world.
"The sky is a milky black with tiny, twinkling tears in it's velvet. The canopy interlocks above us and there's a new spectrum of darkness. Even the stars can't see us now."
The whole idea behind this story intrigued me from the moment I read the synopsis. Little redheaded girls vanishing, showing up dead, a legend surrounding an insatiable monster and suspects that lurk around every corner. It was wonderfully creepy right from the very beginning and it was definitely a rollercoaster ride of a book. At times I was 100% sure I knew what was happening and what the outcome would be but then BAM! Revelations happened and I was back to square one.
"You keep squintin' in Savage's dark corners, you gonna wish yourself blind."
In my opinion characters make a story whether it be for better or for worse. THE CREEPING held such a rich mixture of personalities and I feel like they carried the story higher. Each character, even the secondary, not-so-important ones were so fleshed out and complex that I couldn't help but get sucked in to their individual stories, their experiences even when they had nothing to do with the story. I wanted to know everything and it's not often that you find more than the protagonists all that interesting. I would be content reading a whole book about each person's life.
Stella was a wonderful main character in that she really developed as a person. Let's be honest, she wasn't an A+ human being at the beginning. She was the ever-so-cliched popular girl with her head in the silver lined clouds where nothing ever looks less than perfect. Even with her being the 'lucky one' that escaped the clutches of Jeanie's killer, she's over it and seems to have detached herself completely from that girl. Throughout the story with the help of her first kiss, Sam, she slowly regains pieces of her old self - the brave, selfless one that I really grew to like.
Sam was my favourite character, maybe ever. He didn't let Stella's facade phase him even when she was a raging bitch. He knew who she was and he wasn't deterred by her mean girl mask. He was strong and certain and just the perfect guy, someone I think Stella couldn't have done without. He was unashamed of his feelings and isnt that just so refreshing? A guy who knows how to handle his feelings and isn't afraid to show them to the world. I got on board fast with this love interest.
"Muddy brown eyes that stick with you. Freckles like splattered honey. A smile like he knows better."
The romance between Stella and Sam was a touch of something perfect amongst the unsettling background of Savage. I really enjoyed the little snippets of their building relationship because, for me, it separated the story enough that when these parts were over I was ready to dive back in to the main story. Plus Sam is adorable, just so so sweet. I really loved his character.
"There's something so familiar, so comforting, about being near him. It's an irresistible taste of a home that's no longer mine."
As I said, the other characters helped make the story immensely stronger, even if I did hate at least a third of them, they still brought more life to the world of THE CREEPING. The only character who I absolutely could not stand all the way through the book was Zoey, Stella's (and I use this term very loosely here) best friend. I would have had a lot more respect for Stella if she had shown a better judge of character or even a backbone when she saw her 'best friend's' true character. Zoey was selfish, inconsiderate and incredibly insensitive. She really irked me right up until about the last 10%.
Now, the one and only thing I got confused about was when I went on Goodreads to check the genres. I wont say much about that because I don't want to inadvertently give anything away but I do think they should maybe be edited a bit to be more accurate...
Having taken psychology classes for two years helped me latch on to something one of the characters said about another to Stella. As soon as I read it I pretty much figured out a small part of the ending, not so much that it ruined it for me, not at all, but I think I was less surprised than I should have been when the big revelation came. I was still shocked as hell though!
Overall I gave this book 4.5 stars. The writing was some of the best I've read in a while with dialogue that mirrors exactly how teens actually speak rather than the stunted sentences that occur regularly in this age genre. The scenes were pieced together seamlessly to create a wonderfully creepy flow of events that kept me manically flipping the pages. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves the mystery genre with a touch of romance and a tad bit of 'eugh gross', ha! I will definitely be buying a physical copy for my collection because that cover is equal parts creepy and hauntingly gorgeous.
*This book was given to me free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
“No idea. For the first few years they
sent me to shrinks, therapists, psychotherapists. Eventually the cops talked my
mom into bringing me to a hypnotist. She was a total wacko and made me lie on a
purple velvet couch as she burned incense and pretended to delve into my mind.”
For some reason I lower my voice as I continue. “But no dice. I never
remembered a thing. Just like it happened to someone else.” And in some ways it
did. I was six years old then, and now I’m just past my seventeenth birthday. I
don’t remember anything from that entire day or anything specific from any day
before. It’s like someone reached inside my head and scrambled my memory that
afternoon, leaving me with only my name and my parents’ faces.
My earliest memory is Zoey, stealing a
chocolate marshmallow egg out of my Easter basket, the year after it happened.
That’s more fitting than you know, since Zoey is a total savage. But she’s my
savage, and I love her more than I love anyone and anything.
“But doesn’t it frighten you to be out
here?” Cole gestures encompassingly at the wilderness around us.
I want to answer: not usually. “Not at all,” I say instead. “The trees didn’t spring
to life and eat Jeanie. Whoever took her didn’t have anything to do with the
woods. If I wanted to avoid the forest in Savage, I’d have to be a hermit.”
Zoey swings on the rope and screams,
“Boring conversation!” as she plunges into the water.
Alexandra lives in a small town in Northern California. Although it's fringed by forests and foothills like the town of Savage in THE CREEPING, it doesn’t have as many secrets (she thinks) or as dark of a history (fingers crossed). In addition to writing fiction, she loves traveling (Istanbul is her favorite), trees, lighthouses, seven layer cakes (who doesn’t?), running at dusk, music (the kind that makes your chest swell), and risky adventures. THE CREEPING is her debut novel.
To learn more, visit her at alexandrasirowy.com and follow @AlexandraSirowy.
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