Don’t Stay Up Late by R.L. Stine
Doll Bones by Holly Black
Stolen Children by Peg Kehret

Don’t Stay Up Late – 3 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Ever since a car accident killed her father and put Lisa and her mother into the hospital, Lisa can’t think straight. She’s plagued by nightmares and hallucinations that force her to relive the accident over and over again in vivid detail. When Lisa finds out that a neighbor is looking for a babysitter for her young son, she takes the job immediately, eager to keep busy and shake these disturbing images from her head. But what promised to be an easy gig turns terrifying when Lisa begins to question exactly who — or what — she is babysitting.

Yay for R.L. Stine books and new Fear Street books! This is the second book in the relaunch of the Fear Street series. The characters were a little weird for me, but the story was really interesting. It was pretty creepy too, which is always expected from R.L. Stine. The book didn’t blow me away, but I did enjoy it a lot and I am super stoked about the relaunch of Fear Street and new books! I’m currently listening to the audiobook for the first book in the Fear Street relaunch; Party Games. I know I did it backwards, but that’s what happens when you get audiobooks from the library. It’s okay though, because the stories themselves don’t really go together. I’m sure you all know how R.L. Stine books/series are. Anyway, I really enjoyed this book!

Doll Bones – 3 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Zach, Poppy and Alice have been friends for ever. They love playing with their action figure toys, imagining a magical world of adventure and heroism. But disaster strikes when, without warning, Zach’s father throws out all his toys, declaring he’s too old for them. Zach is furious, confused and embarrassed, deciding that the only way to cope is to stop playing . . . and stop being friends with Poppy and Alice. But one night the girls pay Zach a visit, and tell him about a series of mysterious occurrences. Poppy swears that she is now being haunted by a china doll – who claims that it is made from the ground-up bones of a murdered girl. They must return the doll to where the girl lived, and bury it. Otherwise the three children will be cursed for eternity . . .

Doll Bones was an okay read for me. I loved the whole concept, but it was a little boring for me at times. Some of the characters were a little annoying as well. Zach, Poppy, and Alice liked to play with their toys and set up a world and act it out with their toys. They also liked to keep it a secret, because technically they were “too old” for pretending with toys. It was interesting how they had to return this doll to where the haunted doll lived and when they stopped places, people would acknowledge a forth person. That was pretty creepy that people saw this doll as a real person (or that’s the vibe I got from it when random people acknowledged there being another person in the group). It wasn’t a horrible book though and definitely had its interesting moments. I think it’s more for the younger crowd, so that is most likely why I wasn’t blown away by it. Overall, it was a fun read and I enjoyed it for the most part.

Stolen Children – 4 OUT OF 5 STARS.
Amy learned a lot in her babysitting course, but not what to do if two thugs show up, intent on kidnapping. Armed with misinformation and a weapon, the men take Amy and little Kendra to a remote cabin in the woods. There they make videos of the girls and mail them to Kendra’s wealthy parents in an effort to get ransom money. After several of her escape attempts fail, Amy is forced to make one last, desperate move. Award winner Peg Kehret crafts a suspenseful thriller with a spunky heroine who uses her wits to save herself and the toddler.

I enjoyed Stolen Children so much! It’s a very quick audiobook (I believe it was like 2-3 hours), but it was so so good! I loved Amy’s character and for being a kid, she was so smart. She outsmarted these kidnappers when her and Kendra were forced to make these videos to send to Kendra’s mom. She was also such a sweet character making it a mission to keep Kendra safe and taking care of her while they were kidnapped. She vowed Kendra’s safety when she was asked to babysit and she kept to that and kept Kendra safe even when kidnapped. Overall, this was a really great read and I enjoyed it so much. It’s kind of spooky, because this could happen to anyone in real life and I’m sure does all the time and we don’t ever hear about it. I loved how Amy used her wits to outsmart these kidnappers in the hopes of being saved.

I decided to do quick little mini review for these books, so they don’t feel left out! They were pretty short books. Overall, they were enjoyable though. I was trying to listen to more “spooky/halloweenish” audiobooks as well as the ones that I am reading myself this month.

Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? Have you been reading or listening to spooky type books this month?

Here are some of my recent posts in case you missed them or want to check them out! 🙂

Top Ten Tuesday||Bookish Genie Wishes. – Ten wishes that I would ask the Book Genie for!
Life||Books & Pumpkins. – An update about my weekend, bookish related talk, and pictures!

I hope you have a great day! ❤