She's showing you her scars, isn't she: YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE TONIGHT.

You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Charity Curtis has a summer job working as the "final girl" at Camp Mirror Lake, where guests pay to experience a full immersion horror terror game based on a movie filmed at the same location. As the camp nears closing for the season, some of Charity's coworkers stop showing up for work. Annoyed by her unreliable employees, Charity and her remaining crew press on, bringing in some friends as reinforcements. But soon, someone turns up dead--and Charity realizes they are playing the game for real.

I really love a lot of Bayron's books, but this one really wasn't for me. A lot of that is on me: I'm just not a huge horror person. This book is filled with characters who love horror tropes and the rules of horror, but they freaking ignore them all and make terrible decisions. I wanted to scream at them constantly! The camp setting, by an eerie lake, is certainly effective, and there are some truly terrifying, creepy moments.

The book takes a turn though about halfway through and turns into a strange weird horror fantasy mashup. There's a ton of blood and gore, but also a very weird plot twist that just made everything odd.

The book has excellent queer rep and strong black characters, so I loved that part. I just didn't care for the strange plot change-up and how slow it felt at times. But if you like horror and fantasy (especially together), you'll enjoy this one. 3 stars.

I received a copy of this book from Bloomsbury YA and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.


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Too tired to do just what I should: THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET.

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ted is a depressed drunk who lives with his daughter, Lauren, and cat, Olivia. Years ago, a young girl disappeared at a nearby lake and Ted was blamed, but later exonerated by his alibi. Now Dee, the girl's sister is back in town, looking for justice for her little sister. But Ted and his family may still be hiding secrets--and Dee's return threatens to uncover them all.

"Today is the anniversary of Little Girl With Popsicle. It happened by the lake, eleven years ago--she was there, and then she wasn't. So it's already a bad day when I discover that there is a Murderer among us."

This is an incredibly wild read that is both mesmerizing and befuddling, as you never know exactly what is going on. You get Ted's point of view, as well as Dee's and even Olivia the cat's. I spent most of the book coming up with theories and feeling frustrated at times, because I was not sure what was happening! If you are someone who always wants to know what is happening, you may not enjoy this book.

It's definitely best to go in blind, as all the other reviews state, because the twists and turns will take you by surprise. And there are twists galore! When this ended, I realized I probably needed to read the book again, just to completely take in everything that happened. Did I fully enjoy HOUSE? Probably not. But I still feel it was worth the read. It was intricate and fascinating and at the end, when you take in the full depth of what you've read--well, it's pretty awe inspiring. Definitely read the author's note at the end, too. 4+ stars.

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Just stay alive, that would be enough: THE SURVIVOR SONG.

Survivor Song by Paul Tremblay

My rating: 4+ of 5 stars

A timely & terrifying read

A viral strain of rabies is spreading across Massachusetts. It moves quickly among animals and people, with those being bitten rapidly (think hours) losing their minds and then biting others to spread the disease. Hospitals are overwhelmed. People are under quarantine, with packets of vaccine being dropped from the sky to try to control the animal population. Chaos reigns. Dr. Ramola "Rams" Sherman is a pediatrician, about to be called in to help at an overflowing hospital. Before she can, she receives a terrified phone call from her best friend from college, Natalie. Eight months pregnant, Natalie watched an infected man brutally kill her husband--and received a bite while trying to save him. She must get to a hospital--and fast--to try to save herself and her unborn child. She and Rams begin a horrifying odyssey to get Natalie help, traversing a world filled with untold dangers.


"The presentation of symptoms with this new virus is astronomically fast compared to a normal rabies virus."


Okay, first of all, I rarely read horror books like this, but this novel was offered by my Scene of the Crime group, and I had heard such great things about Paul Tremblay. Second, I am trying to avoid pandemic-type reads and, yet, I found myself reading an incredibly pandemic, virus themed book!

However, I have to say, this was a good book! I can't say I enjoyed it, because it was so incredibly stressful that I think my heart-rate and blood pressure were through the roof while reading this thing. BUT, I could not put it down. Tremblay has created an utterly spellbinding book that also happens to be incredibly timely.

The tension in this book completely crackles. There's a virus spreading across the entire Northeast, but Tremblay focuses his action mainly on just Rams and Natalie. Somehow narrowing the story down on the survival of these two (and Natalie's baby) makes the story all the more terrifying and stressful. Their journey to get to a hospital is fraught with danger and blockages at every turn, and you can totally see this as unfolding a movie, with the "zombies" popping out around every corner. It still makes me shiver even now thinking about it.

While this book is creepy and scary, it makes some amazing (and very timely) points on society and its backward viewpoint toward vaccines, fear culture, xenophobia, and more. I found myself nodding furiously so many times. And, of course, it's filled with words that are so familiar to us now--who knew that CDC, PPE, and quarantine would be such commonplace terms?

Overall, while this is a very tense book and it might resonate a bit *too* much right now, it's very well-written. I flew through it--I'm not usually a horror fan, but it was a good balance of scary and humanizing. 4+ stars.

I received a copy of this book from HarperCollins/William Morrow and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

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I don't even think anyone's from here anymore: THE SUN DOWN MOTEL.

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars


I actually read Simone St. James’ incredibly spooky ghost story—set in a creepy motel—in a rather drab hotel room and boy did it scare me! The tag line: The secrets lurking in a rundown motel ensnare a young woman, just as they did her aunt thirty-five years before...

This was such a great book. It features a hard to put down mystery with excellent characters and some downright terrifying scenes! The book is packed with twists and turns, and it's absolutely captivating.

The parallelism between Viv’s story—set in the 1980s—and her niece, Carly’s, in present-day, is excellent. I was so attached to these tough women and their stories. The 1980s piece really grabbed me; St. James really captures the era so well.

Highly recommend this mystery, which released 2/18/2020!

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