Vivian Vance has the top grades in school. But apparently that isn’t enough to get you noticed by the top scholarships in town. But she really isn’t interested in clubs, community service, or friends. She wants to be a detective like her dad was. Then she finds out the disregarded tales of Flesh-takers are more than a scary bedtime story. While tracking a stolen baseball, she encounters the creature but is rescued by a group of kids. The further she delves into the case, the further she realizes how deep the Flesh-Takers go. Will she solve the mystery before it’s too late?

The plot is well-written, engaging, and reminiscent of the horror genre. Vivian is a Nancy Drew meets Veronica Mars type character that is well developed, authentic, and nuanced. The illustrations are fantastically crafted and draw the reader into Vivian’s world. Readers who like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, female sleuths, mysteries, and horror will want to pick this one up. Recommended for most library collection. Gr 7 and up.

It's giving Nancy Drew from the CW vibes and I want a hundred more volumes. Mix in some Goosebumps, Are You Afraid of the Dark, and Marvel's The Runaways for good measure. The Terrrifying Tales of Vivian Vance is kind of spooky, a tiny bit gory, and a whole lot of fun. I can easily see it being adapted into a TV show.

Not a bad monster story for junior high age kids. The backstory could be fleshed out more and there were numerous spelling mistakes which drove me nuts. But not bad. It's about a Veronica Mars type, who finds out these flesh-takers have infiltrated the community. There's some light body horror but nothing too gross.

A fun, adventurous read that gives vibes of stuff like Veronica Mars or Nancy Drew just with a fantasy/sci-fi twist. The characters were definitely a delight though it was hard to like Vivian at first given her first interaction with the other characters. Not that it was hard to sympathize with the why of what she was doing, just it wasn't exactly a nice thing and it's obvious that this is intentional. The character does grow though as the story progresses. The overall arc was a lot of fun though I do wish one thing about the ending had been different. Yet I suspect I know why it wasn't though I'd have to read more - if there is more - to find out. The art style was done well especially for the old-timey style of the story. Loved how colorful it was as well. I don't know if this story was necessarily my absolute favorite though it did give me some appropriate spoopy vibes for the season. If there's more published though, I'd definitely still pick it up and see how it goes as I did enjoy my time reading this graphic novel.

thank you to netgalley for the arc!!

cool ya horror graphic novel with panels that can be legitimately scary when you read them in a pitch dark glorified treehouse in the middle of the rainforest, as i did! and vivian is #relatable

Thank you, NetGalley and Penguin Group, for the e-arc!
As a fan of both Gravity Falls and Five Nights at Freddy's, I can confirm that this is such a good way to describe this graphic novel. If you like things that are dark, funny, with a really interesting premise and a bit of a thrill, you will probably devour this story. Full of monsters and packed full of thrills this was a really enjoyable graphic novel with a bit of a historical Gothic twist which I really like. The art is absolutely stunning as well which is such a high requirement for a graphic novel. Overall this was a really solid read especially for fall

A fun Lovecraftian monster story about a teenage girl uncovering a mystery about her hometown, and saving her friends from its horrors.
I really enjoyed the art style and the general vibes of the monsters and town. The characters felt a bit underdeveloped, even for a graphic novel, but overall I had a fun time reading this.
Thank you Penguin Teen for the ARC!

This was a fun read beginning to end. If you ever have heard of or watched Fright Krewe on Hulu this is similar, but definitely shorter and more focused on a singular story line. This is a story about kids stumbling upon a dangerous secret they were never supposed to know about in the first place.

When you are young, you tend to see the world through a different lens and you often find yourself getting into scenarios you really shouldn’t be getting into. In this graphic novel Vivian discovers a terrifying secret about her town and together with the kids from the Pillars she finds herself facing horrors head on.

This is a fun, horror adventure, perfect to read during the Halloween season. I would have very much enjoyed this as a kid. I think it’s a fun introduction into horror for middle schoolers. I was very entertained.

Veronica Mars meets Stranger Things meets Lovecraft in this graphic novel about supernatural forces causing missing persons cases to escalate in a small town. The art style was fun, but it was the story that kept me engaged. I really liked how the story started with different people all telling kids the same tale and then that tale coming to life when the kids got older. I hope there will be more in the series!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley.)

High school sophomore Vivian Vance is what you might call an overachiever - and it's no wonder why, when her beloved father's motto is 'why do something if you can't be the best at it?' Rather than spending her afternoons hanging out with friends at the mall (or whatever the youngsters do nowadays), Vivian earns extra money - and hones her detective skills - performing odd jobs for her classmates. It's while trying to retrieve a "stolen" baseball from a kid in the Pillars that Vivian stumbles upon her greatest case yet: there's a "flesh-taker" in Pensmouth, and it's eating people. Turns out that the monsters that populated Pensmouth's bedtime stories are more than just a tactic to scare the kids into line.

Despite the risks, Vivian decides to take the case - after all, what better way to earn a spot in the coveted Greater Achievers Program than by capturing a monster and exposing a conspiracy among the upper echelon of Pensmouth?

Pitched as Veronica Mars meets Lovecraft, I really wanted to love THE TERRIFYING TALES OF VIVIAN VANCE more than I did. As it was, I was puzzled by many glowing reviews. The story is okay, if a little forgettable. I liked the monsters - especially the skin-takers and the source - but felt like the characters and plot could have used a little more development. The action just never felt very high stakes, perhaps because I wasn't terribly invested in any of the characters.

Fantastic Eldritch story! Really enjoyed the stakes in this being high and the payoff in the ending being so rewarding! I think this would make a fantastic movie. And the scary parts in this were really well done! Thanks to NetGalley for the arc.

In this graphic novel we follow Vivian Vance, who has no friends in school and keep doing "dirty work" and gets labelled a snitch by her classmates. Vivian has the best grades in school and she want to get into this program that will help her on her way to become a detective. But even though she has the grades to prove she has the wits for the program, she also needs to show that she can work with other people.

This leads to Vivian eventually teaming up with three young boys living on "the wrong sides of the tracks". Together they witness a terrible monster, that they believed to only be something made up from a children's story, murder a guy on the street. They then end up working together to get to the bottom of finding out who and what this monster, called flesh-takers, came to be and how they can stop the monster from killing more people.

I enjoyed this graphic novel, it is very fast paced and action packed. We also get to see how Vivian grows as a person and learn to befriend others her age and that she doesn't have to do everything on her own. If you enjoy Scooby-Doo esce stories, then you will enjoy this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review,

This is a fun mystery graphic novel, in a slightly historical gothic horror setting. In the town of Pensmouth, children are scared to sleep with a bedtime story about creatures called “flesh-takers”. But when clever and ambitious amateur teen detective Vivian Vance travels down to a neighborhood known as the “Pillars”, she finds out these monsters aren’t just bedtime stories. Teaming up with a group of teens who live there, she tries to expose these monsters to the people of Pensmouth, but as more is exposed, Vivian realises that the things she wanted might not all be as they seem. I would say it’s pretty fast-paced overall, and the art style is really fitting for the overall story being told. It’s not necessarily what I typically pick up, but I still had a fun time reading it and think it’s definitely worth checking out if you want a slightly campy mystery!

A big thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for an ARC. Vivian Vance is a loner; she dreams of having her own detective agency. She lives with her dad who was wounded terribly in the line of duty, and he sees it as his own personal failure, but Vivian sees him as a hero and an inspiration; in order to help with the bills in the house she takes on tasks from fellow classmates who need information, or something retrieved.

She takes on a request to get back a stolen baseball but has to go into the Pillars area of the city which is the slums while she lives in a higher regarded part of the city and goes to a good school. The night she goes down to find the baseball from the person who was told stole it she meets three young boys all of different ages and backgrounds but one thing they have in common is they all only have each other. When Vivian gets the ball and takes off, she comes across a creature in an alley that attacks a homeless person. The three boys rescue her and from there she decides to figure out what is behind this in hopes to propel her detective career.

I don't want to give too much away with the legend and background, but I really enjoyed the story, the characters were absolutely loveable and funny and who doesn't love a story that you can really root for the characters! I really hope we get more terrifying tales with Vivian and the boys.

Netgalley Review

Star Rating: ★★★☆☆

Interesting read. A solid 3 star read!

Like always though, read it and decide for yourself

CAWPILE Rating:
Characters: 7
Atmosphere: 8
Writing: 7
Plot: 5.5
Intrigue: 8
Logic: 6
Enjoyment: 8

This story moved extremely fast, and that is my only major complaint. The Terrifying Tales of Vivian Vance follows young Vivian, a sophomore on the hunt for something extracurricular to do in order to aid in her application process for a program at her school that can help her receive financial aid. In her journey, she discovers that the flesh-takers lore in her hometown is true—witnessing one kidnap a man while in "the pillars" (a rundown neighborhood in her city for the down and out, orphans, and the neglected). Vivian and a ragtag bunch aim to unearth the truth behind the lore and save the town.

I liked the premise of the story and can easily see this as a limited series with Stranger Things vibes. That said, I would classify this more as a middle grade story. All in all, it was a nice, quick read, but I wish there had been more to it.

while i think the pacing was a bit off, I did really enjoy the story overall. i think this would make a great series and i can see how they left the crumbs for more books and i would be sat!

Please keep in mind that l'm always brutally honest when it comes to reviewing books. Even though I did receive an arc copy, I still believe in telling it like it is. No matter what.

I really enjoyed this book, from the plot to the illustrations. The drawings were super intriguing and kept me engaged the whole time. I especially loved the friend group Vivian formed with the group of kids at the Pillars—it was a fun adventure to experience with them. I hope there’s another part or that this becomes a series because it ended in a way that left me wanting more.

It feels more geared towards children than YA, but I still had a great time reading it.

This was a fun graphic novel with an interesting opening. I love the illustrations and colors used within the graphic novel!

An enjoyable read, very much Stranger Things meets Goosebumps. The art work was my favorite part, the pace of the story felt off. I love a good spooky book!