Monty and the Monster – Rhonda Smiley

★★★★ ½

…I’m paralyzed with disgust as I stand before the ugliest house I’ve ever seen.

Monty, his dog (Watson), his older brother (Kyle) and his dad have moved…again.

And Monty is absolutely sick of it.

He has to make new friends, deal with a new school and live in a new house. And of course, Kyle makes new friends immediately and rubs it in Monty’s face.

It sucks. It sucks big time.

But at least, he and Watson got a cool room – they live in the attic of the new house.

It’s a little creepy, but it’s the biggest room in the house and they get it all to themselves…and then Monty discovers it.

Square.
Like a trapdoor.
On my bedroom floor.

He finds a secret passage, that lead to mad scientist’s lab…with instructions on how to create life.

Well…technically…a friend is a friend, even if you make it yourself.

“Watson,” I whisper in near disbelief. “I did it. I made a friend.”
Watson silently farts again.

But…turns out some ideas are better as ideas. Monty has to take care of this thing before everyone finds out.

Helmet, goggles, backpack, pepperspray.
Check.

Oh my gosh.

This one was SO much fun!!

I loved this book – an absolute page turner!

Monty and his family felt so realistic – I really felt like I could have a conversation with them!

I felt so bad for Monty as he struggled to adjust to his new life (again) and deal with everything changing (again) – but he carried that really well.

And the plot! That was so well-done. For such a wild concept, it flowed really smoothly.

The book leaped from one crazy thing to the next and I was absolutely ecstatic about the whole journey.

The whole creating-life-in-the-basement was a smidge too much for me (science-wise) and I would have preferred if the story leaned a little towards magic as the explanation. (though to be fair, I’m getting my PhD in a science-field and this is one of those nit-picky things for me.).

All in all, I highly recommend this one!

With thanks to the author for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

Interested in this one from Rhonda Smiley? Buy it here:  Amazon