I grew up reading Goosebumps and Fear Street. RL Stine's books are cheesy and don't make that much sense, but holy GOD was this book bad. This is like a terrible bad movie, where you watch it drunk or high and laugh at it.

I don't want to give spoilers, but there is no way a movie that had actual actors' deaths in it would be released. No chance in HELL. The most disturbing thing about this book was Claire and Delia's handling of the deaths in the end. "Yeah, so sad people died. But we're STARS now! So who cares, amirite?" WTF. ( )

Have you ever watched one of those really horrible “B” movies like “The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” while cringing at the terrible acting and “special” effects? Have you ever STARTED watching then turned the channel because you couldn’t take it anymore? Well then you’re all set for R.L. Stine’s latest book.

Read the rest of the review on my blog: http://shouldireaditornot.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/a-midsummer-nights-scream-r-l... ( )

2 stars with an extra .5 for nostalgia sake, rounded up to 3.

The first 3 chapters of this were horrible. The writing was driving me crazy. I stuck with it for a reading challenge and because I knew it would go fast. I loved reading R.L. Stine and the like when I was in jr high. This didn't have quite the same feel for me, but it was still similar. I didn't really like the addition of the magic stuff - I would have prefered it as a pure horror. I think it detracted a lot from the story and I thought it left the ending in a bad place. Who wants to be left thinking you can only get someone to like you if you force them? Maybe it's not meant to be. And who would want to be with someone when they only like you because you made them? It left me very unsatisfied.

Overall teens may like this, but I don't think I will be recommending it much. ( )

Junior high me, the one who loved books by Christopher Pike, would have loved this book. Unfortunately it was published about fifteen years too late to get that kind of reception for me. This book started off promising, getting a storyline going about a supposedly cursed movie set, where a horror movie is being resurrected-to much hesitation considering the previous time anyone attempted to film the script, three actors died for real.

Then unfortunately the book veers towards the ridiculous, with a silly romance plot trying to mimic William Shakespeare's classic A Midsummer Night's Dream. It also does seem ridiculous that filming would continue on this second version of the movie with all the bloody "accidents" that start occurring, especially considering the narrator is starring in it and she is the daughter of the film's producers. ( )

There's only one other book I've been required to read that is as surprisingly bad as this one: William Sleator's The Phantom Limb. If you have an hour or two to kill, play Jewel Mania or Candy Crush Saga or some other mindless game -- you'll get more out of it. ( )