Maddie's Books

Oh my gosh, this book was SO good. Seriously. I got it for free on my Kindle a couple of days ago from one of the author's promotions, but it's totally worth paying money for. I don't even really know how to go about reviewing it, but there were so many good things about it, that I feel like I need to attempt to anyway, haha. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started the book, but I had high expectations from all the positive reviews on GoodReads. Needless to say, it didn't let me down.

Fearscape is definitely a creepy read, which is one of the things I loved so much about it. It takes quite a bit anymore for a book to really creep me out. A lot of novels say that they're scary and terrifying, but in my opinion, they're not. Fearscape was actually an edge of your seat thrill ride. I loved all of the suspense and even at some points I didn't want to turn the page, afraid that Gavin was going to jump out of nowhere and butcher Val. Or something like that. It read almost like a horror movie, with me yelling at my Kindle, "No! Do NOT do that! Stop before something bad happens." The pace was great and I was never bored, but at the same time, it never moved so fast that I was confused as to what was going on.

The characters were awesome. Can I even express how much I loved Gavin? He was a totally insane psychopath, but in a great way. One of my favorite things about him was his lack of redeeming qualities. Often times in stalker books (especially YA ones) you have this awful bad guy that's really scary and everything, but then halfway through you figure out he has this terrible childhood and is actually really sweet and misunderstood. Or maybe he just needs a hug. Gavin wasn't that way and I'm so happy about it. There wasn't anything good about him, besides his attractive looks and seductive personality. At the beginning especially, he would talk so elegantly that I almost believed he was a true gentleman, until he let one little phrase slip revealed other intentions (don't even get me started on quotes- there were some chilling serial killer type ones in there). He was a brilliant character.

I actually liked Val quite a bit, too. Or at least, I respected her. She was smart and innocent, without coming off as some damsel-in-distress type. She WAS niave and made some poor decisions, but I could definitely relate to her. If I had met Gavin when I was a freshman in high school, I could easily see myself making the same decisions she did. I thought she was very realistic and that her interactions with Gavin were just as realistic. Their relationship was believable and I loved how once Val became romantically involved with him, Gavin didn't immediately show himself as a possessive stalker. The pace, again, was great.

The minor characters I thought were as good as they needed to be, as well. They were involved when necessary, but once the story got to the point where it entirely revolved around Val and Gavin, they faded away as I think they should have. None of them had many dimensions, but for their purpose in the book, I don't think they needed to be too complex. The mother annoyed me at times, but that might have been the point (she was overprotective, but yet in the end, she still couldn't save her daughter from danger). Nenia's writing was fabulous and I loved some of her descriptions. I'm trying to think of some flaws I found in the novel in general, but there were very few.

All in all, it was a great book. I had planned to do other things this afternoon, but instead I couldn't pull away from the book long enough to actually get anything done. No regrets, though. The ending was fantastic and even a little unexpected. I need to go buy the sequel right now. If you haven't read Fearscape, you definitely should. It's dark and creepy, but with a surprising amount of humor that pops up here and there. I'm definitely going to read more of Nenia Campbell's books.