March 6, 2025
I don't really know why, or where it came from, but I became completely obsessed with Monster High in the last year or so. I think it really started with the comics. Every year, my dad and I (and whatever other members of my family can get off work) go out for free comic book day. Last year, kind of on a whim, I decided to pick up the Monster High comic that was on offer.
I've never really been a fan, mostly because they got popular when I felt like I was a little too old for dolls, but I've been going through a period of re-embracing the things I loved as a child, as well as the things I wanted to love but felt too old to enjoy.
I loved the free comic book day issue and went on to subscribe to the new series -- New Scaremester (actually I got my dad to subscribe for me since he's the big comic guy in our family). I was also planning on reading Once Bitten, Twice Dead at some point (by this time I was fully obsessed with Monster High and determined to consume whatever media I could) when I found out that it actually preceded New Scaremester in the canon, so I knew I had to jump on it immediately.
First off, this book had me locked in, jaw dropped, right off the bat by killing off Dracula! (This is not a spoiler, it's literally the first thing that happens in the book.) He dies! I was shocked!
The rest of the book sees Draculaura, his daughter, trying to deal with the grief of his death, and developing a crush on a mysterious new boy. Meanwhile, someone else seems overeager to take over Dracula's position on the school board, weird things are happening all over the school, and everything may be leading to a showdown between monsters and normies.
Can't a girl grieve in peace?
Luckily Draculaura's best ghoul friends have her back no matter what...right?
I had so much fun reading this book and I was also kind of impressed by some of the topics it touched on, like how confusing and contradictory grief can be, and how it, along with fear, can sometimes change you for the worse, if you let it.
But it's not all doom and gloom and heavy subject. It is, overall, a lighthearted read, and there's plenty of adorable teen romance moments, ghouls' nights full of makeup and gossip, and more than enough fangtastic puns and portmanteaus to satisfy most any reader.
I read a good chunk of this while on a road trip with my husband and we had a great time as I regaled him with all the punny Monster High lingo. My favorite detail, though not a pun, is that Dracula canonically owns a stress ball shaped like a bulb of garlic.
As the "deadication" at the beginning of the book says, this is for the OG fandom. It was so clearly written with a love and appreciation of the OG fans in mind. But if you're new, like me, it's still a real treat, and I found it works well as an entry point into this world for newer fans.
I truly can't think of anything I didn't like about it. It is everything I wanted from a Monster High novel and I gave it 5 stars on Storygraph!
