Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks (The Nightmare Series, #1)

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Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks (The Nightmare Series #1)

by Robert Gray (Goodreads Author)

4.24 of 5 stars 4.24 · rating details · 41 ratings · 24 reviews

Fourteen-year-old Eve Hallows lives in a monster-inhabited place where everything is horrible, which in her world means wonderful, but things are about to become wonderful (horrible) when she must move to the human world.

Paperback, 252 pages

Published November 8th 2011 by Createspace (first published November 7th 2011)

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Mar 12, 2012 Donna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: elementary-middle-grade

WOW! What an absolutely horrible book (horrible meaning fantastic!) Think The Munster's from the viewpoint of Marilyn- remember her? The only strange and bizarre human in a family of perfect monsters!
Well, Eve's life is somewhat like that. Mom is a Gorgon, Dad is a shapeshifter and brother Sam is a ghoul. Even the family pet Wolf is a werepig. This book was laugh out loud funny. I loved when Mom accidentally turned people to stone. Dad's crazy attempts at running a pizza store were just hysteric...more

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Apr 06, 2013 Compulsion Reads rated it 5 of 5 stars

Eve Hallows is an adopted human living in the world of Gravesville, where monsters walk the streets and humans are mythic creatures whose goal in life is to hunt down the people she loves in mobs of torch wielding farmers. Then why would her shape shifter father, gorgon mother and ghoul brother decide to move to the human world? There are killers on the loose, and as a member of the Undead, Reanimated, and Nocturnal Service, or URNS for short, her father has volunteered his family for the task o...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Gravesville: wandering zombies, sea monsters, werewolves ghouls, gorgons... all blending together with one sore thumb, a human named Eve. You wouldn't think that a human would be a big deal, there are vampires roaming about, right? Wrong. Humans are pitchfork-wielding terrors who live under a sun that will melt your skin and eat disgusting things like bacon and eggs. Who can live off that stuff?

Although some of Gravesville's inhabitants still look at her with a wary eye, Eve loves nothing more...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Elizabeth "Liza" rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: blog-tour, funny, monsters, own, ya, series, ebook

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks was a really good read! It reminded me of a mix of Adams Family and the old series The Munsters, what I mean by that is that they have the same ‘up-side-down’ take on everything. For example, this book was horrible (meaning fantastic)!

Eve is a human that was raised by monsters in the town of Gravesville. The monster world is an alternate one and monsters can travel back and forth through portals. Eve is a pretty cool human; she is loyal to a fault, defensive o...more Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks was a really good read! It reminded me of a mix of Adams Family and the old series The Munsters, what I mean by that is that they have the same ‘up-side-down’ take on everything. For example, this book was horrible (meaning fantastic)!

Eve is a human that was raised by monsters in the town of Gravesville. The monster world is an alternate one and monsters can travel back and forth through portals. Eve is a pretty cool human; she is loyal to a fault, defensive of her family and willing to be herself, even under pressure. Even though she was terrified of humans and the human world (and completely unprepared for it!), she thrived under the pressure. I really like Eve, and she showed a lot of maturity for only being 14.

I love all other characters as well. Dad is a shape shifter and as such can blend better in the human world. However, Eve’s mom is a gorgon (like Medusa) which is a bit harder to camouflage. Eve’s little brother, Sam, is a ghoul and I felt bad that he had to stay cooped in the house all day. I did love that the family, although very different physically, was very close.

Eve’s friends, Carly Beth, Lucy and Steve were all very nice to her and readily accepted her into their mist. It seems like Eve is pretty good in inspiring others to do well. The bad guys were, perfectly repulsive and we still have to solve the mystery of who (or what) The Source is.

The plot was good, if a bit predictable, but enjoyable all the same. The writing is awesome, very funny, and quirky. I will definitely pass this one along to “B” to read, as I know he will enjoy it as well.

Here are some quotes for you:

“Dad rubbed at his chin, realizing, perhaps for the first time, all the chin real state he had to work with”

“Are you sure you’ve never worked in a place like this?” I asked.
“I was a waitress back in college. Turns out it’s like riding a bike”, Mrs. Reynolds said with a grin.
“I didn’t know what riding a bike had to do with the pizza place, but I kept my mouth shut. Mrs. Reynolds was a smart lady, and if she thought waitressing and bike riding were similar, then who was I to argue?” - Eve

This book was provided to me by the author for review. (less)

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Dec 18, 2012 Lizzy Lessard rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mg, paranormal, reviewed

I love books that turn cliches upside down. What’s good is bad and what’s bad is good in this fun paranormal story. Eve is a human living in a world very similar to Halloween Town. She’s the only one of her kind, but it is the human world that scares her. When her family moves to New Jersey (hey, that is a pretty scary place – at least on the highways) Eve starts out determined to be miseable and hate every human she meets. What she learns instead is that it doesn’t matter if a person is human o...more

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Mar 08, 2012 Aeicha rated it 5 of 5 stars

Read the original and complete review at Word Spelunking

~~THREE~~ FIVE WORDS: A Monster-load of creepy fun!

MY REVIEW: Robert Gray’s Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks has everything I look for in a MG book- laugh-out-loud laughs, relatable young characters, pitch-perfect dialogue and a super fun story….oh, and pizza. Can’t forget the pizza!

Fourteen year old Eve Hallows has lived in Gravesville, surrounded by monsters, her whole life and that’s absolutely horrible to her…of course, in Eve’s world h...more Read the original and complete review at Word Spelunking

~~THREE~~ FIVE WORDS: A Monster-load of creepy fun!

MY REVIEW: Robert Gray’s Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks has everything I look for in a MG book- laugh-out-loud laughs, relatable young characters, pitch-perfect dialogue and a super fun story….oh, and pizza. Can’t forget the pizza!

Fourteen year old Eve Hallows has lived in Gravesville, surrounded by monsters, her whole life and that’s absolutely horrible to her…of course, in Eve’s world horrible means awesome and adorable means awful. With a shapeshifter for a father, a gorgon for a mother, a ghoul for a brother, a werewolf for a grandpa and a vampire for a grandmother, you’d think Eve was something simply horrible. But she isn’t. Instead, she’s something utterly adorable- a human. Left by her human family 14 years ago, Eve has grown up in this monster inhabited world and wouldn’t have it any other way. But when a mysterious group known as The Source start to murder monsters, Eve’s parents pack up the family and move to the human world…where everything is absolutely, abominably, abysmally adorable!

I loved every moment of reading this book and I read it in one sitting, simply unable to put it down! It can be a difficult thing to add the right amount of dark and creepy to a MG book and still keep it appropriate for its intended audience, but the author has done just. Robert Gray offers readers the perfect mix of the creepy, the funny and the “real” life; a mix that will delight young and older readers alike.

The story is nicely paced- fast enough to keep young readers from getting bored, but slow enough to allow readers to really get to know this world and its characters. And this book’s world and characters are totally worth getting to know. The world Gray has crafted is so vivid, fantastical and layered that readers will have no problems believing that Gravesville and its monster inhabitants exist. With an awesome mix of the whimsical and the creepy, Gray’s world of monsters is exciting and enchanting.

And the “real” world Gray places Eve in is very relatable. In the human world, Eve must deal with very real and hard things- mean girls, fitting in, crushing first crushes- and Gray explores these things in a way that younger readers will get and appreciate-with humor and honesty.

The characters in Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks are just as wonderful as its settings. Eve is easy to love; she’s witty, sarcastic, and as over the top and dramatic as a fourteen year old should be. I think readers will love the rest of the Hallows family because they’re delightfully weird, yet oddly normal. Mr. and Mrs. Hallows may have monsterly abilities, and Mrs. Hallows isn’t above turning someone into stone, but they’re still very mom and dad-ish. Throw in a ghoulish brother; an invisible, pizza making man; a bunch of zombie pirates; some new human friends; a couple mean girls; a cute crush and a butthead of a principle and you have the rest of the zany and fabulous cast of characters in this book.

Eve doesn’t just have the human world to contend with though, she, along with her new friends, must go up against The Source and its cronies, resulting in a thrilling adventure. Gray wraps up his book with a satisfying ending, but leaves room for plenty of more horrible fun…and Eve's adventures are set to continue Summer '12, and I will be the first in line for Eve Hallows and the Book of Shadows!

MY FINAL THOUGHTS: This is the perfect book to be read aloud, read at night under the covers or simply devoured in one sitting. Robert Gray’s Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks simply shines with all of its fun creepiness, compelling characters and stellar writing. A MUST read for any MG fan!(less)

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Apr 30, 2012 Joy (joyous reads) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: for-review

Eve’s family is on the move; away from Gravesville, away from the comfort and familiarity of the life she’d ever known. Being the only human living among monsters, she predicted life in the human world would turn out ‘adorably’ wrong. When she found out the real reason why her family is in escrow, she reluctantly accepted that they didn’t have a choice. She only hopes that her gorgon of a mother could resist not turning anyone into stone, or her father wouldn’t have to shift too often into anoth...more Eve’s family is on the move; away from Gravesville, away from the comfort and familiarity of the life she’d ever known. Being the only human living among monsters, she predicted life in the human world would turn out ‘adorably’ wrong. When she found out the real reason why her family is in escrow, she reluctantly accepted that they didn’t have a choice. She only hopes that her gorgon of a mother could resist not turning anyone into stone, or her father wouldn’t have to shift too often into another life form. She also worried about her ghoul of a brother Sam, who has to learn to adapt to a cemetery devoid of other monsters he normally plays with. But above all things, her family’s biggest problem is finding the humans responsible for murdering vampire families. Little by little, Eve’s list of suspects starts to grow, clues started to manifest and at the crux of the mystery, the real motive why a group of humans called The Source, is determined to obtain the book shrieks - a powerful book that has the ability to create scary, evil monsters.

This book was an absolutely delightful read! I’ve never really been much of an MG reader but I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. Is it wrong to say that I expected the onset of boredom when I first read the synopsis? It’s horrible, I know. I kid you not, once I got going, the pages flew in no time. The perfectly paced sequence of events made this book a fast read (a good indication that my kid will absolutely love this!).

The author captured the voice of a fourteen year-old human girl mixed up in a family of monsters. There's a lot of matter-of-fact humor, which are sometimes not even supposed to be funny. The writing is very straight-forward, which I think had something to do with the author’s intent on giving Eve a genuine voice (trust me, he succeeded in spades). I love the family dynamics between the lone human and the monsters; it was cute and endearing.

VERDICT: Eve Hallows is highly imaginative without being too complex for its target audience.
Fall in love with Eve, her friends and her family of adorable monsters. Lose yourself in a light read that will remind you of those days when your English teacher just want you to read something, anything. This book is it. The one that you wish you read when you were in grade school. I for one, am pushing my daughter to read this and you know what? She didn't need much convincing once she saw me laughing at some of Eve's antics. (less)

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Dec 18, 2012 Lisa Miller Chandler rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: blogged, ebooks-in-ibooks

Google's rundown:
Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks (The Nightmare #1)
by Robert Gray (Goodreads Author)
4.16 · Rating
Fourteen-year-old Eve Hallows lives in a monster-inhabited place where everything is horrible, which in her world means wonderful, but things are about to become wonderful (horrible) when she must move to the human world.
Paperback, 252 pages
Published November 8th 2011 by Createspace (first published November 7th 2011)

My thoughts: 5 *'s

Poor 14 year old Eve has to move from her mo...more

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Dec 09, 2012 Coreena rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a cute book with a fun premise. Eve Hallows is the only human living in the monster realm. When it becomes unsafe for them to stay there, her and her family move to the human realm, where only Eve (sort of) fits in.

I loved the idea of turning everything on its head and having the human realm be the unusual one. Kids will like reading how Eve finds everyday things so strange, how horrible means good and adorable means bad.

This is a fast paced book that will appeal to both girls and boys...more

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Dec 20, 2012 Melissa Caldwell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Okay this book is horrible, and by horrible I mean cute! (word play is fierce with this one!) So Eve is a human child growing up in a town and family full of actual monsters! Everything is going great for her until her parent's tell her they are moving to "pencil vania." How absolutely adorable (bad)! She has to leave her friends and all she knows and what's worse...she has to go live near HUMANS! Ugh!

I thought this book was simply adorable (back to normal meaning!) Eve is precocious and fun. H...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Flora Bateman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I received a free copy of this book for my honest review.

What a fun read! This has all the ingredients for a fun middle-grade age Halloween read: monsters and ghouls and pizza oh my! Eve is a 14 year old girl that has been raised by monsters her entire life. She sees herself as one of them instead of a scary human. When someone starts murdering monsters her and her family pack up and move to the human world where Eve has to not only fit in but solve the mystery so she can go back home.

This is a...more

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Nov 27, 2012 Katie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks was such a fun read. It has an easy flow and humorous story that I couldn't put down. The world building that Mr Gray created was fantastic and the characters all loveable. The unique zombies, pirates, werewolves, ghouls, vampires, gorgons and all other paranormal creatures imaginable were hilarious in their creation and so enjoyable. Where horrible means adorable and adorable means horrible, it is an adventure not to miss.

Fourteen year old Eve Hallows was orp...more Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks was such a fun read. It has an easy flow and humorous story that I couldn't put down. The world building that Mr Gray created was fantastic and the characters all loveable. The unique zombies, pirates, werewolves, ghouls, vampires, gorgons and all other paranormal creatures imaginable were hilarious in their creation and so enjoyable. Where horrible means adorable and adorable means horrible, it is an adventure not to miss.

Fourteen year old Eve Hallows was orphaned and taken in by a gorgon and a shapeshifer; her brother is a ghoul and they have a pet called wolf, which is a werepig. Living in Gravesville, a world where monsters are normal people and everyday appears to be Halloween. For breakfast Eve has chocolates and donuts and pumpkin juice. Going to school her lunch is chocolate and donuts and pumpkin juice. Halloween is like Christmas and the biggest celebration of the year. But before she could even get to celebrate, murders have been committed and in fear for their safety, her parents decide to move into the human world.

Adapting in the human world and a human school is not what Eve expects. Her Mother takes her shopping and asks some teens dressed up walking down the street where they got their clothes from. It turns out they were attending a Halloween party and were wearing costumes, but Eve’s Mother didn't realise and they bought “horrible” clothes for school. Eve’s first day of school couldn't get any worse. Everybody is laughing, staring and pointing. The principle is not happy with her either; so her first day is disastrous. The mean girls turn up and almost fall over laughing at her because of the trick they played.

Her Dad has to run a pizza shop and after school Eve has to help out at Ghoulicious Pizza. The murderer’s calling card was left at the pizza shop and now they are worried. Eve is determined to find out more about THE SOURCE somehow and gets the opportunity when she is suspended from school.

Eve starts investigating and finds all sorts of things but can’t piece them all together. Will Eve work out who is behind the murders? Can she overcome the mean girls at school? Will she ever see her friends again at home in Gravesville? What is The Book of Shrieks and where can it be found?

Follow Eve on her journey of self-discovery, new school cliques and social status, secret societies and betrayal. I really enjoyed this adventure story and can’t wait to get into book 2, Eve Hallows and the Book of Shadows.
(less)

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Jun 02, 2012 Anne marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Reading this to my daughter and we are enjoying it.

1 like · like · see review

Aug 03, 2012 Alanna (The Flashlight Reader) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, arcs, middle-grades, review-requests

This was actually a super cute read. I really enjoyed it. I wanted to wait until closer to Halloween to read the book, but I thought it would be a perfect quick summer read… and I was right.
I’m glad to say that this will be a series. I really enjoyed the characters. Eve is a human that was adopted by a monster family. She has spent her entire childhood living in the monster realm, so she can relate to the monsters. In fact, she feels more monster than human. That is, until she has to move to th...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Liliana ♥s Mythology rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: on-kindle, own, rak-gifted, favorites, from-author-or-publisher, monsters-or-other-creatures, shapeshifters, supernatural-abilities, werewolves, zombies

Reviewed on Lili Lost in a Book

So, lately, I've been in a terrible reading slump. I mean, I wanted to read, but I just felt no motivation to do so! So I went through all my unread books (that's 100+ both paperback and e-books) to see which one caught my attention and would hopefully help me out of this slump. And the winner? Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks!!! This is exactly what I needed! It was just sooo adorable (and not in the way that Eve uses the word, lol) and funny and sooo entertain...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Molly rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-books

I read this aloud to my 8 year old. His verdict: amazing, awesome, and all the stars. I enjoyed it also and we both laughed out loud on multiple occasions. Very funny and unusual tale about a human girl raised by monsters who is called upon to help the survival of both human and monsterkind. Ending was slightly weak, mostly because it was prepping for book two, rather than a story resolution.

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Mar 14, 2013 Jennifer | Book Den rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade

Eve Hallows and the Book of Shrieks is a really cute read. Eve is a human living in the monster world, but after a string of murders takes place, Eve's monster family has to move to our world. Eve has been taught humans are terrible, but now she has to figure out how to fit in with them. This is a great twist to the classic new girl at school trope.

I'm not sure I would recommend this series to many adults, but I certainly recommend it to middle grade readers. It is full of humor, full of adventu...more

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Dec 30, 2011 Amy marked it as to-read

This sounds like a great book to read with my son! We love finding books we'll both enjoy to read aloud together!

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Jan 18, 2012 Aaron rated it 4 of 5 stars

I won the book on goodreads! As I was reading this book, I kept thinking how my middle school students would enjoy reading it. The book is written very well. I especially liked the characters' insights. The book has humor, inference, and mystery. I think that you would enjoy the book.

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May 29, 2012 Jess rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 06, 2012 Laura Jerwood rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, kindle

Ok - may have been written for Tweens, but I really enjoyed reading this!

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Jul 30, 2012 Gwen rated it 3 of 5 stars

Monster-fully fantastic!!

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Jun 04, 2012 Jackie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a book that would appeal to young readers as well as adults. It had the right amount of fantasy and mystery. I enjoyed how it kept me turning the pages to find out what would happen next. I enjoyed the variety of monsters in the book and how it revolved around Halloween. My favorite character was mom and the snakes. I will definitely recommend this to my students.

1 like · like · see review

Jan 08, 2013 Deanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: urban-fantasy, vampire, werewolf, shapeshifters, paranormal, magick, mgf, supernatural, giveaway-win, own-paperback, signed-copy

This book was SO good. I absolutely loved it! It's like a mix of the Munsters, Adams family and Colombo thrown in to the mix! It was an EPIC read for any age range starting at mgf on up. I'll be starting book 2 soon for sure. :)

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Oct 29, 2012 Manda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: spooky

Cute, like a middle-grade version of Bradbury's From the Dust Returned. Fun for Halloween.

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May 21, 2013 Emily White marked it as to-read

May 15, 2013 Shadifryer marked it as to-read

May 12, 2013 Allison Miller marked it as to-read

May 05, 2013 Shirley Fernandez marked it as to-read

Apr 29, 2013 Jessica marked it as to-read

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About Robert Gray

Robert Gray is a writer. If that job description doesn't impress you, how about fantasy writer? Too general? Well, he doesn't get insulted if you call him a horror writer. If horror's not your thing, then scratch out horror and replace it with suspense. And for the kiddies, you can slap on a YA or MG in front of that title.

Gray lives in Bushkill, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

More about Robert Gray...

Books by Robert Gray

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