Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer

by Katie Alender

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 everyone 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 suddenly in danger...

I don't know if it is just me that feels this way about the synopsis, but after reading it my very first thoughts were a bit of a mess. I was like I need to read this! But at the same time I thought what in the world is this?! Somehow I decided it would still be worth reading, although when I started it I will admit, I was prepared for the worst. I read the first paragraph and quickly decided that the worst that I had prepared myself for was nowhere near just how bad this was. The first paragraph sounded like a child wrote it. The description was painful. (I almost cried and I died a little inside.) It was one of those annoying paragraphs where literally everything the author could possibly describe is described, but with only one word. One generic, word that you would find in a child's vocabulary. I almost stopped reading right there. I was trying to brace myself to attempt to make it through a book of that awful writing style. I trudged on, and I was surprised to find that it was only that paragraph. Throughout the entire book the descriptions were beautiful and well written; they painted pictures in your mind...except that first paragraph. I am very disappointed in you Katie, and all the people that edited this book. How could you let that paragraph happen? That sad excuse for writing?

Overall I thought the writing was good and had great imagery and voice...except that ONE PARAGRAPH! 

Anyways, this book turned out pretty darn good. I had a few issues with the character in the beginning just because she was...ugh how do I say this using good person words? I found her obnoxious, I guess to say the least she was chillin' with those snotty rich girls, and so she was kind of snotty, and not rich, but at the same time she was so not like them that I just wanted to scream at her "WHY ARE YOU FRIENDS WITH THOSE GIRLS?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE?! YOU ARE BETTER THAN THIS! I KNOW IT!" But, I ended up liking her in the end because she grew, and learned, and made smart life changes. The character development was really rather brilliant actually, and I quite enjoyed that aspect of the book. However, it was a bit like something out of a "Total Transformation" commercial, you know the ones for those badly behaving teens where they supposedly go from one extreme to another, but her change didn't really seem unrealistic, or crazy, or anything, so it was still quite nicely handled. The story line is quite interesting, and certainly original! I found I quite enjoyed it despite the strangeness of the whole scenario. I don't want to spoil anything but I think the title alone tells you a lot about just what kind of strangeness I'm talking about here. So, I think that is all I have to say. Thanks for reading through my mini rant and congrats for surviving it! This book gets 3 out of 5 stars from me! You can buy it through Liberty Bay Books by clicking on the title under the cover picture and you can add it on Goodreads here.   

Briana