I tried my best to read this book but I had a hard time enjoying the voice of the protagonist. The plot for this book seemed like it was one that I would love but for some reason I wasn't able to get it to hold my interest. I put it down and came back to it and also tried the audiobook, but it just wasn't for me. I think that this was just not to my personal taste. Maybe the next one!
Thank you to the following for the early copy.
#MyHeartIsaChainsaw #Netgalley #GalleryBooks #SagaPress

I thought the book was geat first time reading anything from this author and I wasn't disappointed kept my interest all the way through..

My Heart is a Chainsaw
“It’s her moisturizer regimen, isn’t it?”
Thank you Saga Press & NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
This one is for everyone who felt like they didn’t belong in a sea of “normal”. If you find comfort & protection from Horror the way I do, this is everything we’ve been waiting for! It was a love letter to the slasher genre with Native American culture woven into the typical slasher tropes in a fresh way I have never seen before. I do think that if you aren’t a horror aficionado, I don’t know if you could fully grasp how f******* awesome this book is. Jade Daniels is a walking, talking archive of all things slasher-related, or even slasher-adjacent, but has a comedic way of narrating the on goings at Proofrock. I found myself giggling in the midst of carnage. My Heart is a Chainsaw pays recognition to slasher films all while nipping the usual tropes and keep you questioning up until the very end. A remarkable slow burn start, this book is swimming with Easter eggs from your favorites.

I have decided the writing style in this book was not for me. I only got through the first few chapters and put it down. The dialog did not feel like realistic / plausible conversations and the main POV was frustrating.

I wanted to like this book and planned on picking back up at a later time. But it has been a few months and I have no motivation to start this book up again. So I am officially quiting this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallary Books for and advanced review copy of the book for review.

Usually, I’m a huge horror and thriller fan, but this book fell short for me. I appreciated all the horror movie references and the gore, but I had a hard time following the narration and felt like it was hard to follow. I give it 3 stars for the imagery and plot, but the narration and characters fell flat for me. I had a difficult time staying invested and finishing this book.

The heart and soul of this book is a nod to everything and anything that is the heart and soul of the slasher flick/film. My Heart is a Chainsaw tells the story of Jade who lives, breathes, and dreams the slasher film. She is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge when it comes to slashers, but when it all comes down to it the slasher films are her armor to protect her from things that happened to her in sixth grade.

Now I won't get into that but obviously I can tell you that Jade ends up damaged and changed from what happened to her. She thrives on the existence of the slasher film and day dreams that the slasher will come to be in her own neighborhood.

Things start to come to be and seem to fall into place as the pre-cursor to a slasher as things in Jade's life seem more and more like the events leading up to the Slasher.flick.

From the moment she meets the new girl, Jade believes that Letha is the destined final girl and is determined to train and condition Letha to become that final girl. Of course things are not what they expect to be and as things become more and more like a Slasher film brought to life, Jade begins to realize that not all is what it seems.

The final girl may not be the anticipated final girl when it comes to real life and things in real life are not truly the expected Slasher plot.

In my honest opinion and review I enjoyed My Heart is a Chainsaw was a captivating book with a boatload of informative slasher trivia I never would have known about if not for this book. The slasher 'reveal' came a bit sudden and was not that fitting into the plot but besides that slight blip the story flowed. I can forewarn the reader that the chapters are quite long but they are no means drawn out.

The book works for what it is. If you are a fan of slasher flicks you will appreciate this book and all it has to offer. Until next time, happy reading!

Stephen Graham Jones has crafted a phenomenal love letter to the classic slasher movie. Jade Daniels is a high school senior in Proofrock, Idaho. She struggles daily with PTSD from an abusive father, and tends to find solace in movies like Friday the 13th, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. She spends so much time watching and studying slasher movies, that she starts to see the genre's tropes showing up in her home town. Soon, she dedicates herself to assisting the new girl, Letha, whom she believes to be the "final girl" of the slasher event that will descending on Proofrock.

"My Heart is a Chainsaw" is gorgeous, evocative, and haunting. I'm very grateful to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this one early.

Jade is a slasher fan. Fan is a bit of a misnomer. She’s obsessed. After the rich folk move to town and start building a community on the other side of the lake, a few disconnected deaths pop up. Jade’s convinced they aren’t random. A slasher cycle is starting, and nobody is better equipped to deal than Jade. When the new girl befriends Jade, she becomes convinced Letha is the perfect final girl, and Jade is going to prepare her to save the town.

I am slowly becoming a Stephen Graham Jones completionist. So far, I haven’t read much, but I love how different the stories are and how they pull from different subgenres of horror and lore. The lore of this one is slasher films. I love Jade in all of her imperfections and obsession as “The Horror Girl.” I know a thing or two about escapism, and hoping your life can become a slasher film is as good as any other escapism, even if it’s a little darker and murderous.

In just over two days, I had devoured 70% of the e-book when my audio hold came up at my local library. Not wanting to wait to finish it, I listened to the last 30% while working, and it made for a much more interesting work day. The narration was excellent. Other points of interest include, Solid indigenous and POC rep, not something often seen in horror, at least not in the main characters. Solid pacing. The chapters are broken up with Jade’s exposition of the slasher genre. Great characterization. Some trauma thrown in there, because horror is how we as a society explore our fears and deal with our trauma anyway.

It’s out now, so if you’re planning your Halloween reading, make sure to add it to your list.

Jade Daniels is an outcast with an abusive father and no mother. She doesn't fit into her small town and she escapes her life by watching horror and slasher movies. Jade has many layers and it's hard to get to know her. But, you grow to love her character because of her flaws.

Jade believes that her town is experiencing real life horror just like the movies she watches. When Jade meets Letha she feels she would be the final girl. You will love the ending!

This was a fantastic horror novel that started off a little slow but propelled forward into a spine-tingling page-turner that I couldn't put down. Stephen Graham Jones is a master storyteller who is capable of weaving a small-town tale that burrows deep into our greatest fears and has us seeing the horror is the everyday things around us. My Heart is. Chainsaw centers on Jade, an outsider a small-town being over-run with new money building and investing into the community. But something sinister is lurking.

I would definitely recommend this book for horror fans. I can’t say I naturally gravitate to the genre myself, but I found this a great read and I’m thinking about picking up more of Stephen Graham Jones books in the future.

My Heart Is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones is a horror novel about Jade, a teenager who knows all about horror films and believes that their town is about to be a part of a real, live horror film. This book starts out pretty slowly, but by the end, a lot of blood has been shed. I enjoyed Jade as a character. She is smart, funny, quirky, and extremely loyal to those she cares for. This book references so many different horror films; so if you're a fan of the genre, you'll love it. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I tried to get into this book but I just could not. The story was choppy and unclear, from the plot summary it sounded like it had so much potential. It was wordy and slightly pretentious in writing but I guess I should have known that from reading only the good Indians. Definitely a story that wasn’t for me despite the awesome sounding synopsis.

My Heart is a Chainsaw is a homage to slasher films and their fans. The heroine, Jade Daniels, is a young adult gothish fan of slasher and horror films. These films are her escape from her traumatic past. She is half Native American--Blackfeet and caucasian.

Letha Mondragon, the daughter of a wealthy real estate developer, starts attending Jade's high school. After a couple of possible murders turn up, Jade believes a slasher is in town and that Letha will be the “final girl.”A final girl is the last girl standing after a serial killer has killed everyone else. The final girl will either defeat the killer or survive until the next movie when the killer returns.

My Heart is a Chainsaw is Friday the 13th meets Scream mashing up with Mean Girls and Sixteen Candles. Stephan Graham Jones wrote an interesting character. Jade feels she is more antihero than final girl material. But it is Jade who draws me in, making me see beneath the goth makeup and colored hair to the true final girl. Then toss in a good story and the author completly hooked me into wanting to read the book to the end.

If you’re looking for an intense read that will keep you guessing, then My Heart Is a Chainsaw is the book for you. It’s about a girl named Jade, who’s obsessed with horror movies, and what she does when she realizes she’s in the middle of a real-life slasher.

I’ll admit that Jade is not an easy character to understand or even trust. From the beginning, it’s hard to tell if she’s a reliable narrator, but that adds to the suspense of the book. She sees what everyone else refuses to look at, but can we trust her to give us an unbiased opinion about what’s happening? It’s up to you to decide.

What this book does well is paint a picture of Jade and the town she lives in. As the reader, we’re privy to her stream of consciousness, and Stephen Graham Jones uses the most unique words to create an atmosphere that feels wholly real and yet otherworldly. Jade is both a third-party observer and an active participant in the mayhem, and as such, we become privy to a bevvy of information about the horror genre. As she cycles through her knowledge and comes to conclusions about who is terrorizing her town and why, we are dragged along for the ride. My Heart Is a Chainsaw feels like a love letter to slashers and the types of people who live and breathe them.

I absolutely hate to do this as so many people have loved it, but I'm giving up after just a few chapters.
I thought that the first chapter was just a bit rough because it was reflecting the broken english spoken by the characters.
But, nope, the long winded, disjointed sentences continue into the remainder.
I didn't get far, but there is a content warning for suicide.
I was looking forward to geeking out and enjoying the movie references, but just can't get there.
And, yes, I am absolutely the audience for this as I am a gore whore, but this writing style just isn't a good fit for me.
*Digital review copy provided by NetGalley and the publisher.

I enjoyed reading My Heart Is a Chainsaw. The story and characters are interesting. I like all the horror movie references. If you are a fan of horror and horror movies you will like this book.

Jade, our main character, the final girl , is the bitter, bloody beating heart of the center of this slasher story, and she's absolutely one of my favorite characters to date. It's understandable that some readers initially shy away from her - and Jade is used to it, it seems, as the outcast of her small town - but just beneath the surface is an endearing, passionate, child full of so much heart and strength that it's impossible to do anything other than love and admire her. Graham-Jones writing generally takes a beat for me to adjust to, and when things got really hairy towards the end I had to reread a few lines to really grasp what was happening or being said, but that aside, I always truly enjoy the experience of it. It's like you can feel Graham-Jones passion through his writing. Like he can't get the words and the story out to us fast enough. In short, I guess what I'm saying is: come for the slasher story, stay for the heart. Jade is worth every letter.

Stephen Graham Jones is an exceptional writer and “My Heart Is A Chainsaw” is, for me anyway, his best novel yet. I love that this book takes the slasher film genre and holds a mirror to itself. The book is self-aware and insightful about a genre that I don’t gravitate to very often. In a lot of ways the book is like the “Scream” film franchise…it makes fun of itself while honoring the genre. My favorite part of the book is the chapter explaining how “Jaws”, one of my favorite films of all time, is actually a slasher film. The book could have easily gone off the rails but the “big reveal” is so heartbreaking that it gives the reader a sense of authenticity. I liked how a “flawed” protagonist guides us through this bloody and poignant book. Horror fans and literary fiction fans will both enjoy “My Heart Is A Chainsaw”.

This a brilliant homage to 80's slasher movies. It's more than an amazing story. It's an immersible experience. Man, I savored this book.

Seventeen-year-old Jade Daniels is an AVID slasher film fan. Possibly to the point of delusion.
Living in the small town of Proofrock, Idaho she's kind of an outcast. She has a troubled past.
She is also one of the most unique and likeable characters I have ever read.

The town has a troubled past of it's own.

Jade actually dreams of a slasher coming to Proofrock, next to Indian Lake.

In wake of some terrible events, she comes to believe this is really happening!

Then she meets Letha, a new student in new student in her senior class.
Jade thinks Letha would be the perfect "final girl".

This sets into motion one of the most captivating tales I've ever read.
The prose is stunning, you can feel the love of the genre coming off the pages.
It's scary and beautiful at the same time. It's like no other book I've ever experienced. It's a living, breathing thing.
I challenge anyone to put it down during the last quarter.

The ending is so moving that I read it a few times.
I will never forget this novel.

Thank you Netgalley.
This a brilliant homage to 80's slasher movies. It's more than an amazing story. It's an immersible experience. Man, I savored this book.

Seventeen-year-old Jade Daniels is an AVID slasher film fan. Possibly to the point of delusion.
Living in the small town of Proofrock, Idaho she's kind of an outcast. She has a troubled past.
She is also one of the most unique and likeable characters I have ever read.

The town has a troubled past of it's own.

Jade actually dreams of a slasher coming to Proofrock, next to Indian Lake.

In wake of some terrible events, she comes to believe this is really happening!

Then she meets Letha, a new student in new student in her senior class.
Jade thinks Letha would be the perfect "final girl".

This sets into motion one of the most captivating tales I've ever read.
The prose is stunning, you can feel the love of the genre coming off the pages.
It's scary and beautiful at the same time. It's like no other book I've ever experienced. It's a living, breathing thing.
I challenge anyone to put it down during the last quarter.

The ending is so moving that I read it a few times.
I will never forget this novel.

Thank you Netgalley.

"And, if Jade’s right about there being a final girl in town at long last— if that’s in fact what Letha Mondragon, sitting two rows up and one over, is— then what that means is that a slasher cycle is trying to get started, meaning life’s about to get real cheap around these parts. A lot of people’s insides are about to start being on the outside. Jade can hardly help smiling. Best graduation present ever."

I never watched slashers or horror movies as a kid because they scared me! However, this book gave me a different perspective. I almost wish I'd watched Friday the 13th... almost.

I thought I didn't like horror novels either until I read The Only Good Indians. Maybe I only like horror by Stephen Graham Jones? Either way, I could not put this book down and I stayed up until 2am one night to finish it. It's extremely gory and pretty much everyone dies grisly and descriptive deaths, but that didn't really phase me somehow.

I loved Jade - she was vulnerable and tough and her own person through and through. And very funny too, in a witty slasher way. 

Check the trigger warnings on storygraph because there are many, but if you like TOGI I totally recommend this.