There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

You may be surprised to find out that Stephanie Perkins, author of Anna and the French Kiss and other titles, is a HUGE horror fan. Yep, she is. I know because I follow her 31 Days of Horror posts each Halloween! (If you don't know, it's a challenge where you watch a horror movie each day during the month of October.) So yeah, she's a horror fan. And she's making her YA horror debut this week with There's Someone Inside Your House!

Makani moved to Osborne to get away from drama. Unfortunately, tiny Osborne, Nebraska is anything but drama free. Dropped in her grandmother's lap by parents who seem to have little interest these days, Makani has managed to make two good friends and carve out a little niche for herself at her new school. And while the actions of her past haunt her, her biggest worries are a. that her new friends will find out why she moved and b. that the boy that blew her off will continue to do so. 

That is, until someone starts killing her classmates!

As the town faces one murder after another, rumors about suspects begin to swirl around Makani's school. And with no idea who the killer is or how to stop them, everyone is afraid of being the next target. 

So of course Makani and her friends take it upon themselves to try and solve the murders. In true YA horror fashion. But that's in part because of the rumor mill and an attempt to ensure that Makani and her new friends stay off the suspect list as much as it is to make sure they aren't the next victims.

Their efforts are ratcheted up when someone close to them becomes a victim and people do in fact turn their eye in the group's way looking for suspects, as you'd expect.

Perkins's first horror attempt is, for the most part, successful. The stakes are high as is the suspense. The character building is pretty on point too, though I thought the build up to Makani's big reveal might have been just a touch overblown by the time we find out her real story. Admittedly, any drama as a teen is BIG DRAMA, though, so I thought it was aptly handled and true to the character's age.

If I have one beef with There's Someone Inside Your House, though, it's the fact that the killer is actually revealed halfway through. The story then becomes more about hunting this person down rather than the mystery of who the killer is, which took a bit of steam and tension out of the story for me.

And yet, There's Someone Inside Your House still made for a super fun read that brought me back to my Fear Street days!

Pre Pub Book Buzz: There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins

It might surprise you to know that Stephanie Perkins is a horror fan. Yep, she is. Each year there's a 31 Days of Horror Challenge throughout the month of October and Perkins is a regular participant. So it didn't surprise me one bit to find out that Perkins was writing a horror novel. And of course I immediately added it to my must have list.

Here's the tiny bit you can find out about it over on Goodreads:

Scream meets YA in this hotly-anticipated new novel from the bestselling author of Anna and the French Kiss.

One-by-one, the students of Osborne High are dying in a series of gruesome murders, each with increasing and grotesque flair. As the terror grows closer and the hunt intensifies for the killer, the dark secrets among them must finally be confronted.

International bestselling author Stephanie Perkins returns with a fresh take on the classic teen slasher story that’s fun, quick-witted, and completely impossible to put down.

I'm dying to read this, folks. Dying!

There's Someone Inside Your House doesn't hit shelves until September, but the cover went live yesterday along with this piece over at EW about the design. Check it out!