Mean Girls meets Heathers? Summer Rental by Rektok Ross

clsimpson430
Jul 17, 2023
3 min read

My Rating: 4 Stars

This was a really fun read! This book is marketed perfectly: “Mean Girls meets Scream”...which basically means its a new Heathers.

If you're craving a teen scream, this is the perfect book. Summer Rental has all the elements of a fun 90/00s horror flick: teen drama, awful decision making, cute side romances, and a fun reveal at the end.

If you're not in the mood for a teen scream and would get annoyed at the characters for making the dumbest decisions of all time, then maybe pass on this one. But any true teen scream fan knows that that just comes with the territory!

The funnest thing about this book is trying to guess who the killer is up until the last minute. While I didn’t love the storyline behind the murders, it was still fun to put the pieces together. And the ending actually makes sense! It may not be the most mind blowing, unpredictable ending you've ever read, but at least the clues are there from the beginning!!! There's no missing information that you get 10 pages before the reveal like some books... (I'm looking at you, Holly Jackson).

And there are SO MANY fun horror movie references!!! There's even an adorbs murder-obsessed character who is 100000% an homage to our lovable Randy Meeks from the Scream franchise (RIP, Randy Meeks. You would have loved Summer Rental).

Even though Heathers isn't a movie I see people comparing this book to, the toxic friendships give heavy Heather Chandler energy. Sure Regina George is horrible, but come on, Heathers is murder central! And the way Riley feels like an outcast in her own friend group is very Veronica Sawyer.

There's also a small romance subplot!!! It's definitely not an emotional storyline, but just something shallow and fun to add into all the horror. It was the most unexpected part of the story for me and I loved it. The tension between the two characters is amaze. Plus the tension of wondering if her crush is the killer too!!! No one is safe!!!

The ending is VERY Scream. If you love the iconic scene of the killer explaining their motivation whilst flinging a knife around in everyone's faces, then you'll definitely enjoy this ending.

Overall: This book is perfect for teen scream fans. It has the Scream reveal, the drama of Mean Girls, and the Final Girls trope. It may be a little forgettable (like a lot of 90 minute teen screams), but it's a really fun, light horror read!

Synopsis:

Riley March and her friends are headed to ritzy, remote Palm Key Island for one last blow-out party weekend before college. It’s the vacation of a beautiful beaches, epic nightlife, and hot guys like Riley’s crush—superstar soccer player Sebastian Ramos. There’s just one catch. Everyone on this trip is hiding something. Riley is hiding her past in order to fit in. Sebastian is hiding his feelings for Riley. And someone is hiding what really happened to Jordyn Chang, a classmate that mysteriously died last summer.

Things take a dark turn after one of their friends goes missing, and a hurricane cuts the group off from civilization. Trapped inside their rental house, a killer stalks them one by one. No one is safe. Everyone’s a suspect. As the body count rises, Riley and her friends will have to confront the secrets they’ve been keeping if they want to stay alive…