This book is not at all what I expected, but exactly what I needed to get out of my reading slump. It’s funny and sweet, but creepy and eerie at the same time. It took some turns I wasn’t expecting and managed to keep me wanting to turn pages as quickly as possible. This book is a quick, fun read and a great introductory to the horror genre!

Best friends Abby and Gretchen do everything together. They watch movies, eat lunch together, talk on the phone every night at 11:06, dress up and sing-along to Madonna when Gretchen’s religious parents aren’t home, so of course Abby’s there for her when Gretchen gets lost in the woods and starts acting . . . strange. Pretty soon strange turns into evil and Abby doesn’t understand what happened to the Gretchen she used to be best friends with. Little does Abby know, she’ll have to go through overprotective parents, corrupt principals and demons to try to get her best friend back. Set in the 80’s, this book feels very nostalgic. I’m a 90’s baby but some of the quirky details in this book were reminiscent of my childhood. For those of you who grew up in the late 80’s, My Best Friend’s Exorcism would be such a fun read (ironically).

I think my favorite thing about this book is the characters. You love to hate them and love to love them. Of all the movies I’ve seen and books I’ve read where children or teens are the main characters, the parents are usually always useless, and this book was no exception. All the parents sucked, leaving it up to the kids to fend for themselves. I kind of liked this aspect of the book because it pit Abby and Gretchen against the world, and for the most part Abby had to piece things together on her own.

I think this book did a great job at balancing humor and spooks. It was able to successfully creep me out, but also not take itself too seriously which was refreshing. This book never really scared me and I don’t think it was really meant to. It was definitely more on the creepy, I’m stressed for these characters because I love them, ew don’t do that, eep what’s going to happen, side. So, if you’re new to horror or stay away from the genre because it’s not usually your jam, then maybe give this book a try. There’s a lot more to the story then just the supernatural element and like I said, the scares are kept to a minimum.

Overall, I’m really glad I picked up My Best Friend’s Exorcism this month. It really makes you think, how far would I go to save my best friend if I suspected a demonic spirit was living inside them?