I received this book from The Book Terminal/publisher/author in exchange for an honest review.

So, of course I had to sign up for this tour, hello? The book has been on my must read for some time now. I just LOVE LOVE Bloody Mary stories and I was hyped to get started. But, right from the bat I have to mention that I found this one very tame and so not scary. I mean, there were one or two moments that I was scared a bit, but nothing more. I will talk more about it later in my review, we are first starting with the good.

I love the cover, it is so scary and terrifying and I love that the title is mentioned x times on the cover to fit with the times one has to call her in this book!

We have 4 different POVs and while I wasn’t a fan of one of them (more on that in the next part about things I wasn’t a fan of), I really loved the other POVs. From haunted Calvin, to shy Grace, to Steph who is kick-ass in sports but is unsure about many other things. I loved that we got to see the events unfold from these POVs and I love that each of the three characters is written well and that I was looking forward to them. I am still not sure who is my fav of the three here. Mm, I think I will go with Steph.

This one is a bit hit/miss so it will also be mentioned in the things I wasn’t a fan of, and that is the romance. On the one hand I enjoyed the romance. Calvin and Grace, soulmates or not? Steph and her figuring out about how much she likes girls. I loved that Grace and Calvin, unlike Henry and Elena, aren’t together yet, but are both interested in each other and I had a bit of giggle seeing these two get cute during some of the less fortunate moments. XD

I loved the Bloody Mary we are presented with in this one. I just love how there are things that match with other stuff I read (the calling her, the mirror, soulmates or death), but also that there are other things. Like the German fairytale book, what is up with Elena’s grandmother, the letters on the mirror, and some other stuff. It made for an interesting read as it just went a different direction than I had thought.

I loved that things didn’t immediately start after that (then) kids checked that mirror, instead we go to 5 years from then and see how events unfurl there. How the group is now. How the friendships broke apart.

Now for some things I wasn’t a fan of. I do need to mention these as they do influence my rating. But I will put it all in one spoiler so that the review stays one happy space: One of those and the biggest one of all, it just wasn’t scary. Not at all. I had maybe one or two OH SNAP moments, but that was all. It was just all very tame. And I had the scariest setting to read this book. I was camping on a camp site. It was in the middle of the night so it was pitch and pitch black. The only sounds were frogs and our annoying snoring neighbour. It was just perfect to read a horror book and I was ready for no sleep! Instead… I slept like an angel and had no problem sleeping. I think the biggest problem where that it never felt very threatening, I mean, no one dies or gets very gravely injured, even Henry just has a few stitches and his arm broken, which is terrible but hey the next day he was back at school. Not to mention we get visions that Calvin pens down… it just gets rid of the surprise element. Also I had expected way more stalking of Mary in mirrors and other reflective stuff. Oh and then there is Mary. I won’t spoil anything, but I had expected grander things. While I did say I liked the romance… I did feel it took away from the book’s creepiness. It was just a tad too big on the foreground for me. I don’t mind romance in horror, but it needs to be in the background for me. Next is Elena. Or bitchy McBitch face. I guess she wasn’t inherently evil/bad (given that she had that voice in her head), but really, this girl was just the worst and ruined the story for me. Starting with her 9-year old bossy mode and entering the 14-year age with being a total snob, bitch, and what even is team-work? Also girl, flirting with another guy is CHEATING. You have a perfectly sweet boyfriend who loves you and instead you just go for the next hot candy? Bah. I hate people who cheat and this was just horrible, especially given her reaction that he (Henry) was just overreacting. There are many other moments were I was just hoping for Mary to eat her or take her to another dimension.

So yeah, not scary at all, but still a very good read with mostly good characters and an interesting Bloody Mary story.