A solid young adult thriller with an interesting array of characters! I ate this one up and enjoyed every minute of it. Little Creeping Things is exactly what I needed and I wholeheartedly recommend it to fans of thrilling reads! I can't wait for the next one!

3 stars

Cass, the main character, is largely shaped by an incident she experienced as a young girl that results in the death of her best friend and her long standing nickname: Fire Girl. Because she lacks clarity around what actually happened, these "little creeping things," insidious feelings, sadness, and self doubt, plague her throughout her young life. Her relationships with her best friend/potential love interest and her brother help her achieve some sense of stability in the face of this challenging past and current reputation.

Early in the novel, Cass believes she witnesses a murder, and the bulk of the novel centers on finding the truth behind this situation; simultaneously, Cass looks for and comes to find some clarity about her own experiences and the people who surround her.

This novel definitely held my attention, but I found it very predictable even in relation to other YA novels of this ilk. If you are looking to feel part of the mystery, this may not be the read for you. If you don't mind knowing with almost certainty what will unfold and just want to join for the journey to get there, this should keep you pretty interested. I will add that I enjoyed the evolution of the "little creeping things" symbolism. By the end, these small uncertainties that we all have and that can - at times - negatively shape any one of us - become a relatable aspect of not just teen identity but one with which many folks struggle throughout their lives.

What a creepy cover! I love it. It would look fantastic on any shelf. This story had great suspense, but perhaps a little too much angst. However, I loved that Cassidy was so unreliable. I really enjoy flawed characters. I believe we all have a little bit of those dark places in ourselves that make the characters believable.

this one was such a great read that was so hard to put down! I absolutely loved this one! Thrilling and had me needing more!

This book is really fast paced and keeps you interested through the entire book. I’m just a little disappointed because I was able to figure out who the bad guy is within the first 30% of the book. I always like being surprised and I didn’t quite get that from this book.

This novel has a solid premise. It might have been meant to be full of twists and turns, a heaping amount of mounting evidence, and a few leads to whoever might have been responsible for Melody's disappearance. The reality, however, is most of a novel full of teenage angst and a lead that spends most of her time either blaming herself for this disappearance, stressing over the loss of a friend who she is so obviously actually in love with, and not a lot of sleuthing happening save for a few random bursts here and there.

Cass is not the most likable of leads. She's rather unpleasant, actually. She's selfish; she might berate herself with guilt after the fact, but she's very much okay with pushing others down a few pegs; and she impulsively jumps to conclusions that are incredibly detrimental to other people. She spends most of the novel rushing from one suspect to the other, while dragging poor Gideon around—best friend sidekick and the only good person in this story aside from poor Emily, sister to one of the wrongfully accused people—until the guy appropriately tired of her antics.

And you would think that someone who gets bullied—which only adds another ingredient to the angsty feel of this tale—would attempt to rise above doing it to others, but rather deplorably, she instead turns around and does the same thing to someone else.

After Cass has gone around to blaming Brandon, her brother Asher's friend, for Melody's fatality, she sets her eyes on Seth. Seth, the loner that everyone thinks is a stalker of girls after a rumor was started by Cassidy . So it baffles me that Cass then goes after Seth as the culprit in this story because he's creepy and a stalker and therefore, so very obviously, the “bad guy”...even though she herself was the one who started this rumor! The reasoning to this path that the novel takes and sticks to for quite a while makes no sense to me. And just before we find out who the actual criminal is, Cass, of course, goes on and hysterically accuses yet another person due to the gut instinct that has been leading her so clearly up to this point.

I wasn't expecting the big reveal, which was at least one good thing to this book, even if I found the reasoning for “bad guy” to do what he did very weak—albeit psychotic, so at least he fits the bill. But after the insufferable long time that it took for this to build, while having to read through pages upon pages of Cassidy's anxiety and teenage moping because she was losing her Giddy—and fairly so, mind you, since she has no backbone and fed into her fear rather than attempt to do the right thing—the mystery was completely lost for me in this one.

Wow! LITTLE CREEPING THINGS is a totally engrossing mystery which gripped me from Page One. Yes, it's YA, but let me tell you, Cass, Gideon, and others deal with issues many adults would fear to take on. The author ramps up the psychological input throughout, and continues to also view it sociologically (peer constraints, public opinion, family favoritism), and there was not a boring moment to be found.


In addition was the "CLUE" type of scrolling through villain possibilities: Is it--? Or is it--? Or no it must be--? You get the point. Not a "locked room," but very Agatha Christie-ish nonetheless. So glad I chose to read this.

Cassidy Pratt is a victim of bullying, enduring lifelong torment, as a result of an accidental fire she started in her playhouse as a child. Cassidy's older brother pulled both girls from the flames, but Cassidy was the only survivor. The beautiful and popular Melody Davenport is her primary tormenter, a cousin of the young girl that was killed. Wishing for her torment to end, she jokingly plots the murder of Melody writing down the perfect plan in her notebook. One afternoon Cassidy hears what appears to be Melody being murdered but nobody believes her until Melody goes missing...it's up to Cassidy to discover the killer before she becomes the primary suspect.

Little Creeping Things is a debut YA thriller from author Chelsea Ichaso. Cassidy's character is an unreliable witness both to the childhood tragedy that brands her "fire girl" and "cousin killer" but also the disappearance of her tormentor Melody. Cassidy, certain that Melody was murdered, decides to engage in some amateur sleuthing to find the killer. Cassidy runs around blaming almost everyone she comes in contact with of being a murderer, based on little to no evidence, making her appear unhinged even to her best friend and brother. As she searches for the killer she begins to experience memories about the childhood fire which don't match up with how everyone said the events occurred. The novel was pretty predictable, at least for me, and it wasn't much of a surprise when the killer is identified. I could not relate to the main character and found her very unlikeable but the novel was well written and entertaining. Overall this was a quick and easy read and isn't graphically violent in nature making it suitable for even the younger YA readers.

Loved this book! It was such an engaging read, sucking me right in and keeping me guessing the whole time. I really liked Cass and found her very intriguing as an unreliable narrator (my favorite!). I’d absolutely recommend to fans of Holly Jackson.

This was a compulsive read for me. The story seemed to flow and it was easy to lose track of time. We get interesting morsels that kept me flying through the pages. I couldn't wait to discover exactly what happened, not only to Melody but with the fire all those years ago as well. I liked the twists and turns. Great cover! I was not disappointed with this young adult novel!

I’ve been needing to read a YA Thriller and this cover is very enticing! Dolls can be quite creepy. There were definitely great things about this book but there were a couple things that were confusing or I didn’t understand.

Cassidy is not very popular at school thanks to mean girl Melody. Her life has been ruined since the day Melody’s cousin died in a fire and Cassidy was to blame. This one incident has made Cass unreliable because she can’t remember the events of that day and no one wants to believe her when it comes to Melody’s disappearance.

I liked Cass as a character. Unreliable characters make for an intriguing plot because everything is wishy washy and she starts looking crazy.

This is definitely more plot driven since a lot of the characters are there to move it along. I was okay with this minus for the killer. I didn’t expect them because there wasn’t much about them or why until the very end. Don’t get me wrong, I love to be surprised but I still don’t understand why they would do it.

There is a relationship blooming between Cass and another character. It was fine. There is a lot of drama, not just because of the murder, between them but I liked their ending.

Overall, it was a good thriller and kept me engaged until the end.

This is definitely a read I chose mostly because of the creepy cover, but I was pleasantly surprised by how good it turned out to be. It was gripping from the start but like all thrillers it dragged a bit throughout. I thought it would follow the plot most thriller/mysteries do but the ending actually caught me off guard. It was fun and fast paced and I’m intrigued by the author and what she writes next.

Interesting plot but a wee bit predictable. I felt like the story went by too fast as well. I feel as if overall, it could have been better if there was more time in the book.

I had high hopes for this book, which was one of my most highly anticipated mysteries of the year. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy Little Creeping Things as much as I thought I would. I really liked the subplot of Cass not knowing what really happened when her playhouse caught on fire and killed her friend, but I did think that the author would delve deeper into what happened, rather than Cass just realizing who had done it.
I also didn't like any of the characters. The fight between Cass and Gideon at the beginning seemed so silly and unnecessary, as well as many of the other characters' desire to hide things from others. The amount of secret dating and almost-dating seemed unnecessary and unrealistic, even for high schoolers.

I really hated the writing style and the pace of this book. I knew by the first chapter that I was in trouble - the writing was so immature. I just could not get into this one and did not finish

When she was a child, Cassidy Pratt caused a fire that killed her neighbor and almost herself. Or did she? Because she remembers nothing about the incident except what's she been told. Years later, she remains a social outcast in her small town, bullied by her classmates, especially Melody Davenport.

And then Melody goes missing--and all eyes are on Cass. And while she might have information that could lead to the killer, she's hesitant to go to them, in part because she joked about killing Melody too. Now Cassidy has to figure out the truth before everything turns to ashes...

This is a pretty solid YA debut. It's the first I've read in the recent lineup of teen murder mysteries and I appreciate that I didn't immediately guess who the "bad guy" was. Author Chelsea Ichaso does a nice job in building the mystery and suspense. The writing is also solid and it's a quick read.

I didn't really feel connected to any of the characters, though. Cass is hard to follow because she's so all over the place, and many of the secondary characters weren't fleshed out enough to really care about any of them. And as another reviewer pointed out, I also felt a little let down by the killer--it's never really discussed why this person is the way he/she (I don't want to give away the gender and narrow down/spoil) is. Because this person is seriously bad, and we're never really let in on the how/why.

Overall, a good YA thriller that I'd recommend for fans of the genre.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.

OMG! Look at the disturbing cover with that terrifying doll! Some people scare of clowns and I really irritate to look at porcelain dolls! ( Of course Annabelle series didn’t help me to form a lovely relationship with them!)

So this haunted cover intrigued me even though a few last YA thrillers I’ve read a little disappointed me. And here is the interesting thing: Normally I start reading a thriller with promising beginning but at the end I lose my interest and if I don’t like it outcome, it turns into a Switzerland- let’s meet in the middle three stars reading. But this book really surprised me. It hooked me at the beginning but I started to lose my interest in the middle and I started to think it turned into angsty teen romance (our heroine is in love with her childhood sweetheart but he starts rejecting her and dating with someone’s else and our heroine starts dating with his tutor blabla) and I thought the ending was so predictable but I couldn’t be so wrong with a surprising twist the author successfully pulled out the rug from under my feet and I sat on my ass with a dazzled look on my face. Wow! I didn’t see it coming! That was great. So promising 3 starred reading turned into 4 starred, surprising, psychological, fast paced one sit reading! Well done and well played!

Without giving any crucial spoiler, I’ll talk about the characters and the plot:

The story starts at the volleyball match: her teammates shouts at Cassidy a.k.a firegirl ( because when she was only 6, she got involved in fire accident which resulted with death of her friend, also her evil nemesis Melody Davenport’s cousin) to concentrate on the game. But Cassidy starts to see hallucinations that one of her teammates on fire. And she has a panic attack, leaving the school with her longtime best friend and crush Gideon. They’re besties since they were 10 and shared a special kiss but then Gideon acted like nothing happened and Cassidy was too proud not to come clean about her feelings. Her parents already treat her with kid gloves because of her traumatic incident when she was kid. ( After the fire she got involved, she spent her time at the hospital, forgetting everything about that haunted day.) Especially her brother Asher, who saved her from the fire is over protective, watching her every move.

But Cassidy still tries to adapt in school life, bullied by Melody Davenport who still calls her “fire girl”, has no intention to make her forget about the past. Cassidy still questions herself if she has started the fire intentionally. Could she be a cold blooded killer?

She and Gideon meets at the woods at their Hobbit nest they’ve build when they were little. They hear Melody’s branded laugh, talking with somebody. At the same time, Gideon leaves Cassidy alone for getting phone reception and Cassidy resumes listening Melody from her hiding place (she doesn’t leave because she doesn’t want to face her nemesis) but when Melody’s laughter turns into cry for help, she gets panic she has to do something but when she gets out, Melody is nowhere to be seen.

She realizes that she has written a murder plan for Melody as a prank a few days earlier on her notebook and shares this with Asher’s best friend Brandon. Could Brandon conduct this murder plan literally? Because after Melody’s suspicious disappearance she gets a text message from unknown number tells her: he is great to be in this together! What the hell? Who is this? Did someone really kill Melody? And where is her notebook? Did someone try to pin her on the murder?

Keep reading my friends, especially for the eerie, nail biter, smart final twist! I was entertaining, fast, action packed, debut YA thriller and so much better than my last reads! I’m looking forward to read Chelsea Ichaso’s upcoming works!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for sharing this enjoyable ARC in exchange my honest review.

I never noticed the cover when I requested this book. Probably for the best, as I would never have chosen to receive an arc for a novel with a creeping child/doll on the cover. Some people are afraid of clowns, I shudder at creepy porcelain dolls. And the word Creeping was in the title. I also didn’t realise this was a YA novel. So it seems unlikely I would ever have read this one, and that would have been a shame. It’s really a suspenseful read with compelling young characters and I really wanted to see how it ended!

In this YA mystery/suspense/thriller everyone is a suspect after the town mean-girl goes missing and later turns up dead. Filled with teen sleuths, angst and jealously, and lots of twists and turns, most teens will speed right through this one hoping they picked the whodunit.