Jennifer Strange || Strange I didn’t love this more

Title: Jennifer Strange
Author: Cat Scully
Year Published: 2020
Publisher: Haverhill House Publishing
Genre: Young Adult ~ Comics and Graphic Novels ~ Fantasy ~ Horror

Stars: 2
Goodreads
Copy: E-arc

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc through Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. The image header and the link in the book’s details is to the book’s Goodreads’ page. All quotes given in the review are from the e-arc and therefore might not be accurate. The summary is my own (well, I summarised the Goodreads description). All opinions expressed are my own.

JENNIFER STRANGE. Strange isn’t just her surname. Jennifer is sent to stay with her sister after a demon attacks her at her old high school. Which awakens her powers which are much more dangerous than she could know.

Armed with their father’s journal and her sister, whom she doesn’t know how much to tell her; she has to figure out who she is and what her power is, and how that all ties into what the demons want from her.

This book is basically Supernatural if the brothers weren’t so close. And if they kept to hunting demons. And if it were a less likable story. What did I mean by that statement? I mean that the book’s got all the makings of something I would highly highly enjoy! But it falls terribly flat. And then I ended up not liking it. Like I have so many notes on my Kindle about this book but if I had to write down everything this post would be super long.

Jennifer moans on and on about Savannah, Georgia and how she doesn’t like it. And that it’s too hot. She breathes, and it’s too hot. She walks, and it’s too hot. And it’s too much for me. She was just an unlikable character – which made me sad because I did want to like this book a lot. She goes on about how her dad didn’t tell her anything (okay, sure, that’s fair. I can’t blame her for that) – but the dad didn’t leave any contact number? She’s underage and he’s her legal guardian? Or don’t they have other relatives who might know about this? Did the main character maybe mention this and I didn’t pay enough attention? Maybe.

The dad’s journal plays a big role in the book. My issue is that it’s probably touted as this know-all, be-all type of a thing – which can be written well – sometimes. The main character here is too fixated on the journal – but maybe that’s because her dad suddenly left her by her sister with just the journal and no questions answered.

Another thing – regarding the dad, and his leaving. Jennifer has a phone – and most probably access to the Internet. Why don’t we see her searching stuff up that show up in the journal – different types of supernatural entities. She’s a teen with access to the Internet!! Why wouldn’t she research it?

A lot of things were confusing throughout the book? To me it felt like there should’ve been a lot more – both character and plotwise – because they needed a lot of work. But I can tell you that I didn’t like any of the characters. I didn’t feel much for any of them, sad as that is to say. And it’s not that I didn’t want to like them! I did, I did try to like them, they just didn’t hold any interest for me. I think the one character I did sort of like was Marcus, but then his character development was so confusing I don’t even know if he had one?

Also, I know this isn’t a final copy, I know how arcs aren’t properly formatted, that’s all fine and well. I’m used to arcs not being a 100% formatted. But this book could’ve been a little better formatted imo?

 

Did anyone ever contact the school to excuse her from classes? Should I have dnfed this? Probably. Oh well, what’s done is done. That’s all I have to say! Maybe you’ve read this and you have a better view of it than me? Tell me what you think about the book in the comments!