Title - Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer
Author - Katie Alender
Series -
Release Date - September 24th, 2013
Publisher - Scholastic Press
Format Acquired - Hardcover
Colette Iselin is excited to go to Paris on a class trip. She'll get to soak up the beauty and culture, and maybe even learn something about her family's French roots.
But a series of gruesome murders are taking place across the city, putting everything on edge. And as she tours museums and palaces, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.
Colette knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won't believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they uncover a shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history. When Colette realizes she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is in danger...
Acclaimed author Katie Alender brings heart-stopping suspense to this tale of revenge, betrayal, intrigue — and one killer queen.
With a trip to Paris alone (or rather, without parental supervision), who wouldn't be excited? Colette certainly is, but the excitement doesn't last for long when all of her insecurities and fears attack at once. And that's when I started losing bits of interest in this story.
At first, I thought that Colette would prove to be a very interesting person. After all, why else would a book be written with her as the focus? She was a little interesting only because of her supposed family history and bloodline. The character herself? Not so much. She worries and panics about everything that could go wrong and they eventually do (self-fulling prophecy). Even though everything is going wrong with her family, all she can think about is whether or not her friends Hannah and Pilar will approve of the things she does.
The plot, although good, was very rough. It felt rushed and unfinished, but I think it had a lot of potential. Sometimes it seems the author was trying too hard in some part of the story while in other parts, she wasn't trying enough. I personally thought that the concept was a great one; it's what drew me to the book in the first place (besides the very cupcake-ish cover. Yum!).
The other characters in the book are very underdeveloped. Except of Hannah, of course. She's the queen of everything, the leader of the threesome that contains Colette and Pilar, and if she doesn't get her way... watch out! Pilar is talented and friendly (or at least friendlier than Hannah) so it was a shame to see that she was stuck in the clutches of the evil queen. I wish she was given a more outstanding role right from the beginning, even though she does prove to be pretty important near the end. Marie Antoinette? She's a crazy ghost out for blood and revenge. No further information needed.
In all, I thought this book was OK. It was an easy read but not for all the right reasons. The problem was mostly Colette and how weak she was throughout most of the book. She tried to venture out on her own, which led to the discoveries of some important stuffie-stuff, but she always went back to Hannah's side! Eventually she gets a boost in personality but it came in too late for me.
If the author decided to work on this story more and re-wrote it in more details, depth and emotion, I would most definitely read give it another chance. And unpolished gem for sure.
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