A review by booktribe
Monstrous by Jessica Lewis

adventurous mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

When Latavia is forced to spend the Summer with her aunt in a creepy small town, she discovers that this town has secrets, and that something is living in the woods. Will Latavia make it out of this town alive?

This author’s previous novel, Bad Witch Burning is one of my favorite books of all time! And I have been waiting on Monstrous for so long! I loved the characters! Our main character Latavia was incredibly relatable and she really deserved better! And I also LOVED the monster that was living in the woods. He was such a sweetie pie when he wasn’t eating people! I also loved the puppies! One thing about Jessica Lewis, she’s gonna add lovable animals to her books and I love her for it! I also appreciated that this had mental health representation! 

I did expect this to be darker and more intense though. From the description I was expecting horror and it definitely feels more fantasy with some murderous elements. Also, the story picked up really quick in the beginning but it got slow after that. I think either more should’ve happened in the amount of pages it had OR it should’ve been a shorter book. And based on the way this book ended, I feel like this might become a series and I was expecting a standalone. It didn’t exactly end on a cliffhanger, but a large part of the conflict wasn’t handled at the end and it was alluded to that that conflict would be handled later. I would definitely be interested in reading the next book if this becomes a series, but I still feel unsatisfied with the ending, especially if it really is a standalone.

Overall, I enjoyed this book a lot! There were some things I would’ve changed, but it was definitely enjoyable and I can’t wait to read even more of Jessica Lewis’ work!

Thank you Random House Children’s and NetGalley for this arc! All opinions are my own.

TW: parental abandonment, domestic abuse, child abuse, homophobia, fatphobia, suicidal thoughts 
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