Review: First Date (Fear Street #16) by R.L. Stine

Title: First Date

Series: Fear Street #16

Author: R.L. Stine

Genre: YA, horror, mystery thriller

Publication date: May 1992

Published by: Archway Paperback

Source: Purchased paperback

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Synopsis: Dying for a Date...

Chelsea Richards is shy, lonely, and looking for love. She would give anything to finally go on a date. Soon there are two new boys in town, and both ask her out.

Too bad one of them is a crazed killer. Poor Chelsea. Will her first date also be her last?

My rating: ★★☆☆☆

This book was... interesting. So we have this girl who is relatively new in Shadyside and she has just gained the attention of two guys who just arrived in town as well. One of these guys is a psychopath with mommy issues. Unfortunately, Chelsea doesn’t know which one. And let me just say, if at any point you’re unsure about a guy and weather he has psychopathic tendencies, you run the other goddamn way! I'm not a fan of the trope where the girl is attracted to a bad boy but is also simultaneously scared of him. Like, what is up with that? If I am scared of a guy I am NOT going to stick around to find out whether he’s a killer or if he is just misunderstood but also a terrible person. And this is what Chelsea was like with one of the guys, Sparks. At first, Sparks was just a tough looking going, but soon we realize there’s more to him. At one point the guy doesn’t take no for an answer and I was like NOPE. Girl, you don’t need a guy like that in your life. As for the other guy Will, he was more shy and mysterious and Chelsea really liked him.

It’s too bad it was so incredibly obvious that it was HIM that was the killer. A couple of things about him: He’s freaking 20 YEARS OLD! And Chelsea is only 15!! 🤢 This was so gross. This guy enrolled himself in high school, wooed Chelsea and then made out with her just before he was about to kill her! The poor girl. Also why in the ever loving hell is he enrolling in high school??? Sigh.

However, his backstory was pretty sad. As I mentioned before, this guy has mommy issues. Basically when Will was a kid, his mom took his sister but left him being with an abusive father. So now he's looking for her but dropping bodies along the way. Yeah, super great plan 🙄

Soo, I know this book was written in the 90s, but all the fat shaming Chelsea really got on my nerves. Her MOM even joined in at one point and I was like, “really?” Oh and then slut shaming Suki Thomas (from The Overnight) for talking with Doug? Not into that. Leave Suki alone! Lol. Oh, Doug is the boyfriend of Nina who is Chelsea’s “best friend.” And I put it in quotations because they are pretty terrible friends to one another. Lol.

And just overall, it wasn’t that great a book. We found out who the bad guy was way too early on, and then both the love interests were no good... even the one that wasn't a murderer 😂 So the fact that the ending implies she ended with the other guy... Not great.

The Fear Street connection: Chelsea just moved to Shadyside... To Fear Street, no less. Which she loved at first, believe it or not.

Chelsea practically leapt out of her car. She loved Fear Street. It was the happiest street she had ever lived on. And this was the happiest night of her life!

I can't with this girl... Just because she went on her first date 😂

Alternate cover:

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! 😊