I think sapphic/queer YA horror is my new favourite genre. This book was one of my highly anticipated 2023 releases and it absolutely lived up to the hype for me.

This delicious death follows a tight knit group of friends as they head to a music festival with an esky full of drinks and synthetic flesh. The 4 girls are ghouls who survived 'the hollowing', a pandemic where an unknown pathogen caused a percentage of the population to turn into zombie-like ghouls with a hunger for only human flesh. Thanks to the creation of SynFlesh, they're back to living their normal teenage lives, until one of the girls goes 'feral' on the first night of the festival and accidentally eats a boy after being drugged and they begin the race against time to save their fellow ghouls, the festival and possibly humanity.

I ate this book up (pun kind of intended). The chapters were short and addicting, The start of each chapter had an flashback, epigraph or some new information that left me struggling to put it down. I could have easily read this is one sitting.

I loved so much of this book and I can't wait till its release date so I can buy a copy for my shelf. I absolutely adored the four main characters, they each brought something unique to the group and I loved the sense of 'found family' between the girls. The book also had great LGBTQIA+ representation and the relationship in the book is probably one of my favourite friends-to-lovers to date. I also loved that there was plenty of witty millennial style humour which added a light-hearted touch to the underlying gore/horror themes.

Overall, I adored this book and I'll probably never shut up about it. I started recommending it to people before I even finished reading it, A true queer horror masterpiece.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and SourceBooks Fire for providing me with this e-ARC in exchange for a voluntary honest review.

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

TW: Cannibalism, murder, drug use, siblicide, gore, pandemic (There are more at the beginning of the book)


I really enjoyed this book. I read the author's debut novel last year and knew that I really wanted to read this one! It was zombies who go to burning man, but the zombies become crazed cannibals. I really enjoyed the diversity of the characters (specifically the main characters) and there was some social commentary about the pandemic (how it was handled).

Zoey and her friends are so excited to go to Desert Bloom. Ever since the Hollowing, a pandemic that made infected people only able to eat human flesh, Hollows (ghouls) are not able to go anyone outside of their approved range. They are registered and have to check in with their person every time they eat, just to make sure it's not a living person. The government created SynFlesh so that the Hollows are able to consume "human flesh" safely. (this concept isn't that far-fetched- we have lab-grown organs and can print organs out)
When the girls get to Desert Bloom, they meet a boy band and Val hits it off with the lead singer, who is very anti-ghoul. Not knowing that all four of the FMCs are ghouls. Then one night at the festival Val has a drink that makes her go feral... but why? That's the question that we have to answer in the book.

{Thoughts}
There were times in this book when I laughed out loud (near the beginning).
I enjoyed the friendship between Celeste, Zoey, Jasmine, and Valeria- Found Family is definitely a favorite trope of mine.
Zoey's family is trash- that is all that I will say.
The plot twist was good but it made me sad because I liked the character that turned out to not be a good person. I can understand the logic behind the character arc but still.... makes me sad.
As a Biology person, I was really intrigued by the virus and the SynFlesh- but that's just the science person in me.

Overall I have enjoyed both of Kayla Cottingham's books and I look forward to the next one!

Yes, yes, yes! The perfect YA read for those who enjoy the horror genre. Cottingham gives a fresh take on what could have been an apoloclyptic moment for the world, the Hollowing. As ghouls are starting to re-enter society, we follow 4 ghoulfriends to a music festival that's just killer.

✨Book Review - This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham✨

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ STARS

Pub Date: April 25, 2023

REVIEW: This YA novel is fun, campy & ghoulish. I figured out pretty early on who was behind things, but it was still fun to see how it got there. It reminded me of Jennifer’s Body, Santa Clarita’s Diet, iZombie, with a touch of Stranger Things. I liked how we got the past for each character to know what they went through during the Hollowing. It made for good character development. As I am no longer a “young adult”, it did read like a YA book, but it was still entertaining.

SYNOPSIS: A virus has spread causing some humans to turn to flesh eating ghouls, feasting on their friends and family, an event they called the Hollowing. Soon after, a synthetic meat was created that could curve the hunger of ghouls keeping them from turning feral and allowing ghouls and humans to live side by side but still the fear and uncertainty lingers. Three years later, four ghoul teenagers (Zoey, Valeria, Jasmine, & Celeste) head to a Coachella style festival in the desert with a cooler full of human organs and ready for fun. Until they one of them gets drugged, turns feral and kills someone. They hear reports of more humans going missing and realize someone is purposefully drugging ghouls. They set out to find who drugged them and why before their friend turns feral forever and others get hurt.

Thank you to NetGalley & Sourcebooks Fire for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

At first, I didn’t think I was going to like this one. It was a little over the top but I think I’m the end it all worked together so well. The whole story was over the top and I sort of loved it. I liked that the main cast was diverse. And I laughed out loud more than once.

I really loved this ghoul group, but found myself really craving more about the festival and the backstory rather than the main story. Excellent rep all around though, especially with a bi main character crushing on guys and girls on page (which shouldn't have to be a plus, but I am very tired of authors dropping backstory that she kissed a girl last year when it never has any bearing on the story and she ends up with a guy anyway).

This Delicious Death opens with high school friends Jasmine, Zoey, Celeste, and Valeria packing the car on their way to a music festival in the California desert. This is one last trip for the four of them before graduation. What starts as a typical girl trip novel changes as soon as the girls load a cooler with drinks and Synflesh. The girls are part of the population who underwent a transformation know as "the Hollowing" caused by an unknown pathogen released in the environment as a result of global warming. The Hollowing made those affected intolerant to normal foods. They must eat human flesh to survive. If they don't they turn feral. These people are termed "ghouls." Fortunately a synthetic flesh is developed and ghouls blend in to society. This is where we find the four friends, all ghouls, heading out to the concerts.. On the first night, Valeria turns inexplicably feral and kills and eats a boy. People start disappearing and more ghouls turn feral. Soon no one is safe. It is up to the girls to figure out what is happening before anything else goes wrong. Fans of horror fiction will love This Delicious Death. Many thanks to NetGalley for the chance to read an ARC.

So imagine a zombie apocalypse book, but instead of them being like brainless creatures, they’re just people who happen to eat human flesh. And get very very upset when they cannot. Those are our main characters, and they’re also all just sapphic teenagers who have just graduated high school, and are trying to go to a music festival in the desert. And then one of them commits murder, and everything goes off the rails. Chaos ensues, and it’s queer and gory and one of the love interests is transfem and has an entire personality beyond transness and love-interestness, none of which are very common within the YA genre as a whole. This book also did a really good job with the suspension of disbelief and being bisexual, two completely unrelated items that are only in the same sentence because I do not think there is much to elaborate on.
Also I am left with one major question, which is whether or not ghouls can brush their teeth or not.

So many zombie stories talk about how the survivors navigate their new world in the aftermath. In This Delicious Death, the main characters themselves are the zombies, sorry-ghouls, and are forced to relieve the trauma of their transformation when they unexpectedly attack someone, killing another partygoer at a music festival in the middle of the desert.

It only took me a couple of days of reading to finish this book and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves LGBTQIA+ and contemporary YA reads. While this book was clearly speculative fiction, it almost read like a traditional coming-of-age tale of four friends finding themselves and exploring who they really are. Overall, this was such an interesting reimagining on the zombie genre that I was hooked as soon as I read the blurb and the book itself did not disappoint.

This was a NetGalley review.

Thank you so much Netgalley for the advanced copy in exchange for a review.
I requested this one based on the cover and just knew I’d love it. Such a good read!!

I love everything about this book. The cover, the title, the storyline, and the characters.

The Hollowing happened two years ago but everyone is still getting used to some of their friends and family eating human flesh. No one knows why it happened or why only some people were affected. Fortunately a synthetic form of human organs have been created and now things can go back to normal! Or as normal as needing to eat humans can be!

When it comes to “young adult” storylines it has all been done. Vampires, werewolves, murder, etc. This is a unique idea that is realistic enough and well done. Perfect for fans of Santa Clarita Diet, True Blood and Jennifer’s Body.

The book is about more than “zombies” though. Friendship is a big element of This Delicious Death and finding people that let you be yourself. I really enjoyed the four main characters and I could relate to them easily. This is a fun book and I’d like to read more from the author!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author, Kayla Cottingham, for giving me the opportunity to read This Delicious Death. I have written this review voluntarily.

I will spare a review as the the book is droll, instead of horror it is gore, and provides nothing new or interesting but.provides the same tropes we have seen in literature by boxing female and male characters into stereotypes while arguing against that exact issue.

I think a lot of people will really like this book, but it didn’t work for me. It was way too obvious. I figured out the whodunnit 40 pages into the story. I wasn’t impressed. But I absolutely loved the flashbacks to when the Hollowing first began. A book about that would have been so cool.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC! YES YES YES I loved this so much!!! It was such a fun, campy horror that I absolutely could not put down. The allegories at play were super well executed and the romance was adorable. I also loved the plot twist and the way all of the snippets at the beginning of each chapter came together! Absolutely can't wait to recommend this to customers!

I was really hesitant about this book because I wasn't the biggest fan of Cattingham's first book but I loved this book.
I know this may sound odd to some but as someone with a disability I really related to this book and its characters. Obviously its not exactly the same but the feeling of losing control of your body and mind is something I fully understand. Also being outcast and mocked for an illness you never wanted and can't control felt so real to me.
I really enjoyed the horror and gore in this book as well. It all felt very visceral and horrid in the best way. I felt like I could almost hear the sounds of the feeding and smell the iron in the air.
Everything about this book just really resonated with me. I can't wait to rec this to all of my horror friends and disabled friends.

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

Let me tell you, reading this book at the same time I was watching season 2 of Yellowjackets was quite a trip. Just… a whole lot cannibalism and queer people. I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

This book is like… a queer Monster High (so…. basically Monster High?), if you aged it up and made it gorier. In case you’re confused, yes, that’s a good thing. Now, was it a tad predictable? Yeaaahh, but there are times when I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. I take comfort in being able to spot the villains and plot twists. It makes me feel smart, ok?

My one big issue with the story: No love story for the other two ghouls?

This was an interesting departure from my typical picks. This is an alternate world, post pandemic of sorts, where the afflicted end up needing to eat human flesh and are fed by synthetic flesh. These ghouls are poisoned and turning feral at a large Coachella like concert in the desert causing disappearances and other strange happenings. Zoey and her three friends are impacted and attempting to figure out what is going on after their friend Val turns feral and needs help disposing a body.
This is definitely one of the gorier books I’ve read and the whole Hollowing and post pandemic tracking and ostracism of the afflicted were interesting and I would have liked to see more insight into that. I liked the flashbacks to the pandemic days and am kind of hoping for a book about that in the future as well.
I didn’t really like Zoey’s waffling between the two potential love interests, I didn’t feel like it added anything to the story and made her seem insincere at the end. It also seemed like there were some plot holes where injuries like gunshot wounds and broken ribs magically went away from one scene to the next. There was a potential explanation for them but it wasn’t explicitly said and I’m not sure if it was just meant to be implied or if it was a miss. The group seems to run out of the synthetic flesh towards the end while they are sort of stuck in the desert still which should be a big deal but doesn’t seem to be for them.
The book did keep me invested in reading to the end though and I did enjoy it despite the inconsistencies/holes. If you’re into gory horror novels with a sapphic angle then this might be the book for you.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
This Delicious Death is Kayla Cottingham’s second book, and once again it leans into the fun sapphic horror vibes. It’s delightfully campy and gory in equal measure, with a dark twist on the music festival setting (obligatory Fyre Fest jabs included). And while it is first and foremost a fun story, I love that it also touches on deeper themes, like living day-to-day during a pandemic and the fight for acceptance for LGBTQ+ people, with queer and trand youth being particularly vulnerable in the face of bigotry.
I liked the approach of having flashbacks and media excerpts that help flesh (hehe) out the backstory and what happened during the Hollowing itself, while the bulk of the main narrative takes place in the aftermath. It makes for an engaging read, and I like how the two complement and inform each other. It particularly gives insight into prior lives of the main characters, prior to becoming ghouls, which is quite moving.
Each of the girls is a distinct character, and I really liked each of them. Zoey is the main POV character for the present day, and I really liked getting insight into the dynamics between her and the other three, and how they’ve maintained their friendship even amidst such catastrophic change, and continue to do so amid further challenges. And while not primarily a romance, there’ a romantic relationship that grows throughout that is rather sweet.
This is a (literally) bloody good book, and I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA sapphic horror.
CWs: alcohol consumption by minors, anxiety disorders (mentioned), blood and gore, body horror, cannibalism, captivity and confinement, dead bodies and body parts, deadnaming (deadname not stated), death of a grandparent and sibling, drugging, drug use (mentioned), fire, grief and loss, gun violence, intrusive thoughts, murder, needles and syringes, nightmares, parental neglect, pandemic (fictional disease), scars, sexism, suicidal ideation (implied), transphobia (mentioned)

I LOVED this book! It was perfect in every way. 4 friends that are so very different yet are the best of friends, especially because being a ghoul brought them together. I loved the romance and representation. It was great that at the beginning of each chapter, you had insight into how each girl became the way they did and how the world came to what it is then. It was great storytelling and was a quick read. I am looking forward to purchasing a physical copy when this comes out and I am ready to read more by Kayla Cottingham.

“This Delicious Death” is a YA horror novel featuring a group of friends, a cooler filled with synthetic human organs they need to survive and a sapphic romance. Set at a music festival, the book explores a brutal murder mystery. I loved the easy and fast paced writing style, the lovely execution of the friends to lovers trope and the bi and trans rep!

Thank you Sourcebooksfire for the e-ARC!