Our school schedule was odd this year, letting us out for winter break later than other area school systems.  The benefit?  We still have a few days off while everyone else is going back this week.  It’s frigid outside, and my heat pump is struggling to keep up with single-digit temperatures.  Today, we all stayed in the fluffy blankets and found something quiet to do.  I read Final Girls, which has been on my TBR for months.

I’m not a fan of horror movies, so I went into this book with trepidation.  Instead of gore, I was interested in reading about the psychological aftermath of Quincy’s experience.  Some things about her life surprised me.  She was a blogger, carefully photographing food in the comfort of her NYC kitchen.  Her relationship with dull, predictable Jeff seemed more or less happy.  Overall, her life appeared to be pretty normal, in spite of everything she’d been through.

As the story continued, I was surprised at how Quincy reacted to the turn of events.  Though the flashbacks in the cabin show that she was kind of a pushover, she didn’t seem to be a follower in the strictest sense.  She drank Diet Coke while the others consumed alcohol; she declined her turn with drugs and cigarettes.  So why did she seem so easily influenced by her sudden new friend?

In the end, the final twist didn’t come as a shock.  Final Girls is the kind of book that makes the reader suspect everyone, so I’d considered the theory of that person’s involvement.  Though the “thriller” tag is mildly deserved, I wouldn’t want my teen daughter to read this.  It has several descriptive sex scenes, graphic violence, and the characters make some very bad decisions.   It’s better for young adult readers who can handle more mature subject matter.

Do you enjoy reading books like Final Girls? 

Final Girls is a book I checked out from our library.  I joined the 2017 Library Love Challenge hosted by Angel’s Guilty Pleasures and Brooke Blogs.  It really helped me to take advantage of the books available at my local libraries, plus encouraged me to support those libraries with my own donations and dollars.  We’ve participated in several library events, and my kids look forward to visiting each week.  It’s been a great bonding experience for us, and I’m so glad I got to participate in the challenge!

Since it was so much fun last year, I decided to continue with the 2018 Library Love Challenge.  Click that link to join!  The goal is to read at least 12 library books in any format (audio, ebook, print) from any genre.  If you’d like to enter the giveaway, you just need to write a brief 2-sentence review.

This is the only reading challenge I participate in, and I do it because I love that it supports our local libraries.  On Goodreads, I set my goal to 118 books for 2018.   I hope you’ll join us!