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You're Invited to a Creepover #12
What a Doll! (12)
Emmy’s new doll has strange powers over her best friend in this entrancing addition to the You’re Invited to a Creepover series.
Emmy Spencer and Lizzy Draper have been best friends since birth, but now that they’re in seventh grade, they’ve begun to drift apart. Lizzy—insistent on being called Liz now—has a new group of friends, and she has gone out of her way to exclude Emmy from them. It’s almost as if Lizzy doesn’t want Emmy hanging out with her anymore. But then Emmy comes into possession of a doll that can change all that—a doll that will put Emmy in control of Lizzy’s every move. Can she use the doll to save their friendship, or will it end up controlling them both?
This spooky tale is a level 3 on the Creep-o-Meter.
Emmy Spencer and Lizzy Draper have been best friends since birth, but now that they’re in seventh grade, they’ve begun to drift apart. Lizzy—insistent on being called Liz now—has a new group of friends, and she has gone out of her way to exclude Emmy from them. It’s almost as if Lizzy doesn’t want Emmy hanging out with her anymore. But then Emmy comes into possession of a doll that can change all that—a doll that will put Emmy in control of Lizzy’s every move. Can she use the doll to save their friendship, or will it end up controlling them both?
This spooky tale is a level 3 on the Creep-o-Meter.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published February 12, 2013
13 people are currently reading
365 people want to read
About the author
P.J. Night
44 books157 followersP.J. Night Revealed
Revealing Questions
Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
A. Reading, writing, and scaring up new ideas!
Q. What is your motto or maxim?
A. There are mysteries everywhere . . . you just have to know where to look.
Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
A. Sitting with my cat on my lap and reading a book I just can't put down.
Q. What’s your greatest fear?
A. Flowers and teddy bears :)
Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
A. At some very old and very haunted place. Transylvania or the Tower of London, anyone?
Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
A. Psychic powers
Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
A. A black cat
Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
A. Nancy Drew
Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
A. The Wicked Witch of the West
Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
A. Ghost hunter
Revealing Questions
Q. How would you describe your life in only 8 words?
A. Reading, writing, and scaring up new ideas!
Q. What is your motto or maxim?
A. There are mysteries everywhere . . . you just have to know where to look.
Q. How would you describe perfect happiness?
A. Sitting with my cat on my lap and reading a book I just can't put down.
Q. What’s your greatest fear?
A. Flowers and teddy bears :)
Q. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you choose to be?
A. At some very old and very haunted place. Transylvania or the Tower of London, anyone?
Q. If you could acquire any talent, what would it be?
A. Psychic powers
Q. If you could be any person or thing, who or what would it be?
A. A black cat
Q. Who is your favorite fictional hero?
A. Nancy Drew
Q. Who is your favorite fictional villain?
A. The Wicked Witch of the West
Q. What’s your fantasy profession?
A. Ghost hunter
Ratings & Reviews
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 30, 2013
I think this book can captivate any reader. It has a lot of drama, which is a thing I really like, and it has a lot of revenge. It has scenes that make you wonder what will happen next. Its my favorite book. It's quite short, but you will not want to stop reading it. It has some scary parts. I recommend this book for those readers who like scary books. It is full of surprises! It is going to make you sleep with your lights on!
September 17, 2014
Wow! What a doll:) this book was vary good. I read another creepover book called what a doll but this book was a lot better I think. The ending was surprising and like WHAT?. This is only my second creepover book I have read and I love the this series. I told my friends about these books and there are now no more creepover books in the library.
August 8, 2021
This book was really good 👍 I love it!
November 17, 2024
my girl had a whole villain arc after her friend chopped her hair off, and honestly, RIGHTFULLY SO !!
November 8, 2020
This is our third Creepover book. I find them to be relatively well written and entertaining. This particular book was a little disturbing especially reading it to my daughter. She loves creepy things but this one might have been a bit much. The main character Emmy purposefully hurls a voodoo doll of her best friend Lizzy at the wall multiple times and has her little brother play along and throw it at the ceiling. I get that it's a doll but I couldn't help but visualize Emmy purposefully slamming her friend into a wall over and over. Emmy even slams the doll around her bedroom and watches through the window as she makes her friend jump up and down on a broken leg while the popular girls laugh and mock her. Painful and CREEPY!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 8, 2020
3.25
Less predictable than the last. Don't really like the MC. Why are the MC's always such hateful bitches in these mid-grade books?
Less predictable than the last. Don't really like the MC. Why are the MC's always such hateful bitches in these mid-grade books?
May 14, 2024
I'm been wanting to revisit certain series so I decided to return to Creepover. Despite the seemingly limiting gimmick, these have turned out solid so far even if the Halloween one was more notable.
I picked this one cuz it had a pretty interesting blurb so let's do it. Our ghostwriter on this one is Kama Einhorn, who mostly does Sesame Street stuff. Not much for horror credits.
Emmy and Liz have been best friends since even before birth. Seriously, their moms met while they preggo and these girls have been inseparable.
But lately they have been drifting apart. Lizzy wants to fit with the cool crowd and starts hanging more with the popular crowd. She starts to ignore Emma and pressures her to change to fit in. It comes to a head when she forces a hair cut on Emmy, claiming to just be doing a trim when really she does way more, betraying her trust basically.
Emma is rather resentful now. Long story short, she finds a doll in the back room of a store, from a strange woman. It looks like Lizzy and through this she starts to hate her more and take some anger out on the doll. Spoilers, it’s a voodoo doll and once that is figured out, Emma wants to have fun with it…
This was pretty good. It’s the most thematic focused one I’d say, very obviously so. It’s all about their friendship and how this all affects it. Their friendship is shown pretty well, we see how tight they were and how that changes. Lizzy becomes more interested in appearing mature instead of being herself, which further shows with her forcing change on Emmy.
On the flip side we see how the resentment grows a bit too much with the obvious revenge angle. It’s implied the spell that makes the doll a voodoo one also brings out the hate in Emmy, and from there they have fun with her basically having a Joker arc. She takes joy in the misery Lizzy goes through. I like how they explain what Schadenfreude is.
She still can feel a tad selfish, but she does clearly regret her actions by the end. Additionally, we have the parents being understanding and nice, and even the brother is just a bit bratty. Honestly, Emmy acts worse to him. She even kind of treats him the same way Lizzy treated her and I thought they’d do something with that but nope.
I feel like they could have done more in a couple areas. I like the ambiguity with where this backroom even comes from and I do mostly like the twist. All these so far have had one to some extent and this has the usual false victory element with the twist hitting kinda hard when you think of what they’ve gone through already. I do feel like they could have gone for something a bit different, like bringing those popular girls back since they could have had a payoff, or the brother given what I said about him.
The horror comes more from the idea of what Lizzy’s side must feel like, being forced to do crazy things. It can feel repetitive, repeating the situation and how their friendship isn’t the same. The writing is fair but be on the nose, a bit kids book-y in the way. Those minor gripes aside, it is pretty rock solid. Fairly airtight, with a strong focus on this friendship and the thematic elements.
It’s a good example of what I look for, as it has actual depth where you generally feel for the characters. Horror isn’t high but it’s there and feels like a full version of The Bad Babysitter from the Haunting Hour book. It’s one of the more balanced ones out there. And it’s able to counteract any corny-ness with the ending.
Overall, it’s good. So far these are solid. I’d say Creepover goes into the series I find to be good and reliable. Maybe not always great but again, given the gimmick it handles it all better than you’d think. So yeah, I will do more if I need a reliable series. And hey there’s still the camp book…
Anyway, that wraps it up for this. Wanna go for some random thing off archive or something next but as always, who knows. See ya then.
I picked this one cuz it had a pretty interesting blurb so let's do it. Our ghostwriter on this one is Kama Einhorn, who mostly does Sesame Street stuff. Not much for horror credits.
Emmy and Liz have been best friends since even before birth. Seriously, their moms met while they preggo and these girls have been inseparable.
But lately they have been drifting apart. Lizzy wants to fit with the cool crowd and starts hanging more with the popular crowd. She starts to ignore Emma and pressures her to change to fit in. It comes to a head when she forces a hair cut on Emmy, claiming to just be doing a trim when really she does way more, betraying her trust basically.
Emma is rather resentful now. Long story short, she finds a doll in the back room of a store, from a strange woman. It looks like Lizzy and through this she starts to hate her more and take some anger out on the doll. Spoilers, it’s a voodoo doll and once that is figured out, Emma wants to have fun with it…
This was pretty good. It’s the most thematic focused one I’d say, very obviously so. It’s all about their friendship and how this all affects it. Their friendship is shown pretty well, we see how tight they were and how that changes. Lizzy becomes more interested in appearing mature instead of being herself, which further shows with her forcing change on Emmy.
On the flip side we see how the resentment grows a bit too much with the obvious revenge angle. It’s implied the spell that makes the doll a voodoo one also brings out the hate in Emmy, and from there they have fun with her basically having a Joker arc. She takes joy in the misery Lizzy goes through. I like how they explain what Schadenfreude is.
She still can feel a tad selfish, but she does clearly regret her actions by the end. Additionally, we have the parents being understanding and nice, and even the brother is just a bit bratty. Honestly, Emmy acts worse to him. She even kind of treats him the same way Lizzy treated her and I thought they’d do something with that but nope.
I feel like they could have done more in a couple areas. I like the ambiguity with where this backroom even comes from and I do mostly like the twist. All these so far have had one to some extent and this has the usual false victory element with the twist hitting kinda hard when you think of what they’ve gone through already. I do feel like they could have gone for something a bit different, like bringing those popular girls back since they could have had a payoff, or the brother given what I said about him.
The horror comes more from the idea of what Lizzy’s side must feel like, being forced to do crazy things. It can feel repetitive, repeating the situation and how their friendship isn’t the same. The writing is fair but be on the nose, a bit kids book-y in the way. Those minor gripes aside, it is pretty rock solid. Fairly airtight, with a strong focus on this friendship and the thematic elements.
It’s a good example of what I look for, as it has actual depth where you generally feel for the characters. Horror isn’t high but it’s there and feels like a full version of The Bad Babysitter from the Haunting Hour book. It’s one of the more balanced ones out there. And it’s able to counteract any corny-ness with the ending.
Overall, it’s good. So far these are solid. I’d say Creepover goes into the series I find to be good and reliable. Maybe not always great but again, given the gimmick it handles it all better than you’d think. So yeah, I will do more if I need a reliable series. And hey there’s still the camp book…
Anyway, that wraps it up for this. Wanna go for some random thing off archive or something next but as always, who knows. See ya then.
July 1, 2024
Emmy and Lizzy are best friends. Or rather, they were until seventh year, where Lizzy has a new group of friends and prefers being called Liz. Feeling rather left out and angry, Emmy goes to her favourite shop, Zim Zam. She finds a back room in which there is a kind old lady who gives her a doll and a candle. Strangely, the doll she bought looks uncommonly like Lizzy, with her yarn hair the colour of Lizzy's. But one day, Emmy's brother Sam throws her doll down the stairs. The next day, Lizzy comes to school with a broken leg after falling down the stairs. Emmy doesn't think much of it until she paints her doll's nails black. The next day, Lizzy also comes to the school with BLACK NAILS. Emmy uses the doll to control her friend. Now nobody talks to Lizzy and she and Emmy become friends again. Emmy now tries to get rid of the doll. But the old woman who sold it to her finds it. Now Emmy's the one being controlled. . . .
August 1, 2024
➕
1. Pembangunan drama kebencian terhadap Lizzy dilakukan bertubi-tubi sampai dadaku ikut sesak. Karakterisasi abu-abu Emma yang cemburu, iri, marah, tapi juga masih sayang sama Lizzy. Dan di sini ada pesan moral bahwa orang yang berbuat buruk ke orang lain akan mendapatkan akibatnya.
2. Desain bukunya sangat cantik (elegan dan misterius).
➖
1. Di deskripsi novel, bonekanya dibuat dari bahan baju seutuhnya, wajah yang disulam, dan mata kancing. Tapi, yang di kover bahannya terlihat licin kayak porselen, jadinya aku agak nyasar pas membayangkannya.
2. Tindakan Emmy termasuk keterlaluan, sih.
1. Pembangunan drama kebencian terhadap Lizzy dilakukan bertubi-tubi sampai dadaku ikut sesak. Karakterisasi abu-abu Emma yang cemburu, iri, marah, tapi juga masih sayang sama Lizzy. Dan di sini ada pesan moral bahwa orang yang berbuat buruk ke orang lain akan mendapatkan akibatnya.
2. Desain bukunya sangat cantik (elegan dan misterius).
➖
1. Di deskripsi novel, bonekanya dibuat dari bahan baju seutuhnya, wajah yang disulam, dan mata kancing. Tapi, yang di kover bahannya terlihat licin kayak porselen, jadinya aku agak nyasar pas membayangkannya.
2. Tindakan Emmy termasuk keterlaluan, sih.
October 30, 2018
Bruh first of all! This book is very... full of... drama... I guess... and the fact that best friends all over the world are drifting away is just very sad. The ending... it was VERY DEPRESSING... I thought that it would be a happy ending but NOPE the author was just like YEET NOPEDY NOPE NOPE U R NOT GETTING A HAPPY ENDING! Sooo... Yah... Thanks for reading! Bye!
October 24, 2019
The plot makes you read more, the book itself makes you want to read the whole thing. It's great, not bad, i could read it again and you should read it if you have time.
Read
December 20, 2020This book was okay
March 23, 2023
I know my reviews on these books are repetitive, but these are all just sooo good!
February 7, 2025
This was one of the better ones in the series.
May 11, 2020
What will you do when your best friend leaves you alone for others and you get a doll that looks A LOT like her and that seemingly seems to control her? Would you use it? Or would throw the doll away?
The second re-read for this series and I was excited to start it. I had forgotten most of the important details after it being almost 6 years since the last read. I was curious how far our MC would take her revenge and her anger and what would happen in the end.
Meet Emmy. A sweet girl but who gets hurt badly by her best friend. First her hair gets cut off to nothing (just a trim.... as her friend would tell her) and then her best friend leaves her alone while they were having a sleepover. And there are other things her old best friend does. I was pretty angry at the whole cutting hair part. Girl, I get that you may think Emmy doesn't have the best hair? But don't do this. You should have known you had gone too far and you should have apologised immediately.
I have to say that while I was OK with some stuff she did with the doll to teach her friend a lesson (painting her nails black was quite hilarious), I was NOT OK with many others. How she was totally fine that her friend broke her leg... that she threw the doll around like mad, and some other stuff. I was just disgusted with this behaviour and I actually felt sorry for Liz. No one, especially not when they haven't done anything really terribly wrong (cutting hair is bad.. but that grows back) is just so NOPE. I didn't like the Emmy we got to see in this book. She went too far. She should have quit as soon as she knew what was up with the doll. I get then we wouldn't have a full story, but I can imagine some ways that this one could have still ended up a good story without having a character do the things they did in here.
Despite it being hard to read, I was still eager to keep on reading as I wanted to know how long it would take for Emmy to realise that what she was doing was bad + I wanted to know if she would eventually get rid of the doll or something else would happen.
Well the ending was pretty great, I was a bit surprised by it, but it did fit with the book perfectly. Good luck Emmy.
But all in all, despite some eh points, I still couldn't put this one down and I read through it quite quick. This was a good book in this series.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
The second re-read for this series and I was excited to start it. I had forgotten most of the important details after it being almost 6 years since the last read. I was curious how far our MC would take her revenge and her anger and what would happen in the end.
Meet Emmy. A sweet girl but who gets hurt badly by her best friend. First her hair gets cut off to nothing (just a trim.... as her friend would tell her) and then her best friend leaves her alone while they were having a sleepover. And there are other things her old best friend does. I was pretty angry at the whole cutting hair part. Girl, I get that you may think Emmy doesn't have the best hair? But don't do this. You should have known you had gone too far and you should have apologised immediately.
I have to say that while I was OK with some stuff she did with the doll to teach her friend a lesson (painting her nails black was quite hilarious), I was NOT OK with many others. How she was totally fine that her friend broke her leg... that she threw the doll around like mad, and some other stuff. I was just disgusted with this behaviour and I actually felt sorry for Liz. No one, especially not when they haven't done anything really terribly wrong (cutting hair is bad.. but that grows back) is just so NOPE. I didn't like the Emmy we got to see in this book. She went too far. She should have quit as soon as she knew what was up with the doll. I get then we wouldn't have a full story, but I can imagine some ways that this one could have still ended up a good story without having a character do the things they did in here.
Despite it being hard to read, I was still eager to keep on reading as I wanted to know how long it would take for Emmy to realise that what she was doing was bad + I wanted to know if she would eventually get rid of the doll or something else would happen.
Well the ending was pretty great, I was a bit surprised by it, but it did fit with the book perfectly. Good luck Emmy.
But all in all, despite some eh points, I still couldn't put this one down and I read through it quite quick. This was a good book in this series.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
April 17, 2015
actually rated 4 1/2.
this is REALLY good! and, ratings aside, better than don't drink the punch! it's a really good story, has a unique perspective for a voodoo tale, where we see through the "bad guy's" eyes, and emmy is surprisingly sympathetic. well, for an anti-hero. what makes me like bump it DOWN to four stars is the ENDING.
whatever, obvious-force-anti-revenge-moral aside, this is a GREAT book, and actually improves from the story it precedes! if only because there are SIGNIFIGANTLLY LESS unlikable-protagonist-friend characters in it.
this is REALLY good! and, ratings aside, better than don't drink the punch! it's a really good story, has a unique perspective for a voodoo tale, where we see through the "bad guy's" eyes, and emmy is surprisingly sympathetic. well, for an anti-hero. what makes me like bump it DOWN to four stars is the ENDING.
whatever, obvious-force-anti-revenge-moral aside, this is a GREAT book, and actually improves from the story it precedes! if only because there are SIGNIFIGANTLLY LESS unlikable-protagonist-friend characters in it.
October 16, 2016
Revenge is sweet, so it is said. But like anything, too much of a good thing can be bad for you. Just ask Emmy....
Another good Creepover entry, this time written by Kama Einhorn. ("P.J. Night" is the house name for the series.) The Creep-o-Meter only registers 3, but for me, imagining what happens after the final page easily raises it to a 4.
June 12, 2015
This is my new favorite series to recommend to juveniles that want something scary to read! It also touches on juvenile growing pains like jealousy and your first friend betrayal which kids will be able to relate to.
August 22, 2013
Great book !!!!!
September 9, 2015
I think this is a very interesting book.
May 14, 2024
This is a great book I enjoy all of Pj Nights books I am a big fan
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September 1, 2017i love this book an i think im interested in it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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May 14, 2019I have read this book way back when I was twelve. I only decided to update this now that I am nineteen. All I can say that it's part of my childhood now and that it is stored back in my head.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews