A Very Scary Christmas

Scareville

By: John Ward

Narrated by: Michelle Stull

Length: 3 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Christmas is the most magical time of the year. Between the decorations, the movies, and the fun family traditions, you can truly feel the Christmas spirit. While visiting a local Christmas store, things seem to take a terrifying turn when Kelsey notices the store owner, Madame Trudeau, performing a strange ritual over the trio of elf dolls her younger brother Colby picked out.

Strange and chilling occurrences lead Kelsey to believe the dolls can come to life. What’s scarier than a creepy doll? How about three vengeful elf dolls?

©2023 John Ward (P)2024 John Ward

Loved It!

I absolutely loved this scary Christmas story! This story is the exact reason I have never owned an Elf on the Shelf. Looking forward to listening to more of this series.

Spooky Holiday Read

A Very Scary Christmas brings the magic of the holiday season to life with a chilling twist. I enjoyed the audiobook narration, and the cover art adds to the festive atmosphere. It was a nice change of pace to immerse myself in a Christmas story, even in May. This spooky adventure offers an exciting read perfect for young readers. I'm excited to dive into more Scareville books in the future!

Watch out for these elves on the shelves

Kelsey and her family are absolutely obsessed with Christmas, and they love their yearly traditions. Decorating, songs, cookies, the absolute works. And every year they get to pick out a new decoration to put up around the house.

They go to the market and her annoying younger brother Colby picks out a trio of elves to sit on their mantle. Kelsey doesn't know what's creepier - the way they look, or the way the shop owner was acting towards them when they purchased them.

Either way, they get home and Kelsey tries to enjoy the prep for Christmas. Her dad is home from his trucking job, her best friend is sleeping over, everything should be great. But something about the elves seem... off. Is Colby trying to play tricks on her, or is she actually hearing them talk and seeing them move? The more Kelsey tries to investigate, the more dangerous the situation becomes.

The narrator did a great job with the story and with the voices of the different characters! I believe she also narrated book 2, so I'm not surprised I enjoyed it again this time.

This book absolutely did NOT convince me to start a yearly elf on the shelf tradition, and has only furthered my hatred for that certain tradition. Haha. It's another successful installment in the Scareville series, great for adults looking for a fun read that reminds them of their childhood and for young kids to get a decent creepy middle grade horror book. My kids and I have enjoyed the series a ton so far, and I don't imagine that changing anytime soon!

Goosebumps vibes

Definitely goosebumps vibes. The younger kids will fall in love with the Scareville books. The story and performance was great. I think the only reason it didn’t get a 5 from me is it wasn’t scary to me because I’m older. But kids are definitely going to love his work. Keep writing! Move over R. L. STINE, John Ward has entered the ring.

Creepy little elves

Tis the season. I love this series. It's so nostalgic. this was really well told. I hope this series never ends.