Kacey is the new girl in Broken Falls. When she moved in with her father, she stepped into a brand-new life. A life with a stepbrother, a stepmother, and strangest of all, an adoring younger half sister. What are the difficulties and benefits of writing a novel versus writing a memoir★ What was your writing process like★

I don’t think we’ve had the pleasure of a proper introduction,” Adam said, cutting the lecture short. “I’m Dr. Gardner.” Tensions rise due to the increasing feeling of rivalry and competition for their fathers approval between the siblings, and climax when a third (half-) sibling enters the playing field with an urgent message to share. Meanwhile, all three of them might be missing what’s happening under their nose: their father losing his mind more and more to the secrets of the ocean he’s desperately studying. Howler is a little werewolf with a big problem...he is just not scary! And that makes him the odd one out at Monster School. But when Howler finds some new friends, he discovers that being the odd one out might just make him the coolest one of all… But it’s not only prose that sells this story. Thomas so fully inhabits the teenage mind that dialogue is startlingly authentic. And the characters are so vividly depicted that they seem like old friends. The whodunnit almost becomes secondary to the protagonist’s fate. It’s practically painful that you can no longer follow Kacey’s journey. Like she was a vital piece ripped from you, never to return. As the mystery of Bailey's disappearance intensifies, the towns people begin to turn on Kacey. There are rumors swirling around that indeed..she may have had a role in what happened to Bailey.

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Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South. Man, am I glad that’s over. This book was not good. I was intrigued at its start as I was introduced to the following four people:

Know-All Nancy – She is a little girl who claims she has infinity knowledge. Nancy claims she knows everything. She will go as far as to try convincing everyone that what she thinks is the case, even if it is not. She is often heard saying, "I knew that!", and "I know how (said thing is done)!". But the next morning, Jade calls because Bailey never made it home from the party, and she wants Kacey's help to try and find her. The more Kacey tries to find out what happened to her friend, the more she starts to look like an object of suspicion herself. And the more truth she seeks, the deeper she finds herself mired in a web of secrets and lies that make her question those closest to her, and she starts to wonder whether ghost stories can actually be real. But Kacey will never be able to ask, because Bailey never makes it home from that party. Suddenly, Broken Falls doesn’t seem so welcoming after all—especially once everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers. But Kacey will never be able to ask, because Bailey never makes it home from that party. Suddenly, Broken Falls doesn’t seem so welcoming after all—especially once everyone starts looking to the new girl for answers.”Thomas' suspenseful and accessible writing style formatted in easily digestible, short chapters makes Monsters a light and fun read. What highlights the building tension of the novel is Thomas' masterful craft of chapter-making, showcasing her deliberate control over dropping significant plot points through the exchange over two perspectives: from first-person Kacey to first-person Bailey through her journal. Kacey is the new girl in town. She is running. from a bad and toxic relationship with her mom. From her old life. From herself. Or was she a cunning psychopath who did this knowingly and coldly? The end seems to me to imply that with the last sentence. I SO wanted to know. I felt a bit frustrated because there were so many unanswered questions.

With her solid narrative and fast-paced, gripping prose, Kara Thomas sets herself apart from other YA mystery/thriller authors through her adequately entertaining sophomore novel Little Monsters which deceives with its masterful reimagining of the claustrophobia-inducing small-town killer trope that ends with a satisfying twist.

Obviously, there are some truly evil people in the world but for the most part, I think humans are like any other animal—at their most aggressive when they’re wounded. Who hasn’t said something horrible to someone they love★ As a writer, I want to portray the complex gray areas in character. I’m far less interested in heroes and villains than in what’s courageous and corrupt in all of us.