Monster High
Monster High, Book #1
Lisi Harrison
Review brought to you by OBS staff member Annabell Cadiz
Synopsis:
They prefer to call themselves RAD (Regular Attribute Dodgers), but some call them monsters. So far, the “monster” community has kept a low profile in Salem, but this year two new girls enroll at Merston High School, and 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 cheerleading. But with a student body totally freaked out by rumors of monsters who might be stalking the halls, Frankie finds that life in the “normi” world can be rough for a chic freak like her.
She thinks she finds a friend in fellow new student Melody Carver–but can a normi be trusted with her big secret?
Review:
Melody is a normal fifteen year old girl. She has packed her stuff and is moving to a smaller town along with her parents and her older sister, Candace, in hopes that Melody’s asthma will get better. She’s a girl who no one really thought was beautiful, especially with her larger nose, until her plastic surgeon father helps to fix up her nose so she will fit in better to their Beverly Hills lifestyle. Except now that Melody has moved to a new town, she struggles more with her looks than she did before. She doesn’t know who to really trust. Do people like her because of her brand new looks or for who she really is?
Melody’s attitude toward her looks start to change when she spies through her sister’s bedroom window and sees Jackson, her next door neighbor. He is a cute nerd and is really sweet. But there’s something about him that is a little off. Jackson keeps confusing Melody, one minute he seems all into her, the next he seems to act as if he doesn’t know her. What in the world is going on?
Frankie is just fifteen days old, but she looks like a full grown fifteen year old thanks to her father, Viktor, who created her (he’s a mad scientist). Viktor has equipped Frankie with fifteen years worth of knowledge and teenage attitude to boot. Frankie’s room is really a lab which she calls “Fab” and it’s the only place she’s ever known. She’s never been outside of her home. She shares the Fab lab with two rats and has her closet decked out with the latest fashion trends and accessories.
Melody, Jackson, and Frankie’s world collide into each other when rumors of monsters being seen start spreading through the town and school. Frankie is determined for the normies (normal human folk) and the R.A.D.’s (Regular Attribute Dodger) to live in harmony again like they did back in the day. But she may end up causing more trouble than good. Melody is done with Jackson’s hot and cold feelings for her, so she sneaks into his house one night and finds out the real truth behind who he really is. But will finding out the truth make any difference in her relationship with him? And how will Frankie, Melody, and Jackson set things right between the normies and the R.A.D.’s?
Monster High is a whole new take on the wonderful, mythological tales we all know and love. It’s Frankenstein meets modern day high school, with girly glamour and sparkling humor.
As many know, I am not a fan of insta-love or of love triangles. Insta-love is rather anti-climatic and tends to be very predictable. Love triangles share in predictability and unoriginality. But Lisi Harrison throws in one hell of a fantastic twist into the age old love triangle debacle. I had not expected the twist and absolutely loved it! There are in essence two love triangles, one of them is pretty cliché but the other one is so completely twisted, I cannot wait to see how the author gets the characters out of it in the next novel.
The novel is told from both Frankie’s perspective and Melody’s. Alternating every other chapter or so. I really enjoyed reading from both girls. Frankie is so confident in who she is and doesn’t agree with her parents about having to hide (since she has bolts and seams, her parents give her make up to cover it up). Melody comes from a family of beautiful people and wealth. She never did fit in when her family had lived in Beverly Hills. Always in the background of older sister’s model like looks, Melody always felt as if her family had taken home the wrong baby. Melody is sweet and shy. She is brave too, and strong but doesn’t fully know that yet about herself. Both girls have their own insecurities and are just attempting to find out where they belong. Where Frankie is the girly girl, Melody is the tom-boy. Each one just wants to find a safe haven to be themselves.
Jackson is oh so cute and manages to be sexy even in his nerdyness. As the reader gets to know him through Melody’s perspective, part of you will fall for him the same way Melody does; while another part of you just wants to slap him so hard across the face! I didn’t really believe his lame excuses–that is, until I learned the truth. Such a great little twist!
The pacing is right on point and the characters are very well developed throughout the story. Candace, Melody’s older sister, doesn’t play too big of a role but when she gets her turn in the spotlight, she shines with humor, sass, and blatant confidence. She cracked me up.
I hadn’t expected to actually like this book. I thought Monster High would be yet another young adult novel full of teenage angst and forbidden love. There are some moments that are predictable but that doesn’t take away from the enjoyment and all out fun of the novel.
To my surprise, I found myself unable to put the book down until I was done and for those who know me, that is a BIG deal! I had a lot of fun stepping into Frankie and Melody’s absolute crazy world and I look forward to another adventure with the girls in the next installment.
Well done, Lisi Harrison!
