Dual Review: A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
My Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars




This review contains spoilers. Although I have kept the more major parts of this story out, I have still included some prominent scenes that are best read along with the whole book.




" Stories don't always have happy endings....."

I wasn't sure what kind of story A Monster Calls would be when I picked it up. All I knew was that several of my GoodReads friends raved about it and that was good enough for me. Assuming that it was probably some kind of horror/YA hybrid, I jumped right in.
Fast forward to the last 3 pages of the book and here I was:



About half way through the book I started to peruse some of the GR reviews and realized this definitely wasn't going to be the type of book I thought it would be. It's obvious that this story brings about very intense emotions to it's readers depending on their individual life experience. I've been fortunate enough in my life that I have not lost a close family member at a young age. However, this book definitely invoked feelings in me that were uncomfortable, sad, angry, distraught and more.

This is the story of a 13-year old boy named Conor whose mother has cancer. He is an only child who rarely sees his father who lives in the States. While his mother is undergoing chemo, Conor starts to have a nightmare.  A very, very bad nightmare. The gist of the nightmare is not revealed until the end of the story.
One night, Conor receives a visit from The Monster.

" The monster stood in his yard, looking right at him......'OPEN UP', the monster said, it's voice as clear as if the window wasn't between them. ' I WANT TO TALK TO YOU' "

Side Note #1: The illustrations in the book are amazing. I've been told that the paperback has more pictures than the ebook but this pic from my Nook shows the brilliance of Jim McKay.

Side Note#2: The time 12:07 plays a prominent role throughout the book. I finished this book on Saturday afternoon at .............yep, 12:07. At which point I freaked the fuck out and had to be sedated.

Back to the book....Conor has an ongoing problem at school with bullying. He also has figured out that everyone now knows about his mother because of an error in judgement from his friend, Lily. She told a friend about Conor and it spread to everyone after that, resulting in Conor being treated differently, almost invisible. What transpires at school is heartbreaking and infuriating. He lashes out at Lily and ends up completely alone. Towards the end of the book, Conor receives a note in class from Lily that says:

"I'm sorry for telling everyone about your mum
I miss being your friend
Are you okay?
I see you!"

That scene destroyed me.I was a complete wreck and at the same time couldn't have loved Lily more.

The Monster continues to visit Conor to tell him three different stories. Each one which will eventually help Conor process the circumstances of his life.

" 'There is not always a good guy. Nor is there always a bad one. Most people are somewhere in between., the Monster said'."

 As this was a short book it is hard to relay some of the most profound moments of the book without giving things away. At times,  I hated the grandma, the dad and even the mom. But in the end, I loved all of them for what they were.
Not flawless but flawed. Like all of us.
In the end, I realized that this wasn't just a story about loss. It was a story about a sad, lonely and confused boy who had to deal with too much, too soon. In the end, it was also about a boy who let go of all of these things and forgave himself and the people who love him with the help of a big, scary monster.
This is an incredibly beautiful story and one of the best written novels I have ever read. The last ten pages alone border on perfection. It is sad, funny, disgusting, frustrating and just plain lovely.

This is a dual review with Samina at Escapism from Reality as part of a new series of  buddy reviews from the girls at:

Please check out Samina's blog for a different perspective on

A Monster Calls.

Review: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

And she, for whatever reason, spares his life.-GoodReads

My Take........
When I was 13, my best friend, I'll call her Evil Kristin, thought it would be funny to scare the living shit out of me. Unfortunately, she decided to make this a regular occurrence as scaring me was so very entertaining. I remember at a sleepover her mother had recently bought the hardcover of the book "The Exorcist". She put it right next to my pillow so that when I woke up it would be staring at me. For those who have never seen the book, here you go:

The next morning I turned over and stared into the eyes of horror and screamed so loud her Siamese cat vaulted off the bed and face-planted into the closed bedroom door.
Good Times!
Evil Kristin continued on her "Pussification of Heather Tour" throughout our teens. She convinced me to watch "The Shining" by telling me she had watched it with her brother and it had a "really sweet ending". Every time I would get up to use the bathroom, she would screech "REDRUM, REDRUM!" and I would usually haul ass back to the bed either slamming my toe into the bedpost or kneeing the dresser at full speed. It was well into my thirties before I would go alone to fill the ice bucket at a hotel.

Anna Dressed in Blood regurgitated similar feelings in me but without the embarrassing, teenage self-consciousness that always followed.
Our fearless leader, Cas Lowood kills/gets rid of the dead that cannot cross over. Cas and his mother move from place to place ridding the towns of whatever evil spirit is wreaking havoc on it's citizens. They move to Thunder Bay, Ontario where the ghost of Anna Korlov is rumored to have slaughtered countless trespassers who have dared to seek refuge in the dilapidated house that she resides in. What follows is a freaky, sweet, endearing and at times, scary as fuck horror story. As Cas has spent his life moving around, he struggles with creating attachments to his high school friends and to Anna as well, because Anna is different than the rest of the ghosts he has killed. The dynamics between Cas and his new acquaintances, living and dead, results in some very entertaining reading and I enjoyed watching Cas' battle within himself to acclimate to his new surroundings.

In spite of my obvious squeamishness to anything scary, I had a blast with this book. The characters were interesting, the dialogue was witty and well-written and the plot moved along seamlessly. I'm glad there is a sequel in the works as I would hate to think I wouldn't be hearing from Cas again.