Campfire

*1.5

Least favorite read so far this year. I didn’t enjoy the writing - the characters were so annoying. The so called, ‘mountain men’ reveal, sure - it was ‘shocking’ but that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it. The adults were disgusting & should have never been allowed to take care of these kids.

The premise sounded really fun, but the execution was slow and uninspired. I had to make myself finish this one.

I got sucked in by a fantastic cover yet again! (Seriously though, look at that cover. It's just so good.) Unfortunately, the book itself was not that good. The characters are all one-dimensional, and there are waaaaaaay too many of them. The pacing was atrocious. Nothing actually exciting or scary happened until about two-thirds of the way through the book. Was was happening that first part? No clue. An argument could be made that it was about introducing characters and building tension, but that argument would be quickly shot down. Characters were introduced, sure, but few, if any, were fleshed out, and I felt no tension at all. Its one redeeming quality is that once it gets going, it GOES. I sped through the last third because I was so curious to see how everything would play out. Overall, a disappointing read. I wanted to read it since it is the Spooky Times, but I did not feel Spooked.

This is definitely a book that will keep you up at night. When Maddie Davenport goes camping at a remote location with her best friend and family they decide to sit around the campfire and tell scary stories. Caleb, their handsome and rugged tour guide, tells them the local legend of the Mountain Men who hunt campers and carve antlers into their victims' foreheads. The next day when they wake up, the legend becomes true. Now Maddie, her friend, and her family are lost and stranded in the woods fighting for their lives as one by one their loved ones are killed. You will not be ready for the ending of this book, I promise that.

Its not bad. Its a little more gorgeous than I wanted but it does have its good moments.