Down below we have our winners for the Horror/Mystery/Thriller category. Congratulations to our winners! First place winner will get a shout-out on my announcements board. All winners will have a permanent place in my library under URA Mystery/Horror.
And now for our first 🥇 place winner!
Possible Second Chance by NxnsxgnorsDxmon read and judged by daniyahwrites
Please reach out to me SapphirianJ82 with your email so I can send your winning sticker for download.
Title & Book Cover: 4.5/10
Blurb: 8/10
Plot: 18/20
Character development: 16/20
Story Flow: 9.5/10
Grammar: 10/10
Writing Style: 8.5/10
Overall Engagement & Enjoyment: 8/10
Total: 82.5/100
Review: Possible Second Chance sported beautiful purple prose which got too fantastical at times and often did not make sense in relation to the dark atmosphere of the story. The dark atmosphere of the story though, was upheld and established with such skill! But I feel like the author's intense whimsical writing dappled some scenes with a certain light that kind of impacted some terrifying scenes and made them less terrifying. In this genre, I feel like authors should strive to keep some of their scenes dark and should use writing to only add to those dark scenes, not use glittering prose to take away from the intensity of that darkness. A nice balance should be struck and this author can find it so easily if they try! Other than that, this book is written masterfully!! I would love to read a YA fantasy by this author because their purple prose writing style would absolutely glow in that genre.
Now for our second 🥈 place winner!
We have to kill by Klaudeta07 read and judged by daniyahwrites
Reach out to me SapphirianJ82 with your email so I can send your sticker for download.
Title & Book Cover: 4/10
Blurb: 9/10
Plot: 15/20
Character Development: 17/20
Story Flow: 7/10
Grammar: 9/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Overall Engagement & Enjoyment: 10/10
Total: 80/100
Review: The story is very engaging and so interesting. The author's writing style is so meaningful and at times abrupt—which only adds to the depth of the story they are telling. The story has a certain meloncholy feel to it, especially by the way it started off, and that only intensifies the themes of the story. I haven't entirely finished reading the book aside from the chapter requirements for judgement, but it was so hard to stop. Truly such a distinct writing style and story, it's very very gripping! However, I feel like what this book needs is an electrifying cover to bring the book to the forefront. Aside from the cover, I loved the idea of the plot but I feel like the execution of the storyline could've been so much more exciting. The author has so much potential, and you can tell that by every sentence in this book. The author can easily make use of the dark gripping intensity they have set in this story and add so much more to it. This impacted the story flow slightly too. But other than all that, this is truly such a great book!
Now for our third 🥉 place winner!
Slate Gray by alpaljames judged and read by daniyahwrites
Reach out to me SapphirianJ82 with your email so I can send your winning sticker for download.
Title & Book Cover: 9/10
Blurb: 10/10
Plot: 20/20
Character Development: 8/20
Story Flow: 5/10
Grammar: 10/10
Writing Style: 6/10
Overall Engagement & Enjoyment: 7/10
Total: 75/100
Review: This book reads like a typical middle grade mystery. At first I kept waiting for it to veer off from that path so that I could find the story's own distinction and not relate it with dozens of other YA horror mysteries I've read. I've come to realize that if you're writing in this specific genre, the key way you can do that is by having a strong character presence and development. Aside from the main storyline, characters make the heart of teen horrors like this one, and with such a brilliant and strong premise, eye-catching cover and title, exciting blurb, the characters I found lacking. I couldn't, as a reader, connect with any of the characters as far as I read as per chapter requirement. The writing style needed also to be more attractive, especially for a teen horror book. For horror, an author needs so many descriptions and thorough scene setting—more than in any other genre to make the horror piercing, and Slate Gray lacked that. Aside from all that however, the premise is brilliant and the author has so much potential to truly flesh out all the characters and scene descriptions to really have a lasting impact on readers as a teen horror book should do.
