Quick read and entertaining but there was not enough mystery or tension in the story. At times the book lagged and I was simply reading to finish.

I really wanted to love this book, but something was missing for me. The main character, Sabrina, is very likable. I feel like this had the potential to be a great YA thriller, but fell short.

Scream Site is a thriller novel about a young aspiring journalist working to uncover the mystery behind disappearances of girls connected to a horror site. Sabrina is a high school freshman, and she is determined enough to apply for an internship program at a news outlet - but first she needs a really good article to show her skills with. On the suggestion of her friend, Evelyn, she starts looking into the rumors surrounding Scream Site, that there are girls who use it and disappear. With the cases close to home, and because the police (which includes her uncle) not taking the disappearances seriously because they think them to be adult runaways, she feels she needs to see the investigation through, even if it seems like her life is also being threatened.

For a novel that is supposed to be a thriller, and with a name like that, the writing doesn't lend to much dramatic tension or evoking a sense of dread, except for maybe like one scene in the start of the book (when there wasn't even a real threat, just her nerves!). For the most part, it circles around Sabrina wondering if she should go forward with an increasingly dangerous investigation (she is only 14 so this is valid), and lying to the people worried about her looking into such a thing and endangering herself (also valid, because she is 14!) which means there is some sneaking around, a couple of library trips (which is weird because she has an internet connection and laptop at home), and a risky trip to an abandoned amusement park. Sabrina is convinced the videos posted on the horror site are real, while others are trying to convince her that it is only fake, as it should be. And so it goes over and over with her friend, her English teacher (who I had my eye on), her suspect Asher (thankfully there isn't a romantic arc with him) and her uncle (who learns a lesson in never dismissing evidence just because it came from a teenager).

Additionally, I felt this book lacked any sort of characterization or character development. It is pretty short, so it makes for a fast read, but it loses any meaningful characterization in lieu of making a high-stakes thrilling plot (which, I feel, it failed at). The story itself is good, which is a saving grace, but combined with the non-existent characterization and the lack of an atmosphere where you would feel worried about your protagonist, it doesn't make for an entertaining read. The twist at the ending was good, but also felt rushed when it involved Faith, as it felt like a way to give a personal level of involvement to Sabrina (that she was trying to create throughout the book).

Verdict: good story, but no thrills. Doesn't deliver on the promise of a good mystery novel.

The most disappointing thing about this book was that it felt like there was a more interesting, better-written book trapped inside this book, screaming to get out. This is a middle-gradeish novel about internet fame and online scams, and not quite the thriller/horror one might expect from the blurb. That's fine; the concept is interesting, and it would be hard to write a thriller for middle-grade readers that incorporates some dark elements. But it's hampered by pedestrian writing with an earnest, moralising tone. It feels like an author "writing down" to her readers and that doesn't work well for me; some parts of the dialogue felt stilted, like it was just meant to be a conversation to advance the plot, rather than creating fully-realised, believable characters. There were moments when Sabrina and Eve and even Asher seem to come alive, but then they were quickly relegated to their "roles" in the story's plot.

All in all, I kept reading because it held my attention and was a quick read, but I did feel that it had the potential to be so much better.

I really enjoyed the idea of this book, it just fell a little flat in delivery for me. Scream Site is about a high school student with dreams of being an investigative reporter who finds herself in over her head when she begins to look into a popular website that allows users to upload horror movie style videos, too bad they might not all be fake.
I wanted to like this book. I have been really craving horror/thriller stories lately and this had a lot of potential, but the ending was kind of bland and anticlimactic for me. I liked the middle section where the real investigations and horror vibes were strong, the main character was finding all these clues and experiencing really scary things but no one would believe her. This part worked really well for me and I was finding myself on edge and scared. I just wanted more from the conclusion while the answer we did get wasn't very satisfying. I also felt like the writing wasn't very good either which I was surprised about since I really enjoyed Dread Nation by Justina Ireland from a few months ago so I'm not sure what happened here. I still think some people will enjoy this book but it wasn't for me.

Quick read, entertaining enough to make sure you finish the entire book. I wasn't a huge fan of the ending, but you get used to suspending disbelief when it comes to horror/suspense if you're any type of genre fan.

Fourteen-year-old Sabrina is a high school freshman and an aspiring journalist. When a local paper offers a summer internship, she is determined to apply but she needs something a little more substantial than her usual high school fluff pieces. When her best friend tells her about a popular website called Scream Site on which people can upload their own homemade horror videos, she knows she's found her story especially after hearing rumours about some of the girls who were seen in these videos disappearing in real life.

After reading the publisher's blurb about Scream Site by author Justina Ireland, I thought it sounded interesting. I suspected that, as it was aimed at a young YA audience, there would be little gore but, hopefully, lots of suspense - the first was true but the second not so much. Not to say there was nothing going on here. The story is fairly creepy, enough to keep me reading although it also helped that it was a short easy read. But whenever it looked like it was heading towards even a little excitement, it seemed to back off - the possibility of something untoward happening was repeated, often several times, as if somehow repetition of possibility of frights or action could stand in for actual frights or action (hint - it doesn't). And the ending - well, let's just say it was a tad implausible even for a genre that thrives on implausibility. Still, I would imagine this lack of blood and frights makes it a safe read for a young audience so, although I would suggest anyone over the age of 13 might want to give it a pass, it might be a good summer read for pre-teens 10 -12.

2.5

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Capstone for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

Entertaining, quick read. I can imagine tweens going crazy for it. "Scream Site" definitely had suspense and thrills and while I suspected one of the characters of being in on the villainy, it wasn't in the way I imagined, so kudos for that surprise and keeping the mysteries hidden until the reveal. If "Scream Site" was a real thing, I'd absolutely check it out!

It could have been a good middle grade novel, except it was difficult for me to be interested in the story and its characters. For some reason, the plot kind of dragged. Then when the mystery was out, it seemed predictable and in a sense, less thrilling and exciting than what I had anticipated. I just didn't enjoy my reading experience for this one. I think this book just wasn't for me.

While I did read this novel because of the intriguing blurb, it just didn't delivered what it promised (in my opinion). The book did not meet my expectations. At the same time, I just didn't care for its characters. I don't know if it was because I'm too old to be reading middle grade, or the characters just weren't interesting to me. Even if this was the case, there was just something in this book that didn't seem too bad. I thought the writing was atmospheric and the author did deliver what I think is the message of the book or the lesson of the story, since this is a middle grade novel after all.

A good quick read, aimed a little younger than I was expecting, it's not really that scary but good just the same, maybe a good first read in this genre for a younger reader.

Scream Site is a fast-paced, kind of creepy mystery that tackles safety on the internet and would be appropriate for younger teens, say 12 or 13 years old. High school freshman Sabrina dreams of becoming an investigative journalist and needs the perfect article for her internship application. When she begins investigating the link between missing girls and website for amateur horror videos, things become a little too real and connected with her own life.

This was a quick and pretty enjoyable read. The writing level definitely feels like it's on the younger end and it gets a bit didactic about the the importance of internet safety with things like identity theft and stalking. But overall it was an interesting, slightly creepy if ultimately tame story. Sabrina sometimes does some stupid things in her investigation, but to be fair, the adults in her life seem very quick to attribute everything to her overactive imagination and grief over the death of her father. The family dynamics (widowed mom who works all the time, distant older sister) felt realistic, if sad. Some of the plot points were a bit convenient, and couple of things with the ending didn't quite make sense, but overall I think this could be a good mystery-thriller introduction for a young teen. I agreed to review an early copy of this book via NetGalley.

A little slow paced for me, but all in all a decent mystery. I wish netgalley would make us aware of books which aren't kindle friendly before we request them. I had to read on my phone wish wasn't anything related to the book, but it wasn't as enjoyable.

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows a young girl named Sabrina, who is working on her next big story to score an internship with a popular newspaper, as well as an article for her school newspaper. She stumbles across a website, Scream Site, where users post their home made videos to compete for money.

After reading the synopsis, this book sounded very interesting and unique. I sped read through the first half of the book, only to come to a screeching halt at the end. The ending to this story was rushed and messy. I would have like this book to be a true horror story; instead of the ending the way it was (I won't give away spoilers).

I also was pretty unimpressed that it took so long for Sabrina to figure out where the missing girls were, despite having several clues. Also, the part of the English teacher/newspaper editor was weird and the book probably didn't need.

Overall, while I did enjoy this read, I would probably not recommend it to friends.

Scream site is an interesting read that will make you want to keep reading until the end! It is a very quick and fun read!

I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The first thing I would like to say about this book is that I was really confused at first, thinking I was reading a YA, but it read more like a middle grade book. The age range for this book is more like 11-13 year olds. Which was a little disappointing because the premise of the book, with there being a website with girls going missing, and the videos of them showing up on the "scream site," had/has so much potential to be an amazing true YA genre thriller.

I found this book to be boring, and hard to get through, it seemed as though they were saying the same things over and over again. Things seemed very implausible, like why wouldn't the teacher just let her write about the website, but instead acted like it was too dangerous without knowing what it really even entailed. Throughout the book, it felt like you knew everything that was going to happen, and you pretty much did. I felt like I read a lot about eating pizza and then bam last 30 pages the story climaxed and it was the end and that was that.

I would recommend for a tween thriller... was the writing great, not really I felt like I was reading a story from a high school creative writing class, not a published author. Again wasn't the worst thing I have ever read, just wasn't what I expected, and could have been so much more.

* I received a copy from NetGalley for an honest review.*

Scream Site by Justina Ireland has the premise for a very good, spooky teen thriller, too bad it just doesn't live up to that. The story revolves around Sabrina Sebastion, an aspiring investigative reporter for her school paper. She decides to do a story on Scream Site for a summer internship about the rumors that some girls have gone missing after using the site.
While this book had some good atmospheric scenes that helped to give you a creepy vibe, nothing was ever really scary. Whenever the tension started building up, it would end up falling flat. And the ending was very anti-climatic. Definitely not what I was expecting to happen. It is almost as if the author didn't want to commit to having real danger in the scenes.
It took a while to get used to the dialog as well. Some parts were very cliche "young people" speak.
Overall I would not recommend this book if you are looking for a thriller or something to scare you. It is a short read and did have a few good parts. It just needed more.

I, too, had issues with downloading the content. I tried every avenue possible to bypass this, but could not. I do not want to give an inaccurate review, so while I cannot speak to the specific details of the story or author, the premise is intriguing.

The download would not work for me so unfortunately, I was not able to read this book but from what I have heard from other reviewers, this book sounds like a fun and quick read.

This is categorized as a YA novel on NetGalley, but I have to wonder if that was a mistake, because it reads very much like a middle grade book.  Fourteen-year-old protagonist Sabrina is a likable main character.  She's very goal-oriented, and her tenacity and love of her family are admirable.  Best friend Evelyn is a hoot, and steals nearly every scene. 

The mystery is intriguing, but requires a massive suspension of disbelief from the reader.  The details overlooked by investigating detectives and the reactions from Sabrina's family members over certain events are just a bit too unbelievable, and the wrap-up comes about quickly and has distinct 'Scooby-Doo' overtones.  All of this makes me feel like Scream Site is geared more toward middle grade, or at least the lower end of the YA spectrum.

I felt like this book did an excellent job with warning teens not to trust everything they read on the internet, never giving out personal information to strangers, and the dangers of people misrepresenting themselves online.  You can never be sure who you're talking to. 

I'd recommend this book for middle grade or lower age range YA readers, but doubt it would hold much appeal for the older YA crowd.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Terrifying and captivating from start to finish. I loved reading this one and if it wasn't for the silly grammar mistakes I would have actually awarded it 5 stars.