Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer

by Katie Alender

Colette Iselin is excited to go to Paris on a class trip. She’ll get to soak up the beauty and culture, and maybe even learn something about her family’s French roots.

But a series of gruesome murders are taking place across the city, putting everyone on edge. And as she tours museums and palaces, Colette keeps seeing a strange vision: a pale woman in a ball gown and powdered wig, who looks suspiciously like Marie Antoinette.

Colette knows her popular, status-obsessed friends won’t believe her, so she seeks out the help of a charming French boy. Together, they uncover a shocking secret involving a dark, hidden history. When Colette realizes she herself may hold the key to the mystery, her own life is suddenly in danger . . .

Acclaimed author Katie Alender brings heart-stopping suspense to this story of revenge, betrayal, intrigue — and one killer queen.

Genres: Young Adult, Mystery, Paranormal, Ghosts, Horror, Fantasy, Historical Fiction

292 pages, Paperback

First published September 24, 2013

About the author

Katie Alender (rhymes with “calendar”!) grew up in South Florida. She is the third of four children (three girls and a boy) and the child of three very loving and encouraging parents.

She attended high school at the Palm Beach County School of the Arts, studying Communication Arts. From there, she went on to the Florida State University Film School, which led her to Los Angeles, where she worked in TV production and development before becoming an author.

She enjoys writing, reading, sewing (especially quilts), and hanging out with her husband, her daughters, and her dogs, Scooter and Frodo.

Her first brush with publication was the article “So You Want to Live On Mars?” published in Sassy magazine in December 1991.

Source: http://katiealender.com

Reviews

[Khanh, first of her name, mother of bunnies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Let's be honest, nobody dives into a book by the name of Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer expecting a masterpiece. I didn't expect much, and I was let down anyway. Even for purely entertainment purposes, it still failed. The mystery is laughable, the character is a (Speshul) Mean Girl wannabe, and the attempts at character development are completely artificial and forced. For a book with such a silly premise, it failed to elicit even a smile from me. The entire book was absurd.

Our initial meeting with Colette gave me a (bad) lasting impression of Colette that never entirely went away. The spoiled, entitled, selfish Colette is bemoaning the loss of her family's money, her parents' oh-so-selfish divorce, and her annoying little brother's mere presence. She is now in relatively abject "poverty," meaning her mother has to actually get a job working shitty shifts at the perfume department at Macy's, and she is now a scholarship student at her prestigious all-girls' Catholic school, where Colette has been hiding her newly-poor status and still trying to maintain the façade within her Mean Girls clique. But wait, there is one bright point in her *sigh* wretched existence! Colette is going to Paris, France! Before going, she browses through an old family suitcase and finds this awesome medallion with an engraved key, which will TOTALLY go with her new vintage Parisian trip wardrobe.

That's right, her mother has been scrimping and saving every penny so that her ungrateful daughter can have her much-longed for Paris school trip. Oh, and Colette is going to abandon her mother to go live with her father in fa-bu-lous New York this summer (instead of shitty Ohio), but she'll tell her mother that little detail later, after she gets back from Paris.

In Paris, a crime spree has been taking place. Beautiful, glamorous (but really despicable, I honestly don't blame Marie Antoinette one bit) people have been dying left and right. Cause of death? Decapitation. The descriptions of the deaths (which are not at all gruesome, not at all violent) are interspersed through the descriptions of Colette's beautiful trip to Paris, where she has been eating delicious French pastries, visiting the Louvre, hanging out with a hot university student tour guide, and keeping up the pretense with her rich-as-bitches girlfriends. She uncovers a family mystery, and must solve the key to the murder (hint hint!!!!). And who will unlock her heart? It is the boy-next door guide Jules Martin (Pronounced Zhool Mar-tahn!), or the strikingly gorgeous, fabulously feline...Armand!

He was strikingly, mythically gorgeous, like a lion that had been turned into a human. He had sparkling golden eyes and waves of honey-colored hair.

Like, rawr! Giggles! Whoops, looks like we have a potential love triangle here!

The Good
The plot and eventual investigation into the murders is utterly laughable, and secondary to the beautiful Parisian scenery, complete with visits to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Chateau Versailles. The setting of Paris itself doesn't feel so much like Paris as a foreigner's idealization of it. Everything is beautiful, spectacular, and so French! Well, we are in France, after all. Everything is adorable, quaint, right out of a traveler's guide. It is pretty. It doesn't feel real. Even the small family dinner hosted by Jules feels too idealized, too perfect to ring true.

Don't get me wrong, it's very pretty. It's very romanticized. But it doesn't bring the setting to life because nothing feels real. The setting could have come straight out of a Rick Steves' guide to Paris.

The Bad
The French...my French is not perfect, but the insertion of French phrases in this book is so ridiculously elementary. It could have come straight out of my French 101 textbook.

“Je te supplie,” Monique blubbered. “Je te supplie, Rochelle!”

The mystery is laughable, how it is investigated completely violates the border of credibility. I'm not talking about the fact that Marie Antoinette couldn't possibly have been a serial killer, because, well, no shit, Sherlock. I'm not talking about that kind of credibility. I'm talking about how a teenager in a foreign land can wander around without supervision, whose weary teacher pretty much lets her do whatever she freaking pleases. The plot itself is so secondary to the romance and Colette's desperate desire to keep up appearances. The supernatural elements in this book are completely without tension, completely without intrigue. I expect ludicrousness of a book in this nature, but if you're going to make it a murder mystery, fucking do it right.

The Ugly
One word: Colette.

Man, what a bitch. I completely hated Colette. She doesn't know what she wants to be, and honestly, her character feels like the author wrote in a Mean Girl character, but decided to randomly insert a few redeeming character traits to make her more human and relatable, such as having her be in the Academic Games at one point in her life. It doesn't work. Colette is wishy washy. She's a total jerk to her well-meaning and eager-to-please mom, to her weary and sick-of-her-bullshit little brother, to one of the nicer girls on the trip, Audrey (a black girl whose Afro, according to Colette, looks like a 7-year olds').

Colette hangs with two Mean Girls (one is nicer than the other) who are completely lacking in any dimension. Her clique exists solely to make Colette look good in comparison, and it works, to an extent. Hannah is probably even worse than Colette, if that's humanly possible; she is a size-zero, beautiful, rich, spoiled girl who is manipulative to the nth degree, and has had everything in her life handed to her on a silver platter. Pilar is the prerequisite tagger-on, the doormat friend, the DUFF. She is the daughter of a has-been Latino pop star, who struggles with her weight and is forever a Size 10 and has a tendency to stress eat (Hint: she hangs out with Hannah. There's a reason why the scales don't budge). There's a lot of weight shaming in this book, coming from Hannah. Hell, I felt bad about myself and I'm nowhere near fat. Poor Pilar.

Colette is pretty despicable. There's an attempt at humanizing her in the second half of the novel, which comes on far too quickly to be a believable part of character development. And let's not mention her completely pathetic effort at manipulatingbuilding friendship with the truly nice Audrey.

“The reason I came here …” I took a deep breath. “I have an idea. You know how I said we weren’t really friends? Well, what if we were friends? If you come hang out with me for a while, maybe we can, like, bond. And then when we get back home, I’ll totally be your friend."

But she just laughed.

“Colette, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Why would I want to hang out with someone who treats me like dirt? So I can make people think I’m ‘cool’?” She punctuated the word with air quotes and started to turn away, shaking her head. “I think spending so much time with Hannah has actually made you crazy.”

“Wait!” I cried. “Don’t you wish you could improve your social status? This is your chance.”

*standing ovation* Suck it, Colette.

[jv poore · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the tender age of sixteen, Colette Iselin’s life is ruined. Her father left the family, taking his money with him. The lifestyle changes that abounded devastated her. Mom was forced to get a job, constantly taking on additional shifts just to make ends meet. Their house lost; Colette, along with her younger brother and mother, squeezed into the tiniest of apartments.

Colette must keep her disastrous crash from wealth to the poor house…err, apartment, a secret. Her friends do not hang out with the destitute. The wildly popular, beautiful and ridiculously wealthy Hannah is always quick with that reminder. Rather, Colette is reduced to sneaking off to thrift stores to acquire her wardrobe for her Paris Spring Break with her friends and classmates. A greater teen-age tragedy is hard to imagine.

Wait…..what?

You aren’t really feeling her pain. She seems whiny, superficial, self-centered and immature? Yes, I thought that too. Admittedly, I found this surprising. Generally speaking, these are not traits best-suited to creating mass appeal for the main character of a Middle-Grade mystery. Interesting.

The reader doesn’t meet Colette first, though. A spine-tingling, wickedly original murder in Paris kicks this story off and it pulled this reader right on in. Have I mentioned the murderer? Marie Antoinette. A simply fascinating woman in history; the idea of her ghost committing grisly murders at an apparently obscure time is intriguing. There does appear to be a method to her madness, and Ms. Alender unravels this mystery beautifully.

While Colette and her classmates tour, and learn the history of the City of Love and Lights from their charmingly demure, remarkably learned French college student; young, rich, socialites are dying in bizarre accidents that result, ultimately, in beheading. As the narrative unfolds, Colette realizes that she may have something in common with the victims. She begins to piece together the puzzle and focus on a much larger picture. Almost as if truly opening her eyes for the first time, Colette also begins to see things about herself; her choices and her friends. There is a discernible shift, the pace quickens, the plot thickens.

I love what Ms. Alender has done here. In addition to giving us an enchanting, distinctively different, middle-grade, ghost-story-murder-mystery; she courageously presented the most authentic representation of today’s “typical” teen-ager as our main character. To me, it amplified the significance of Colette’s self-discovery and revised outlook. Quite brilliant, I think. Romance is mandatory when an adventure takes place in Paris; there may even be a law. Again, Ms. Alender is spot-on. This is a fantastic book for the avid reader and it would most certainly pique the interest of a reluctant reader. Yet another Middle-Grade read that I hope will not have a limited, young-readers-only audience. I know I will be reading more from Ms. Alender.

This review was written for Buried Under Books Blog.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before beginning, I'd just like to point out that anyone who willingly takes home a book entitled Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer knows exactly what they're getting into. Please do not bemoan the lack of historical accuracy, ridiculous plot, or poorly-drawn characters - this thing, with its epically awful/hysterical cover art, is the pinnacle of truth in advertising. "I am craptastic," it proclaims. "Hear me roar!"

Only, really, it's more of a whimper. The fatal flaw of MA:SK is its utter inability to have fun with itself, its insistence on wrapping its cotton-candy plotting around a moral journey that doesn't quite work, particularly given how unlikable the protagonist is, and continues to be throughout the novel. When one lacks depth, the only thing to do is brazen things out with cheek, and Katie Alender seems unable to do so, falling back instead on fabulous Parisian settings and an utterly weak attempt at a love triangle. It's shocking that a book full of decapitations could have this little bang for its buck, but perhaps that's not surprising in a narrative populated with Hollow Men (and Women).

On a slightly more serious note, it is a bit sad that Alender can't mine the French Revolution - an era of history so thick with horror it still reeks of blood two centuries on - for anything better. But let's not fool ourselves: We knew what we were getting. Recommended for anyone who can enjoy a Syfy original movie, because this is pretty much the literary equivalent.

[Cora Tea Party Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 Words: Creepy, mysterious, ghost, Paris, friendship.

I have to be totally honest - this isn't the best book in the world. In fact, I probably wouldn't have liked it at all if I'd read it at any other time. But right now, it was exactly what I needed. And because I am completely inconsistent in my ratings it gets four stars.

It's full of clichés and spoiled brats and trips around Paris and hidden histories and an evil ghost. Usually this sort of crap makes me rage. But I found that I could completely fall into this story, become completely immersed and suspend disbelief. The evil murderous ghost on top of the ever so slightly over-the-top plot probably helped a lot.

What drew me to this book was the cover and the title. I mean, look at those pretty colours and that killer title. I'm like a freaking magpie, I pick up anything pretty.

Hannah is the biggest bitch to have graced the earth and Colette is a very close second. The two of them are so shallow, so spoiled. Even now that Colette is a "poor" scholarship student she is still so up herself. But not so up herself and self important as Hannah. Jeez, that bitch deserved to be played.

I liked how Colette changed and did some much needed growing up. I even liked how terribly predictable the whole story is.

This books is as fun and fluffy and teenteenteen as it looks. Don't take it seriously and don't expect to read the best thing ever and you won't be disappointed. You might even have fun. Perfect for a rainy day when you need to rage a little to cheer yourself up.

[Sabi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novels like these remind me why I keep on reading YA! Loved it



Things I liked:

• The writing: The book was of a nice length and it flowed nicely.

• The story: So much information about Marie Antoinette and it didn't bore one bit!

• The description: The overall feel of Paris and its descriptions really makes you feel like taking a vacation there!

• The characters: Even the grey-shaded characters were good in their role.

[Rena · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. Loved it. Read it in one night. Much better story than the title would suggest. The characters had surprising depth to them. Love this author and her previous books too.

[Cora Tea Party Princess · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 Words: Family, friendship, privilege, history, death.

Book Review: Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender

When I first read this book I was quite scathing and bitchy about the main character, and honestly? Thank god I've now worked through my internalised misogyny and can appreciate this book more. It's a fun book, easy to read, with a great thread of murder and mystery and ghosts, oh my.

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer is a book of pure escapism.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this title for a dollar at a recent book sale and have donated it to my school library. I loved the setting- Paris and the concept of a series of murders committed by a woman masquerading as Marie Antoinette, the last Queen of France. There's a little teen romance as well and way too many mean girls for my liking. It is fiction and so some events in the book had me raise my eyebrow in disbelief. That aside, I did enjoy it but I fear it might be one of those books in six months' time, I won't have much to say other than "yeah, I read it."




Goodreads review published 20/02/23

[justonemorechapter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer was an interesting mix of history and reality, blended together to create a murderous and mysterious read.

First things first, I would like to make it clear that this book is not a horror story. From someone who absolutely hates scary books and movies, the title is the scariest thing about the book. Unless you get the cover with the blood on it then maybe that’s more intimidating than the title. Anyway, Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer is not a particularly scary book and doesn’t contain much gore either. It’s just a mystery with a few beheadings along the way, nothing too extreme.

One thing I didn’t like in Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer was that Katie Alender would have chapters that showed the murders taking place in Paris. While Collette knew of these murders, as a reader you knew more than her by seeing them firsthand. Whenever the reader knows more than the main character it can be hard to relate to their problem solving because you already know what they are trying to figure out. I end up feeling impatient and frustrated with the main character when they have to take time to figure out what I already know. It can be a real test of patience when you’re waiting on the main character to get on your level and put two and two together.

The character development in Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer added a lot to the story. I enjoyed reading about the progress Colette made as a protagonist. Without giving too much away, Colette really became an individual as the story progressed. At first she could be very frustrating and annoying but after time we began to see her change in a positive way. This development helped to improve the book towards the end as it’s hard to read an entire story with an annoying narrator.

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer was a nice change as I don’t read too many YA mysteries these days but if you’re looking for a complex mystery where some serious sleuthing is required to solve it then this probably isn’t the best fit. Regardless it was a cool read that kept me entertained.

-J

Originally posted at www.justonemorechapter.ca

[Sandes gii · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5

Porqué me gustó tanto este libro??? Es una excelente pregunta.
Como se habrán dado cuenta me hice gran fan de los libros históricos, gracias a Edenbrook (léanlo), y no pude dejar pasar esta historia por alto.

lo que me gustó: fue la sensación que estas leyendo un libro que es en la actualidad pero en tiempo y espacio se encuentra a siglos de distancia. haber si me explicó, este libro está en presente, pero nuestro personaje principal viaja a París en un tour de arte con su clase... a lo que voy... va a recorrer lugares históricos... por ejemplo el Palacio de Versalles.

lo siento pero yo amo los lugares históricos y principalmente si son en París!!!

a todo esto... sumemos un fantasma de una antigua reina que es asesino serial... re loco no?

pero que tuvo esta historia que me gustó? ESO MISMO!!!!

me encantó que contará la historia de una de las grandes leyendas de la corona francesa y (aprendí pila de cosas) hablaba de lugares que mientras los leía los buscaba en Google para ver las fotos y todo eso en un libro... lo ame!

[shushan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm just gonna go straight to talking about what I thought of this book.

For sure, it wasn't as spooky and eerie as Alender's other books (all of which I've read), but it was divinely an enjoyable and fairly easy read. And that's the perfect kind of book for the summertime, is it not?

In Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer, I have not only learned about how to deal with an angry ghost who wants to kill you and everyone in your family (which I'm not so sure will come in handy actually), but I also learned about friendship and love. Alender taught me what true love really is and how to tell the difference between fake friends and real friends.

This really was such a great book, and I think a lot of people will enjoy it.

[Autumn (Nerdy Silly Goose) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all what I was expecting! I wanted historical fiction, I got terrible ghost story. And the loose ends weren't tied up either...

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 2 out of 5]

حداقل متن کتاب از جلدش بهتر بود. داستان در رابطه با کولِت که یه نوجوان از اوهایو هستش که با دوست مدرسه ش با هم به پاریس میرن. کولت یک مدال با شکل عجیب پیدا میکنه و وقتی به پاریس میرسه احساس میکنه که قبلا اونجا بوده. قتل های زیادی در پاریس در حال اتفاقه و کولت سعی در حل اونها و متصل کردنشون به وقایع دوران ماری آنتوانت میکنه.
داستان تعلیق های مناسب و خوبی داره و نثر ساده و جذابی داره. سرعت پیشرویش هم مناسبه.

[Angie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Originally posted at Disquietus Reads

This book is a prettily packaged liar. It had a great premise, one that had me expecting a creepy tale of dead queens and a murder mystery with a tinge of buried family legacies. Plus, you know, PARIS. Sadly the execution just didn’t work for me, as the story ended up being more of a morality tale about embracing yourself and being a good person than the creepfest the blurb suggests.

The writing style is simplistic at best. There is a lot of telling, but not a lot of showing, which is problematic. The plot itself was inconsistent and even boring at times. The murder mystery, featuring the ghost of Marie Antoinette and a secret order made up of French nobility, wasn’t even a tiny bit scary. It was predictable, boring and served more as a backdrop to the story of Colette embracing her true personality, becoming a better person and finding real friends who aren’t as selfish as Hannah, right down to the fact that the only people the Queen’s ghost kills are people with personalities similar to Hannah’s. The book would have been much more enjoyable if the it had been focused on the history of Colette’s family, her current family dynamics, the secret order, and of course the serial killer ghost.

The biggest reason this book didn’t work for me was Colette herself. Her backstory and personality are, to put it simply, poorly built. Colette used to be one of the wealthy girls at her private girls, until her parents divorced. Although it’s never outright stated, if you read between the lines you are led to believe that Colette’s father was her families primary source of income and once he and her mother divorced he suddenly stopped helping them financially. Apparently Colette lives in a world where child support “doesn’t exist. Colette is also the kind of girl who believes that one only does nice things so that people will like you or so that they will “owe” you. She is the kind of person who says things like “It’s not my fault that I want to spend the summer and senior year in New York with my dad, just likes it’s not my moms fault that my dad left her.” I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the gist. In short Colette is a shallow, vain, self-absorbed, one-dimensional character who is wholly unlikable throughout the book, despite the fact that the author makes several attempts to make it seem as if this isn’t really the case at all, that Colette isn’t anything like the friends she is glued to. One glaring example of this is the frequent mentions that are made of Colette being mistaken as a French native, because she doesn’t where a lot of makeup or dress over the top like Hannah and Pilar. It’s tedious, to say the least, and failed to accomplish what Alender was obviously attempting to do.

The poorly built characterization is consistent throughout the book. The supporting characters are all cookie-cutter cliché’s. Colette is “best friends” with the two richest and most popular girls in school, Pilar and Hannah. Hannah rules the group with an iron tongue and Colette and Pilar spend most of the book sacrificing their wants to keep her happy so that she doesn’t defriend them, right down to a scene where the girls are picking out dresses for a costume party and Pilar picks one that makes her look ugly because Hannah doesn’t want anyone to look pretty, besides herself of course. Hannah, and the shallow popularity she represents, are obviously the big obstacle that Colette has to overcome.

Much of this book was also highly unrealistic, and I’m not even talking about the serial-killer ghost. What bothered me particularly is that we are expected to believe that Colette is on a school-trip to France, with only one chaperon, who rarely appears and allows Colette to go off on her own at night, with their unknown tour guide, while there is a serial killer on the loose in the city. On top of that, she later tells Colette that she allowed it because she knew Colette wouldn’t have done anything inappropriate with Jules because her friends would never approve of somebody like him (again, paraphrasing).

The only parts of the book that I truly enjoyed were Colette’s interactions with her love-interest and tour guide, Jules. Jules was easily the most likable, enjoyable character in the story, and his scenes were a refreshing change of pace from the dryness of the rest of the characters.

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer had all the right ingredients to be a fun and creepy paranormal read, with just the right amount of romance, but the sloppy execution and flat, unlikable characters made this an unenjoyable read for me.

I received my copy of Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer free from the publisher via Goodreads First Reads program.

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway on Goodreads.

Actual rating is 4.5 stars because of a small issue I had.

This is a light and fun book and should be read as such. Don't expect too much world building. When I picked it up, I just wanted a ffast and light read. That's exactly what I got.

I especially enjoyed the scenes that the people gets killed in. There is no way to say it and have it sound not creepy. But I'll try. I really like how the author described those scenes. They are very different from the rest of the novel. While the book is written in a very casual way, the death chapters are written in a very beautiful prose. It made the deaths beautiful yet chilling.

I loved everything about this book. Except for one thing: why does Marie Antoinette decide to hunt the people now, after so many generations?

[Luiza Salazar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was SO excited about this book. Like, seriously excited. I love Katie Alender, she is just the sweetest and I loved the Bad Girls Don't Die series so much, I was just sure there was no way a book with the name of Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer could be bad. I mean, it's Paris and murder and revolution and powdered wigs, right?
Well, I was wrong.
It was pretty awful. By the way, this review will have high levels of spoilers and rage fits.
So, the concept is alright, girl goes on a trip to Paris and finds out her family was part of this secret society that betrayed Marie Antoinette and now her ghost wants to kill everyone.
Yeah, cool. If it didn't feel like it was written by a thirteen year old.
Let's start with the main character. The girl you are supposed to LIKE and RELATE to. She is a whiny, shallow, no-personality little teenager. If she's supposed to be so smart and all that, why the HELL does she spend every waking hour wondering if her "best friends" are gonna like the way she dresses, talks and acts? That is MAJOR turn off for a protagonist. Also, how DUMB is she? For the love of God, I knew what was going on in the first 20 pages of the book and this girl took the whooole thing to put the easiest pieces together. "Oh look, it's a chick in a powdered wig wearing the exact symbol I'm wearing. I wonder if that meeeans anything". JESUS CHRIST
Now, I don't know what kind of high school experience Katie Alender had, but unless she ACTUALLY went to school with Regina George, where the hell did her inspiration for Hannah came from? This is a girl who LITERALLY is evil. Like, a poorly written villain, you know? She is just nasty because she is nasty. And she's like MOVIE-CLICHÉ nasty, with lines like "oh my god, do you seriously think being poor is fun? You better watch it, I'm gonna ruin your social life". JESUS CHRIST AGAIN. The whole book is impossible to believe because every dialogue feels like it was pulled from a 90's educational teen sitcom.
Also, this book doesn't feel like it's set in Paris. It feels like it's set on what a romantic american teenager would like Paris looks like. It's all cafés and fancy people and cobbled streets and everything is so FRENCH and awesome. Has the author ever even SEEN France or just postcards of it.
The entire book SCREAMS life lesson. It's all about teaching little girls to be themselves and not mind what everybody thinks. if you want your book to convey a message, hey, that's cool with me. Just do it with a little more subtlety. Colette spends the whole book being shushed by Hannah and then it's like "You know what, Hannah? You are mean and I hate you and I will never do what you tell me again". (I'm not even kidding, she pretty much says these words.
As for the male interest. How about keeping us a little ON EDGE, miss Alender? There are two boys, one who is a TEXTBOOK DOUCHE just like Hannah, saying stuff like "I don't care if I don't marry someone I love as long as she is beautiful and has pure blood - (insert evil laugh here). Holy shit, REALLY???
And then there is the most STEREOTYPICAL FRENCH DUDE EVER. He's aloof, he's kinda handsome but not movie star handsome, HE'S A FUCKING TOUR GUIDE, he knows all about Paris, his family owns a little restaurant where they all eat and live and just are french the whole time. And for the piece de resistance, THIS IS A FRENCH DUDE, FROM PARIS, WHOSE FAVORITE SPOT OF THE CITY IS THE EIFFEL TOWER AT NIGHT. Way to be romantic, my friend. Did you have to elbow forty tourists in the face to get the "private moment" of your first kiss? I bet you diiid. Lover boy.
The whole thing feels like an excuse to have a teenage girl go to Paris for a week with her nasty friends. If that's the book you want to write, be honest, write THAT book. Don't cover it up with the French revolution and ghosts and spirits. Write a freaking book about knowing yourself better and not letting peer pressure define who you are and about shopping and traveling. There's no shame in that.
And then, ladies of gentlemen, because there is so much wrong with this book I cannot even keep talking about it, the ENDING. THIS FREAKING GHOST, THIS SUPER-FUELED-ON-HATRED-FRENCH-QUEEN who BEHEADED a bunch of people saves Colette for last (of course) because she is from the family of the girl who was the Queen closest friend and who betrayed her. All right, I can live with that GIANT cliché that we saw coming from a mile away. BUT I cannot deal with, after everything this evil spirit has done, LITERALLY, I SWEAR TO GOD, all it takes for the ghost to give up its bloodthirsty quest for revenge is Colette saying "I am so sorry about everything. And my ancestor says she's really sorry too, about everything. She really, really, really didn't mean to do it"
And the ghost is like, I FORGIVE YOU FRIEND, GO IN PEACE. AND IT'S OVER. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?
This crazed ghost was hellbent on torturing the shit out of dear Colette, it dragged her to the ball - oh god, don't even get me started on the ludicrousness of this ball - made a bunch of stuff happen and then it's like "You know what, you said you're sorry, that's all I really wanted to hear. ME, MY HUSBAND AND MY CHILDREN WERE SLAUGHTERED BECAUSE OF YOU, BECAUSE YOU BETRAYED ME AND ARE A MAJOR BITCH, but hey, cool, as long as you're sorry.
AND THAT'S IT. There's no fighting, no spells, no quest for the remains, no burning of bones, JUST A FREAKING APOLOGY.
Oh my god, it's too much, I can't take it.
Don't read this book. Actually, you know what, read it. Read it and talk to me about it. See if you disagree.
PS: If you are under the age of 14, this will blow your mind.

[Hannah M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really good overall. I love Katie Alender's other books that I've read, and this wasn't a disappointment. The storyline was a bit confusing to me at parts, but overall, I followed it well. It wasn't as good as some of her other books, but I still liked it quite a bit.

[Kagama-the Literaturevixen]

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Check out Scott Reads It! for reviews, giveaways, & more!

Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer is a book that I was looking forward to ever since I first heard of it. I absolutely loved the cover and I was convinced that MA,SK was going to become one of my favorite books of 2013. Once I start MA,SK I realized this is not the book I was looking forward to at all, this book was nothing like I imagined. I expected a mix of historical fiction and mystery, but instead I read a mediocre contemporary romance set in Paris. I believe if I had picked this one up on a whim, instead of longing for it for months; I probably would have enjoyed it more.

Katie Alender never really takes advantage of everything Paris has to offer. Paris is a beautiful, magical city filled with so many hidden secrets and mysteries. Based on the description, I felt that I would get a sample of what Paris has to offer. I never read about the intrigue of Paris that the description seems to describe and I desperately felt like the story was missing out on it. I never really felt like I was reading about Paris, I felt like reading a Sparknotes about Paris because MA,SK was missing the essence and spirit of the city. Sure, Alender described beignets, stores, the Louvre, and the Eiffel Tower, but it never really felt like Paris at all.

The plot of MA, SK is weak and lacks any tension that a murder mystery should possess. People are being murdered and the author decides to have the protagonists to go on a date.Why does it seem like no one is concerned with the murders? The police aren't mentioned regarding the murders and it seems as if the murders are accepted by everyone. Colette and her classmates never seem to be perturbed by the fact that innocent people are being murdered. "Who cares there's a hot guy who is obsessed with me" was Collete's attitude throughout the entire book. It wasn't really until the murders started to concern her, then Colette start doing some sleuthing. Anyway it takes Colette way too long to figure out MA is behind all of the murders because all of the clues would lead even the most oblivious person to the correct conclusion. Also, for god's sakes it's in the title, I personally don't like reading a mystery when I already know the murderer from the get-go. There are exceptions to that rule, but MA, SK is definitely not one of them.

I love historical fiction, but the backstory on Marie Antoinette was feeble at best and poorly thought out. It felt extremely transparent and fake to me, as if the author rushed through this segment of the book. The historical fiction aspects of this book were subpar at best and lacked proper execution.

The characters in MA,SK are merely cardboard reincarnations of stereotypical YA characters. Colette is extremely naïve and is extremely selfish and obnoxious. Her mother isn't in the best financial conditions and had to work hard for her to go to Paris. Colette never really seems to appreciate her mother and irked me so much. The woman is busting her back so you can go to Paris and you don't even have the decency to appreciate it. Instead Colette practically ignores her mother at the airport; this girl really needs to learn some manners and the value of $. Another thing that annoyed me immensely was Colette's supposed "transformation". MA,SK is one of those morality tales where the heroine becomes a better person because of her adventure. The transformation is almost instantaneously done near the end of the book and I really wanted to see Colette developed more throughout the book.

The only noteworthy segment of the book is the first couple of scenes done where Marie Antoinette is murdering people. These scenes were something to look forward to at first, but eventually I got tired of reading the same story slightly altered. I really think the author should have mixed up these scenes by introducing some different elements.

MA, SK is one of the biggest let-downs this year because this book had so much potential. I really wanted something much more than Alender delivered. I can't really fathom recommending this book because of how bitterly disappointed I am. I really wanted to love Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer, and it breaks my heart to say that I loathed it.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

So far I have some serious issues with this book. It pits woman against woman in a competition for men that is cut throat and vicious. When will women learn to stand together if the books they read perpetuate the ideology that women are competitors? In addition, I think this book is giving girls a wrong image of weight and thinness. Pillar is the token "fat girl" but really she is described as being a size 10 which is the average size of women in the United States. Also, check out this passage... "Was it Giancarlo's fault that Monique had gained fifteen pounds, while Rochelle had stayed thin and beautiful?" There are so many things wrong with that statement. First, in what world does 15 pounds automatically make you ugly? The implication is that since Monique is no longer suitable material for men because she gained a little weight, nor is she beautiful any longer. Second, what kind of man dumps his girlfriend because she gained a little weight? Not the kind I would want.

I will continue with the book, but I don't foresee a change in my attitude toward this book. I am not even sure that I want to know what happens. Maybe Marie Antoinette is coming back from the grave to destroy her competition. That wouldn't surprise me at all.

****************
I finished, and I have to give it three stars because the protagonist grows in the end. I still think this book could give girls the wrong impression. All of the pretty girls (who were murdered) are mean and conceited. The "nice" girls had no fashion sense, wore frumpy clothes and basically were unattractive. The idea of Marie Antoinette coming back from the grave to kill people is a really cool idea, but I felt the book was trying to make a statement about choosing your friends carefully more than trying to be a thriller. I didn't completely hate this book, but I wasn't mesmerized by it either.

[Wren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS BOOK! I've had this book on my shelf for a while now and I wish I hadn't waited so long.

I love Marie, I love French, and there was a mention of Nancy Drew. It was just perfect. Colette is about to head to Paris! Supposed to be an amazing class trip. Her, her friends, Paris, the food, the language, and everything you can imagine about what Paris will be like.

However, when they arrive things aren't going to go exactly as planned. They learn of murders going on. The tour guide, isn't as cute at they hoped, but Colette and Jules might just hit it off. Colette may technically have a title, be french, haunted by a ghost and on a dead queens hit list. So it's not the trip she expected, but Colette still left happy and plans to return to Paris some day.

Colette soon realizes her key necklace mean something important. Her family belonged to a secret society. They had a blood oath to protect the queen. When in the end, they betrayed her and it lead to her death. So now she has come back and is killing off everyone who belong to the family that betrayed her. Colette will learn a lot of history, more about her family, and hopefully calm a very angry queen.

[Jessie Leigh · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5


I did not like this because reasons.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had it's moments. It's set in Paris so of course that's ALWAYS a bonus. And I liked the character of Jules (love interest) but many of the other characters were stereotypical and the big mystery wasn't so mysterious in the end. But It does go through some cool history regarding Marie Antoinette and The French Revolution so that was good. All in all it was ok, not brilliant, but not terrible, just predictable and light (lighter than I expected with the title being what it is.) Full review soon!

*Updated Review*


High school junior Collette is traveling to France for a school trip and she cannot wait. Her family has been going through some rough times at home. Her father recently left her mom, and Collette's family has had to downsize dramatically for financial reasons. Collette is part of the popular clique at school--and even though she doesn't much like friends, and she constantly worries they will discover her lower income status, she is so excited to be going with them to Paris where she hopes to learn more about her own heritage, her father's side of the family is French, in the process.

When I first started reading Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer I thought "Wow! This is going to be really FUN!" First off, it's set in Paris--definitely one of my all time favorite settings in books. And I have to say, the parts that had to do with that city were great. I loved "tagging along" with Colette and her tour group as she traveled from Versailles, to the Louvre, to the Catacombs and so on.

Also a bonus? The French history lesson. I'm a history nerd for sure. And the parts of Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer that delved into the French Revolution and the life of Louis XIV and his queen were excellent. I've read several books that feature The French Revolution, the best being Jennifer Donnelly's Revolution and Katherine Neville's The Eight. And hey, I love Le Mis--best Broadway show I have EVER seen. That chapter in history is a bloody, gory, nightmarish time and something I cannot help but be utterly fascinated by.

It's for this reason that I thought Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer would be a cool, if not deadly serious, read. I mean with a history as bloody as that, having one of it's most notorious figures return as a serial killer sounded like such a fun twist. And it almost was. The parts of the book where the victims are meeting their grisly end are creepy for sure. But once you take away the cool historical background, the Paris setting, and the creepy chapters that detail those victim's death-- you aren't left with much else.

Most of the reviews I have read have something in common: none of the readers care for the main character of Collette or any of the co-stars, save the love interest Julian. I have to agree. Collette is written as a stereotypical wannabe. She follows a Queen Bee/ Mean Girl, not exactly liking her or her methods but at the same time falling in line because she's popular and is too afraid of what would happen if she didn't. And yes, there is character development in the book. Collette does break free, like you know she will when you start the book, but it was hard to get invested in her a character, she was so superficial and shallow that it made her feel more like a caricature than a fully fleshed person.

I will say that Julian, the French boy who serves as the love interest is pretty great--as is his French family. That's the one bright spot in the tale.

The mystery behind the murders and why Collette is connected to them really isn't much of a mystery at all--we know who the killer is from the start and it really doesn't take a genius to figure out why she is committing these murders. So the story loses points in that regard too.

But hey, the book is a fun romp through Paris (always a plus), there is a light romance with a genuinely nice guy, and there is some cool historical stuff regarding the Sun King, Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution worked in. I just wish there had been a little more meat to this book in the end.

[Rabiah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally posted at: http://iliveforreading.blogspot.com/2...

I remember picking this one up at ALA way back in the summer of 2013. I was immediately drawn to the cover and, of course, the title. I’d seen it around on goodreads and I knew the book was on my TBR shelf, so I took a copy for review. However, I only got around to reading it now, and...it was okay. Not the best book, but definitely not the worst. It’s a very silly book, but I would be lying if I said it bored me. I first thought this book would be about zombies, but it turned out I was very, VERY wrong.

I was really on the fence with Colette’s character. At the start and for maybe around half of the book, she’s pretty spoiled. Her mother had to work extra shifts just so she could go on this trip to Paris. Heck, her younger brother had to drop out of his private school to go to public school just so she could continue at the same school. This little fact just pissed me off. There’s also the fact that she treats other people like dirt. Definitely not a fun character to have as the heroine of the story. The romance also annoyed me. I didn’t really seem to have a problem with Jules (except his choice in girls maybe), but he also seemed like a pretty flat character. But yes, the romance. I mean, a few days and BAM they’re inseparable. Glad it wasn’t insta-love though–that would have been a disaster on top of everything else. Also, what I didn’t get, was how the heck these girls were able to go around Paris, a city in a different continent let alone country, by themselves. C’est étrange, non?

Speaking of French, there are quite a few French phrases in the book. It’s not too difficult to decipher them if you’ve got a good understanding of être, avoir and faire. Some of them sounded kind of ridiculous, but it’s pretty elementary French. There’s no English translations for some of the parts in the book, so if you have absolutely no experience with French, I suggest a phone or laptop translator on hand just so you don’t end up wondering endlessly what the phrases mean.

Anyway–the main story. Ugh, it all seemed so ridiculous. I mean, okay, with all the murders going on, you still think that this school trip is a good idea, let alone the girls walking around the city by themselves? And the whole history thing tied to a prophecy was pretty predictable. With the ghost of Marie Antoinette to top it all off. The plot was too cliché, too bland, and just too annoying for me. I felt like my eyes were constantly rolling throughout the book. It made you want to read more, yes, but around halfway through I just wanted it to end.

I had high hopes for this one, but I’m sad that Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer wasn’t the book for me. With a semi-ridiculous plot and an annoying main character, only the setting was a major plus–seriously, I NEED to visit France soon after reading some gorgeous descriptions and learning about some of the history in this book. I’ve heard some good things about Katie Alender’s other books, especially about Bad Girls Don’t Die, so I’ll probably give it a try. Oh well–il faut voir.

[Lexie Robinson Austin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is of the Advanced Reader’s Copy of Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer which will be published September 24, 2013.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. Paris! Cute Boys! Ghosts! Serial Killers! What’s not to like right? Well, unfortunately, author Katie Alender never quite gets to that “this is a really awesome read” point.

There are a string of serial killings taking place in Paris, France just as Collette Iselin visits the city of lights with her classmates. Who could possibly be responsible? The problem is that the title, Marie Antoinette Serial Killer, gives away the entire plot line. The reader spends the entire book knowing who’s responsible for the killings and watching Collette stumble around Paris trying to figure it out herself. There are no super twists or turns. Everything is entirely predictable.

Collette and her group of friends are pretty unlikeable. The only character I really enjoyed was the love interest, Jules. Collette is catty and mean to pretty much everyone, trying to maintain her social status with her super popular friends. Of course by the end of the book Collette learns life lessons and becomes nicer, but I couldn’t shake the fact that she was a shallow mean girl in the beginning. Her super popular friends are unbelievably mean and cruel. You wonder why she even hangs out with them. These girls have no redeeming qualities. None. The classmates who are nice are so hopelessly nerdy and dorky that you don’t really want to hang with them either. I got to the end of the book thinking, “Where are the normal people???” The answer is there’s only one: Jules the charming French boy.

All that said, I did really enjoy the Parisian backdrop. Katie Alendar does a great job of painting a beautiful and accurate depiction of Paris. From Versailles to the Eiffel Tower, I felt like I was there with Collette and her classmates. And that was fun.

If you are big fan of French stuff or Paris, you might want to pick this up. If you want a light fluffy read that doesn’t make you think too hard, this is a good choice. However, if you want deep awe inspiring literature, give this a pass.

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

a great fun creepy story. Within the first few chapters, there are multiple decapitations! I loved the adventure of the story and the humor. Loved it!

[Ivy Montiel (De repente, no último livro Blog Literário) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entretenido y ya está. Es un libro muy, pero muy juvenil y hay un par de situaciones que no cuadran (especialmente en los eventos finales). El principio me aburria y pensaba que no fuera a gustarme nada de nada. Mejora en la mitad, sin embargo no figura entre mis favoritos pese a su muy buena ambientación.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was my guilty pleasure. I mean, look at it. I was not expecting a literary masterpiece. But it was a really enjoyable book!!!

[Lita · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Hidden in her compliment was a buried threat. Specialness, in Hannah's eyes, was something that could be taken away as easily as it had been granted".

"I could be in major trouble... which could seriously irritate Hannah -and possibly doom me to the social blacklist.
Peer preassure got the better of me, so I turned back".

[Christianna Marks · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can read this and many other reviews on my YA book blog The White Unicorn!

Just look at that title and that cover. If you're expecting a book that is going to make you sleep with the lights on for a week or a book that has extreme depth, you should look somewhere else. However if you're looking for a book that will make you feel like you've just watched a Disney horror flick mixed with Final Destination, then this is the book for you! Honestly, Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer was just what I wanted it to be. Wonderful, corny, fluff! It has it merits, that's for sure, but there also isn't a lot to it.

Alender chooses to incorporate the murders into the story, giving us a little bit of background into the people who get beheaded by the dead French queen that we all know about. It was a fun tactic and gave us a glimpse at some of the most unrealistic deaths you've ever read. Once again Final Destination comes to mind. That being said, it was a smart move on the authors part.

The characters weren't something to rave about, though Colette does do some growing up on her trip to Paris. She starts out scared to loose the bit of social status that she's managed to gain and over the time of the trip learns to stand on her own two feet, while also being chased around by a dead queen. Her best friends made me wanna pull my hair out, but the girls who ended up as her pals seemed like they were really nice, we just didn't get to know them very well. And Jules, the romantic French boy was actually dreamy. He was the perfect male lead for this type of book and he totally took a little bit of my French loving heart.

Paris is still fresh on my mind from the trip I took there earlier this year and I have to say that Alender paints the city in the perfect light. This to me was her strong point. The city itself glowed on the page and I could see each of the places that Alender chose to use in her book. As a travel log, it really worked for me. I felt like she nailed the feel of the city and the places inside of the pages.

The mystery or horror plot (if you choose to call it a horror plot) had some holes and I found it really predictable, but it also had some really cool points to it as well. The fictional history that Alender created was interesting and kept me wanting to know what was going on, even if the end rushed things and got really weird.

So, while this book isn't going to go down as a classic, it was just the corny book that I wanted to read. If you're looking for something light with some really cool descriptions of Paris, look no farther. Oh and while we're at it, can I just say what a cool tag line "heads will roll" is? It's a total Yeah Yeah Yeah's moment!

*copy provided by publisher for honest review*