3.25/5

Read as an ARC via NetGalley. Book publishes August 15, 2023.

The summer before Sloan Thomas goes to college, she decides to work at a summer camp. Little did she know that everybody there would be massacred except for herself and her new girlfriend, Cherry. And Sloan can’t remember anything about that night. As she struggles to regain her memories, things stop adding up—why the camp? Why did she survive? And what is her girlfriend hiding from her?

This book was (inadvertently) the second book about Final Girls that I read in less than a week. Fortunately, it was different enough from the first that it didn’t suffer the comparison game. Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t it for me. The writing itself was good, but the MC was not a good fit for me. Dealing with significant PTSD and paranoia, Sloan spends almost 75% of the book with an obscenely high level of codependency that I just cannot stomach. Is it reasonable, all things considered? Sure. And it’s written very well. But if I have an ‘ick’ in the book world, it’s attachment to the point that you cease to function otherwise. ‘Burn the world down because my love is gone?’ Sure, no problem. But a clingy, catatonic state that Bella Swan would envy? No thanks.

As far as the actual plot goes, the author has done an excellent job of spiraling the reader along with the MC. Sloan’s memory is already a blank from that night, and the more information she finds the less things add up. It leaves the reader with a sense that nothing is right and everything is going to pieces. The ending was a complete twist and it salvaged a lot of the book for me. The whole thing would probably make a really decent movie, in my opinion. If you like psychological thrillers where everything feels off, this might be a good fit for you.

thanks to netgalley for this arc—i did not enjoy this much and didn’t even want to finish it. i avoided reading it because i found it to be such a drag but i pushed through and skimmed to the end. i dnf-ed another of this author’s books so i just don’t think she’s my vibe.

“The music started. The familiar thrum of the guitar opening. And the screaming. So much screaming. They were being murdered to dad rock.”

Why yes I am listening to Nirvana as I write this review. It seems fitting.

Sloan and Cherry are the sole survivors of the Camp Money Springs massacre. As one can imagine they’re not doing well.

Jennifer Dugan is so good at writing contemporary sapphic novels. When I heard she had a psychological thriller coming out you know I freaked out.

If slashers and final girls are your thing then you need this. As someone who loves slashers, I was suspicious of every single person. The author made it so hard for me to figure out who to believe.
I can tell you lots of people will hate the ending but I actually enjoyed it. It pays homage to all the wonderful slashers. You can’t always get a happy ending.

The Last Girls Standing is a fantastic psychological thriller. It messes with your mind in the best way.

I also recommend the audiobook, I listened to some of it and the narrator was fantastic.

Thank you Net Galley and Publishers for giving me a chance to read this book.
If you are a fan of thrasher movies and thought this would be up your alley you made need to think twice. It is definitely YA, so if you are looking for something to really scare you maybe this is not for you. The story also for a little convoluted in some places, overall this was not a book that tailored to my likings.

I got this as an ARC and I am very thankful but I just could not get into it because I am just very confused about the story.

3.5 stars
I was interested to read this book because Jennifer Dugan did an event with VE Schwab that I went to. I did enjoy it, but I think I was expecting something different. I think I thought we were going to get more of what actually happened at the camp and instead, the book starts after it happened and we get a few flashbacks. It's mostly how Sloan and Cherry were dealing with being the only 2 that survived.
This book focuses mostly on Sloan. She can't remember a lot of what happened when all the counselors at the summer camp she was working at were murdered. She is relying on her girlfriend Cherry's recollection. But as she starts to uncover secrets and gets snippets of her own memories back, she wonders if Cherry is telling the whole truth.
I didn't really love any of the characters. Sloan and Cherry have obviously been through something extremely traumatizing. They felt extremely reliant upon each other which I'm not sure was super healthy. I did like Sloan's best friend Connor who seemed like a really solid friend, but he only had a small part.
The plot for the most part kept my interest (though I was hoping for more of the actual event). Sloan kept finding these outlandish secrets and it was hard for her to figure out what was true and who was lying and telling the truth which made things high stakes. The ending was very strange and didn't have a cut and dry resolution which I'm not a super huge fan of. It was a little confusing.
If you like YA horror/mystery I would say give this one a try! I will definitely be checking out the author's other books.

So I really love thrillers normally and I really walked into The Last Girls Standing thinking I was genuinely going to enjoy the book. I wanted so, so, so badly to enjoy the read.
Sloan is a character you want to love, you want to wrap her in your arms and cradle her because of her lack of memory after the traumatic events that happened to her. Cherry is a doll, she's protective and kind maybe to a fault. I think I was really endeared to her because she's almost a picture perfect representation of the kind of person you want after experiencing trauma.
I found myself confused, throughout the book, by the kind of relationship the two shared, by the lack of boundaries, by the way Sloan holds on to Cherry so tight. At times I was rooting for them, other times I wanted them to practice having space.
I cannot emphasize enough how endeared I got to these two children, how much I wanted them to win, whatever a win would look like.
Spoilers ahead:
I hated the ending of this book. It feels incredibly dark for a YA novel as well as unnecessary. I wanted nothing more than for Cherry to have a break by the time the ending came around. I wanted nothing more than for Sloan to let people help her.
And I can't help but wonder about a kill your gays trope mixed with the validity of making trauma bound toxic queer characters. We don't need more of that. For so many reasons these young ladies deserved a happy ending and instead Cherry is dead, Sloan never got help with her PTSD and killed somebody. I just can't find it in myself to enjoy this book as much as I thought I was going to.

This was a really great book! Intended for fans of slasher films, based on the concept of the Final Girl, highly enjoyable in that regard. As a fan of the films, I was highly suspicious of all the characters and was certain there would be no happy ending. This contributed to suspense and dread and was a really fun read. The queer representation was a breath of fresh air in this book will be featured on an upcoming episode of Your Rainbow Reads podcast.

There's spots where this book really lost me. It was an interesting way of being written in third-person omniscient and third-person limited, in a way it'd almost make it confusing, but when it worked it worked. Despite some of that, the story and the mystery behind it really kept me hooked and thinking about it all the time.
AND WAS IT WORTH IT! That ending was amazing for it in my opinion.

Queer+ Summer Camp Slasher+ Psychological Thriller !!!

Sloan and Cherry just lived through the scariest night of their lives. Camp Money Springs just underwent a slasher/killer that killed everyone at camp but them. Sloan doesn’t remember anything is relying on Cherry for not only her memories of the night but her support in every way and Sloan tries to remember and process the events.

I felt like this had good bones. Like the plot is interesting just not well paced and the characters were hard to root for.
But I did read it in a day because I NEEDED to know!!!

Thanks to NetGalley and PENGUIN group for an eARC.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this title.

2.5 rounded down

I thought this book was ok. To be fair, I haven't been super in the mood for YA, however, I did think the premise sounded interesting. I enjoyed the summer camp setting. This book is a good one for summer. While I liked the idea of the book, I felt like it didn't quite deliver in execution. There was a big chunk of the middle of this book that I found kind of boring. I found the ending a little predictable. I would recommend this one for people who really enjoy YA or older teens looking for a spooky camp story. Unfortunately this one wasn't for me right now.

This was what I was looking for, a good camp horror story. The writing is descriptive but not overly so. The story is told from Sloan's perspective, unfortunately, she is having difficulty remembering what actually happened which adds to the story. Cherry, Sloan's girlfriend, has relayed her side of the story to Sloan as many times as she's needed, but Sloan's starting to wonder if maybe her mind is repressing things for more than one reason. It was very twisty and turny and I loved every minute of it.

What the heck did I just read?

That ending really got me, in the best way. I think this is definitely going to be a love it or hate it thing, but whew, that brought my rating up for sure. 

Sloan and Cherry are the only survivors of a summer camp massacre, and they are not doing well, to say the least. Their relationship is obsessively codependent and trauma-bonded, which, I mean, yea. That makes sense. 

The story is told from Sloan's perspective, and she's still struggling to process the events, especially because she is missing memories from that night. Cherry has relayed her side of the story to Sloan as many times as she's needed, but Sloan's starting to wonder if maybe her mind is repressing things for more than one reason. When it comes out that the killers were part of a death cult targeting soulmates to bring about the end of the world (ok sure), it makes Sloan think, could Cherry have been involved?

Sloan desperately researches the lives of the killers, as well as her own history and Cherry's, determined to find a reason for all of this to have happened to her and trigger her memories to come back. Cherry grows increasingly worried for her girlfriend, but is she just concerned for Sloan's mental health, or afraid she's going to get busted?

I wish this had a bit more of the summer camp portion of the story in it, as it mostly focused on the aftermath of the trauma, but once I got over the loss of the summer vibes I was totally absorbed. I didn't love Sloan or Cherry as characters, but I read this in a few hours, I was so curious to find out what happened. This would make a really fun movie, too!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, & the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I received this as an advanced copy from NetGalley

Sloan and Cherry met at a summer camp where they were counselors. Suring the camp masked men came and attacked the camp, killing everyone except Sloan and Cherry. Sloan and Cherry had a relationship together, but as time went on after the incident, they start questioning why they survived, Was one of the girls involved?

Good suspense and gets you thinking!! Great story, fast paced! Loved it!

Sloan and Cherry were the only surviving counselors from a camp massacre. Bonded by their trauma, they are now dating. However, as Sloan works through what happened that night, she suspects maybe Cherry was involved.

I think this could have built the suspense more. I think we could’ve started with a scene from the camp massacre to reel readers in. I also didn’t love the voice of the protagonist.

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan follows Sloan and Cherry, the only two survivors of a summer camp massacre. Was thinking this would be a Riley Sagar type story but was sad to find it wasn't. Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for a review.

I had high hopes for this book, but was ultimately let down. I feel like the concept had a lot of potential that was not realized. It felt as though the book was building to something that was never explained and the ending was so out of place.

I did DNF this book at 34 pages. I tried several times to regain interest but I could not get into it.

A phenomenal queer horror thriller! I could not put this book down! I highly enjoyed it and will be recommending it to teens and adults a like! And putting it on my book club's list.

The book was a big no for me. But news really enjoying it, at first. The characters and relationships were great, the story moved along, but that ending!!!! No. Nope. No thanks.