Review: The Cellar by A.J. Whitten

Publisher: Graphia/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Publishing Date: May 2nd, 2011
Pages: 276 pgs
ISBN: 9780547232539

Rating: 3 stars

Summary from GoodReads:

Meredith Willis is suspicious of Adrien, the new guy next door. When she dares to sneak a look into the windows of his house, she sees something in the cellar that makes her believe that Adrien might be more than just a creep—he may be an actual monster.

But her sister, Heather, doesn’t share Meredith’s repulsion. Heather believes Adrien is the only guy who really understands her. In fact, she may be falling in love with him. When Adrien and Heather are cast as the leads in the school production of Romeo and Juliet, to Heather, it feels like fate. To Meredith, it feels like a bad omen. But if she tries to tear the couple apart, she could end up in the last place she’d ever want to be: the cellar. Can Meredith convince her sister that she’s dating the living dead before it’s too late for both of them?

My Review:

This is one of the first books I requested from NetGalley and it looked like it was going to be a good read. I like reading about dark and twisted things; the grosser the better. This book was definitely gross in some of it's descriptions of the walking dead. Adrien and his "mother" feast on humans and Whitten's descriptions during these parts are quite gruesome, which I like. I have heard many people refer to this story as a twisted modern telling of Romeo and Juliet; however I don't really see it that way. Yes, Romeo and Juliet is referenced in this novel and Adrian wants Heather to be his Juliet but I wouldn't classify this as a love story. Adrian desperately wants a mate in his journey as the walking dead and his "mother" keeps denying him this opportunity. At times I felt sympathy for Adrian and then he would do something horrible and I remembered that Adrian is not the good guy in this story. I have to admit that I quickly got bored with this story. I don't know if it was just me though. I have been reading a lot of ARCs lately and I have desperately wanted to read some of the books on my shelf. My impatience with this book could have been attributed to this. After reading this book I decided to take some time off and read some of the books on my shelf. My rating for this book is 3 stars out of 5 but that's not to say that someone else may love it. If you like a bit of horror this is the book for you.