The tag line was spot on, "Mind games. Murder. Mayhem. How far would you go to survive the night?" The novel follows multiple friends over the course of multiple nights as they try to stay alive and keep their secrets. The creepiness factor was definitely there. I mean I couldn't even read in bed at night cause I would freak myself out. With that being said the story line did get a little cockamamie towards the end - when Whispers, the evil bad guy in the mirrors, was able to manipulate inanimate objects to hurt them. I wouldn't use this novel as a piece in my curriculum, but I wiuld recommend it to my students. I definitely think it would hold their attention.

If you liked Stephen King’s It, and wonder what would happen if Pennywise got a bunch of teenagers on a deserted island, then this is the book for you. I don’t think it’s quite at the level of King’s book, but it does make for an interesting read. The character development got interesting at certain points but a horror novel doesn’t really lend itself to deep character development, I guess? The setting was phenomenal and the descriptions brought the creepy, abandoned amusement park on an old pier to life. I hadn’t realised, when I picked up the book, that there was a paranormal element to the book, and the ensuing confusion was kind of fun, quite honestly. I wasn’t horrified as much as puzzled and on the edge of my seat, always wondering what was going on, who was going to die next and how. I couldn’t put it down as it was an easy read—and as mentioned above, I am trying to make my Goodreads goal for this year!

WOW! This book was amazing!
There’s countless YA murder mysteries/Young detectives books on the shelves but I was pleasantly surprised to find this one felt fresh. I loved the premise of each person being lured to the island by the chain of secrets and enjoyed discovering their truths along the way. From the first few pages I instantly felt comfortable with the authors style of writing and found myself flying through chapters, being carried away with the frenzy of Whispers and lies. I loved the supernatural inclusion and felt it gave the classic mystery story a dark undertone. In fact some of the Language and scenes were almost adult in their tone and I felt the story felt richer for it. I loved the horror moments and the description of Whispers was disgusting and unsettling. He gave off strong Pennywise vibes especially with his lore and the description of his toothy maw!
I started off hating every character. I thought they were selfish, cruel and I couldn’t ever imagine how any of them had managed to stay friends before the island. This however, I feel was very much the authors intention. We are meant to think the worst of them and speculate what unforgivable crime they must of committed to warrant being entrapped on the island. By the end however I had warmed to many of them and was sad to see so many be killed.
My one and only criticism was the ending. I felt the later quarter of the book felt rushed. Whilst it helped to ramp up the tension, I desperately wanted to explore the 3 survivor dynamic for longer. It could of opened up the possibility for so many character moments and I wanted their secrets discussed in more depths. I wanted more reaction and discussion of how the secret revelations made them feel about each other. I was also disappointed in the open book ending. I am uncertain if this was done to tease a possible sequel but if not I would of liked abit more of a hint of Whispers fate. Did he get off the island, or did they “win” and he is now trapped again for another thousand years? Hopefully if there is a sequel we will find out!
In the mean time I throughly enjoyed this book and have high hopes for this author and what ever she writes next

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This was a book that's premise sounded interesting but in the end just wasn't for me. Ten teens lured to an abandoned carnival, each with their own secrets. It had a blackmail vibe to it which was fine but I just couldn't get into the story. I may try it again at another time and give it another chance.

Thank you to Netgalley, Kathryn Foxfield and the publisher for the chance to read and review this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

Good Girls Die First is an edgy and fast paced thriller that will leave you on the edge of your seat. It’s gripping and pulls you into the story from the first sentence. You think you know what’s coming, but you don’t. This was an amazing story, and I read it in a day. I highly recommend it to anyone!

It's very rare that I can't find something good to say about a book. People work hard, sometimes for years at a time, to put books together and publish them and send them out, and I never want to make light of that. And, of course, books are very subjective; I didn't enjoy this, but someone else might. I've deliberately not looked for other people's reviews before writing this one, so I could very well be in the minority.

Because I didn't enjoy this. It's confused, it's confusing, there are too many characters with not enough detail given about them, the narrator has no idea what's going on and thus neither do we - it's just not a fun read. I couldn't keep most of the characters straight, and we knew so little about them that I didn't really care when they started dying. I didn't understand the supernatural villian or what exactly he was doing or what his ultimate goal was.

I'm sure there are readers who loved this. I'm glad for them! I hope it does well. But it isn't remotely for me, I'm afraid.

This book was amazing and everything of the sort. I will definitely be reading more from this author.

Since my students clamor for supernatural mysteries, I may purchase a copy of Good Girls Die First. That said, I was underwhelmed with the start of the book, the characters were really stereotypical and shallow, and I never got invested in the story. Great cover, though!

Creepily captivating, I really wanted all the answers but more importantly...I wanted all the secrets!

This is a supernatural horror that was very YA and entertaining in the plot line but also how the teenagers would respond to what was happening. This felt like a crossover with Supernatural, Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars. I couldn't put it down.

Ten teens get an invite to an abandoned (carnival) island under the pretense that whoever invited them knew their biggest, darkest secrets. Once there, they become stranded and here enter the supernatural events. Each becoming more confusing while also unraveling answers.

It is always entertaining when those telling the story become unreliable and question their own string of events. Memories here come and go and who is know if your thoughts are your own or if they came from Whispers.

If you like YA, horror or any of the shows mentioned above then give this one a shot!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire, Kathryn Foxfield and NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

Do you like scary stories? If so, please pick up Good Girls Die First! I was lucky enough to get a copy from Sourcebools and I could not put this down. While reading, I picked up on so many classic scary story vibes, and if you enjoyed - I Know What You Did Last Summer, Pretty Little Liars, anything by Stephen King, Devil (M. Night Shyamalan), or And Then There Were None - you’ll LOVE this cast of morally grey anti-heroes.

The mysterious island, the magical element, and the creepy villain created such an ominous feeling for the entirety of the story. It was so reminiscent of a teen horror movie, I felt like I was watching something on the big screen - seriously this should be a movie already.

The one thing I will note is you likely won't like any of these characters, so if you're a character-driven reader and need a relatable cast to feel enjoyment, you may be turned off by this ensemble. But, people with secrets will usually do anything to keep them, right? It's part of the premise of the story and didn't detract from the enjoyment of the book for me.

What would you do if you received an invitation featuring something related to a big secret you’ve kept? Ten teenagers go to an abandoned carnival on an island where a series of strange and mysterious things start happening.

When the first one dies, they discover that, to stay alive, they cannot confess to what their secret is, otherwise their lives are not worthy for the ancient evil that lurks on the island. But keeping their past buried inside isn’t something so easy to do when the spirit that inhabits the place keeps nudging on their minds and pushing them to the edge.

Good Girls Die First is an extremely well-written and masterfully built novel worthy of being placed alongside other works of the horror genre. Kathryn Foxfield keeps the plot well tied throughout the whole book and gives the reader just what he needs to know at that very moment, maintaining the mystery and keeping the reader right on the edge.

With so many characters, it’s no easy feat to give good depth to each of them, but Foxfield excels at that, making each of their secrets something that gives a very fascinating twist to the character’s story, that being something which adds greatly to the plot’s development. Also, how the author was able to entangle all of the secrets made the book even more compelling.

Right till the last page, Foxfield makes the reader eager for more information and to discover how the story will wrap-up, which doesn’t disappoint at any level. It is absolutely a book that horror fans must read and do that soon. Still, a movie from Good Girls Die First would be a really great idea and I’m rooting for that.

Not a fan. I'm not sure who this book was aimed at, but it just seemed completely immature to me. The writing was clunky and awkward and the characters where all just extremely stereotypical to the point that they felt two-dimensional. I could see what was coming a mile away. I would not recommend this book.

Not a fan of books appearing to be one thing but being completely different. The summary made this book seem like it was a thriller mystery similar to OOUIL. Instead, I agree completely with another reviewer that this wanted to really be a supernatural thriller, which I’m not a fan of at all. No thanks.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for my opinion.

Ava along with several other teens get their own personalized blackmail invitations to an abandon carnival. Together they try to figure out who sent the invites and why.

Can you keep a secret?

This book is a hot mess, and not in a good way. I really only felt compelled to finish this because I thought...it must get better! Right?

Can you keep a secret?

It doesn't.

This story starts off where one by one teens show up at a pier in their hometown where an abandon carnival had burned and never reopened. Everyone there has a secret, and apparently some of these secrets are interwoven with others. What ensues is lots of fighting and bickering, teens start dying and a dash of supernatural that seems to have sprung out of nowhere, blah, blah, blah.

Ava has a secret, one someone is blackmailing her about. One she would fight tooth and nail to protect. It's the blackmail invitation that lures Ava and a group of other teens to Portgrave Pier, each with their own secrets they are dying to protect. They wind up stuck in a creepy amusement park and have to survive a night of mayhem and murder, all while someone is trying to expose their secrets. This book gave me serious Welcome to the Dark House vibes by Laurie Faria Stolarz, but with an exciting new premise. It was a quick and suspenseful read, and as the teenagers were picked off one by one, the horror and thrill of the mystery grew higher and I was getting more and more eager for an inevitable final girl ending. I won't spoil how the story does end but I really liked this book, it was quick paced, creepy and suspenseful, full of high stakes obstacles that lead to murder, all the the things a great YA thriller/Murder mystery/horror story needs.

This book was completely bizarre and teetered on the edge of unreadable a couple of times. The plot was all over the place even though the premise was compelling.

I might not have been in the right mindset for this one (or I'm outgrowing YA fic) but I could not get into this one at all. I seriously considered DNFing it a few times, I just had no desire to continue. I found the start really slow, and boring frankly. I will still purchase this for my teens, as I see the value of having this in my collection, but this was just not for me,

The synopsis of Good Girls Die First gave me Dame Agatha ‘And Then There Were None’ vibes but that’s where the comparison ended.

Each character receiving an invitation to an isolated island, in this case a deserted pier where once was a popular amusement park, now abandoned and each with a terrible secret. And while I loved the creepy setting of Good Girls Die First, the plot was difficult to follow and felt fractured and chaotic.

There’s a lot of characters to keep up with and none of them with remarkable enough qualities to be memorable outside of being horribly unlikeable. This just added to the confusion of the story and I found myself having to refresh myself on who was who.

Mildly entertaining but mostly confusing and disappointing. Didn’t live up to the cover, sadly.

2.5 rounded up to 3

My thanks to SourceBooks Fire for this gifted DRC.

Secrets, murder, magic and a paranormal twist makes this one perfect for fans of tales like I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Ava receives a strange invitation with only two short sentences, but it's the picture which makes her realize that someone knows of her darkest secret...something no one can possibly know and something that will destroy her if it ever comes out. When she arrives at the abandoned amusement park island, she finds 9 others there, who received similar invitations. Immediately, strange things start happening, but before they decide to flee, the bridge connecting the island from the mainland breaks, leaving them stuck. Something is playing with their minds, and even the first night brings blackouts in the memory of each of them and one of them dead. They are caught in a sick, twisted game, and aren't sure there is any way out except death itself.

I was drawn to this one by the cover, especially since I was on the search for a chilling, Halloweeny read. The setting is perfect—an abandoned amusement park, which burnt down and holds secrets no one in the small town wants to speak about. The weather, of course, is dark, foggy and stormy and shadows are heavy and dark. Even mirrors play a roll, creating everything needed for a thrilling tale. And this one does pack more than a few chilling surprises. Death plays in the air, and there's little hope for escape, making the stakes high and the fear more than clear. So, it's a dark read with a fast past and unexpected twists the whole way through. And yes, I did read this one in one sitting, curious to know what would happen next.

Now, I'm usually a chicken when it comes to horror stories, but this one didn't scare me much after the first chapter or so. Instead, it was a good paranormal read with higher tension and deadly moments. And there were a few reasons for this. (In other words, this is a good read but it could have been even better...but I do want to stress that it is good).

There are ten teens on the island, and they banter between each other several times. Each one supposedly has a distinct personality, but with that many of them together, it was hard to get a grip on any single one of them. I got them confused more then a few times and had a problem connecting with any because of that. Even the main character was hard to grip because she never gave anything really sympathetic from herself. I'm not sure I really ever found her likeable. Actually, every single one of these teens had huge, horrible secrets...and coming from the same high school, it made the situation unbelievable. Plus, none of them had cell phones. If this was marked as a historical, that isn't an issue, but it's not. And as an upcoming release, that's going to cause some reality issues.

I did find the paranormal twist original and intriguing. It was revealed a bit too early, which also caused some problems, but all in all, it made the read unexpected and entertaining.

This is a gripping read for fans of thrills and paranormal and secrets. It does contain murder, suicide, drug abuse, and violence, but these flow well with the plot and don't reach over what can be expected for this type of tale. It was an enjoyable read, just not horror-worthy or as creepy as it could have been.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me the chance to read this in advance of publication.
Ava, along with a group of her peers, is invited to an abandoned pier. None of them know who’s behind it, but blackmail seems to be at its heart. They all have a secret, something they don’t want to confess to. The question is, how far will they go to protect the secret?
Loved the idea of this, and I really did think it was going to be a tense read. However, throughout there was something not quite hitting the spot for me and it’s hard to say why.
I think the vagueness of what was happening irritated me at the start, and it became quite hard to understand why they weren’t more scared by the deaths of people they claimed to be friends with. The secrets were, as we got snippets of information, quite easy to work out and I would have liked a little more setting up of the paranormal element. By the time we started to get answers as to who/what was behind these events, I found myself far too keen to be finished.