4 Weeks of Summer - Monster

I got a copy of this book back in March at the UKYA Blogger Awards. I know, it's been a while, but compared to some other books I have on my TBR pile, this hasn't been in my TBR pile for long.

After rereading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and not ready to reread Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix just yet as part of my Harry Potter 2015 Reread Challenge, I looked through some of my books and, unsure what to read next, made my other half pick my next read out of handful of books, based on the first sentence and, when down the last 3, read the last line and chose this.

Nash thinks fighting to become Head Girl at boarding school Bathory would be the biggest battle of her life. But that was before her brother vanishes. That's before she's left trapped in the school with some other students - a mix of misfits. That's before the snow storms hit, leaving them trapped. That was before the only adult looking after them vanishes without a trace. That's before fear of The Beast of Bathory begins to grip them...

Something dark is outside the school, wanting to come in. Or is the thing the girls fear already within the walls of the school...

Ok, am going to be honest with you. I am very torn over it. I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped, but there are good points to this book.

Let's deal with the good points first. When we were first told about this book, it was sold using the tapeline "Malory Towers meets I Know What You Did Last Summer". And this does work. If you are a fan of Lois Duncan's I Know What You Did Last Summer or James Dawson's Cruel Summer, this would work for you. It has a gentle hints of boarding school drama and mythology but as the story moves forward, it slowly turns darker and tense. And I really liked the writing style. The writing is one of the weird reasons I read this story.

However, I have problems that I am wondering if am about to fall into a reading slump and wondering if I am being harsh with this. But... ok... here's the thing... it never grabbed me. I liked the writing, yes, but there are other factions to making a story work. I don't know why, but I thought this was very slow - if you're going to say the Marton goes missing on the back, it should happen quite quickly, right? Nope. It happens around the halfway point. And when there were plot twists, it felt like there was no clues to lead us to this point. Or, if there was, it was so subtle, you missed it (and if this is the case, CJ works this brilliantly).

I think my main problem is that I never cared. I never cared that this characters were in danger, nor did I feel that these characters were in mortal peril. I never cared for any of the characters so I never worried about them. I need to care for characters in whatever situation they find themselves in, whether it's a love situation, a family situation or a life-or-death situation.

While I think some of you guys will like it and find it the perfect Winter chiller, it just wasn't for me, I'm afraid.