While I enjoy Justina's other titles (particularly those for Star Wars: the High Republic), this one was clunky and not as polished as it needed to be. It also suffered from a protag who was too young for YA and too old for MG. It's actually a fairly dull ride, eliciting no gasps or screams at all.

I didn't end up realizing I was approved for this at the time and I never ended up downloading the boo to read it. I hope to find a copy and read it some time in the future and will update my review if that happens.

Amazing novel from Justina Ireland and I plan on reading the rest of her released novels. A definite insta-buy author for me.

Thank you for providing a copy of this book for review however I was unable to open the file for this document unfortunately! Apologies.

This one was a really cute thriller. I thought it was YA, but it read like upper middle grade. Entirely enjoyable, would recommend to MGers who enjoy spooky stories

After reading Justina Ireland's YA, Dread Nation, which has a solid amount of scare, I was ecstatic to pick up her latest MG, Scream Site. There has been a micro-trend of horror MG lately, and this is absolutely up my alley.

Sabrina Sebastian dreams of being an investigative reporter and knows the right internship can help her become one. While she struggles to pick just the right story for her application, her best friend suggests she write about the Scream Site disappearances. Scream Site is a place people can post homemade scary videos, and the best, most successful videos could mean serious attention for the videographer and actors. When Sabrina looks through some of the most popular videos, she notices a few specific ones that seem just a little too real...and when the stars of those videos aren't heard from for days, eventually including her sister, she knows something dark is afoot.

While the biggest twists of the plot weren't as surprising as they could have been, the atmosphere makes this book a quick and exciting read. Even when I had strong guesses about what would happen next, the writing and characters, especially Sabrina, had me fully invested. Though Sabrina (understandably) scares easily, she is nonetheless brave and dedicated to finding her sister, making her easily relatable. I loved the depiction of her and Faith's relationship beyond the Scream Site as well. They used to be close, but they have drifted apart, and Sabrina doesn't quite understand why. I enjoyed their development immensely.

All in all, Scream Site is a fun thriller with heaps of heart.

Scream Site by Justina Ireland||Book Review

This novel is a modern day mystery novel in the vein of Nancy Drew. It's main premise revolves around the dangers of the internet and why you shouldn't believe everything that you read online. Something that I feel doesn't get talked about enough; in an age of the internet where youtubers and instagram influencers are life goals for many young people across the world.



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The main character is Sabrina a high school freshman in a small town in Maryland. Her main characteristics are that she hates scary things, has just had her father pass away, and wants to be a journalist ( the internship she's applying to and her investigative skills are what drives the narrative).

If you want a decent internet mystery that isn't lame (i.e. memes and hashtag references) then I would definitely give this one a read. I feel like that is one of the things that sets this novel apart from other recent YA novel; not once during the entire story does it feel like Ireland is discounting the credibility of online information, nor does she cheapen the believability of online user bases.

I enjoyed how the readers really get to experience Sabrina working through the mystery logically. Everything flows smoothly and plot lines are never left to be forgotten.

The only thing that could be taken as a negative is that the secound half of the novel passes by very quickly; and I wish that Sabrina would have been given more time to experience the novel's conclusion. That being said if the author were to write a secound mystery adventure with these characters I would read it for sure.

Scream Site is a fun mystery. I am in the middle of one of Justina Ireland's other novels (Dread Nation a period zombie thriller) so it is safe to say that she enjoys horror elements. I enjoy the speed at which I am able to get through her work- at this rate I may be on the way to having a new must read author. Thank you Netgalley for always having something for me to read.
Professional Reader

I expected quite a bit more creep factor in this one than I received, but I believe that may be due to it being marketed for young adults. It would definitely provide the chills for middle graders, so I am going to give it a middle three stars. I'm hoping copies find their ways into the hands of the group most likely to appreciate them,

Cover:
I love the blue colour on the cover, but I don't really like the cover xD

Synopsis:
Sabrina Sebastian's goal in life is to be an investigative reporter. For her first big story, she researches a popular website called Scream Site, where people post scary videos and compete for the most "screams." While Sabrina's friends and her sister, Faith, talk nonstop about the creepy viral videos, Sabrina just hopes that covering this trend will get her the internship she's wishing for. But as she digs into the truth behind the website, she begins to suspect that these aren't only aspiring actors and videographers at work. Some clips seem a little too real. And when Faith goes missing, Sabrina must race against time to save her sister from becoming the next video "star."

Writing style / Plot:
It was just one boring hell of a ride. I'm sorry. But I did dnf this book at 25 percent. I just couldn't get into it and it was just so boring that I almost fell asleep ... (I'm so sorry).

This was all right. I love Justina Ireland's Dread Nation, but unfortunately this was not as good. I found the plot to be a little slow, albeit twisty. Love that cover though. The blue is what drew me in so fast.

This one didn't really work for me. The stakes aren't high enough. WE hear how scared the videos make the protagonist feel, how they feel "too real". We don't experience that terror with her. And there's no real indication of danger to the missing girls, no evidence apart from instinct. The big reveal, when it comes, is rather lacking in dramatic emphasis. The evidence is thin and the actual "bad guy" is never a real character.

MY THOUGHTS:
The thing that drew me to it was 100% the cover, and the synopsis completely captivated me. That being said, the execution was way below par. I didn’t care for ANY of the characters, I felt the setting wasn’t fully fleshed out and felt boring, and the plot wasn’t fully taken advantage of.

PROS:
The Idea: Like I said, the synopsis was absolutely captivating and made me want to read this immediately. One of my favorite tropes is amateur “detectives” sleuthing around a case, so the idea of a high school freshmen investigating a horror site really intrigued me. Unfortunately, it wasn’t executed in a way that I enjoyed.

My Enjoyment: This is a weird one, but I did enjoy this book. It wasn’t like I had to force myself through it, it just wasn’t a *great* read.

CONS:
The Characters: I really didn’t like ANY of the characters in this. Let’s start off by talking about Sabrina. I felt that she had pretty much no development, something all of the characters within this book suffered from. She was really annoying and made some pretty dumb decisions. Evelyn’s character also bugged me. She is described as some daredevil bad ass, but she refused to do anything thrilling. I just felt like most of the characters had flaws that definitely outweighed their positive traits.

The Setting: Creepy amusement park/carnival stories are some of my favorite, so I was pretty pumped to see this featured one… then it was barely used. A missed opportunity if you ask me. The town in this felt like every other one, and had no unique qualities.

The Execution: As stated above, I loved the plot synopsis for this, it being the reason I requested this ARC in the first place, but it just didn’t work out for me. I felt like the author had every opportunity to make this story thrilling, but didn’t go for it AT ALL. Although I enjoyed it, it wasn’t the most interesting thing to read. She took a great plot and didn’t turn it into what it could have been.

The Mystery: This is a mystery/thriller, but I wasn’t spooked once during the whole thing. I’m pretty sure this is considered middle grade, but even then I don’t see how this could pass off as a thriller/horror. The clues were ridiculous and obvious for the most part, so I don’t see how everyone but Sabrina shrugged them off. They were so obvious… Also, how hard is it to investigate Funland? Like… it was already known that it was a popular filming location, so just, like… look into it maybe. I don’t know.

The Ending: This is the biggest con for me, personally. I was ready for the big pay off to this lackluster story, and when the ending finally came along I WAS LIVID. I was actually VERY confused because I couldn’t see how that was the actual ending, it was laughable. I don’t know, I may be alone on this but I felt the ending was ridiculous.

Side note: The synopsis states that Sabrina is trying to find her sister, but that doesn’t happen until 85% through the book. Just something to know before going into this.

MY RATING: 1.5/5 STARS.

Scream Site was everything I expected it to be and more. Scream Site is a story about Sabrina whose dream is to be an investigative reporter and hopes to take one step further by securing a summer internship at Daily Sun. After her friend Evelyn, Chinese-American, brings to her attention the mysterious disappearances of girls in the Area after trending on a horror video sharing website. The premise of the book was great and caught my attention I’m always interested in stories that deal with the internet and social media in detail. I wasn’t completely bored while I was reading it but the plot moved slowly. The plot twist ending was unexpected but incredibly underwhelming and rushed. I expected the focus of the story to be Sabrina’s sister’s disappearance but it was crammed into the last chapters and rushed through.

Pretty good suspense with intriguing mysterious atmosphere which ended quite like Scooby dooby doo.
-So all the thriller buildup from the start had slumped right at the end and I felt the ending had more potential than was given in this book.
-The writing style was good with realistic descriptions, however Characterization was confusing, I got confused when she was referring to her own family and when to outsiders,seemed too un-personal.
-The plot was interesting with satisfying twists and developments and managed to capture the essence of an introverted sophomore's life.

Okay, so… this book did not work for me. At all. The whole thing felt so lagging, I was not the least bit motivated to read. I found the storyline to drag quite a bit on things that weren't necessarily relevant to the basic plot - which, I have to say, was very intriguing but it somehow failed to deliver. I literally picked it up after more than a month of starting and even then I had to force myself to keep reading it and mostly just skimmed through. The characters too fell flat for me, there wasn't really anything interesting about them that made me feel like I could relate to them or that got me hooked. The interactions between the characters felt like meh, it was all very bland. There were things that, for me at least, were very obvious but the character would spend quite some time pondering over them, analysing and explaining them, which got pretty annoying.

Scream Site is branded as horror but honestly, there wasn't anything that scary about it - more of a thriller?

That being said, this is just what I thought of the book. I do understand that it's meant for a younger age group so it might be more suited for them, might appeal more to them. But personally, I was not impressed.

Edge of your seat horror-mystery!

Thanks to Capstone Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review Scream Site by Justina Ireland!

The synopsis creeped me out and I started the book with jittery anticipation. Sabrina loves journalism and, as the story opens, she’s trying to figure out the best article to submit for a summer internship with the Daily Sun newspaper. Her friend, Evelyn, tells her about rumors surrounding the website called Scream Site, that’s holding a competition for scariest video. The rumors involve missing young women and the possibility of murder or torture of these women. The more Sabrina investigates, the more danger she’s in and the more she’s threatened. No one seems to believe her concerns, not ever her detective uncle, so Sabrina takes the investigation into her own hands regardless of personal safety. Along with the mystery, online safety is focused on with helpful reminders for all of us. This edge of your seat horror-mystery kept me riveted and I read it straight through in a few hours, 4 stars.

Not really my cup of tea, but could be entertaining for younger audiences! The prose wasn't to my liking, either...

Scream Site reminded me a little of the Point Horror books I loved as a kid, only with more introspection and fewer scares. I adored the front cover art and the blurb made it sound as though danger would be lurking around every corner.

While it was an okay read it felt like it was a victim of its own marketing in a way. It’s marketed (depending on where you look) towards readers between 12 and 15 years or 12 and 18 years. I think 12 would be towards the higher end of the age group that would enjoy this book most.

I can trace a lot of the problems I had with this book back to its blurb. We’re told very clearly that Faith, Sabrina’s sister, goes missing so I assumed this would happen fairly early in the story and then we’d spend the rest of the book chasing down clues to try to save her before its too late.

As a result of this (wrong) assumption each time I read Faith’s name I was looking for clues and getting ready to learn of her disappearance and potential demise. Then I got bored waiting for the inevitable. By the time it finally happens I was already 85% of the way through the book and I don’t think I’ll be so happy to learn that someone may have been kidnapped ever again.

It’s difficult to know what spoiler territory looks like in a book whose blurb is possibly the biggest spoiler of all so let’s just say there are potential spoilers in my review. Consider yourself warned.

Sabrina is a 14 year old wannabe investigative journalist. She like super wants to apply for a summer internship at a newspaper. If that last sentence annoyed you then this is probably not the book for you. People are “super busy”, things are “super creepy” or “super weird”, and “it was super illegal”. “He, like, volunteers” and is “like the nicest guy in the entire school”.

Why does our main character, who loves documentaries and romantic comedies, decide to investigate a website hosted by horror movie makers? Because she hasn’t come up with a good lead for her internship application and her best (and possibly only) friend thinks it’s a good idea. After watching one video and suitably freaking herself out Sabrina decides there’s more to the story and continues her own personal scare fest for the rest of the book.

Sabrina scares herself when the lights suddenly go out in her home a couple of times but as it’s already established early on that this happens all the time I never expected any jump scares to come as a result of rooms plunging into darkness.

Besides the too much information blurb I found myself questioning too many elements to really enjoy much of the read.

With her sister missing and this website being pretty much her only clue I doubt that Lupe would have handed over her sister’s login information to a 14 year old investigative journalist wannabe she’d just met.

I would have thought that a horror video competition would encourage originality but most of the videos seem to be of girls being chased through the woods. “Everyone shot their videos in the woods.”

We hear about “creepy nursery rhyme recitations” but the vagueness of this detracts from any potential creepiness.

If Evelyn (Sabrina’s best and maybe only friend) was so concerned about Sabrina’s safety while meeting some random person from the internet then why didn’t she go with her? Originally I thought I might like Evelyn with her dyed streak in her hair and somewhat rebellious attitude. I was wrong.

“I care about popularity, and I need you to pull it together, Sabrina. We are perfectly positioned to be in the mid-tier of cool next year, which means we will at least be popular enough to get invited to the good parties. But that’s not going to happen if you keep up with running around like this.”

When it seems as though Sabrina is in actual danger she lies to her mother. I spent most of the book wondering why Sabrina didn’t tell her mother what she was investigating and then I found out. Sabrina finally tells her Mum and she’s not believed. Okay, question answered.

I wasn’t sure why Sabrina didn’t try to warn her sister that she feared she’d be the next victim. Even with the adults of the world in collective disbelief and the risk of not being believed by Faith either, I still would have been warning her to be “super” careful.

Do sophomores and seniors have classes together? They do in this book.

I found it odd that Sabrina didn’t know that the guy her best friend had a crush on last summer is the same guy she has a crush on now; the one she gushes over in the coffee shop in the first chapter. The page after this confusion Evelyn seems to get confused about why Sabrina would be mentioning her uncle in relation to the missing girl. You know, the only uncle that’s mentioned in the book; the police detective.

I doubt detective uncle would be revealing details of an open case to his 14 year old niece. It was also fairly convenient that both times his niece dropped by the police station Uncle John just so happened to be working and sitting at his desk.

While I loved the front cover image and it’s part of the reason why I wanted to read this book in the first place there’s no mention in the entire book of a ferris wheel. Funland “featured go karts, an arcade, and mini-golf”. I had really hoped for a clichéd but fun final scene atop the ferris wheel or on some other unseen but amusement type ride. I was quite disappointed in the big reveal and the explanation that followed.

I came across plenty of typos but as I read an ARC I expect/hope they would have been corrected prior to publication. There was a fair bit of time spent recounting information the characters and reader already know. There were also some sentences that didn’t exactly fit well with what followed, e.g., “Sabrina didn’t sleep at all that night.” The rest of the paragraph talks about her waking up from nightmares.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book. Had the blurb not given away too much I expect I would have enjoyed it more.

Sabrina Sebastian wants a summer internship so she can be an investigative reporter. She is searching for a big story to win the summer internship. Sabrina is told by her sister to check out scream site on the Internet. It is known for spooky videos. As she investigates she becomes suspicious due to rumors of people disappearing. When her sister suddenly disappears, Sabrina lets others know about her suspicions but no one listens. Will she find her sister?

This is a creepy whirlwind horror novel. It is an excellent horror novel. It is also part mystery. I enjoyed the horror novel as I liked the exploration of scarey videos being made. It was a mystery that intrigued me.

This author has made me and a lot of people in the book community feel very uncomfortable with recent comments, so I'm choosing to no longer read this book.