Creed begins with the story of Dee and her boyfriend (Luke) and his brother (Mike) taking a surprise trip for Luke. However, their car dies on the outskirts of a small town called Purity Springs, in what seems to be a completely abandoned area. However, they soon discover the city is comprised of Elijah, the prophet of the town, his loyal followers, and his rebellious son Joseph. The three are soon captured by Joseph in an effort to help rescue his sister Eden from the town's clutches. What follows is a series of manipulation and horror none of them could have imagined. The ending of the book left much to be desired, as the novel concludes in a few short pages. The book had a very interesting plot, but sometimes it felt too rushed while other times it dragged on. I think if there had been a more sound conclusion I would give this a higher rating, but I'll leave it at three stars. I would recommend this book to those horror fans who enjoy fast-paced twists and turns at every corner. Just don't expect all the loose ends to be tied by the end of the story.

Rating: 5/5

I think this the best YA Horror novel that I have read thus far. It is really suspenseful and gory. It will had me on the edge of my seat, waiting for what would happen next. The way that religion is tied into the story makes the plot even more creepy because bases all of his motives on God.

3.5 stars

This book isn't actually that bad. The premise is very simple. Three teens get stranded on some random road, try to find help, end up in this creeptastic town and then attempt to escape a deanged dude that's trying to kill them.

This was like reading a decent slasher/horror film. I quite enjoyed it, and to be absolutely honest, the first few chapters of the book did give me the creeps. The atmosphere and that town... *shivers*, I so did not want to be in their shoes.

The last chapters got very intense (I didn't expect all that gore), but I didn't much care for the ending.

I also wasn't a fan of one of the main characters, Dee, but I suppose she acted very much the immature teen part. Funnily enough, I found her sad, sad background unnecessary (ironic, considering what happens) and she started irritating me the moment she thought Joseph was interested in her that way --not 5 seconds after being introduced she feels she has to make it clear that she has a boyfriend. Give me a break.

This book is very straightforward in its blurb, I think. So I believe most people's expectations should be safe. I doubt anyone is expecting some thriller/horror masterpiece. This is basically a slasher film in book format. You'll get your cheap thrills, exciting moments, clichés, characters making dumb decisions, and lots and lots of blood.

This book was freaky!! What happens when three high school kids take a road trip and run out of gas in a small deserted town? SCARY STUFF happens that is for sure! I really enjoyed this quick read book, I thought the story line was amazing! I know one thing...you will always make sure you have a full tank of gas! Creep Factor: Four stars!

Received from publisher in exchange for an honest review
Originally at The Secret Life of a Bookworm

I was really excited to read Creed because it sounded like it was going to be a really creepy thriller. It started off good, but gradually started to go downhill for me. Everything started to feel way too rushed towards the end and it was also slightly too gory for me.

Creed follows our three main characters Dee, Luke & Mike who have all lied to their parents/guardians about where they'll be for the next three days so that Dee could surprise her boyfriend Luke for his birthday. Their car breaks down so they decide to walk and try to find some help. They come across a deserted town with an emergency siren blaring, decide to go to an abandoned gas station, a grave yard and finally break into someones house. All the while not coming across a single person. Dee has a bad feeling about the place, and she's right to. Creed had all the usual signs of a bad horror movie, and I love a bad horror movie as much as the next person so I honestly thought I was going to enjoy it.

To be fair, I did enjoy the beginning. It did have a creepy and eerie feel to it when they were wandering about an abandoned Purity Springs. I had goosebumps when I was reading that bit because I was convincing myself someone was going to jump out on them and kidnap/try to kill them. So I did feel the creep factor. But as soon as Joseph showed up and dragged Dee back to save his sister, everything got a bit gruesome and honestly, slightly boring. I lost interest in the characters and really didn't care what happened to them anymore. I kept reading though because I couldn't believe that no one had ever heard about what happens in this town before and I wanted to know whether anyone ever would. Elijah Hawkins was a super creep and made my stomach churn. I was hoping that someone would end up killing him because he totally deserved it, if not worse.

So, like I said, everything towards the end felt extremely rushed to me. Also, this is where most of the unnecessary gore starts to appear and where I started to skim. I was extremely disappointed by the end of the book because I'd really been hoping for a scary and creepy read, but for me, that wasn't Creed.

Overall, for me, there wasn't really anything stand out about Creed. The characters didn't stand out, the plot was predictable and I found myself getting bored. There are loads of people out there who enjoyed Creed, but it just wasn't for me.

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I was browsing through Netgalley one day and saw this. It looked really good so I requested it. It took me a couple of days and half the book to get engrossed in it but one I did, it was good. It was creepy and disturbing. Its set in this weird M Night Shyamalan type setting right out of the village. These three kids run out of gas and head into this town. Weird alarms are going off and no one seems to be around. Dee, her boyfriend Luke and his brother Mike spend the night in this deserted house waiting for the next morning so they can be on their way.



Dee is a ward of the state and has a past. She was taken away from an abusive father who tried to sexually abuse her, spent some time in a group home and finally seemed to have her life on track. She lived with the Hoopers, an elderly couple who seemed to care for her greatly. Luke, her boyfriend, who knew of her past and seemed to be her rock. Mike his kind of a trouble maker brother, who really wanted to buy kegs and throw a party instead of go on that trip in the first place.



This book made me so mad in so many ways. The town was in essence, a cult. This weird town of people who would do any and everything their group leader Elijah said. It was even said that if he told everyone to drink battery acid, they probably would. He was creepy and weird. Jacob, the son who wanted to escape and save his sister, just drove me crazy. Jacob wanted to leave so badly that he was to blame for all the misfortunes that happened to Dee, luke and Mike. Jacob, who one day would have been leader could have saved that town. He could have stuck around and as leader, changed the way things were but instead he decided to run.



This book was creepy and sad and in ways horrible. I kept wanting them to escape that horrible place and kept waiting for a happy ending that did not come. I wanted everything to be okay and it wasn’t’ I think that alone made me not like this book as much as I could have. I wish there was more closure. It only mentioned what happened to a few character not all. It was like one of those scary movies that you know could have a sequel just because of the ending. Maybe another group of unsuspecting kids will stumble across this town and things might end a little happier.



All in all, I give this a 3 1/2 stars. I think if there was a sequel, I would read it just to see if things end differently and just to see some of the characters again.

Simple, and bland- so bland! It's not badly written, it's not... bad. It's just not worth it.

I have a thing for cults. I can't explain it. They're just so fun and interesting to me! Unfortunately, I rarely get to read fiction involving them in any way other than a short mention and a couple of people in hoods.
So I can't say this is the worst cult I've read. It's really the only.
But still, it sucks.

The book is about three teens who go on a roadtrip budget stuck in an empty cult town. The plot is incredibly simple and incredibly slow. Only a few things happen, but it drags for the entire book. The writing isn't awful, and the characters aren't full idiots, but it just draaaaaaags. Even with super short chapters. I blazed through this lackluster lame-ity real quick.

I wanted to take as much time as possible before delving into my cult complaints, but looks like there's really nothing to be said about this book.
The cult leader is some dude named Elijah, and he is crazy. Just crazy. And I mean just. There's no character work on him. He's flat and predictable, with no obvious motivation and no reason for him to be like this. Cult leaders should be fun and full of character- they are crazy, usually, but not in the boring killer way.

The cult itself is boring as hell. It's just a standard Christian offset, nothing special or interesting. I guess this is a passive thing, but it's still quite boring. They have an... okay backstory, maybe. But it's really not that well written. We don't even see any cult members the entire book. Even in the ONE scene where they appear, they are just a crowd in a church. No personality leads to a very fake and unresearched feeling. Elijah has no feeling of charisma or power to him and his leadership.

There's some emphasis midway about Dee having to adjust to cult life, and it's just a looming threat. Am I the only one who thinks that would have been a lot more interesting to read about? The plot is mostly just worries and threats otherwise, little powerful drama.
There's a lot of action in this book. And zero down time. The action isn't bad, but boring.

I GUESS Dee, Luke, and Mike are fine characters, with traits, but we lose most of that once the cult stuff starts happening.


The end: uncomfortable. Realistic? Maybe. But not at all satisfying.
More on the end: It should have ended in the hospital. Maybe an ambiguous ending could have MAYBE worked, playing the idea of it being not real (dumb, but this book is dumb). Bringing in the brothers was unneeded.

End point: Waste of time. Bad cult book.

This is actually a DNF right now. I don't know why, but when I put this down I wasn't itching to put it back up. For goodness sake, I started it in November and it's now February. I'm hate not finishing books, but it was a library book and I think it was about time I gave it back. I may pick it up again. The concept was good and interesting, but for some reason it wasn't hooking me.

Horror is a tough genre for me. Sometimes I feel completely freaked out by a book while other times I’m unfazed. Creed had me scared in the beginning, but once the baddie came into the picture, I didn’t feel as creeped out as much.

Creed grabbed me from the beginning. I liked the classic horror movie set-up of three teens stranded in the middle of nowhere. As Dee and her friends travel into town, I got chills as they explored the abandoned buildings. As they learn more about the inhabitants of the town, things go from bad to worse for the trio.

I didn’t read the summary before starting the book and I liked not knowing what direction the book was going in. However, once I realized the bad guy of the book was the leader of a religious cult, I didn’t totally love the story. The gore level made me queasy and some of the things the leader was getting away with made the plot questionable. But the novel is YA horror, so I just went with it.

The ending was shocking and my heart broke at some of the things that transpired during the climax. I think the author did a good job of adding a few fresh twists on typical horror fare. Overall, I’d recommend the novel to readers who enjoy books like Ten by Gretch McNeil.

Rating: 4/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of the novel for review!

When Mike, Dee, and Luke run out of gas on the way to a concert, they don't immediately lost hope. When the gas station in Purity Springs is closed, hope dims a bit. When they take shelter from a snowstorm by staying overnight in an abandoned house, their hope of getting to the concert dims, but they can still make it home. Accepting help from the strange boy Joseph might be their only way out of town. Accepting help from Joseph may trap them in Purity Springs forever.

This didn't really hold my interest, but would be a great choice for early high schoolers looking for some gore and thrills.

(thanks, Netgalley.)