I’ve read my fare share of Young Adult thrillers with various themes. Mysterious anonymous person spreading students’ secrets out in the open, blackmail, sex, secrets, secrets and so many secrets. I remember watching the movie Prom Night or maybe it was something else but a lot of killings happen during this special night and it was so fun. When I read about Prom House, I was definitely excited to read this story.
We follow a group of friends on their prom day, who had rented a house for their after party. Ten of them gather around, wishing for the best night of their high school lives but disaster strikes when one of their friends end up bloody dead and a storm keeps them all stuck inside with a killer.
The premise of Prom House is surely intriguing enough to hook the readers in. Told in first point POV, there isn’t a lot that we get to explore in this book. Our main character is wishing to finally have sex with her boyfriend and leave the town for her future. Then one of them ends up dead and she is navigating the night, trying to figure out the killer.
I did not particularly like the MC’s voice. It was too YA-esque and cliché at a lot of points. Her thoughts didn’t fit in with the situations at hand at times, whereby she’s more concerned about her dress and boyfriend than the dead body. As we don’t get POVs from the other characters, there isn’t a lot to say about them. They did seem very one dimensional and shallow and underdeveloped, in a sense that I as a reader didn’t get enough to actually connect with them, enough to feel sad for them. It was only on the surface and didn’t flow deep enough.
Moving on to the plot, the pacing did suffer. While there were a lot of high points, it quickly dwindled and went flat. The pacing kept fluctuating, whereby at some points I simply lost my patience and interest. There were moments of sexual indulgence that didn’t fit into the mood of the story and only felt highly inappropriate in the given situation. And I felt like they didn’t add anything to the story – at least the first time. I would have maybe loved to see more about the characters instead of this. Maybe about the friends and what the MC noticed about them, knew or view them.
I personally did enjoy the first half of the book. I was intrigued to know what was going on and how it would be resolved. The author’s writing was smooth and easy to grasp, flowing seamlessly into scenes. It was fast paced too, which is an added bonus.
Now, when reading thrillers, I’m usually looking forward to the climax and the reveals. I feel they are the best part that has the power to break or make the whole story. In Prom House, I don’t know if I can say that I liked this ending. Between three of my guesses for the climax, one of them was right! And this was also the one guess which I was least hoping for. Because I didn’t like it. I felt that the climax was rather poor and stupid, and utterly silly. The reasons didn’t hold enough stakes in the story, and I couldn’t relate, couldn’t feel for it.
Ultimately, though, Prom House was a quick read that didn’t entirely leave me satisfied. I loved the beginning and the middle, as well as the anticipation for the end, but it was the climax, the main reveal that left me a tad bit disappointed. I still think this had a lot of potential, and especially gave off an old thriller classic vibe.
Prom House will definitely appeal to beginners in the genre of thriller and readers who want fast, quick and fun who-dunnit thrillers. For me, this was definitely a fun ride nonetheless!
You can enter a giveaway to win a signed copy of Prom House on my Instagram.
ABOUT THE BOOK | Goodreads
A KILLER AFTERPARTY . . .
When Kylie walks into the gorgeous beach house, it’s a dream come true. She still can’t believe she talked her parents into letting her spend the weekend down the shore with her boyfriend, Liam, after prom. Kylie, Liam, and their friends have rented the most amazing party house—and it’s all theirs. Prom was awesome, but this is going to be even better.
Except there’s a little problem. A violent storm hits the beach and the power goes out—with no sign that it’s coming back anytime soon. Roughing it with candles and camping lanterns isn’t the vibe they were going for, but everyone wants to make the most of it. Until people start disappearing . . . and turning up dead. Kylie is terrified. Is somebody’s prom date a killer?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chelsea Mueller writes gritty contemporary fantasy and thrillers for adults and teens. She founded the speculative fiction website Vampire Book Club and blogs about TV and romance novels for numerous websites.
She loves bad cover songs, good fight scenes, and every soapy YA drama Netflix can put in her queue. Chelsea lives in Texas, and has been known to say y’all.
Thank you MTMC tours for having me along and the publishers for a gifted copy of this book!
paperbacks and pen 