So a recurring issue I have with YA thrillers is that everyone around the protagonist is an idiot. Or evil. And if everyone is going to be dumb or corrupt, it means the main character needs to be so brilliant that they can solve the case when no one else can. Except they’re always stupid, too, and consistently make choices that defy all logic.

Putting that YA issue aside, Sloan and Cherry are pretty unbearable. On the plus side, Sloan acts like an idiot for a girl instead of the standard fare of behaving this way over a guy. Progress?

I love death cults and summer camp. This should have worked. The ending was solid. The writing was decent. But I spent the whole book wishing these characters would die, which isn’t likely the goal.

Also, I don’t know the author’s personal experience with trauma but I often find books about characters who have lived through trauma tend to use trauma as a plot device more than anything else. First, what kind of friends and loved ones are like, it’s annoying that all you do now is whine about being almost murdered and watching all your friends die; can’t you be fun again? And second, trauma doesn’t tend to come and go. Sure some days are harder and some are easier, but it’s not a convenient issue that comes up only when it adds a new complication to a story. I wish people would stop acting like it is.

This isn't my first book from this author but it's the first of it genre. I thought she did quite a good job with since the other book I read form her was a adult romance so I didn't have something she wore like it to compare to.
This book felt almost to real to me (in a good way). Like this would be the thing that happened to a girl who survived something like this who didn't get the help she truly needed.
I loved the cult aspect and the question at the end; was their (the cults) thoughts real, it had our MC just gone crazy in the end. I also like the LGBTQ relationship in the book, though it seemed like a toxic relationship built on trauma I just like seeing LGBTQ relationships in books.
I thought is was a fun read that if you like ya trillers or thrillers in general you will like this.

I received a digital copy of this book in return for my review. That being said about two weeks ago I finished a very similarly titled book by one of my favorite authors so my review may be a little skewed.

⭐️

𝙄𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙦𝙪𝙚𝙚𝙧 𝙔𝘼 𝙥𝙨𝙮𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙤𝙜𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙧, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙫𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙥 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙘𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙤𝙛 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙠𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙.

Yikes 😬 if you know me, you know I despise giving anything less than two stars, but I just really did not enjoy this book. I always feel guilty DNF’ing a review copy that was sent to me so I pushed through this.

I read the synopsis beforehand and it sounded like something I would absolutely enjoy. I love the summer camp vibes these books give, but I really wish it was stronger in this one.

We follow Sloan and Cherry, the only two survivors from a summer camp massacre. I love that the book has LGBTQ+ representation with these characters, but oh man, their relationship was toxic. I couldn’t root for either of them, let alone their feelings toward one another.

This is a YA book so I wasn’t expecting anything too exciting, but I am completely disappointed in this story. There’s so much repetitiveness with Sloan not trusting Cherry and it got overwhelming.

I honestly couldn’t get attached to this story. I was hoping it would eventually pick up, but it just couldn’t keep my attention. Also, the ending had me rolling my eyes… what in the actual heck was that… why…

Without a doubt, this author is very talented and writes very well. I’m sure Dugan’s other books are worth the read, but I honestly just couldn’t get attached to this one. I wish I had cared and enjoyed it more than I did, but unfortunately, my feelings toward it were lackluster. Maybe someone else will enjoy it a lot more, but I was hoping it was going to be a fun “summer camp” thriller 😭

Thank you so much NetGalley and Penguin Teen for the review eARC and BookishFirst for the giveaway win in exchange for my honest review!

Slasher movies come to the page with a twisty novel that centers on the survivors of a summer camp massacre as their lives spin out of control.

Sloan Thomas doesn't remember the worst night of her life. Not all of it. Not the important parts, like how she escaped with her girlfriend Cherry from the masked lunatics who murdered all their co-counselors at Camp Good Money one night.

Now she's trying to put her life back together but between questions she can't answer, memories her mind refuses to give up, and the case moving into its next stage, she begins to spin out. When weird coincidences start to pile up, she begins to think she and Cherry were integral to the massacre, and that her girlfriend might have been in on the whole thing for some nefarious reason.

The Last Girls Standing is a Thriller/Horror mashup featuring two young women who walked away from a camp massacre as the only survivors. It's got the vibe and tension of your favorite slasher movies, but revolves around what happens after that terrible night, and how Sloan and Cherry are wrapped around each other as they try to build a new life. Perfect for slasher fans, or anyone who wants to know what happens to the survivors after the credits roll in the movie.

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

I love a good slasher story, and I especially love a good final girl(s) story, so I was really excited about this book, because it took both of those elements, and also made it sapphic, which I will never not want to read.

Now, I've read other works by Jennifer Dugan, and this was... a departure from those, to say the least, but that's not to say that I didn't like it. It was confusing and twisty and the narrator was fantastically unreliable, but I just had a sense of wanting a little something more? I can't even define it, which is supremely frustrating, because I did have fun reading this! But it just felt like something was missing. Maybe more of a resolution? I do hate unresolved things, but I know, especially with books like this, that that's a me problem that I need to learn to live with. Anyway, I would definitely recommend this one for anyone that also loves all the things I mentioned at the time there, because it was fun and dark.

"...they think mankind has caused an imbalance in not just the world but the whole universe. They want to bring an extinction-level event to wipe out people so the earth can heal.”
I enjoyed this book more than I expected, Sapphic slasher with unreliable narrator who doesn't remember what happened on the day everyone was murdered except her and her girlfriend, this sounded so good and definitely delivered blood and gore, cult that has plans to restart earth sounds pretty intriguing.
At times I felt that Sloan was slow and confused for too long, that the book dragged and filled some scenes, but then it ended and I realised I liked the whole thing and wanted more.
All the twists and turns, masked villains who think they are the heroes, final girl who is suspicious of everything and everyone and who desperately needs to know why were they the only two who survived that night.
"They wanted to save the world and spread the happiness they felt.”
Human is a true monster.

I love Jennifer Dugan’s YA romances but this one just didn’t work for me. I’m certainly no critic but it kinda felt like a thriller written by someone who doesn’t write thrillers. It was just summer camp final girls trope + cults. I also didn’t like the ending at all. Definitely will continue to read her books this one was just a miss for me.

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan seemed like my kind of young adult novel based on the cover and the plot. And for most of the novel it was, I got sucked into the main story and enjoy following the unreliable narrator as she tried to regain her memories. The setting was great as well. However, I did feel that the middle dragged a bit, I would have liked more flashbacks and less of the main relationship. I loved Dugan's writing style and that will keep me picking up from young adult thrillers from her in the future but this one was just okay for me. I was disappointed by the ending, it did not feel complete to me or fleshed out and I was left wanting a lot more from it. Despite that, I still enjoyed the novel and flew through the entire thing in a day. I still recommend checking it out. Thank you to Netgalley and and the publishing house for giving me a copy for my honest review.

Sloan and Cherry met at summer camp where they were counselors and begin a romance which turns into an intense trauma bond after being the only survivors of a mass murder. Sloan has no memories of that night and relies on Cherry to fill in the gaps. Sloan is desperate to regain her memories and seeks to uncover the truth, but what she finds may lead to more death.

I couldn’t put this book down. I read it almost entirely in one sitting. The author’s writing is beautiful; it’s descriptive but not superfluous, and Sloan’s recollections of that night are haunting. I love how it starts with Sloan’s injuries and confusion over what happened. It builds suspense and kept me hooked. This is a true psychological thriller. There isn’t much action, but it messes with your mind in the best way. Sloan is an unreliable narrator, so I was constantly questioning what was real. I had anxiety the entire time I read because I never knew if what Sloan had uncovered was true or which way it would lead. Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Jennifer Dugan for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

A queer summer camp massacre story sounds like my favorite type of book. I loved the idea of 2 girls trying to figure out the mystery of why they survived and relying on each other to get to the truth.

Cherry and Sloan started from the beginning being the most annoying couple in the history of the world. I would have thrown them both out of the window if they were anywhere near me. Sloan ignored every single person who cared about her because Cherry is the only person who will ever understand her ever again. Bleh. Cherry was the most annoying person in the entire book. If she just TOLD Sloan things instead of running around and hiding for “her own good” she wouldn’t be paranoid. I felt like the “no secrets no lies” rule was for giggles because neither of them did it! The only person with any sense was Conner and he seemed like a good friend who obviously didn’t know how to act around Sloan anymore. I felt like he actually cared about her and was blown off because of Cherry.

I didn’t really like the way they were speaking about the other victims as well. Dark humor is normal for these sort of things, but the jokes made me cringe. And that ending was wild. I didn’t hate it as much as other folks did, but I also don’t think it really made too much sense either. I enjoyed Jennifer Dugan’s graphic novel Coven and was a bit disappointed by this one. I just don’t think the story was for me.

Jennifer Dugan does it again. My students love Hotdog Girl and I’m so excited for them to have this as well. Perfect blend of friendship, thrills, and romance.

This is a book that I started in the morning and stayed up late to finish it. I've read most of Jennifer Dugan's books and I really like them. The Last Girls Standing, however, is on a whole new level. If you're looking for a sweet love story, avoid this one. The graphic descriptions of violence start almost immediately, but this has a psychological plot more than horror. I don't want to say too much because you should just read the book. That ending though--wow! Read this and all of Jenny Dugan's books.

Super interesting take on horror! so often with horror I want to know what happens next with recovery so I love this take. And the plot twists kept me on edge the whole way

The writing style was a bit rough at times and took me out of the book. This is the third time I’ve read a Jennifer Dugan book, and while it was my favorite by a long shot, it will probably be the last book I read by her

This is a very stereotypical take on a teen slasher, so don’t go in expecting to be scared, instead I think the stereotypes are part of the charm of it
And the relationship is not a healthy one, but I don’t think its meant to be. I think its meant to portray trauma bonding and co dependency issues. I do wish the book made it more clear it wasn’t meant to be romanticized

A fun and creepy story that fizzled out at the end for me. Nevertheless, I love the setting and backdrop of the whole summer camp motif as it never fails to give me a pang of nostalgia. It's worth a read and your appreciation of it will probably be based on how many similar books of this genre you've read. Having a book featuring real, genuine representation of a marginalized group is never, ever a bad thing.

This book had so much potential but in the end it was a little disappointing.
I will preface this with I recently read 2 other Queer YA horror books and
1 already published one and they were spectacular so maybe I went in with too high of expectations?

But overall it felt like a story about an incredibly toxic relationship with stereotypical views on mental health and ptsd. It left more questions than answers and ultimately the ending was disappointing.

All the slasher/horror parts were flashbacks and didn’t totally make sense and were usually the same scene over and over.

This is this authors first attempt at horror so maybe in the future it will be better? Or maybe needs to be marketed not as horror?


Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Books for the e-arc.

This was very fascinating. I'm still unsure how I feel about the ending, but Jennifer Dugan truly has a knack for writing creepy and disturbing stories.

I was not a fan of the writing of this book. This was definitely just not a writing style that I enjoyed reading and therefore really hurt the enjoyment of the book. The characters were incredibly unlikable and I found myself wanting to skim the book.

I actually liked this book and rated it 3 .25 stars for a nice solid read. I enjoyed the final girl aspect and the relationship between Cherry and Sloan even though it was not a healthy one. The majority of the book took place before the incident and I was expecting the book to go in a different direction. I did love the twists and turns but I would classify it as more Ya Thriller than Horror although it was scary at times. This was a good solid read and I would definitely recommend

4.25 stars. Woah woah woah. Sitting here, jaw mf agape. THAT ENDING!!!?!!??!! That is the best ending I’ve read in a while oh.my.god. Insanity. Idk what to do with my life after reading that last chapter. I think I have to stare at the wall for a while.

I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I expected. It started at 3.5 stars, but after it passed the 50% mark it continually got better and better. I was genuinely so confused for the entirety of it, going back and forth with who I trusted, and now I realize I was doing the exact thing that Sloan was doing. Wow. That was a whirlwind of a story. I really hope this author writes more horror/thriller cause bitch, sign me tf up to read it. This was such a fun read, and I’m literally shell shocked at the conclusion. And let’s not forget this was not only horror, but sapphic horror. Amazing. I am a shell of a human.

Twist of the goddamn century. Thank you netgalley for providing this arc.

Poor Sloan, but also slay (literally)