I'm a sucker for books about small creepy towns. Unfortunately I don't like books about cults. I had really hoped that this book would be atmospheric and interesting enough to offset the cult aspect, and it just wasn't. The teenagers were annoying and stupid. The shared trauma between two of them was just too convenient. The best thing I can say about it is that it's short so I did finish it, but if it was any longer I would have DNF'd. ( )

This one read out like a B movie. Entertaining for the most part, but then you’re left empty and at times it felt like you were cheated out of a potentially good story. It was over so quickly hence why you get the feeling you were cheated. Which is too bad. The plot had promise, but it fell short.

It started off well. Just enough to get your attention, the creep factor was all set. A breadcrumb trail was set up and it was good enough to keep the plot going steady. Considering the length of the story, you don’t really have the time to connect with the characters, which is all right. I suppose the same would be said of characters in a horror movie. You’re just there to see their untimely end ;)

Despite there being a shocking moment in the book, it wasn’t enough to redeem the plot. There were so many unanswered questions and a rather drab mediocre last third of the book. You wanted to know so much and yet nothing much was produced. I’m not sure if that was meant to be a teaser but it was disappointing.

It was a quick read, this could be considered something to read in between books, or a light one to pass the time. Nothing eye opening or any wow factor will redeem this one. You’re not going to miss much if you pass this on. ( )

Chalk it up to my love of horror novels if you must, but Creed just didn't deliver on the creep factor that it promised. I've seen so many rave reviews of this book. Reviews that praised the tension that was built, the gore factor, and even the writing. Now that I've finished reading, I can honestly say that I don't agree with any of them. This was like watching a B-horror movie unfold, except without any of the redeeming qualities that make them fun.

I felt nothing for these three characters. No terror, no remorse, not even the tiniest inkling of emotion. What I did feel, in spades, was frustration. Dee, Luke and Mike were cardboard cutouts of what teens should be. Their flat personalities never allowed me to get close to them at all. Even Dee, who had a horrible childhood and should have felt like a stronger female character to me, felt fake. I kept waiting for her to lash out. To take all her frustration and do something big. It never came to that.

A story like this has so much potential. A city that looks abandoned but holds so many secrets. A fanatical villain who will stop at nothing to keep those secrets. Plus, three teens who have no idea what they're walking into. In a perfect world, I'd eat this story up in a heartbeat. The way it was executed in Creed just left a lot wanting for me. Nothing about this book caught me up. I wasn't connected to it at all. Even the gory parts, the parts that should have made me feel disturbed or sad, they elicited nothing from me.

Now, again, I do read a lot of horror novels. It's distinctly possible that I've reached a point where I am no longer the audience for this book. However, keep in mind that I also wasn't a fan of the writing or the characters either. I'll leave the decision up to you, as to whether Creed takes a spot on your reading list or not. It definitely wasn't for me. ( )

I don't read many scary books, so I reached out to my friends to see what they recommended. I got a huge list of books to pick from (and added quite a few to my reading list for after the challenge) but decided to go with Creed. It sounded creepy, and - I admit - it was a bit shorter than a lot of the others.



The story was of three teenagers who were on their way to a concert in NYC and ran out of gas. They come across a creepy town to get gas and find no one available in the town. Everything goes downhill after that - crazy people, blood, killings.....you know - your typical scary story.



Except.....it really wasn't. I wanted to like it. I kept waiting for it to get "I need to put this book in the freezer" scary, but it never did. It was actually kind of dumb. I found myself rolling my eyes several times at the silliness of it all. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to reading it. It did sound good.



Ah well. It happens. Was it creepy? Sure. But not in the way I was expecting. It was more crazy than creepy. ( )

The first third of this book was exactly what I was hoping it would be. Dee, her boyfriend Luke, and his brother Mike set off on a road trip, heading towards Dee's surprise for her and Luke's anniversary. But when their car runs out of gas, they find themselves forced to hole up in a small, mysterious town.

This town has all the makings of a horror movie, a cult, or possibly both. There are identical books in each house full of terrifying rules, sirens that won't stop sounding, and absolutely no sign of another living soul. The graveyard has a freshly dug grave, and there is a stockpile of Welcome to Purity Springs signs where the population number keeps going down by one.

Where the book started to lose me was when it was revealed what was happening in the town. The explanation just didn't seem to live up to the build up. And even more than this, was the book's unrelenting bleakness. After the beginning of the book, there was not a single spark of lightness, or even a smile. This made it very difficult to power through and finish the book. I think I only finished it because I was already far enough into it that I felt like I should, and because I was hoping there would be some sort of happiness, even if the resolution was tragic.

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did, which is probably another reason I was determined to finish it. I know there are a lot of readers out there who enjoyed it, and I can definitely see why. It's a scary, interesting young adult thriller that is well-written in many parts. If I had known going in just how dark it would be, and how far it would veer from the thriller it began as, I might have liked it more because I would have lacked such high expectations. Then again, had I known, I might not have picked it up at all. ( )