Review: Monster High - Lisi Harrison

Fitting in is out.

Welcome to Monster High, where freaky is about to get fabulous.

The monster community has kept a low profile at the local high school, but when two new girls enrol, the town will never be the same. Created just fifteen days ago, Frankie Stein is psyched to trade her father's formaldehyde-smelling basement lab for parties and prom. But with a student body totally freaked out by rumors of monsters stalking the halls, Frankie learns that high school can be rough for a chic freak like her. She thinks she finds a friend in fellow new student Melody Carver - but can a 'normie' be trusted with her big secret?

Monster High Series:
Monster High
The Ghoul Next Door (April 2011)

Check out Lisi Harrison's website for more information

Review:
Frankie may be only be 15 days old but she can't wait to get out of her parents lab and start high school.  Having spent her life being constantly praised by her parents Frankie is confident and knows she'll easily fit in at school and make friends but that's before her parents drop the bomb shell.  Before she can go to school she must cover up her mint green skin and hide her bolts and seams - the normies at school wouldn't accept her if they knew she was a monster.  The RADs (Regular Attribute Dodgers as the monsters like to call themselves) live amongst the normies (humans) in secrecy, blending in to avoid a witch hunt but Frankie thinks it's time for things to change.  She wants the RADs to show the world their real selves - but is the world ready for them?

I was in the mood for a light hearted, fun read so Monster High seemed like the perfect choice and in a lot of ways it completely lived up to my expectations.  It was funny, different from anything I've ever read and had a whole host of interesting supernatural characters.  I really enjoyed trying to figure out which of the students at the school were RADs and what type of monsters they might be, a few of them were fairly obvious but there were a couple I didn't get until they revealed themselves. 

I liked the fact that Frankie was so confident and proud of who she was, I completely related to her wanting to show her real self to the world and prove the normies had nothing to be afraid of.  I was annoyed on her behalf by the attitude of the normies to the monster sightings and wanted to see things change.  Frankie isn't the only new girl who starts at Merston High though and half of the story is told from Melody's perspective.  Melody is a normie who has just moved into town with her family.  She is looking forward to a new start and finally finding some friends since she never really fitted in at her old school.  In a lot of ways Melody is the opposite of Frankie, she isn't comfortable with herself and doesn't feel she fits in with the rest of her family.  I got the feeling that the two girls would have got along really well so I was disappointed that they didn't really speak to each other until right near the end of the book.

There were a few things that I didn't enjoy so much but to be fair that is probably more because I'm way out of the intended age range for the book than because of the story.  I don't mind some teen speak in a story but in this case it completely took over and really started to irritate me.  I also struggled with the amount of designer brands that were constantly name dropped, but again I've never been particularly interested in high fashion so that's probably down to personal taste.  I was a bit disappointed with the abrupt ending too, I love reading series and even enjoy a good cliff hanger but Monster High seemed to stop just as the story line was starting to get interesting.

Although this wasn't my favorite read I enjoyed it enough to be looking forward to reading the second book (The Ghoul Next Door) when it releases next year.  I think this series will be particularly popular with younger teens but it is one that can be enjoyed by any age as long as you're not put off by the teen speak.  Monster High is the kind of story that is easy to read in one sitting so if you're looking for some light entertainment it's definitely worth giving it a try.

Source: Received from Atom in exchange for an honest review

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