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A review by screamdogreads
Summer Rental by Rektok Ross
3.0
"You're an Instagram influencer, not an actress." She brings the knife down, caressing the blade against Nia's long swanlike throat. "Honestly, I'm doing you a favor, Nia. You were never gonna be famous. Better to die now, while you still have clout."
Summer Rental is one of those hyper-fast, ultra-fun, extremely easy to fly through in a single sitting summer slashers. Said to be Mean Girls meets Scream, it delivers exactly on what it promises. All too often, the publishing industry creates these pop culture comps to drive hype in marketing, only for the book to fail to deliver, thankfully, in this case, Summer Rental does exactly what it sets out to do. It's the ideal vacation read, the perfect beach thriller, a novel that allows you to switch your brain off while it entertains you. And, providing you don't take it too seriously, it's perfectly fun. You won't find anything groundbreaking here, the writing isn't exactly spectacular, and it's pretty much exactly the usual thing you'd expect of a summer slasher but, it's still enjoyable, it's blisteringly paced fun, and sometimes, that's all a book needs to be.
Intense and gripping from the get-go, Summer Rental, while reading on the younger side of YA, and also being packed full of clichés and tropes, is actually rather delightful. At times, it's really isolated and brings a claustrophobic, cloying, suffocating feel, especially when it becomes more of a locked room thriller. Packed full of mean, extremely toxic, ultra annoying rich people getting slashed up, this is the ideal novel for those sweltering summer nights, where all you want is some gory entertainment. Drenched in atmosphere and tension and despite its clichés, it's difficult not to have a good time with this one.
Summer Rental is one of those hyper-fast, ultra-fun, extremely easy to fly through in a single sitting summer slashers. Said to be Mean Girls meets Scream, it delivers exactly on what it promises. All too often, the publishing industry creates these pop culture comps to drive hype in marketing, only for the book to fail to deliver, thankfully, in this case, Summer Rental does exactly what it sets out to do. It's the ideal vacation read, the perfect beach thriller, a novel that allows you to switch your brain off while it entertains you. And, providing you don't take it too seriously, it's perfectly fun. You won't find anything groundbreaking here, the writing isn't exactly spectacular, and it's pretty much exactly the usual thing you'd expect of a summer slasher but, it's still enjoyable, it's blisteringly paced fun, and sometimes, that's all a book needs to be.
Intense and gripping from the get-go, Summer Rental, while reading on the younger side of YA, and also being packed full of clichés and tropes, is actually rather delightful. At times, it's really isolated and brings a claustrophobic, cloying, suffocating feel, especially when it becomes more of a locked room thriller. Packed full of mean, extremely toxic, ultra annoying rich people getting slashed up, this is the ideal novel for those sweltering summer nights, where all you want is some gory entertainment. Drenched in atmosphere and tension and despite its clichés, it's difficult not to have a good time with this one.
"I've never known anyone our age who died. I don't know how I'd react either. It seems shitty, but maybe it really is just easier for them to not think about Jordyn. Look at Jonathan and his family. They never bounced back from the loss. Jordyn's suicide destroyed them. I guess it's hard to blame my friends for not wanting that to happen to them, too. Perhaps death is just easier to ignore than to deal with."
Summer Rental is a good book, but not a great one. This is more of a case of me not being the intended demographic, however. Summer Rental sits on the younger side of YA, and is honestly, better suited for readers who are fans of trope filled fiction. All in all, it's a pretty regular summer slasher, thankfully, summer slashes have never been boring, have they? It's simply pure entertainment, a lightning fast read that you can absolutely devour in a single sitting. At times, it's a little over the top but, really, what's some added drama when everyone is dying anyway? The entire thing is just, dumb, vapid, irritating, toxic rich people getting slashed, with some added bullying for good measure. It's suspenseful, breezy, and extremely easy to read.
"Girls always lie to each other. Little lies, like saying an outfit looks good, even if it doesn't, and big lies, like saying we're happy even when we're really not. None of that is the same as bullying a friend into killing themselves and then covering it up though. That's sociopathic. "