After their horrific encounter at the Hearst Hotel the Ghost Gang now have over a million subscribers, a manager, and more opportunities. When they get invited to take a cruise on the Queen Anne, a ship with a bloodied past but is now a luxury cruise liner, the gang is excited to investigate and get a little vacation while they’re at it. However, from the moment they step on the ship strange things start happening and they soon realize this is like no haunting they’ve experienced and they don’t think they’re equipped to handle it.

While this is a sequel to *Horror Hotel* it can be read as a standalone. Though, I do recommend reading *Horror Hotel*, not only because it’s great but because it gives a lot of backstory to the characters and you’ll understand a bit more of what they’re going through in *Cursed Cruise*. I love is all of the characters - Emma, Kiki, Chase, and Chrissy are so lovable in their own way and I love the relationship they have with one another. Told from each of theirs perspective you get to really get to know each character and what motivates and scares them.

This is definitely YA! Getting to read from each 18 year olds perspective you also get to read how each character talks. So there is a lot of new slang (for example “sus” is used instead of suspicious). So there is no mistaken that these are young characters and this is a YA book. Which is completely fine, if at times a bit striking for this millennial. One thing I do love is that these characters aren’t trying to act or be portrayed older than they are. Many YA characters always seem to act more adult or be put in more adult situations than many adults I know but these characters are portrayed as typical newly graduated from high school 18 year olds which is refreshing.

And, finally, the plot of this story. I LOVE a good haunted ship story and am always sad that there aren’t more movies or books on the subject. The perspective of the ship was a nice touch. There were so many cliques throughout and it touched on many of the haunted ship tropes. I enjoyed how each character was having a different experience but there were also collective experiences that made it undeniable that the ship was haunted. And not only haunted but cursed which added an extra layer of mystery. Some of the descriptions are down right terrifying!

If you’re looking for a fun (yet creepy), quick read I recommend this!

I love the plotline of this book. The Ghost Gang gets to go on one of the most haunted boats for its first cruise after a long remodel. Yet for a ship being so haunted the ghost encounters seem to be at a minimum. There are only two ghosts who are active enough to get a back story. I did enjoy how the ship had its own personality, yet overall, the book just didn’t shine. The characters were okay, but I didn’t really get invested in any of them. The hunting was limited. The pace of the book was very quick so that was nice. I just think that in the end the book just didn’t grab me like I hoped it would.
Thank you so much to Random House Children’s and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

* ARC provided by netgalley

The ghost gang is BACK! Four teenage youtubers embark on a week look cruise on the Queen Anne. Unfortunately she isn't just any old ship she's witnessed the most deaths compared to any commercial cruise ship, could she be cursed?

I seriously picked this book up because of the cover and the title and soon found out it was a sequel! Either way I'm glad I did. At first the premise felt a little cliche (the movie ghost ship, tied into titanic) but I soon realized it was not! The authors definitely cranked up the creep factor in the second book and I found myself looking carefully into shadowy corners.

I also enjoyed that Chrissy pretty much sat this one out. As we were able to experience the rest of the gang as they journeyed through some difficult feelings and overcame their fears.

This was a great continuation of the Horror Hotel series! I enjoyed this book almost as much as the first book. In Cursed Cruise we follow the Ghost Gang on board the cursed cruise ship RMS Queen Anne. This was a quick and fast paced read that is told through the point of view of each of the four members of the Ghost Gang as well as the ship’s pov.

Read this if you like:

🛳️ YA Ghost Stories
🛳️ Multiple POV
🛳️ Scooby Doo Vibes
🛳️ Fast Pace Reads

Cursed Cruise is the second book in a series about teen youtubers who are ghost hunters. The first book follows them as they go to a haunted hotel. This book is about the crew going on a cruise together on a boat that is supposedly haunted. Soon after stepping on the boat, they quickly realize that something is very wrong.

This book was just ok for me. I do feel like it is better suited for a YA audience than for me. I'll start with what I liked first. It was definitely a quick read. I liked the different POVs throughout as well. The cruise itself was a fun idea and some parts were a bit freaky.

I do feel like the writing seems very basic. I think teens will be able to connect with the characters more and their relationships better than I did. To me it just felt like a decent book but not one I am going to be remembering or thinking about much after reading it.

Thanks so much to netgalley and Random House Children's, Underlined for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own.

This was fine. It was definitely cheesy and a bit too juvenile for me. I give it a 2.9/5. It would have been better as a YA slasher

This was a fun read! This young adult horror had an interesting cast of characters, which were a group of teenage YouTube paranormal investigators.

This book gives you the POV from each member of the group. In addition to following multiple character point of views, I thought it was interesting that we got the ship’s POV a few times. This gave some added insight as to what the curse was doing to the ship.

The mystery was about the RMS Queen Anne, a luxury cruise ship who has been collecting victims for a century.

Read this if you like:
→ Scooby Doo vibes
→ Light horror
→ Fast moving plot

I really enjoyed following The Ghost Gang has they worked to solve this spooky mystery.

I'm so happy that we got another book with the Ghost Gang!
This kind of horror is one of my absolute favorites, following around a group of ghost hunters who are filming for youtube or some tv show and we get a front-row seat when poo hits the fan.
I was hooked from the beginning when we opened to Chrissy and the rest of the Ghost Gang editing their newest ghost hunt while the ghost of a man hangs out in their closet. They then go to the RMS Queen Ann, an uber-haunted ship with a famous ghost called The White Lady to film their next ghost-hunting adventure.
From the moment they step foot on the luxury ocean liner things go wonky and it's just the start of the super spooky and creepy ghost-filled boat ride. I love the dynamics between our group, and the new pairings since the last book. They make the perfect friend group and the perfect ghost-hunting team. Along with getting a POV from each of our Ghost Gang members we also get a unique perspective that makes you rethink your idea of a haunted location and I LOVED IT!
As I said above we get POVs from each character and usually, I have a favorite that I am always super eager to get back to, but in this series, I love seeing from each of their viewpoints and am just excited to be moving along in the story.
I loved the characters, the plot, how immersed I was in the story, how creepy everything felt, the mystery, and the plethora of ghosts aboard the ship.\ I hope that we get more books featuring the Ghost Gang!! I want to see them go to all the haunted places and help all the ghosts.

Cursed Cruise is the follow-up to Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren's novel, Horror Hotel. I accidentally jumped into Cursed Cruise without reading Horror Hotel. Luckily, this follow-up is more of a standalone than a direct sequel. There are callbacks to Horror Hotel, but they are quickly explained and not relied on for the main plot. 

Cursed Cruise follows the Ghost Gang, a group of four teenagers with a YouTube channel following their paranormal investigations. They have over a million followers and are hoping to find a TV channel that wants to pick up their show.

Review:

Hoping for good footage and headlines, Chrissy, Chase, Kiki, and Emma board the RMS Queen Anne, a ship known for its on-board deaths and subsequent hauntings. The Ghost Gang is particularly interested in the death of an 80s heiress who of an apparent suicide. When hauntings, time travel, and even a curse take over, the gang must rely on each other and stay sharp to solve the mystery and get back to land safely.

This book was so much fun! The horror in Cursed Cruise is spot-on for a young adult novel - it's creepy with some horror moments, but it has very few jump scares and no overt gore or body horror. I loved the friendship vibes and thought the group dynamics worked well. I loved the focus on family, friends, and relationships, as actual young adults think about these things so much. It feels like a book made with real teenagers in mind, which I loved. My only complaint is that I wish it had a buffer friend in the group who wasn't paired up romantically with someone else. I would have loved a Shaggy-like character in this Scooby-Doo gang.

Final Thoughts:

Cursed Cruise is an excellent YA novel and perfect for teens interested in books with horror, thriller, and paranormal elements. There's excellent representation in the book and redemption of one of the villain characters.

A perfect fit for the teen who cannot ever get enough creep factor or is never afraid! I was unsure of my choice, since I would call myself a wimp when it comes to horror. A group of amateur ghost hunters take on a new quest. The teens plan to investigate a haunted ocean liner and not long after boarding, one of the teens goes missing and is abducted by a ghost who wants her own death avenged! Creepy, definitely gives "caper" Scooby-Doo vibes, but in a good way! I think teens will gobble it up! I would also consider adding the first edition of the series--Horror Hotel.

Before I get into the review, a quick thank you to the publishers over at Random House Children's and NetGalley for allowing me access to the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. Cursed Cruise is the second book in the Horror Hotel series. In this one, we follow our Ghost Gang as they board the Queen Anne in an attempt to learn more about its haunting and possibly get picked up for a TV show pilot. But things start going wrong the moment their resident psychic, Chrissy, boards. With a hundred deaths to her name, what if Queen Anne isn't just haunted? What if she's cursed? Cursed Cruise comes out on March 19th and is available for pre-order now.

There is so much I love about this group of ghost hunters. In this one, they've just graduated from high school and are set to film aboard the most haunted ship to sail the seas. I loved seeing the interactions between Emma and Kiki. Their relationship still feels so new and having them try to tip toe around their chaperone (AKA Kiki's mother) while also wanting to be accepted as a couple by her was sweet. The dynamic between Chrissy and Chase was good but not the romantic subplot I was really there for. I liked the mystery in this one. I kind of loved that we got a couple of mysteries for the price of one.

I would have loved so much more detail about those mysteries though. And that's a complaint I think I also had with the first one. The world and characters and their shenanigans are so much fun but this book is just so short. I think it's good at maintaining the YA age range and not being one of those YA books that's really an Adult book marketed as YA so maybe the length of the book factors into that feeling. It was more plot heavy than anything else which I don't love but it's also something you have to have if you're going to be in the Mystery/Thriller genre. I think if you had given me another 50 to 75 pages to dive into the meat of everything this would be a solid 4 or more star rating from me.

Overall, this was such a fun and quick read for me. I've been struggling with my reading time for the past few months since I transferred for work and that has meant a longer commute plus longer hours. And yet this was something that felt so easy to make the time for. A fast paced mystery ride that just keeps you invested.

I haven't read the first one but I still felt like I knew the characters. I struggled with some of the obvious stereotypes in the book but I thought it was a quick read.

Wow. For me personally this book was a ride. I found that there was a lot going in and I felt like I had a hard time keeping up with everything going on. It also probably didn’t help that I’ve not read the others in the series.

eARC thank you Random house children and netgalley


it was very slow paced book for me it was really different since the point of view was from the ship which was really interesting

This is the sequel to the first Ghost Gang adventure, Horror Hotel, and this time they’re going on a cruise…but it’s cursed. You can read this one by itself, but some things might not be explained all the way. I liked being back with this group of characters again and seeing where they were in life after the events of the first book.


We catch up with them as they’re about to board the RMS Queen Anne luxury liner, a ship with a past full of deaths (and hauntings). Things go wrong on the first night when a member of their group goes missing and it just gets worse from there. There’s a mystery in this one on top of the hauntings just like last time as well as some drama between the characters.


I enjoyed getting each character’s pov like in the last book, and the first 3/4 of the book was fun, but I felt like the ending was a bit rushed and things were tied up a bit too neatly. I wouldn’t have minded the book being a few chapters longer to let things fully play out.

This one definitely had its moments. It had the humor I enjoyed from the first one and the unique, quirky characters. It had some nice paranormal moments, and a few moments of horror and gore, but what kept it from being a 5 star read was the fact that it was just too quick. Too cut and dry. The plot and storyline just seemed too easy, too rushed. I also could have done without the pov of the cruise ship itself. That felt a little weird. It had a good premise though, and it was still an enjoyable read that will cross my mind later. It gave me Goosebumps and Fear Street nostalgia. I will definitely be on the lookout for a 3rd book, because it feels like it could continue to be a fun series.

Thanks NetGalley, and Underlined, for providing the free e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I think this book is a good continuation from the first. This series definitely appeals to an older Young Adult audience and the author has decided to continue this series as true to the first book. The author does a great job writing characters that are more today, in this current time period; these young adults feel relevant with their struggles and relationships all while battling ghosts. This definitely fulfills the "slice of life horror from the perspective of 18 year olds" genre. This ended up being a three star for me more because of my personal viewpoints and personal feelings of certain new societal norms. (I also really don't like how much cussing goes on and the constant hormonal rage happening between the characters). I also felt that the characters where rude to the people in their lives that were elder-esque figures. This obviously wasn't written for my age; I do feel like it would still be great to recommend to certain Young Adult's at the library. Thank you to NetGalley for sending this for review

Cursed Cruise is the return of my favorite ghost-hunting team

Cursed Cruise follows our favorite gang of ghost-hunting professionals as they move forward from the terrifying events of Horror Hotel. The gang reunites as they board the illustrious Queen Anne cruise liner and plan to film another titillating segment of their series. This one could be their big break within a larger network, if a rival ghost-hunting team, a host of terrifying ghosts, and a mysterious curse don't end them first.

I reread Horror Hotel right before this and let me tell you, getting to reunite with this fantastic cast of characters. It was like returning to watch an old rerun of Scooby Doo or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, they felt familiar and (not to be too cheesy) like family! I can tell that Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren had fun with this story and these characters because I did too! Readers are going to love the direction that all the characters have gone following their previous adventures. Also the mystery in this story truly was more in-depth this time around. I loved the little twists and the misdirections that pop up along the way.

READERS GO GET THIS SEQUEL! And remember to have fun with it because I really did!

The second Horror Hotel crew finds the crew on a cruise this time, hoping to be free from craziness. However, this time they find themselves sucked in (literally) to a ghost ship.

I'd recommend reading the first one in this series first as not a ton of backstory was explained for first time readers to this series. The writing style wasn't really for me, but I think people that liked the first one will enjoy this one too.

Just didn't get on with this one. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, but this one just couldn't keep my interest as much. I think one problem for me was there was just too much going on and it was hard to keep up with all the different ghosts/curses/plot twists. I enjoyed the kind of over-the-top-ness of the first, but I think this one just tipped a little to far over that line for me. I think there is still a niche audience that this would appeal too - fans of shows like Ghost Adventures, teens who love a lighter horror novel.