Monster High

Title: Monster High
Series: Monster High
Author: Lisi Harrison
Published: 2010
Genre: Supernatural, ChickLit
Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Frankie Stein is a newly created 15 year old teen, with stitches and coloured green. Melody Carver is a Beverly Hills transplant, with a new nose and  wavering confidence. Both girls are sophomores at Merston High in the small town of Salem, where people actually believe in monsters...

Monster High was quite different to The Clique series. Why? Because there was more depth and the characters were more dimensional, due to the story being told from two perspectives, where the characters are accquainted with each other (not friends!). Some plot points were confusing, not in a 'too much to handle way but in a 'how could it be possible' way, albeit the fact that it is a novel filled with beings which are more mythological and supernatural than human (eg: how could a Mummy remove its bandages and look human and beautiful?). One thing which annoyed me was an Aussie character named Blue. Australians (one a whole) do not call girls they don't know "sheila". On a more positive note, Candace, Melody's older sister, was a 'typical blonde' but was a really nice older sister, which I don't come by often in YA. Yes, their relationship wasn't very close, but it was sweet to see no over-the-top sibling rivalry.

I admit that I couldn't stop comparing Lisi Harrison's other books to Monster High, and I'm sure anyone else who has read The Clique and then reads Monster High will unconsciously do the same.

There will be a sequel out in 2011.