I fell in love with Kayla Cottingham with her debut My Dearest Darkest and was so excited when I saw this one! This hit all the vibes I was looking for this October and was happy that I waited until then to read it. The way she put a mix on zombies and the way they go through life was amazing. How she showed how everyone handled the Hollowing and their opinions on it without going overboard was great. I loved all of the characters and friendships throughout it.

This was rough. I really struggled through this one. It finally picked up towards the end, but too little too late. This is one that I would recommend skipping.

OMG this book was so funnnnn....

I loveeeeedddddd this author’s take on the zombie narrative and I loved the friendships and relationships portrayed through this story’s characters. Each character was dynamic and interesting and very real.

I also loved so many perspectives told and how they handled the Hollowing, but the author did it in a way that was interesting, informative, and engaging, buttttt wasn’t overwhelming in the slightest.

Overall this book was SO GOOD, SO FUN, and I wish there was more!

I am on the fence with this one. I didn’t love it but I didn’t dislike it. It was good in parts and others I was kind of disappointed.

I will start by saying that this is not normally my kind of book—young adult horror/fantasy/sci-fi. This Delicious Death is about a group of four friends who are turn into flesh eating ghouls during a pandemic called The Hollowing. Society has figured out how to survive alongside them but there are many normal humans who are still afraid of them. The girls try to live normal lives and set out for a fun girls trip to a desert music festival. While there, bad things start happening. It seems someone is poisoning the Hollow people so that they will go off the deep end and start killing at random. The girls must figure out what is going on in order to save on of their friends.

The story was entertaining, once I got past the cannibalism. It was a quick read for anyone who enjoys this genre.

This was a good and fast paced horror/thriller with a twist on ghouls and co-existence. The world that Cottingham creates is interesting and weirdly realistic to how a virus turning humans into ghouls may actually play out. I thought the characters and their dynamics were well setup. Loved the main character and friend group as well. This is the second book I've read by Kayla Cottingham and I'll be interested in what she produces next.

The premise of this book is undeniably intriguing and holds the potential to resonate with a wide readership. Personally, however, I find myself situated outside the book's intended audience. The characters within the narrative strike me as relatively youthful, and the writing style and overall tone of the book give off an impression of being somewhat lighthearted, which does not align with my personal preferences. It is important to note that this misalignment is more reflective of my individual taste rather than any inherent shortcomings within the book itself.

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. This Delicious Death follows a group of girls(ghouls) who survived what was known as The Hollowing a few years ago. Now they are ghouls, who eat flesh to survive. They look normal, until they don't. They go to a music festival in the desert, where there was a little known government testing lab, testing a way to get rid of the need to eat flesh for ghouls. Only things went...wrong. On the surface, a ghoulish flesh eating zombie story, but underneath tells the story of girls just trying to find themselves and their community, when they are thrown out of their own, through no fault of their own.

This was had me in two minds about how I felt.

First off the premise was great but also a little cliched in the current reading climate. The characters were mostly well fleshed out but the secondary characters seemed either narcissistic or just like they had zero personality and had been thrown in just because they could be.

The discussion of the views of 'other' gave a great discussion point, especially since the cynicism and dislike didnt come due to the presence of LGBTQIA+ characters.

There were parts throughout where I found myself skim reading this one because it was so damn slow

The ending was also meh for no apparent reason

There was a lot going on in this book: zombie apocalypse, best friends, true love, violence, a pandemic, cannibalism...you name it! I love the fact that the author puts all the trigger warnings a reader would need at the front of the book. This was a non-stop story. Definitely kept you on the edge, both with the zombies and with the love interests. All the different storylines meshed nicely together. The ease of the relationships between the characters, how they stand up for each other and against each other flows nicely throughout the storyline. Definitely a different kind of zombie story, one that doesn't detract from the message of acceptance and tolerance.

This book was different than what I was expecting, It was a light hearted and fun read. Very quick read that I found a bit funny. I would say it was a first love, coming of age Zombie apcolpyse at a concert book. I would like to try more from this author

This was a delightfully fun sapphic read, but left a lot to be desired for me plot-wise. DNF at 80% because I couldn't seem to manage to push through.

This was one of the most interesting YA thrillers/horrors I've ever read. I didn't know much going into the story, but the imagery was quite graphic. I liked the writing style and found it easy to read and follow. While it's not a perfect YA book in my opinion, I did enjoy parts of the book. I do think it maybe had too many "relevant" social issues included- I'm all for representation, but don't necessarily think it needs to be all at once.

This Delicious Death was a quick, fun read. It takes place after a mysterious pandemic hits that leaves a small part of the population craving human flesh. They called it "The Hollowing" and those who were affected are known as hollows. Thankfully science came through with synthetic flesh called Synflesh that helps Hollows keep their appetites under control and able to lead (sort of) normal lives.

This story follows Zoey, Celeste, Valeria, and Jasmine, four young hollow women from Southern California. Before graduation, they decide to attend a music festival in the desert together. They brought plenty of Synflesh, so what could go wrong? Plenty as it turns out.

The horror parts were gory enough to actually be considered horror and the friendships between the girls were heartwarming - quite literally the definition of ride or die. If you were a hollow, you’d want this group on your side.

This is a really interesting premise, and I can see how it would appeal to a lot of readers. I think I'm just not in the target audience for this book. The characters feel too young and the writing and book itself felt too unserious to appeal to me, but I do believe that's more my taste than the book's fault.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book, I wish we could have spent more time building up the backstory instead of jumping in mid-crisis mode. Maybe a prequel would be really fun and could delve into how the world changed a little more

this was a really funny, unique comedic thriller to read. I struggle to think of anything except maybe Santa Clarita Diet on Netflix to compare this to. I think YA readers will find this a refreshing addition tot heir shelves.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks for this ARC.

I’m not sure how I feel or what to think about this book. I didn’t love it. I didn’t hate it.

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝑫𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒃𝒚 𝑲𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒂 𝑪𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒉𝒂𝒎 is a fun yet dark 𝒀𝑨 𝑯𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒓. It takes place after something happens and part of the population turns into vampire-like creatures. Outwardly, they are human, but if they don't eat certain things and make sure to not get hungry, they change and start attacking and eating people.

There is some kind of program set-up through the government to keep track of these individuals, and they have to check in from time to time. But this group of young girls is headed to a big musical concert in the desert.... what could go wrong?

Well, a lot, actually! Once they get there, things seem fine, and they are enjoying themselves. But soon, things get 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒚, literally. Something is happening to trigger their 𝒉𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓. 😱

I really enjoyed this story. It was quite fun and the perfect story for anyone looking to get into horror to dip their toes in or for the YA audience. I liked the setting, the characters, and the mystery behind what was triggering the girls to transform. It was such a fun and interesting concept for a book.

A zombie book is a fun idea and I love the thought of a book about them co-existing with non-zombies. I think this would work as a movie. I'd love to see it on the screen.



Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book.