Review: MARY: Unleashed (Bloody Mary #2) by Hillary Monahan

Title: MARY: Unleashed

Series: Bloody Mary #2

Previous book in this series: MARY: The Summoning

Author: Hillary Monahan

Genre: YA, horror

Publication date: September 2015

Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Source: Purchased paperback

Add it on Goodreads

Buy it: Amazon | Thrift Books

Synopsis:

Mary in the mirror.
Mary in the glass.
Mary in the water.

Mary lurks in the emptiness, in the darkness... in the reflection. That is, until Jess unleashes her into the world. Now Mary Worth is out and her haunting is deadlier than ever.

No one is safe.

Shauna, Kitty, and Jess must band together to unearth the truth about Mary's death to put her soul to rest for good. Their search leads them back to where it all began-to Solomon's Folly, a place as dangerous as the ghost who died there a century and a half ago. Quick sand, hidden traps and a phantom fog are the least of their worries. To stop Mary, they need to follow a dark string of clues and piece together a gruesome mystery that spans generations.

But time is running out.

As chilling facts come to light, Mary inches ever closer to her prey. Can Jess, Shauna, and Kitty break Mary's curse before it's too late? Or will history repeat itself until there is no one left to call her name...?

My rating: ★★★★☆

“If you don't want to get attacked by a ghost, don’t summon one.”

I really liked the first book in this duology—I remember it being pretty scary. And this one was not bad either! Although throughout most of this book, I couldn't really remember what happened in the last one. I mean, I had a vague understanding, but I just didn’t want to re-read book one beforehand. There was a super quick recap, which I appreciated, but I honestly don’t think my mind was jogged sufficiently 😂 We really need a “previously on” in books 😂

Anyway, basically, in the last book they summoned Bloody Mary, and in this one she is still around and they are trying to get rid of her for good. But in order to stop her, they have to piece together Mary’s past. So throughout the book we get these sort of flashbacks via letters from the 1860s, seeing what Mary’s life was like before she died, and how/why she died. And let me tell you, it was all just awful. It was so sad and I just felt really bad for her. Especially because she was so sassy and I liked her.

The ghost of the legend wasn't born evil. She was made that way.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I was very intrigued by Mary’s sad past and just finding out why she is the way she is now. It wasn’t terribly scary, but there were some parts that were a bit spooky. And one interesting thing about this book—there was no romance! It was a nice change of pace for a YA novel. I almost never come across one without romance. But this book did have a lot friendships, and some very complicated relationships, which I liked.

Have you read this book? If so, what did you think about it? If not, what do you think? Does it sound like something you might want to read? Leave me a link to your review or comment below! 😊