Erdbeere

by Sabina Bailey

A girl's bitter heart morphs into something much more painful.

Adriana knows she can be mean, but she's rightfully shocked after her classmates elect her as the worst girl in school. Furious, she loses control of her emotions and winds up suspended. Then the transformation begins. If Adriana can't save herself, no one will.

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID meets Junji Ito's "Slug Girl" in this coming-of-age horror tale.

Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Fiction

131 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 28, 2023

About the author

Sabina Bailey was born and raised in New York and currently lives with her husband downstate. When she’s not reading, writing, or drawing, she’s usually playing video games or watching YouTube videos. You can follow her on Instagram at Sabina__Bailey or check out her website, sabinabailey.com.

Reviews

[Amanda at Bookish Brews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightfully dark and angry coming of age story perfect for all the kids who grew up mad at the world. Bailey is brutally honest about the cruelty amongst classmates while brilliantly underscoring that the violence in classrooms doesn't simply appear out of thin air. It's too often that YA fiction highlights only the nice kids, so much so that even the flawed kids are hardly flawed. But Erdbeere allows Adriana to be angry, to be mean, to be hateful. It allows us to see where this kind of anger comes from. But most of all it reminds us that no matter where our anger comes from, if we let hatred bury itself too deeply in our hearts, we hurt ourselves more than anyone else.

[Shan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book via a giveaway... thank you.

Short book that packs a great message. Adriana is named "bitchiest" through a survey circulated around school. Her emotions get the best of her and she winds up suspended.

Powerful story about emotions, actions and how they will wreck havoc on your innards if you let them get out of control.

Not a "horror" novel, per se.

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story, gorgeous cover, good character development. This is the kind of short story that would be more scary if adapted into film, but still incredibly enjoyable to read. Wasn't a huge fan in the beginning but glad I stuck to it.

[Amanda Sease · Rating 5 out of 5]

Open your mind

Wow
I was hesitant reading this book because it was so short, however it didn't change how well the message was written. A bit of a strange way to tie it all together, but also I've never read anything in comparison. Great read with a great message.

[Lieve · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book well enough, and I thought the Junji Ito comp was pretty apt. I just think it was a little too short and needed some more fleshing out. There's some good commentary here, but I think it would have been better with more time to develop.

[Barbieprivilege · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can’t explain it but it made me cry. I understood everything.

Rot and decay because of the mother wound, scarily relatable. 10/10 no notes.

(I won this is a Goodreads giveaway)

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5- I thought it was interesting, its a short book but had some tension in certain parts that made the story easy to get through. I'm not sure how I felt about the ending, but overall it was a fast read.