this was the first novel i read by jennifer dugan but it was a great place for me to start. i really enjoyed the suspense and sloan and cherry's characters. i read this one pretty quickly and really liked the overall creepy vibe of it.

This is a solid YA Contemporary story focusing on trauma recovery and featuring a Sapphic Romance. Unfortunately, I went into this expecting a Psychological Thriller with a Teen Slasher Twist.

In this story we follow Sloan and Cherry, girlfriends who are the sole survivors of a massacre at a summer camp. Both girls were counselors. In the aftermath, Sloan, who remembers no tangible details, has been struggling to put the event behind her. She feels like the black spots in her memory are haunting her and she doesn't feel like she can move on until she has answers.

Her girlfriend, Cherry, the only person Sloan feels understands what she's been through, tries to be supportive. She also tries to make Sloan feel safe, but for her part, Cherry is ready to move on. They survived. They need to continue living instead of reliving the past. As Sloan continues her search for answers, Cherry is right at her side, but after new evidence is revealed, Sloan begins to question just how well she knows Cherry.

The girls only met a few short days before the trauma that ultimately bound them together. Seeing things from a new perspective, Sloan fears that Cherry may have actually been involved in the massacre. Will Sloan be able to figure out the truth before it's too late, or will Cherry end up being the last girl standing?

This book has a lot of strengths. I did appreciate the story that Dugan created here and I think if you go into it with the right mindset, you could really, really enjoy it. Sadly, for me, I saved this for Spooky Season, thinking it was more of a Psychological Thriller than an intimate examination of trauma recovery. That may be on me, but a little bit could be blamed on the marketing, IMO.

I did like Dugan's writing. Also, the relationship between Sloan and Cherry felt very real, especially their bond based on their shared trauma. Even though it started quite slow, I was interested in learning more about the characters.

The slow pace continues for the most part, although it does pick up a bit in the later half. The narrative also focuses much more heavily on emotion than action, so be aware of that. Although, for the most part, well executed, it was not what I was expecting, nor in the mood for and I believe my experience was impacted because of that.

I think for Readers who enjoy YA Contemporary stories that focus on trauma and mental health, this could work well. I think a lot of Readers will be intrigued about the mystery surrounding Sloan's missing memories and the truth of what happened at the camp that day.

I will say that the ending was fantastic. The final chapter was my favorite chapter by far. I wish it could have had that level of dark intensity throughout.

Thank you to the publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons, for providing me with a copy to read and review. While this wasn't necessarily my cup of tea, I know a lot of Readers out there will enjoy this one!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan which felt much like reading an 80s slasher thriller.
Our journey begins with Sloan and Cherry two summer camp counselors who develop feelings for one another. While preparing for the campers and binding with the other counselors, the unsuspecting camp is attacked one night by a madman wearing rabbit’s mask and wielding a hatchet.
Sloan and Cherry are the last girls standing.

Sloan and Cherry hold to each other to recover from the trauma. Cherry is Sloan’s rock partially because Sloan is left with bits and pieces of memory of the horrific night. She knows what Cherry has told her, that Cherry saved Sloan’s life.
On a quest to stop the incessant nightmares and unlock her memories, Sloan tries hypnotherapy. Overtime, Sloan vegans to pick at the holes in Cherry’s recounting of the events.

This story would be a great fit for fans of classic slasher thrillers during Halloween/spooky season.

The critiques I have with the story lie in the pacing. At times the momentum slowed greatly but the payoff was worth it to me.


Big thanks to “Penguin Group Penguin Young Readers Group” and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this thriller as an ARC.

I give The Last Girls Standing a solid three stars ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️

I love Jennifer Dugan's other sapphic ya books, but her attempt at ya horror kinda fell flat for me. Sloan and Cherry did not have a healthy relationship at all and it threw me out of the story a few times. I was hoping for more time at the summer camp, but I did enjoy the culty aspect of the plot. The ending was a ride for sure, though.

Whoa. That was a trip.

I was drawn to this book since the cover and description was clearly giving "Final Girl" and old school camp horror vibes and that's always been the kind of horror that I've been into. But this book turned out to be much more than just a campy, camp horror. This is what happens after the blood bath and how it can be even more traumatic when you don't exactly remember what happened.

This book definitely leans on the psychological aspect of trauma and how memories can be shaky when they involve traumatic events. And it was so well done that I, along with the main character, wasn't sure what to believe. Honestly, I finished the book and I'm still uncertain what the real story was! Sometimes the ambiguous endings bother me but in this case I think it worked perfectly.

The Last Girls Standing

This was good, entertaining and thrilling but that ending did me dirty! Ok, not really, but what a dang twist!
When two girls, Sloan and Cherry, survive a summer camp massacre, they rely on each other to get through the utter trauma and devastation they face.

Sloan has a more difficult time coping than Cherry and as they grow closer, Sloan begins to think that maybe Cherry knows more about the attack than she’s letting on, but does she?

Read this one and find out!

My thanks to Penguin Teen for this gifted copy!

3.5/5 Stars

Sloan and Cherry are the sole survivors of a summer camp massacre where all their fellow counsellors were slaughtered. Now, months later they are inseparable, after bonding over their shared trauma. Sloan can't remember much from the incident, but Cherry is there to fill in the gaps. When new evidence comes to light, Sloan begins to think that Cherry may have been involved in the murders as the story she's been told doesn't quite add up.

Cults are one of my buzz words - so I was definitely intrigued to pick this one up. It was a very fast read, that I finished in one sitting. I enjoyed this for what it was. I thought it was a fun thriller, although a bit predictable. It kept me interested enough to want to keep reading to figure out what was going to happen in the end. Although I must say, I was not the biggest fan of the abrupt ending and I wish there had been more of an epilogue so we could see what happened after the ending. I didn't like these two together, and felt that their relationship was extremely toxic... but maybe that was the point... I honestly can't tell if I was supposed to root for them or not.

We follow Sloane and Cherry, two girls who were the only survivors of a masked killer.

I wanted to love this book but I felt like it just dragged on for me. The pacing definitely left much to be desired.

⭐️ 3
🌶️ 1/5
Age range: 16+
Content Warnings: cult pod vibes

Quotes:
- “Only for you. And I would come back a thousand more times. Even if it still meant everyone else died. Even if it meant I had to die. I will always, always come back for you.”
- If you need me to be the villain in your story, then I will, but I’m not going to apologize for doing everything I could to save you that night.”

Review:
Who doesn’t enjoy a cult sacrifice story here and there? We read about Sloan and Cherry the only survivors of a horrible murder at the camp they were both working at for the summer. Sloan has no memory of what actually happened that night and Cherry does but will only give her so much information thinking it’s for the best. The girls trauma bond and fall for each other and Cherry soon becomes the only thing that makes Sloan feel safe. But then she starts to remember things that make her question that whole horrible night and her biological parents possibly having something to do with the cult/pod that murdered their friends. But is her girlfriend part of all this as well and is Sloan the next to be murdered? Good read and left you feeling a little creeped out just like any cult story should.

Tropes & Vibes:
- LGBTQ+
- Murder mystery

Chilling twist!
Two survivors of a murder spree, 18yo Sloan and 18yo Cherry were the only ones left alive after a group of masked killers arrived in the summer camp where they worked and ended everyone’s lives except those of the two young women. Sloan leans heavily on Cherry to keep her afloat but when possible secrets come to light, Sloan feels the need to find the truth about the reasons behind the murders on her own. She reaches out to the sister of the lead killer, the only other person alive after the murders. She reaches out to the imprisoned killer himself too. What Sloan discovers is beyond her comprehension.

Likes/dislikes: I like the complexity of the cult guilty of the crimes and their backstory. The story has a good twist. I enjoyed the author’s writing in portraying feelings of betrayal and manipulation by others.
Language: R for 97 swears and 71 f-words.
Mature content: PG-13 for implied sex and underage drinking.
Violence: R for bloody deaths.
Ethnicity: Rahul is Indian. Beckett , Kevin, Sloan, Dahlia and Anise are white. Cherry has peach skin. Hannah is Korean American. Shane and Ronnie are Black. Connor has brown skin.

This was one of my most anticipated reads in a long time, and unfortunately I was left disappointed with this one. I thought it was going to be a slasher, or a thriller and really, it was neither. This book takes place after the slashery murdery bits, and nothing happens. At all. 300 pages of boring, uneventful nothing. It picks up right at the end and it does get a bit crazy, but it was too little too late.

I am honestly having a hard time reviewing this book. There was a lot to like, including the premise and the way the confusion matched the confusion of the main character. But I still found the story to just be a bit frustrating, mostly because that same premise of being set after a mass killing didn’t leave me feeling like there were a ton of stakes for the story and made the big twist at the end fairly predictable. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the characters which made this difficult for me.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

DNF @ 27%

I couldn’t stand the relationship between Cherry and Sloan and was bored by the whole thing. I was too annoyed with the characters to pay attention to the storyline or care

Thank you Penguin for this ARC
A sapphic horror novel that depicts trauma in one of the worst lights I've ever seen in a book, with a depressing end message.
Sloan and Cherry are the lone survivors of a summer camp massacre. Deeply traumatized they find solace in each other, but Sloan has holes in her memories, and begins to question what really happened.
I honestly have no idea what I just read. And not in a "wow that was so fantastic and different, but in a I had no idea where any of this story was going".
I do think the premise is interesting, as well as the writing. Just like Sloan, I felt completely lost and unsure of who to trust. There are a lot of great tense moments, and so much gaslighting. I was ready to point fingers at literally everyone in this book.
I don't know Dugan's background, I don't know if she has experienced trauma and CPTSD such as Sloan has. I'm not sure if writing this in a way was cathartic for her. For me someone who suffers from CPTSD, I found this book to be an inaccurate and quite frankly offensive depiction of trauma. There is so much wrong in how this book depicts what it is like to go through trauma therapy, and how the characters react to trauma. (view spoiler)
I do think the ambiguous ending hurt the book, and just further leaned into the "you won't heal from trauma" stereotype.
If you decide to read this, please check your triggers/content warnings.
Personally I didn't have a good time reading this, and wouldn't personally recommend it.

Sloan and Cherry had only new each other a few days before several masked men tore through the summer camp they were working at and killed all the counselors. Now months later you can't separate the two of them. Sloan wants to know what really happened and begins to try and figure out why them. She soon begins to think that Cherry might have and something to do with what happened. As more and more comes to light the paranoia sets in and Sloan can't tell who's the bad guys are. Follow along to see if Sloan survives the journey from that fateful night or will she go insane from all the unanswered questions.

I thought The Last Girls Standing had all the right things to make a really good story. While there were parts I did enjoy, I felt like overall the book was a little lackluster. At the beginning of the book I was so invested in finding out what happened to Sloan and Cherry the night their lives changed, but by the middle of the book, I struggled to keep interest. There were many times that felt like an important moment was about to be revealed and it would shake up the story only for it to fizzle out abruptly. It was rather frustrating when everything else in the book felt like it was just the same thing repeated.

It didn't work for me.

I'm loving the jump back into the horror/slasher movie genre in YA fiction lately and this book was a great example of that.

I came for the thriller of it all and I stayed for the characters (good queer/LGBTQ+ rep) & and the 80s/90s slasher nostalgia. Even though the book had a bit of a slow start, and I usually prefer to be dropped into the action, once it started getting into the characters more I became hooked and loved every minute of it.

I'm really excited to see more thrillers from this author in the future! :)

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC to review.

Awesome book characters and phycological horror plot line. Will definitely be reading again as an audio boook

Thank you to Netgalley and PENGUIN for the e-arc for the copy of this book. I really wanted to love this book especially during spooky season but this book was meh for me. I wanted more and it never came.

This story was a little bit wild, even for a thriller. There were definitely moments that I loved and thought were great, but there were a lot of moments that I feel like were left behind as huge plot holes. This book required a suspension of disbelief beyond what I was planning. There was a lot of WTF moments, but overall I enjoyed the thrill.