REVIEW: Gimme a Kiss by Christopher Pike

TITLE: Gimme a Kiss

AUTHOR: Christopher Pike

PUBLISHED: 1988

PAGES: 152

GENRE: YA Horror

WHERE I GOT IT: Own it

ABOUT BLURB:

Some secrets are worth dying for....

Jane Retton would never let anyone read her diary. After all, was filed with her wildest secrets – the sort of things she wouldn't even tell her closests friends.

Then something terrible happened. Somehow her diary ended up at school. And soon, everyone was reading her final, shocking entry. Some girls would simply die. Others girls would kill. But Jane Retton... she would do both.....

GIMME A KISS

NOTE: If your interested or read Christopher Pike in your youth you can read my recap of this book on my other blog Book Rat Nostalgic Reading.

FIRST SENTENCE OF THE BOOK: The girl looked scared.

MY THOUGHTS:

I had no recollection of anything that happened in this book what-so-ever. I'm actually not even sure if I read this one when I was younger. A few years back I was on the look out for any books by Christopher Pike and R.L Stine to complete my collection and this might have been one of them.

Regardless this book was fairly short at only 152 pages long. It is pretty similar to Fall into Darkness in that it bounces back and forth between the police station and events as they took place. Actually one of the main reasons for reading this one second was that I had read that the book that Ann based her fake death scenerio on, from Fall Into Darkness, was actually this book.

Jane Retton keeps a diary, except the entries are pure fantasy and didn't really happen. She is pretty meticulous at making sure that her diary stays away from unwanted eyes. One morning unfortunately, she was writing her latest entry  when she noticed that a cat was trying to eat her rabbit in the back yard. So what did Jane do? She left it open on her desk.

Later that day her latest entry was photocopied and distributed to everyone in school, an entry that detailed how her boyfriend Kirk and herself had sex. Kirk didn't deny it and everyone was staring and laughing at her.

She vows to get even by faking her own death and making it look like Kirk and Patty were responsible. Things didn't go exactly how she expected it to go. 

The story was okay but it isn't one of my favourites. I pretty much guessed the ending part way through the book though. The last bit of the book I find absolutely hilarious – but that might be because I am in shock at how unbelievable stupid one of the characters is and her reasoning behind things.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars.

REVIEW: Fall into Darkness by Christopher Pike

TITLE: Fall Into Darkness

AUTHOR: Christopher Pike

PUBLISHED: 1990

GENRE: YA Horror

WHERE I GOT IT: Own it.

READ FROM: August 17th to 18th 2013

ABOUT BLURB: They said she murdered her best friend. The trial is for murder. Ann Rice is dead. Her best friend, Sharon McKay, stands accused. But there is no body. And the three witnesses to the crime only heard what happened, and did not see it. Nevertheless, the prosecution is almost certain of victory. Ann was alone in the dark with Sharon on top of the cliff when Ann fell the 500 feet into the torrential river that claimed her life. There was only one route leading to the cliff, and all the witnesses can remember hearing the girls arguing before the fall occurred. Sharon's only defense is that Ann committed suicide. But everyone who knew Ann, including Sharon, said she was not the suicidal type. And they were right. Ann was much more then suicidal. She was obsessed.

NOTE: If your interested or read Christopher Pike in your youth you can read my recap of this book on my other blog Book Rat Nostalgic Reading. 

FIRST SENTENCE OF THE BOOK: The trial was for murder.

MY THOUGHTS:

So this is the first book that I have ever read by Christopher Pike. This book is what led me to discover other authors such as R.L. Stine, LJ Smith and Richie Tankersley Cusick. I think it was somewhere in the grades 5-8 that one day during choir practice my friend brought the book she was reading with her. It was this book. I remember that all my other friends were taking turns reading one passage out of the book. My friend basically told us - read this part and you will be hooked. She's right, I was. I really don't know what that says about me as a person or as a kid but it probably is where my love for supernatural/horror stories comes from.

If your interested in reading the passage here it is but be warned it is basically a big spoiler. If you want to skip it just look for the big end spoiler text.

“ The pants were tattered, the shirt and jacket torn. A coil of rope, perhaps as long as five hundred feet and entwined with heavy moss-covered stones, circled the lower body. No one in the school had approached Ann's incredible beauty, and even in that horrible moment of discovery, Sharon felt sad that she would never again be able to remember Ann as she had been. Sharon looked for only a fraction of a second before she clenched her eyes shut, but the horrible image burned to deep. The swollen black cheeks. The twisted purple mouth. The pink slit throat. It was a pity, Sharon thought, that Ann could no longer close her own eyes and look away from what was left of her body. But the fish in the river must have been hungry.

Ann's eyes were missing.” pg 180.

/END SPOILER

I think what made us all become obsessed with those books is that they were something different and they almost felt taboo to us. I mean just look at the subject matter of that passage up there. I'm pretty sure before that I was reading Nancy Drew, Trixie Beldon and Sweet Valley high!

Reading this book again, brings back the memories of that day and my love for reading as a child. It's been so long since I've read this book. It's kind of amazing to me that I remember pretty much everything that happened considering how long it has been.

I really think Ann was crazy to pull what she did and I really don't get her hatred for Sharon since they were best friends for a long time. I understand why she says she did it but it makes me believe that she secretly was jealous of Sharon's success and achievements, maybe even throughout their whole friendship. Ann might have had money but she really didn't have any talents, she didn't have anything exciting happening in her life or to look forward to and her family were dropping around her. Such a deadly friendship! I almost feel sorry for Ann, especially when she sort of 'sees the light' so to speak but she still had to be some kind of evil person to do what she did. I'm also not convinced that Ann's boyfriend really loved her anyways, it seems almost like he was using her for the money. Who knows though maybe that last part is just over thinking the story and everyone's motives.

Anyways it was a nice trip down memory lane. I think I am going to dig out the rest of my books from my childhood and reread them.

Also check out my recap of the book with my comments on my other blog.

RATING: 5 stars