Review: School's Out 4-Ever by J. R. Turner

WARNING: If you haven't read DFF: DEAD FRIENDS FOREVER, then you probably shouldn't read this review. Especially since it may contain spoilers!

S c h o o l' s  O u t  4- e v e r by J.R. Turner
Release Date: January 14, 2010 (Paperback)
Publisher: Quake
Age Group: Young Adult
Next: Detour 2 Death (2/15/11)
Pages: 274
Source: Author/ARC
Go Buy It: Amazon★Barnes&Noble
★BookDepository

Word Blurbs: Riveting, fresh, and sinister!

Synopsis- "Skater girl Kaylee Hensler gave up her freedom to save a trapped soul, only to be imprisoned with dozens of dead children. To make matters worse, if she stops smiling, she might not live to see fifteen. You can take a Barclay girl out of class, but you can't take the class out of a Barclay girl. The headmistress at Barclay Hall reformatory is gorgeous and the students are just as polished and beautiful. Beneath their proper etiquette lies a desperate fear and a dangerous secret. As one by one the students turn up dead, Kaylee will uncover an evil so ancient, only heaven can help her."

Quick Thinking: Things have gotten a whole heck of a lot worse for nearly fifteen-year-old Kaylee Hensler in this engaging second installment in J. R. Turner's Extreme Haunting series. While being sent to a dark, eerie boarding school is bad as is, Kaylee must now deal with her newfound powers, and help not one ghost but a multitude, saving them from something lurking in the school. Mysterious deaths. Suspicious failed attempts at escape. Trapped ghosts. Killer demons. Barclay Hall, boarding school for rich, wayward females, is anything but pleasant or ordinary. Kaylee must face a challenge unlike before, must defeat a new menacing foe more powerful than the last, all the while dodging demerits, making strange, unexpected friends, and enduring the hardships of newly awakened, untamed powers.

My Thoughts In-Depth: *Note: May not be spoiler-free.* One of the reasons why I'm really getting into this series has to do with it being filled with all of my favorite elements in a novel! The first being the paranormal aspect, added to that is the darkly thrilling, adrenaline-packed punch of a plot. And I'm really rooting for a romance here, somewhere! Though I have my suspicions of a love triangle fast-approaching! I think that's just about the only thing that's missing in the series that would make me love it. But, one thing's for sure: I definitely liked School's Out 4-ever more than its predecessor.

I'm not exactly sure what it is. It could be because the threat is more real and the fact that Kaylee is practically on her own in this book. No best friend Davey, no parents. Plus, the frightening factor went up a few notches also!

Review: Dead Friends Forever by J. R. Turner

D e a d  F r i e n d s  F o r e v e r by J. R. Turner
Release Date: November 21, 2008 (Paperback)
Publisher: Quake
Age Group: Young Adult
Sequel: School's Out 4-Ever
Pages: 272
Source: Author/PDF
Go Buy It: Amazon★Barnes&Noble
★BookDepository

Word Blurb: Spine-chilling, dark, and hugely intense!

Synopsis- "Skater Kaylee Hensler might not be Miss Popular, but there are some friends a girl can do without. When the decaying ghost of a murdered girl decides they need to be total BFF’s, Kaylee will sacrifice the trust of her family, her swim coach’s respect, and any hope of a date for the Harvest Dance. And oh yeah… discover that super-evil entities are nothing at all like they are on TV or in the movies Aside from seriously bad attitudes, they not only like to kill…but replay the killing again and again for all eternity. To avoid that fate, she’ll have to rely on her wheelchair-bound friend Davey, the mysterious Madame Maggie, and the surprising depth of her own power. Will Kaylee survive, or will she become someone else's DFF: Dead Friend Forever?"

Quick Thinking: Nerve-wracking and blood-pumping are tame words to describe The Reader's experience while delving into Dead Friends Forever. Saturated with creepy supernatural elements like earthbound ghosts and dark entities, grim mysteries and suspicious deaths, and chilling circumstances, this novel has a very spooky and thrilling air. Slowly discover the truth of long ago alongside Kaylee, the heroine, a seemingly average girl with a 'headshrinker' of a father and an overwhelming mother, as she comes into her own abilities and as she fights for the freedom of a young ghost girl imprisoned by evil.

My Thoughts In-Depth: *Note: May not be spoiler-free.* My heart's still pounding; my pulse was drumming so loudly I could hear it so clearly. One word for this book would have to be intense. While I secretly say that I'm not very much into the horror/thriller/mystery type of books, I'm so lying. I love the little thrill, that dark edge you get when you finish a book that fits into those categories. My problem... well, I'm a scaredy cat. I'm easily frightened. So, I was a bit skeptical coming into this book. But, man, what a book DFF turned out to be!

Honestly, I never expected to thoroughly enjoy this book or become so absorbed in it. It was a pleasant shock. Reading as Kaylee dug for the truth, as she struggled to deal with all the trouble helping a ghost brought to her, I became more and more invested in the story. In the beginning, Kaylee is just your pretty average girl, one who's in love with skating, hates math homework, and enjoys swimming and the competitiveness of it. And all because of these sexist teenage male pigs who claim all rights to the skating park unjustly so, Kaylee is forced to enter a haunted house as a kind of 'initiation'. Then, pardon the cliche, but her world gets turned upside down: Kaylee encounters her first ghost!