Member Reviews

Good book.

Amazing pacing, had me at the edge of my seat the entire way! Although it took me a while to finish it, it was overall enjoyable, definitely a "ready by the beach" type of book.

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This was a pretty good read. My first by this author. Heather and Becca were best friends and part of The Dead Girls club when they were young girls. Along with a couple of other girls, they told scary stories and fixated on famous killers like Ted Bundy. All pretty innocent fun until Becca tells the story of The Red Lady. Desperately wanting to get out from under her alcoholic mother, Becca tries to convince Heather that the Red Lady can and will help her. The story goes back and forth between then and now. I love stories that surprise me at the end and this one definitely did.

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The Dead Girls Club was a solid mystery tinged with horror and crossed with coming of age. Well written, and emotionally evocative, with an ending I never could have predicted.

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I received an ARC Kindle version from NetGalley. I was caught up in the story immediately and kept wanting to know more about The Red Lady, Becca, and Heather. It worked to go between Then and Now. Heather’s search for her friends almost seemed to easy to find and reconnect. Her husband became a minor character with deception on both sides. Lots of time spent leaving work and sneaking around. Heathers choice as a child psychologist works to give her strategies for coping with trauma. I had to reread the last few chapters to understand what happened. So many loose ends come together. Surprise ending. I would recommend Dead Girls Club to my book club. It would be fun to discuss the role of each character to the story!

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So I read the whole thing because I really wanted to know what happened. The beginning has a lot of over description, and the actual end of the book is a real let down. I was clearly interested enough by the plot to keep reading, but the ending was just meh.

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Dead girl club is very slow moving and did not hold my attention at all. I read three other books while trying to finish. I kept going back thinking it would grab me this time. I must say I did not finish

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While I enjoyed this book, It didn’t hold my attention as much as I was hoping it would. I really enjoyed how it went between then and now moving forward in both aspects. The ending did bring me a little shock. I just hate how her life was essentially ruined at the end. I also was a little shocked about her mom’s part of the story.

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LOVE!

This is a thriller novel that I can definitely get behind. I love the back and forth between timelines. It's usually difficult to pull that off, but this book was able to do it flawlessly. The characters and the mystery surrounding them were great, and we definitely got to be immersed in the situation.

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#TheDeadGirlsClub #NetGalley
An interesting read about a group of women who discuss serial killers, urban legend, etc. What if they were real though? It is a creepy, mystery filled novel that has the read wondering what did I just read.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This had many elements to pull me in: a thriller, a supernatural twist, an urban legend. And all in all, much of this did work for me. However, I often found myself getting bogged down in the telling. The first person narration is a bit repetitive (in phrasing and plotting) and while I know I was reading an uncorrected proof, the pattern grammatical errors disrupted my reading as well. I felt like there was overall cohesion lacking for me in the execution of the novel. I didn't connect with the narrator for most of the novel and always felt like I was on the outside of this telling.

Having said that, it is a fast-paced story that will make make you think about how your past defines your future, how children find themselves in impossible situations, and how mental illness is treated--or ignored--in our society. I'll definitely give Walters another try and suggest trying this one if any of the above topics interests you.

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Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book. This was a really fun, creepy story. The girls reminded me of a club we had when we were younger teenagers and the creepy stuff we liked to get into.

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2.5 rounded up 3 mysterious, witch-y, reddish, mouth full of dirt-ish, supernatural, bloody but still not quite satisfying stars!

As soon as I read the blurb, I thought `Oh yes this is it! Rituals for conjuring a witch, little girls’ secret murder club, a story moving back and forth between four girls who are a little obsessed about spooky things from serial killers, murderers , horror stories and Heather’s grown up version who became a psychiatrist helps the troubled children. But at the beginning of the book , we may realize Heather needs more help for her well-being because she has killed her childhood friend Becca, got away with murder. But now her secret is about to reveal because somebody KNOWS what she did!!!

What I liked about this book is the little girls’ relationship dynamic. Rebecca is a quite demanding leader with her amazing imagination about telling horror stories ( If she didn’t die- or did she? We don’t know till the end of the book- she might compete with Stephen King and Joe Hill with her quite riveting storytelling). Her story is so heart wrenching, her obsession about Red Lady, her relationship with her abusive mother, her confusing mind who did not know how to differentiate the real or delusion.

I wish this story wasn’t about only Heather. Because her future-self really irritated me. She is mostly acting like paranoid, hysterical with her weird giggles, making herself bleed, hitting her punches on steering wheel, suspicious moods about her husband and best friend. It’s hard to empathize her ! At some parts, I thought maybe she deserved what was happening to her.

Maybe three little girls might have involved in Becca’s story and later, when somebody found out and threaten them about what they have done could be a better story-line. Because it’s obvious, the author is inspired of Stephen King’s story. And most of his early King stories, children suffer from traumatic experiences with supernatural things and then we see their future selves how could they fight against their childhood nightmares ( Like “It”, “Body”)

I love the pace of the story. I wanted to know who was chasing Heather! Is Becca still alive or is somebody acting like her? Is Red Woman real? So I kept turning pages to fill my void about learning the truth.

Well, did ending and all the revelations satisfy me? Not, too much! There are still so many unanswered questions and I think author decided to leave like this! Let us question what if the urban legends are true, what
if our worst nightmares are real !

Writing is good, pacing and mystery is gripping, I couldn’t put it down! But the characters , their actions, way of talking , their development are the weakest parts they made me the cut the points and also I was expecting different ending maybe more surprise and twist. That’s what I felt!
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for advance access to this book in exchange for my honest review!

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Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGallery for the Kindle Version of the ARC This book is to be published December 10th 2019.

To be honest, I wasn't sure about this book when I started reading. It didn't help that the ARC on the Kindle isn't formatted great. Though, once I was used to that it was a fantastic read.

For those that don't know what this book is about: Heather and her friend were a part of the Dead Girls Club. Obsessed with gore and true crime, there were stories about serial killers and imaginary monsters. This included the Red Lady, a witch killed centuries before. These were just stories to Heather until her best friend, Becca insisted the Red Lady was real. This lead to Becca's death.

So what happened to Becca?

*****
I loved the back and fourth between Heather's tween years in The Dead Girls Club and her current life with a husband and a career. It gave a great contrast between the changes you go through from tween to adulthood.

It had suspense and wonder, making me want to continue reading until I knew what was going on which led me to finishing the book in basically two days.

There are some dark topics, but it is written in a very real way. It feels like this could have been an actual story that has happened.

Thank you again to Crooked Lane Books and Net Gallery but a special thanks to Damien Angelica Walters for written such a great book.


****I will be posting again in December before The Dead Girls Club is officially published!****

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"Red Lady, Red Lady, show us your face..."

In 1991, the Dead Girls Club was formed, four young girls obsessed with everything dark and twisted. Things started to get out of hand when Becca started to tell the girls about the Red Lady, to make matters worse Becca could prove she was real. That is, until she died. Flash forward thirty years to Heather, one of the original members of the club still haunted to this day by the events that happened the night Becca died. Someone out there knows what really happened that night, and will take whatever it takes to expose what really happened to Becca.

This supernatural thriller is so fast paced I couldn't put it down. The book jumps from 'then' to 'now' all told by the perspective of Heather. Not only is she part of the Dead Girls Club, she was the only one there the night her best friend Becca died. Or so we think. Heather starts receiving gifts in the mail, things that no one else should have since they were with Becca the night she died. Heather stops at no cost to find out who is doing this to her, and to end the Red Lady for once and for all.

This book was so scary, I loved the tie-ins to serial killers that were told by the girls. The portrayal of the Red Lady was so well done, I was getting chills just by reading the things that she can do to a person. I also loved watching Heather basically ruin her life just to get to the bottom of things, and the book does give her closure in the end.

The Dead Girls Club kept me guessing, I hadn't seen the twist coming even as it happened. The author really had me believing for the longest time that Becca had come back from the dead just to haunt her best friend.

"Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

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Received via NetGalley for review.

A wonderful examination of guilt, uncertainty, mental illness, and friendship. Heather and Becca are and always will be best friends, but when Becca starts to seem obsessed with the story of the Red Lady and show signs of abuse, Heather doesn't know what to feel or how to act. Eventually, she decides that their friendship is the most important thing, and does what she can to help Becca.

Years later, as an adult, someone begins to send Heather reminders of the incident, sending Heather into a spiral of paranoia and anxiety. Watching her sabotage herself trying to figure out who knows her secret is incredibly well-written, engaging, and hard to read. At times, it was hard to tell if there were was anything supernatural going on, or we were just witnessing Heather's descent into madness (which is a trope I always love).

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Do you like ghost stories around the campfire? If so, this is your book. Mean Girls mixed with slasher movie! I am in love! It felt a little young adult to me, but it was still really fun and suspenseful.

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I'm conflicted.on this one. On one hand, I.really.enjoyed it; on the other, I.wish it has ended.a little differently. Regardless of that, I stayed up beyond my bedtime three nights in a row to get in a little extra reading time, so that alone should speak to how much I enjoyed this book. Aside from the ending, my only complaint is the frequency I which the author used incomplete sentences. I know that is something petty to complain about, but all the fragments eventually began to truly grate on my nerves..... I don't want to give too much away, but I liked how things really came together and how most of my questions were eventually answered. It will be quite easy to recommend this book, and I intend to seek out others by this author in the future. An easy 4.25 stars!

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Becca, Rachel, Heather and Gia are members of their own little club, The Dead Girls Club. This club discusses recent murders of women or girls. They also talk about past murderers, Bundy, Gein etc. They meet in a house that is listed for sale. It's easy to get the keys since Becca's mom has them to show the houses.The girls are all friends, but Becca and Heather are best friends. Best friends since kindergarten. Heather is a very good artist and storyteller. Her and Heather have spent lots of time writing and illustrating booklets together.
Now lately, Becca had been telling stories about the Red Lady. She was supposedly buried alive and came back for the people who killed her. She always left dirt in their mouths.
Of all the girls, Becca's life is the hardest. No one knows but she is physically abused by her mother when she is drunk. Heather has seen the marks, a black eye, swollen cheek, bruises. Becca always says she fell or ran into something. When Becca disappears her mother is in prison for her murder.
Now, years later, Heather is receiving items that belong in their childhood. The most profound item it the half of the "Best Friends Forever" necklace.
Heather still has her half and she knows Becca died wearing her half. So how did she receive Becca's in the mail. Most of all, how does know Becca was wearing the necklace.
Wonderful story, great characters, outstanding storyline. Captivating ending!

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Damien draws the reader into the world of the real and the supernatural with The Dead Girls Club. The timeline travels seamlessly from the present day to the past when Heathers friend Becca died. Along the way we are introduced to the story of the Red Lady whom Becca believes will save her. A terrific thriller with twists till the end. Highly recommend.
Thanks netgalley for the preview in exchange for an honest review.

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I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Holy fantastic book!! I have never read a book that kept me on the edge of my seat every single page!! It's a story about 4 young girls who are in love with scary stories and reading or hearing about serial killers. So they decide to form a club and begin to tell the stories of the Red Lady. As they continue to tell the story, one of the girls Becca, begins to show signs of serious abuse from her mother. As the story plays on it gets deeper and deeper. I highly recommend this book, it will keep you on the edge of your seat from page one too the end!

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