How to resolve AdBlock issue?
X
Review Detail
Dial Em for Murder
Featured
Young Adult Fiction
1889
solid pick for mystery lovers looking for a fun, hilarious book with sass and suspense
Overall rating
3.0
Plot
3.0
Characters
3.0
Writing Style
3.0
When Emmy Danvers sat down to work on her romance novel at Starbucks, she thought her major concerns would be dialogue and character growth. Instead, she gets tackled by an old man who says mysterious things to her and then promptly dies. After Emmy finds a tablet he stuck in her pocket, she realizes that she might be in serious dangerous, and she is coerced into a new private school for protection, though it may end up being the place she should fear the most.
What I Loved:
DIAL EM FOR MURDER is a fun, quirky mystery. Emmy is a delightfully sassy protagonist, and her wit had me laughing out loud more than once. With creepy texts, dangerous pasts, and deadly motives, the suspense chills, but what I most admire are the underlying issues beyond the suspense. Though they are minor problems, Bates creates wonderful nuances as Emmy struggles with her friends after switching schools and keeping secrets, unrequited love, and trying to do well in a school known for its competitive students.
What Left Me Wanting More:
Though the suspenseful moments are strong, the overall mystery fell a little flat for me. Emmy sometimes makes dramatic conclusions without any evidence to support it. While the unrequited love Emmy experiences with her close friend is a nice addition to the story, the on-and-off side flirting from Sebastian is weird and often distracts from the plot.
Final Verdict:
Though it has its flaws, DIAL EM FOR MURDER is a solid pick for mystery lovers looking for a fun, hilarious book with sass and suspense.
What I Loved:
DIAL EM FOR MURDER is a fun, quirky mystery. Emmy is a delightfully sassy protagonist, and her wit had me laughing out loud more than once. With creepy texts, dangerous pasts, and deadly motives, the suspense chills, but what I most admire are the underlying issues beyond the suspense. Though they are minor problems, Bates creates wonderful nuances as Emmy struggles with her friends after switching schools and keeping secrets, unrequited love, and trying to do well in a school known for its competitive students.
What Left Me Wanting More:
Though the suspenseful moments are strong, the overall mystery fell a little flat for me. Emmy sometimes makes dramatic conclusions without any evidence to support it. While the unrequited love Emmy experiences with her close friend is a nice addition to the story, the on-and-off side flirting from Sebastian is weird and often distracts from the plot.
Final Verdict:
Though it has its flaws, DIAL EM FOR MURDER is a solid pick for mystery lovers looking for a fun, hilarious book with sass and suspense.
Comments
Already have an account? Log in now or Create an account
Powered by JReviews
How to resolve AdBlock issue?
X
FEATURED GIVEAWAYS
Indie Superstars with the Authors of Of Thorns and Beauty + Giveaway (US Only)
Welcome to YA Books Central's "Indie Superstars" column. This event will spotlight the best and brightest of the indie community. You don’t want to miss out on these talented ...
Posted in News & Updates
Giveaway: The Meet-Cute Project (Rhiannon Richardson) ~ (US Only)
The Meet-Cute Project (US Only) Author: Rhiannon Richardson Release Date: January 12th, 2021 Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR About The Book To All the Boys...
Posted in News & Updates
Author Chat with Lani Forbes (The Jade Bones), Plus Giveaway! ~ (US/Can Only)
Today we're excited to chat with Lani Forbes author of The Jade Bones. Read on for more about Lani and her book, plus a giveaway! Meet Lani Forb...
Posted in News & Updates
Giveaway: Golden Dreg Boy Series (D.K. Dailey) ~ (US Only)
Golden Dreg Boy Series (US Only) by: D.K. Dailey Release Date: July 2nd, 2020 Publisher: Tillable Ground Dreams About The Book 2 Prequels: Golden Dreg Boy, Prequel, T...
Posted in News & Updates
Author Of The Week: Author Chat with Julie Kagawa (The Iron Raven), Plus Giveaway! ~ (US Only)
Welcome to our weekly special feature post, Author Of The Week !! Each week we will be interviewing a different YA author and highlighting their upcoming release! We will also be hosting a givea...
Posted in News & Updates
Author Chat with Lisi Harrison (Girl Stuff), Plus Giveaway! ~ (US Only)
Today we're excited to chat with Lisi Harrison author of Girl Stuff. Read on for more about Lisi and her book, plus a giveaway! Meet Lisi Harris...
Posted in News & Updates
Latest Book Listings Added
Charming illustrations and step-by-step instructions take little ones through a...
The differences between Bertram and his neighbor Alan were never...
Children will love to press the soft, silicone buttons on...
Step into an opulent world filled with risk, romance, and...
When fifteen-year-old Cuban American Mariana Ruiz’s father runs for president,...
City of Spells, the follow-up to Alexandra Christo's gritty YA...
A delightful Christmas board book filled with hilarious characters and...
Roland lives a quiet life filled with books, music, and...
Award-winning author-illustrator Susan Stockdale welcomes you to the Bird Show,...
Inspired by the Montessori method of education this unique board...
Latest Member Reviews
"this story is amazing! i have a project for honors english 10, and this is a great story to chose..."
"WHAT I LOVED: The two stories that tie for the best of the anthology are Tess Sharpe’s “The Heart..."
"Amy Lukavics is one of my favorite horror writers. All of Lukavics's books are a little odd (in the best..."
"NEXUS is the second and final book in the Androma Saga and it picks up right where Zenith left off...."
"More dragons, what more could you want? Julie has done it again, not only has she written another fantastic..."
"The book is more like a 4.5 but I am going to give it a 5 star read because the..."
"This installment picks up just a few weeks after Roth has sacrificed himself at the end of White Hot Kiss...."
"*I was lucky enough for NetGalley and Harlequin Teen to approve me for this ARC in exchange for an honest..."
"Daughter of the Burning City was nothing like what I was expecting. For some strange reason I thought it would..."
"Feedback Welcome to the resistance. What a sequel! This book was just as dense as the first book but..."
"Feedback Wow, just wow. What an amazing story this was! This book was a little over 600 pages which..."
"SHADOW OF THE FOX alternates POV between a half-kitsune named Yumeko and a samurai named Kage Tatsumi. After watching a..."
"Julie Kagawa NEVER disappoints. As a fan who has been following her writing since The Iron Fey series came out,..."
""North of Happy" is a touching YA book about exploring your passions and recovering after tragedy. Carlos was in high..."
"Legacy of Kings was not a bad book per se, but I found it a confusing, frequently boring one. Perhaps..."
"College life is rarely (if ever) simple, and in Kiley Roache's FRAT GIRL, Cassie Davis makes things even harder on..."
"ZENITH: THE ANDROMA SAGA by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings is a young adult science fiction novel that follows the..."
"When Enne's mother doesn't return home, Enne travels to the City of Sin and she's desperate to find her. It's..."
"First off, I would like to give a trigger warning because the main character has bulimia and cuts herself. ..."