Wow. Not too much to say except for the most part this was enjoyable. The book drags at times and the character development beyond a few people wasn't really there, but this was a good representation of young adult horror books from the late 80s/90s.

 

So "Trick or Treat" follows 16 year old Martha. Martha's father has recently got married and is now moving him and Martha to move in with his new wife and his stepson in the town of Bedford. Martha hates the scary old house that they move into, and when she finds out that almost a year ago (Halloween day to be exact) a young girl was murdered in her bedroom, she's ready to move back to Chicago. A voice keeps calling Martha and saying "Trick or Treat' and telling her she's going to die. 

 

So Martha at times I thought was bratty. I get it though. Her father got married without even telling her and moved her and him from Chicago to a small town in the middle of nowhere. The house is a mess, her stepmother can't cook, and her father then rushes off to Hawaii for an assignment and dumps the kids alone. I did laugh a few times how often it's mentioned the parents haven't called. I know this book was written in 1989, but seriously though, I can't imagine my parents taking a weeks long trip and not calling the house once. Martha is kind of hysterical though and tries to do some amateur sleuthing with her new stepbrother Conor when things keep happening in their home. 

 

Conor is kind of annoying I thought, and at times it seems as if Cusick was implying that Martha had a crush on him and vice versa. Probably because Martha keeps calling Conor her stepbrother and correcting anyone that called him her brother. 

 

Martha makes friends with the Chambers family which consists of Blake, Wynn, and Greg. Greg is a teacher at Bedford and hangs out way too much with his teen cousins, Blake and Wynn. So outside of these three people, Martha and Conor don't interact with anyone else in the town. 

 

I got a creepy vibe from Blake and from Greg too. Who hangs out with teens and tells one of them how pretty they are? 

The parents are barely developed beyond being selfish and we hear third hand accounts about the girl who was murdered and her ex-boyfriend who stands accused of killing her who disappeared.

I thought the writing was a bit disjointed in parts and the flow needed to be a bit cleaned up. That said, this is a different type of book and I rated it based on that. Young me who read this at the age of 9 (the age this was published) would probably have been scared to death the whole time and had nightmares for weeks.

The setting of Bedford was definitely creepy and hearing about the backstory of the Bedford family and the young girl who was murdered really set the mood for the book. I wish that Cusick had given us more details on Bedford. I am still puzzled if this is in the mid-west or not. I also wanted to know more about other people in the town adults, kids, etc. There was bare bones with regards to developing this past enough to keep readers engaged with Martha's story.

The ending was a surprise to me though and kind of gruesome. I think it definitely echoes the types of YA horror that was coming out that time though. 

So I never read this book back in the day. Shocking I know since I inhaled Cusick and R.L. Stine like no one's business back in the day. I think because it was hard to find Cusick's books at the store when I was a kid and Stine was all over the place.

 

"Trick or Treat" follows Martha who has moved from her home in Chicago to go live with her father and his new wife in some rundown home in a small town. I am going to just assume this is in the mid-west somewhere though so far no one has given any clues what state this new place is. I am staring to lean towards the east coast because of the mention of the style of house with a gabled roof and all. I could be wrong. Martha's dad kind of sucks. He eloped and had his new wife buy a house and moved his daughter away. Martha has a new stepbrother named Conor who she seems "intrigued" by (I need bleach) and hates the new home that also has a cemetery on the grounds. Martha so far has only met one family in this whole place and has been told her home called the Bedford House had a murder in it years ago. Dun dun dun.

 

Here are the squares you can read for if you finish this book and why:

 

Oh you got the scary house with gables, it's creeky, dark, and a new stepbrother who is talk, dark, and handsome. There's also some weird mystery going around that centers around a heroine. 

 

There's a cemetery on the property. Enough said. 

 

Book starts off in October and there's already mention of jack-o-lanterns, scarecrows, and decorating for Halloween. And there's the title. 

 

This would be a perfect book to read by flashlight or candle light. The setting of this house is creeping me the heck out.

 

Going by the way the house is described. I wish someone would say where this is located. So this one is a maybe.

 

Well it's a mystery. Someone is calling Martha going "Trick or Treat" and we know a murder happened in the home. 

 

Hmm. I guess that Martha and Conor may start to investigate their home. We will see. This one is a maybe too.

 

It's mentioned a bunch of times this is a house set in the country and not in the town.

 

Should fit too since we now are hearing about the murder.

 

Martha thinks the house is haunted and it seems that way based on the cold spots and the whispering.

 

Same reason as above.

 

Martha is in high school and attended school already. Also I think the school is called Bedford and that's the name of her house too. Weird.

 

The cover is black!

 

Book was written in 1989!

 

Book fits the horror category.

 

Fits for Fear Street description!

 

There is mention of how small this town is. Whose name I am still unclear on. 

 

This takes place in America. 

I confess. Anthologies usually start at a 3. It's up to the individual stories/authors to change that. Being that this is a theme anthology, one expects a bit of cheese. Being that it's an EC theme anthology, that's likely cream cheese...

 

:ahem

 

Tale the first isn't bad if you get past the TSTL of the heroine. I mean; she wants to get nailed by her hot boss (fair enough), and sets out to do so at the halloween masquerade party at his bar (well, ok), with the intent of leaving afterwards with her anonymity still intact (ummmm). She figures he'd never look at her otherwise so she gets tarted up (yeah?), shows up, catches his eye right off the bat (still with you), stays after closing for the "special party" of two with him (mmmhmmm?), and tries to leave. She's astounded when he asks her where she's going, and calls her by name. I mean really hon. How many nearly 6' statuesque redheads do you think he knows?

 

Tale the second...is a mixed up fairy tale. Ella Cinder is a living cliche. Her late father married a woman with two unattractive, rather bitchy daughters, promptly keeled over, and she has an office in the basement of their prestigious GYN hospital/office. She has the hots for the new Dr who is exceedingly hot for a OB/GYN. By nights, she has an adult production company that puts on a private showing of a decidedly mature Cinderella, named Sinderella. She's doing a show, Prince Charming fails to show, and Dr McHotty is in the audience. She puts forth the offer for him to act as a substitute. He's happy to follow through... and he also figures out who she is. Really hon, you talk to him daily. You don't think he'd recognize your voice?

 

Tale the third is actually pretty good - if you ignore that the h ends up mated to a total stranger without any knowledge of how that happened (or that it was even a possiblity). She's a werewolf, and not by choice. She's after the rogue who turned her, and assumes that the H is him. Fortunately for her, he isn't. He assumes at first that she's in with the rogue. She's not. They do conveniently find the rogue - or rather, his pack does - and he's taken out.

 

Tale the third...ehhhh that's a no for me. The h is kidnapped on halloween by a couple of weirdos. She wakes up naked and tied to a bed, listening to an argument about her, and well, the third weirdo is absolutely convinced she's his wife (I have no recollection of that event...). She...puts out? Well, not like she has a choice, being as how she's tied up, but she doesn't protest too hard. Later she finds out - from someone called the Wise One - that somehow she ended up in an alternate dimension thanks to him, has a zillion clones of her, also thanks to him (because he had the hots for her), and someone wants her dead, because for reasons never clarified, she killed the previous Goddess, and to protect her, she was sent back. Oh, and she is married apparently but her memories were wiped. A scant day(?) later a former boyfriend of hers tries to kill her, and she wakes up naked in her own bed. There's a knock at the door and the guy claiming to be her husband in the other dimension is there. I dunno. The whole thing leaves too many holes in the story itself (what, why, how, huh???), a h who caves way too readily to someone she has no memory of, and a lot of BDSM type sex without the h actually agreeing to any of it.

 

I think I need some whine with that cheese.

Please see all of my reviews on my blog at www.robinlovesreading.blogspot.com.

As this story opens, there has just been what appears to be cases of arson, and far more than the loss of property has occurred. A body has been found at one of the fires, and said arsonist has now become a murderer. Amateur detective Lucy Stone, a new mom for the fourth time, decides to investigate these arson cases.

Meanwhile, Lucy remains quite busy, especially as she is helping to prepare a Halloween party, and her role as a wife and mother are naturally quite demanding. Bill is finally becoming a favorite character to me. He has always been a devoted husband and father and a hard worker. Now his role has expanded, and he is reluctantly serving on the historical society.

As with the first two books in this addicting series that I have had the pleasure of reading, the story is quite fast-paced with the just the right touch of mystery, and as mom of six grown kids myself, I enjoyed Lucy's interactions with her family. After being forced to only give the previous title 4 stars due to a particularly disturbing scene, I am pleased to say that nothing of the sort happened like that in this book. That, along with the fact that I was kept guessing until almost the very end, went a long way into me rating this book 5 stars.

One thing that I really love about reading connected series is the continuity of characters. We have Barney, Sue and even the cranky Ms. Tilley. There is definitely a feeling of coming home again when reading Leslie Meier's books. I have already downloaded the first eight books in the series, with every intent on inhaling every title as this series is produced.

Kensington Books has made a smart move by releasing two omnibus's of these Leslie Meier's books. In so doing, I was alerted to this long-standing series, and am thus reading and reviewing Trick-or-Treat. I will make a rather bad confession here. I love that these titles are shorter, one-sitting reads. This is because I only just found them and knew from the very first book that I would need to make time to read each one in quick succession.

Please see all of my reviews on my blog at www.robinlovesreading.blogspot.com.

As this story opens, there has just been what appears to be cases of arson, and far more than the loss of property has occurred. A body has been found at one of the fires, and said arsonist has now become a murderer. Amateur detective Lucy Stone, a new mom for the fourth time, decides to investigate these arson cases.

Meanwhile, Lucy remains quite busy, especially as she is helping to prepare a Halloween party, and her role as a wife and mother are naturally quite demanding. Bill is finally becoming a favorite character to me. He has always been a devoted husband and father and a hard worker. Now his role has expanded, and he is reluctantly serving on the historical society.

As with the first two books in this addicting series that I have had the pleasure of reading, the story is quite fast-paced with the just the right touch of mystery, and as mom of six grown kids myself, I enjoyed Lucy's interactions with her family. After being forced to only give the previous title 4 stars due to a particularly disturbing scene, I am pleased to say that nothing of the sort happened like that in this book. That, along with the fact that I was kept guessing until almost the very end, went a long way into me rating this book 5 stars.

One thing that I really love about reading connected series is the continuity of characters. We have Barney, Sue and even the cranky Ms. Tilley. There is definitely a feeling of coming home again when reading Leslie Meier's books. I have already downloaded the first eight books in the series, with every intent on inhaling every title as this series is produced.

Kensington Books has made a smart move by releasing two omnibus's of these Leslie Meier's books. In so doing, I was alerted to this long-standing series, and am thus reading and reviewing Trick-or-Treat. I will make a rather bad confession here. I love that these titles are shorter, one-sitting reads. This is because I only just found them and knew from the very first book that I would need to make time to read each one in quick succession.