Goosebumps book 19: Deep Trouble - Just when you thought it was safe...

Brief Summary: 

Betcha didn't think this book would be about mermaids, because I certainly did not. Billy is staying with his scientist uncle Dr. D on a boat where he's studying some sea life or something. When some people from a zoo show up and convince Dr. D to find a mermaid for their zoo, Billy wants to be a part of the expedition, and what do you know, he finds a mermaid, but he feels a little weird when they lock his new mermaid friend up in a tank! And then she gets kidnapped! And the kidnappers try to drown Billy and his family! Yikes! 

Spoilers and Review:

The ocean both fascinates and terrifies me. I panicked every time Billy went swimming in the ocean in the middle of the night. The cover is misleading because there is not a lot of shark action, and Billy keeps mentioning a sea monster that I would like to know more about, but honestly it was such a dramatic tale! 

Let me just say that one time I was babysitting a five-year-old and the game she made up for us to play was one where we were mermaids kidnapped from our homes by humans who sold us to the circus. Replace the circus with the zoo and tell it from the perspective of the humans who kidnapped us and you have this book.

Except in this book the humans change their minds about the morality of their decisions once the mermaid is re-kidnapped from them, and almost drown (too scary) and then free the mermaid back into the ocean. 

Oh and the betrayal! Alexander, Dr. D's assistant who can't cook, turns on them all and tries to kill them to make money off a mermaid! The drama! I maybe should've seen that coming but I did not. 

But again, why the sea monster? Hopefully the sea monster makes an appearance in Deep Trouble II.

The Rating: 

I don't know how to rate this one because it's such a different vibe, but I loved it for that. I had to do some other rearranging to accommodate ranking this one. 

1. One Day At HorrorLand (#16)
2. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
3. Why I'm Afraid of Bees (#17)
4. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
5. Deep Trouble (#19)
6. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
7. The Haunted Mask (#11)
8. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
9. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (#13)
10. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
11. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
12. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
13. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (#14)
14. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
15. Monster Blood (#3)
16. Be Careful What You Wish For... (#12)
17. You Can't Scare Me! (#15)
18. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)
19. Monster Blood II (#18)

Coming up next is The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, another one I know nothing about.

Goosebumps book 18: Monster Blood II - He's one hungry hamster!

Brief Summary: 

Evan is back and he has moved to Atlanta and everyone is SO MEAN to him, especially his science teacher and this kid named Conan, and for some reason no one believes he found a magic can of slime that endlessly expands and also makes things grow. Weird. Andy is also there for some reason and she brought some monster blood which was obviously a terrible idea. One thing leads to another and somehow the class pet Cuddles the hamster ends up 10 feet tall and it's up to Evan to save the day.

Spoilers and Review:

I didn't enjoy the first Monster Blood that much but this one was even worse.

First of all, literally no action occurs until over halfway through the book. It's just Evan being bullied by Conan and also his teacher which infuriated me and Andy wore some ridiculous outfits which was great and then they break into this kid's house which was not that fun or entertaining and there's no monster blood action at all until page 83 out of like 120. 

Long story short, Evan is tormented constantly, Andy gives some monster blood to the hamster, the hamster grows to 10 feet tall, Evan decides to eat some monster blood to fight off the giant hamster, it's not going to work, then suddenly everything is back to normal because the monster blood apparently expired just at that exact moment.

In the end Evan acquires Cuddles the hamster and Andy's parents send her NEW MONSTER BLOOD in the mail setting us up for another sequel yet to come.

The Rating: 

This one was not a winner. Nothing happened for most of it and then when things finally did happen they were stupid. 

1. One Day At HorrorLand (#16)
2. Welcome to Camp Nightmare (#9)
3. Why I'm Afraid of Bees (#17)
4. Night of the Living Dummy (#7)
5. Stay Out of the Basement (#2)
6. The Haunted Mask (#11)
7. The Girl Who Cried Monster (#8)
8. Piano Lessons Can Be Murder (#13)
9. Welcome to Dead House (#1)
10. Say Cheese and Die! (#4)
11. Let's Get Invisible! (#6)
12. The Werewolf of Fever Swamp (#14)
13. The Ghost Next Door (#10)
14. Monster Blood (#3)
15. Be Careful What You Wish For... (#12)
16. You Can't Scare Me! (#15)
17. The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (#5)
18. Monster Blood II (#18)

Next is Deep Trouble which I actually read before writing a blog post for this one! Oops!