So I have mixed emotions on this one.

For the forst 150ish pages I was really struggling to connect to the story and I just didn't want to keep picking it up. But around page 200 (keeping in mind this book is only slightly over 300 pages) I SIMPLY COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN. I was sucked in and engaged to an extreme I have not had in a while. Upon finishing this book I was GOBSMACKED and immediately wanted to reread it despite the rough start.

Sooo... I'm not sure what that says about this book but... pick it up if you are a fan of clue (the board game and/or the movie), or if you just want a fun, relatively quick twisty, dark, spooky murder mystery set in an abandond castle!

This is the fourth book that I have tried by this author, and it is just as disappointing as the rest. The premise was so enticing (VAMPIRES!), but the execution was just not it. This book is just flat out boring for lack of a better word.

Alex and her friends like remaking films, so a few months before the end of Senior year they decide to remake Dracula. They decide to film at a remote castle on Romania.., one that has creepy vibes and menacing weapons adorn the wall. But soon they can’t tell between what’s fake for their film and wants real.

So I was a bit sad when I learned there is no vampires in the book. Between synopsis and title, I feel a bit bamboozled. It’s more about the friends and them filming this final film. Kinda campy horror. There was a bit of issues with the story execution, but it reminded me of my younger self and the love I had for those films.

Thank you Penguin Teen for the gifted DRC!

I'm not exactly sure where to start with this one. The audio made this more enjoyable than reading but it also gave away the twist by how the narrator read certain scenes. Basically the over-reaction of narrative voice made it obvious who was up to what very early on. Not a huge fan of the emotional scenes over audio. They were borderline too dramatic.

The characters fit your stereotypical horror movie crew, which I liked. I didn't connect with any of the characters on a depth level but in the defense of horror-esque reads, thats not out of the norm for me. The Romanian setting was everything I wanted it to be descriptively and the graphic death scenes were fun too. Overall, it wasn't as exciting as I had hoped though. Slightly bummed that there wasn't really much to do about vampires too. True rating 2.5/5, rounded.

Alex wants to get into USC, but she's been waitlisted, we're Jax her boyfriend has not. They were supposed to be the next director/producer dream team.

Her friends not wanting to have Alex's dreams go up in smoke decide to help out and set up a gofundme page to raise enough money to make a new film to get her off the wait list and into the school.

And get the money they do, as well as score the castle of Vlad the Impaler to shoot it on location. It is a horror movie about Dracula after all, how fitting to film it at the location where Stokers inspiration came from.

Things seem to good to be true, until they are not. Because they think they are there to film Alex's film, not actually live in one. Abandoned in an old run down castle, in a different country, with no parents. No power and storm. That's when they start to disappear and the killing begins.

I really enjoyed this book. It was giving me 90s/00s teen horror movie vibes. I could honestly see this made into a movie and I wouldn't be mad about it. There were times when I was figuring it out then we had a twist that made me think okay, I didn't see that coming.

There was a few issues within the writing, like mistakes that an editor hopefully picked up on in the finished proof. Things like calling a character Maggie, when her name is Maddie.

Through out I was noticing things that made me think hmm I'm not sure about this. However knowing how the book ends and having slept on it, they make more sense. I don't want to spoil anything but when you read this book and you think that doesn't make sense or that's not right wait until it's finished and think for a moment and you will see that it all was purposeful.

Great story, perfect for horror/thriller fans. Very fast paced, which is great for a beach read or laying out in the garden.

Rating: 3.5/5 corners where there is cell service

Format: e-book. I’d like to thank the author and TBR & Beyond Tours for sending me an e-arc of this book to review!

To sum up:
This story is about a group of friends who are trying to get into film school together and to pull it off, they decide to make a movie in a truly haunting location! But once they get there, they realize that they are in way over their heads, and some of them may just lose their heads if they aren't careful! It's a twisty, spooky, and bloody story from start to finish and I loved it!

🌟TOP 5 REASONS TO READ GO HUNT ME🌟
1. Stars film nerds who are BFFs! Lots of cool references 👌
2. Set in the perfect Gothic horror backdrop, Vlad Dracul's castle! 🏰
3. Secrets upon secrets! Every character has suspicions and may just look suspicious 👀
4. Told in two parts, the past and the present where the aftermath of the events are being told to the police adds an awesome level of suspense! 😳
5. The TWISTS! I truly did not see the last one coming, it was so great 👏

Review:
I really enjoyed the setting the most. The story mostly takes place at Vlad Dracul’s castle in Romania. What was promised to be gothic perfection for their student film, turns out to be a run-down disaster that feels a whole lot like a trap. The fog rolls in and there is a storm outside and a dark forest nearby, the perfect recipe for a thriller!

There were a few plot holes here and there, and in true horror-movie fashion, the characters often did things that made me want to scream WHY WOULD YOU GO IN THERE ALONE?! But that is part of the fun of this kind of story. Some of the writing was a little awkward, but I also laughed out loud a lot.

Overall, I thought this was a fun ride that had me guessing who the villain was until the very end!

2. 75 stars
I was really excited about this because I loved the author's other book but this fell flat. I failed to connect with the characters & the plot. It felt very slasher film and while slasher films are fun, I go in watching them knowing that they probably won't have a lot of good plot or be very logical. It felt very insubstantial in that way and that was not what I expected after reading the author's book last year, Eat Your Heart Out. I felt very detached from the characters so when they started getting killed, I didn't really feel anything. Plot-wise, I guessed where the story was going so it made me indifferent to what was happening. I really wanted to love this, especially with the setting being in a castle in Romania with film buff characters.

The premise sounds like massive fun, but the writing didn't work for me. I think the main character came across as younger and more naive/gullible than she should be, and this made the narrative slightly more tedious than I'd hoped.

Did anyone else get Stranger Things vibes from this, or was that just me? Either way, it was definitely enjoyable! It's not something I would normally gravitate towards, but I really enjoyed the horror aspects!

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC via NetGalley for an honest review.

CWs: blood, gore, death, injury, parent with cancer (recovering)

Wow this was an intense read! I read it all in one sitting and I couldn’t put it down. I had to know what happened. I had 2 main theories that I was thinking through the whole time I was reading, and I did end up being right about both of them, but I still really enjoyed reading the story and seeing how it was explained and played out. This was a pretty fast-paced YA horror thriller and I loved reading it.
Alex was a really interesting character. I was sympathetic towards her from the beginning with her father recovering from cancer and her boyfriend not treating her as well as he should have. She seemed like someone who just went along with things, and I liked seeing her strength as things at the castle got more and more intense.
The other characters were also really interesting. Jax, Reagen, Hazel, Maddie, Kenna and Carter are Alex’s friends and they all go to Romania to film a short movie, but weird things begin to happen. The castle was a perfectly spooky setting, and the characters behaviour was strange at times. Some characters seemed to have big secrets that added to the intensity of the mystery and the atmosphere of tension.
The story was told in a really good way. It begins with Alex in hospital thinking about the horrors she had faced, and then an inspector comes in to question her about the ordeal. Alex goes back to the beginning and tells the whole story. At the end of each chapter was a snippet of the transcript of their conversation or a piece of evidence that was used in the case. I liked that these pieces were included because it helped to make the mystery more interesting.
This was such a well written book, and I absolutely devoured it! I’d recommend to anyone looking for a quick YA horror/thriller read with a twist at the end.

Thank you to Tbr and Beyond Tours, Kelly Devos, Razorbill, and Netgalley for the gifted e-Arc.

“Truthfully, I do not feel up to it. I’m not sure I will ever feel up to it. But everyone will want to know the story of what happened, and I am the only one who can tell them. Our families deserve answers. From me.”

As aspiring cinematographers, Alex and her friends seek to create the ultimate student film to submit to their film school of choice in California. She is eager to prove to everyone that she belongs behind the camera more than anyone else, including her flawless boyfriend. The opportunity to film the movie she wrote about Lucy from Dracula in a Romanian castle is a dream even if the castle’s old and creepy. Yet, not everything goes as Alex envisioned in Romania.

“I don’t believe in ghosts. But there was something dark in that place. Something that I couldn’t see through the lens of my camera.”

Normally, YA books don’t scare me. But I decided to read Go Hunt Me at night, and this story chilled me to my bones. I had goosebumps! I don’t recommend reading this book at night. Not at all!

“What if the real monsters in this world are not hiding underneath our beds? What if they’re out there in plain sight? The nice guys who offer to carry our books and drive us home after dark. And what they expect . . . what they want in return—”

Overall, I enjoyed reading Go Hunt Me a lot! Go Hunt Me is full dark twists and turns. I devoured this book in a few hours.

I recommend this book to movie lovers, young adult, horror and suspense readers.

Actual rating: 3.5/5 stars

Go Hunt Me by Kelly deVos is told in a fractured manner. When we first meet Alex, she’s in a hospital bed in Romania with the police trying to piece together how a group of American teens on a movie set ended up dead with her as the sole survivor. Her story starts a few weeks before Romania, as she worries about college applications, mounting family debt, a dwindling romance and a disconnected friend group all of which has led to her mounting anxiety throughout.

As a character, I never knew what to think of her. Her struggles make her sympathetic but she often internalises anything that’s slighted her which leads to a lot of internal conflict and criticism on her side towards everyone around her. Meanwhile her interactions with the others are perfectly friendly and cheerful as she doesn’t want to burden them. This tension between her and her friend group continues to escalate, especially as each member is picked off until she’s left alone with her unresolved feelings.

The rest of the friend group was interesting, though few stood out to me. I was surprised at the order in which they died, and the posthumous musings over their lives helped cement each as their own character since they finally get their moment.

Plot-wise, Go Hunt Me delivers everything you’d want from a mystery thriller: a group of unsuspecting bright eyed teens, a creepy setting and a creative yet elusive serial killer. DeVos builds up the emotional side of things to get her readers invested in the characters as each person has their own secret motivations for being on the trip, while her writing continuously builds tension which each new scene. True to Alex’s dream of being a screenwriter, the book unfolds similarly to a slasher film with all the horror elements attached.

By using Alex as the single POV character in Go Hunt Me, Kelly deVos constructs a narrative based on a wholly unreliable narrator. This makes reading the book particularly exciting as deVos fools her readers time and time again right up to the epilogue. The fact that the story is told across various types of written media only adds to this idea that the story is something we need to puzzle out of our remaining character, along with the police.

Go Hunt Me by Kelly deVos did justice to the mystery thriller genre. As my first foray into such a book, I felt surprised, horrified, intrigued and every other emotion under the sun so I can’t help but recommend it if that’s your cup of tea.

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Go Hunt Me by Kelly deVos is a YA horror novel that is a scary and lovely tribute to horror movies. The story revolves around Alex, who is going with her friends to a Romanian castle in order to film a short film that can get her into her dream film school. But after they get to the castle, they're cut off from the rest of the world. Then, they start dying one by one. Can Alex stop the killer before she gets killed herself?

Here is a gripping excerpt from the opening chapter:

"Footsteps echoed behind me.
The last seconds of my life ticked away.
I would never hug my mom again. Or see my sister.
The last time I kissed Jax was the very last.
Breathe.
Breathe.
I could barely fill my lungs with air.
My feet slipped and my arms waved in the air. I dropped my phone and it traveled, gliding across the asphalt toward Kenna's house. Two seconds later, I collapsed onto the ground.
All I could think about was how some manic was going to carve me up into a billion little pieces.
The footsteps came closer and closer.
This is how it would end. I'd die here."

Overall, Go Hunt Me is a YA horror novel that will appeal to any fan of horror movies. One highlight of this book is the interesting premise. I love the idea of a group of friends traveling together to a new country to shoot a horror film, and then encountering a horror in real life. Another highlight of this book is the unexpected ending. I was shocked by the reveal. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of YA horror in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book, which is available now!

I wanted to like this one because it sounds fantastic! Especially the setting. Who doesn't want a story set in a creepy Romanian castle? However I did not enjoy the story. The characters all felt flat and under developed. I didn't enjoy reading about them at all. The other huge sticking point for me was how unbelievable the book felt. Things were just way too convenient and seemed ridiculous. I also didn't buy the motivations in the book at all. Overall this one was not a good fit for me.

Thank you NetGalley and TBR and Beyond Tours for the chance to read and review Go Hunt Me by Kelly deVos!

Go Hunt Me is a standalone, young adult thriller and suspense book that came out on the 14th of June. It's 318 pages long and published by Razorbill, which is a Penguin imprint. I signed up for the book tour by TBR and Beyond because the blurb was so interesting! I genuinely thought I'd be getting vampires!

Spoiler alert: there were no vampires, but there was plenty of blood!

After Alex and her friends head over to Romania they don't think about how many will actually make it back home. As they try to make a film in a creepy castle (that was rumoured to have been inspiration for Dracula), they slowly realise that they're not as alone as they'd hoped to be.

I loved Alex; for what will become obvious reasons to any reader because of how easily one can relate to her; a young woman still trying to figure out what she's really worth in a world set up for men by men. She's also an art student and just discovering how wealth and talent play into one another.

I don't have much to add in terms of a review for this book, except it's a great thriller! I had fun reading this and I loved each character! The twist was so good! It's a fast paced book, from start to end which I appreciate. I don't want to say too much because I'm afraid of spoiling the book.

I feel like the characters could have been more fleshed out and the twist could have been made a bit longer. I would have loved to get more details on that!

I will definitely be reading more by the author!

(2.5 stars rounded up)

Before I get into details (which will have a spoiler warning), I just want to say that I was so excited to read this one and really wanted to love it! The synopsis sounded like my kind of book! So I’m disappointed not to have loved it.

Spoiler alert from here on out!

One thing that disappointed me was that, despite the cover art and synopsis, this is not a supernatural/paranormal story. There are no actual vampires or anything, so I feel a little misled. But without vampires, it’s still a pretty good set up! A dark, crumbling building in a remote location, no connection to family back home or even the outside world, flickering lights…so where did it go wrong for me?

I loved the setting and the atmosphere, and it seemed like it was trying to say something about patriarchy and sexism, but I think the characters all felt so flat and one dimensional, which made it so hard to be invested in the life or death stakes. It didn’t mean anything to me when one of them disappeared or turned up dead, unfortunately.

And the ending…it’s the kind of ending that I think I could have appreciated if I thought the rest of the book was stronger, but as it was it sort of came out of nowhere and then left me feeling a bit tricked.

So despite my high hopes, this one unfortunately just wasn’t for me.

Kelly deVos' new YA novel is Go Hunt Me.

I'm usually pretty good at requesting books for myself and rarely have a DNF. I'm sorry to say that Go Hunt Me was one of the rare ones. I adore YA fiction for fun, escapist reading. The premise of Go Hunt Me sounded fun - teen horror film aficionados heading to Romania (hello Dracula!) to make their own movie. But instead, one by one they're picked off.

What didn't I like - well, the characters for one. Yes, there's the smart one, the shy one, the hunky guy etc. But they're flat and I never connected with any of them. And I lost them in all of the film making minutiae that frankly, I found quite boring after the first few pages.

And then … we jump the shark, taking Scooby Doo along with us. The reader has to suspend disbelief multiple times as the plot overreaches. That's where I chose to fast forward to the final pages. There's a nice turn at the end, but it's not enough to rescue what came before.

Others quite enjoyed Go Hunt Me - see the reviews on Goodreads.

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Gosh i was so excited for this one. Horror buff, filming in a haunted castle, all alone, and then they killed off one by one? Please, this sounds like the perfect blend of everything I love. Unfortunately this story didn't quite do it. I think the main thing that fell through for me were the characters. Unfortunately, I did care for any character. I did care what happened to them, about their relationships to one another, or anything else about them. For me, what sells a story is its characters. Unfortunately, this story's characters didn't sell the story. The characters fell flat and one dimensional. While parts of the story were interesting, overall the pacing felt off. The first half set up the story, while the second half was fast paced. I did enjoy how fast paced the story became, but it was a very sudden shift and many parts of the first part were boring. Overall, I'd give book 2 stars.

I’ll be honest, I can’t believe I finished this. It’s a cheese 80s teenage slasher film in book form. Melodrama out the ears, zero logic used by any character ever, the most over-the-top plot and ridiculous deaths I’ve ever read…

But I think the worst parts were that it tried to have this feminist message, where Alex is always talking about “down with the patriarchy” and mentally calling her boyfriend out for all the ways he’s lacking and what special privileges he has as a rich white boy but… she’s still with him. Because he’s pretty. That’s his one redeeming quality, and she mentions it over and over.

None of the other characters even have the bare bones of a personality. Reagan is supposed to be Alex’s best friend but all we know about him is that he’s tall, likes computers, and is “secretly” in love with Alex. The rest of the characters were there essentially to create a body count. There’s also no diversity; everyone is white and conventionally attractive and cishet.

This is a fun, creepy, semi-gory YA book for fans of Dracula! Teen Alex Rush and her friends are working together on a short 7 min film 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘉𝘰𝘺𝘴 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘉𝘪𝘵𝘦 to submit with their college applications to various Universities with film programs. When an opportunity to go to Romania to film an even longer version of their movie at an actual castle visited by the figure Vlad Dracul, they jump at the chance. Suffice to say Romania, Dracula, and a run-down castle are all the ingredients of disaster for a group of teens. ⁣
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⁣When I tell you I couldn’t put this book down! It was a fast read and kept me hooked. The creepy atmosphere jumped out of right from the beginning. I wasn’t sure who to suspect especially since everyone had some kind of motive. The castle was really creepy, and the history behind it was really interesting (although fictitious I’m sure). And the author didn’t hold back on the bloody deaths. ⁣
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⁣I think this would make such a great slasher movie. I loved how the chapters were mixed in with some random quotes from Alex’s movie script, police procedural notes, and recorded transcriptions of police interviews. ⁣
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⁣If you like thrillers/horror, especially YA ones, definitely pick this up! Definitely one of the few books I couldn’t put down this year.