Book Review: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

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Mad Mabel  by Sally Hepworth  is a domestic thriller about the youngest person convicted of murder in Australia, Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick. Now 81 years old, Elsie is living on Kenny Lane and has been for the past sixty years. When a mother named Roxanne moves into Mabel's neighborhood with her seven year old daughter, an unlikely friendship forms between Elsie and the seven year old child named Persephone. As Elsie's secrets come to light, her world comes crashing down.  Having read quite a few novels by Sally Hepworth, I requested an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Mad Mabel  without reading the synopsis of the story. I was thrilled when NetGalley and St. Martin's Press approved my request. The expected publication date of the book is April 21, 2026. Not knowing anything about the storyline before I started reading Mad Mabel  made the story much more interesting to me as I had no preconceived ideas. The tale was told from Mabel's perspective in alternating timeli...
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Book Review: Haunted (Fear Street, #7) by R.L. Stine

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book review haunted fear street 7 rl stine

The Fear Street Prowler has every one on edge in Shadyside, especially Melissa, who wakes up screaming due to a tapping on her window. Strange things start happening to her like her new car veering into oncoming traffic, her presents being ripped open by an unknown entity, and something or someone trying to push Melissa out her bedroom window. Is it Melissa's imagination or the Fear Street Prowler. Find out in R.L. Stine's Haunted (Fear Street, #7).

The Fear Street book series by R.L. Stine was one of my favorite Young Adult Horror series when I was a tween and teen. I still had most of the books from them, so I decided to reread them, in the order they were published, as an adult to see if they still were as scary to me as they were back then. I didn't have a copy of Haunted, so I ordered a used copy through ThriftBooks.com.

As an adult, this was a super easy read and only took a couple hours for me to finish. It was a creepy read that was perfect for a rainy night. When I began the reread of this book, none of it seemed very familiar except in one or two scenes. As I got to the last few pages, I remembered how Haunted (Fear Street, #7) ended, but that didn't take away from the story for me. This particular story is a bit different than most of the other stories in the Fear Street series and is a nice change.

I don't have any complaints about this book and think it is a perfect story for the targeted audience. If you have a child that is too young to read books by authors like Stephen King but want to read a horror story, this book and author would be a good starting place for them. I give Haunted (Fear Street, #7) by R.L. Stine four out of five stars. If you enjoyed this book, I recommend Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn.

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