The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

High School

16-year-old Delia and her family move into the house they just inherited in Pennsylvania, the Piven Institute for the Care and Correction of Troubled Females, but the locals call it Hysteria Hall. However, many of the inmates weren’t insane, just defiant and strong willed…kind of like Delia herself.

But the house still wants to keep “troubled” girls locked away. So, in the most horrifying way, Delia gets trapped.

Ghost girls wander the halls in their old-fashion nightgowns. A handsome ghost boy named Theo roams the grounds. Delia finds that all the spirits are unsettled and full of dark secrets. The house itself harbors shocking truths within its walls – truths that only Delia can uncover, and they may set her free.

Three words: Abandoned. Insane. Asylum. If those words have gotten your attention, continue reading. If not, go on to another book.

The thing that really confused me was that her father thought it was okay to stay in the insane asylum while they were cleaning it up to sell. Yeah cause that’s a good idea. It’s not like in those old movies where the teens dare each other to spend a night in ‘the abandoned insane asylum on the outskirts of town’. The father knowingly took his wife and his children to a mental hospital. How stupid is that!

Most of the females at the Institute didn’t belong there. They weren’t sick, just strong willed. But that’s what people did to women and the truly insane back then. As it is quoted in the book, “The word hysteria originated from the Greek hystera, meaning ‘womb’. Female hysteria was a blanket diagnosis applied to women for everything from schizophrenia to having too many opinions.” I think this is well put.

I can’t image being stuck in one place forever. I know I said that if I had to I’d want to spend it in a movie theater. But I would eventually get lonely. If you’re going to be stuck somewhere for the rest of your afterlife, the one thing you need is a friend. I mention this because the ghost girls are trapped in the house while the ghost boy Theo is trapped outside. For a hundred years, he had no one to talk. Until Delia showed up.

This book is what I imagine the TV show American Horror Story is like. I’ve never watch that show so I can’t say for sure.

Well, this is my last October post. I hope you enjoyed it.

Famous Last Words by Katie Alender

High School

After moving from suburban Connecticut to Hollywood when her mom married Jonathan, a movie director, it seems like she’s seeing things in her new house. Like a dead body in her swimming pool, frantic messages on her walls, a reflection that is not her own. It’s almost as if someone – or something – is trying to send her a message.

Meanwhile, a killer is stalking Los Angeles – a killer who reenacts famous movie murder scenes. Could Willia’s strange visions have to do with these unsolved murders? Or is she going crazy? And who can she confide in? There’s Marnie, her new friend who may not be totally trustworthy. And there’s Reed, who’s ridiculously handsome and seems to get Willia. There’s also Wyatt, who’s super smart and unhealthily obsessed with the Hollywood Killer.

All Willia knows is, she has to confront the possible ghost in her house, or she just might lose her mind…or her life.

This book was written by Katie Alender, the same women who wrote the ‘Bad Girls Don’t’ Die’ Series. I honestly liked this story better than the ‘Bad Girls Don’t Die’ books. I’m not saying those books were bad, I just like single books better than series books.

Willia’s character was refreshingly real. Some female characters are too ‘poor little me’ about everything that’s happening to them. Some characters have good reasons to be like

that but they spend more than half the book complaining and it’s so annoying. Willia spends most of the book thinking she’s nuts but she doesn’t spend the whole book whining about it. She goes out and does something about it. She is the type of female character I want to see more of.

I like how Katie Alender doesn’t try to make Hollywood sound all ‘glamorous’. I’ve been to Hollywood Boulevard many times and I can honestly say it’s not glamorous. The whole place is really gross with too many people, filthy sidewalks and people selling drugs.

You’re questioning throughout the story whether the visions she is having are all in her head or something more supernatural is going on. I’ve read books and watched a lot of TV shows about people who can see something others can’t and I’ve always been fascinated with that concept.

I don’t want to say too much about this book out of fear of giving too much away. I will say that if you want to read a book about movies, Hollywood history, a serial killer, and a little romance thrown in for good measure, this is the book for you.