I loved EVERY SINGLE STORY in this anthology with Black final girls! As a horror fan, you can’t help but notice the deeply embedded racism in both films and books, especially in the 80s, 90s & early 00s. However, this collection of short horror stories flips those tired racist takes on its head and I could not get enough. My favorite story was Harvesters by: L.L. McKinney, and I actually got to listen to this on audio too, thanks to Libro FM ALCs, and it was a cool experience reading via both formats. I highly recommend this to all horror fans!

I really liked this anthology. It's not often you read one that you enjoy all the stories. Each story I forgot I was reading a short, I could have read a full novel on each of these. Well done.

Great compliation of short horror stories. I loved them all and great for spooky season or whenever you need a good scare.

All I have to say about this anthology is…✨BLACK🖤FINAL🖤GIRLS✨

I had a whole host of emotions while reading these short stories, which all culminated to the ultimate emotion of pride! Pride that young black horror girlies can see themselves as main characters, heroes, survivors etc. BECAUSE REPRESENTATION MATTERS🤎🔥👩🏾‍🤝‍👩🏽💪🏾🖤💃🏽

[Some of my personal favorite short stories were Harvesters by: L.L. McKinney, Ghost Light by: Erin E. Adams, and Tmi by: Zakiya Dalila Harris]

⭐️THE BLACK GIRL SURVIVES IN THIS ONE, comes out APRIL 2ND⭐️

5.0⭐️ (wish I could have given 100000⭐️)

Special thanks to @flatiron_books for the ARC💜

This is such a great collection. There is a great variety of subgenres of horror included. Everything from space horror to slasher to creature feature to body snatchers. Seeing the variety in main characters, settings and endings was great. Many of them have a triumphant ending and some are a bit more dreary or open-ended, even with the survival. There haven't been any stories that I didn't enjoy in some parts.

Although this is a YA horror, there is a good number of stories that are more New Adult (not explicit) but entering into early adulthood, leaving home and being on their own. I enjoyed that some are more serious stories but some are a bit on the fun and playful side.

I definitely plan on grabbing a hardcover of this when it's released.

Disclaimer: I received a free eARC and physical ARC from the publisher.

Thank you, NetGalley, for access to an advanced copy of this book.

I love horror. Halloween is my favorite holiday and my Netflix algorithm is virtually all scary movies and creepy TV shows. "The Black Girl Survives This One" made my spooky little heart so happy.
Even "knowing" the ending, I was still engaged and surprised by each of these stories. The authors each brought to life a main character who I rooted for and held my breath waiting to see how they would make it to the end of the story.
I had a few favorites - The Skittering Thing, The Brides of Devil's Bayou, Foxhunt and The Black Strings. I like that each story felt fresh, even when bringing up traditional horror tropes like zombies or cults.
Reading this made me want to circle up with my friends around a campfire and share each story with them.

Big thank you NetGalley and to the publisher for the chance to review this book pre-release. Finally, a whole book full of black final girls, and we LOVE to see it. I loved this horror anthology so much, it was exactly what I was looking for. It was witty, dark, and incredibly well constructed. I loved every single story. A more formal review will be available on my IG/TikTok and Goodreads.

Thank you to Net Galley and Flat Iron Press for the advanced copy of this book.

How refreshing it is to see a book for us by us and we’re not the side-chick or the sacrificial best friend (which is described in the forward) because I can appreciate that.

This book has been on my radar because the story and synopsis piqued my interest. It’s our mannerisms, how we talk, what we think, and it’s not someone else writing our stories trying to portray our tone and what we “should” sound or trying to dictate a narrative.

I can appreciate that while it’s a YA novel, it's still creepy, not gory, and mildly graphic.

I love how in the story “Ghost Light,” our young protagonist is describing how she is the stage manager and setting the scene by describing everything within her environment but not in so much detail that when you’re reading, you're thinking, “ok, move on already.” We do get down to it with the “the parts between her box braids got cold” description.


All of the female characters throughout these stories are smart and sharp. They are forward-thinking; they have their head on straight. They understand the perils of what’s happening within their existing environment, and they don’t enter these situations blindly. There is danger; some of these things aren’t possible in the natural sense, but still, they press on.

There doesn’t always have to be one female standing. Why can’t several survive? Yes, I know the trope of the final girl, which has been done since horror movies began, but I’m ok with everyone walking away.

There’s also an underlying issue of race but not in a militant sense. There’s a “woke’ awareness because, as black people, we deal with race on a daily basis. And even in today’s environment, it's something that we feel, whether it’s on the surface or just beneath it.

I also enjoyed how each story ties a young female to their ancestors and their strengths, ideals, and beliefs. The people who came before matter, and to understand this is to understand they're struggling through their stories.

We're taught to listen to our elders, no matter how ridiculous it might sound at the time. There is a word of truth and wisdom to what they are saying because these people came before you and have experienced things that are not that different from where we are now.

There is also a wide variety in the subgenre of horror. The paranormal, haunted houses, witches, zombies monsters, hoo-doo voodoo, and your strange brand of monster, and beyond.

I would also like to point out that while this is a YA novel, it goes beyond that. I would give it an age range from 16 to 25. I mean, heck, I’m older, and I’m reading it because a lot of the stories resonate, and they embody some experiences that you might have gone through.

So if you’re looking for Ready or Not, Mystery, Horror, Thriller, or The Menu vibes, then I would give The Black Girls Survives This One a go. I'm all for having our Black Girls come through a story smarter, braver, wiser, and more spiritual with a warrior spirit, then I’m all for it.

What a fantastic collection of horror stories. The first story was fantastic and really set the tone for how creative and varied these stories would be. This book delivered on its promise to give the readers black girls they are rooting for. Recommending this to all YA horror readers

I could not stop reading this book. While my average across all the short stories was a 3.7, the lowest stories never went below a 2 and the 5’s were high fives. The experience reading this was a solid 5. I need to go out and buy a physical copy. I made so many digital annotations.

What else can I say? I have so many new favorite authors that I want to read more from. Every story fit into the anthology perfectly, and even though some were not to my taste, they were all crafted well and entertaining in their own right. I’m pretty much obsessed. I hope this anthology and these authors see success, I hope we see more horror centering black girls - who live!! This is the kind of quality horror the youth/YA audiences deserve.

My favorites included:
Harvesters - absolutely classic
Welcome Back to the Cosmos - SO happy to see a SciFi horror!!
Black Pride - my annotation just reads “hot”
Inheritance - VERY cool lore
The Skittering Thing - gave me chills
Foxhunt - spectacular, chef kiss. It made me cry.

All opinions are my own. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

A very valuable collection! There were a few stories I really enjoyed, others were mostly solid or okay. Young adult readers should really appreciate this.

Despite my reservations below, this turned out to be a pretty good anthology of black femme YA horror stories! I loved how most of the authors took well-known tropes and made them their own.

Of course, like with any anthology, there were some duds, but I'll have to say, this is one of the rare ones where I didn't give any story a 1 star. And I'm saying this as someone who's very critical when it comes to what I read and like.

I'd definitely recommend this as a companion piece to Out There Screaming, a black horror anthology edited by Jordan Peele.

But I'll admit though, my initial excitement for this was slightly marred by the fact that the "New Voices" that were chosen in an open call were two people who are already familiar with the publishing industry. (One is an assistant editor for this anthology's parent publishing company.)

Anyway, take that as you will.

Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for this arc.

Reviews of individual stories below:


Harvesters by LL McKinney
4/5 stars

Jo and Missy go to a house party located in a rural area with cornfields.

Okay, I actually liked this. The premise was so normal and unassuming. Maybe the word count for this anthology was generous because there was enough time to build relationships with the characters and care for them when the horror part rolled around.


Welcome Back to the Cosmos by Kortney Nash
3/5 stars

A salvage crew is tasked to explore an abandoned space factory.

The creepy sci-fi abandoned space complex vibes were definitely creepy and vibing in this one. But since this is a YA anthology, it's more tame than I'm used to. It's a good start for YA readers to dip into the cosmic horror sci-fi subgenre.


Ghost Light by Erin E. Adams
5/5 stars

Justine, a high school theatre production manager, finds out what happens when theatre superstitions aren't respected.

This was such a fun take on a poltergeist story! I loved the theater production setting (the details made it so immersive!) and how the tension grew slowly.

I was about to dismiss this as a typical evil ghost haunting story, but I loved how it became high stakes at the end. This is definitely a must read.


The Brides of Devil's Bayou by Desiree S. Evans
4/5 stars

Aja and her bestie, Letricia, go to Aja's family home in the Louisiana bayou to celebrate her 19th birthday.

Similar to the previous short story, I really liked this take on the classic generational curse/deal with a demon horror trope. I loved the Louisiana bayou setting. It's a taste of black Southern Gothic.

Stories like these make me happy that BIPOC voices are now in the spotlight.


TMI by Zakiya Dalila Harris
3/5 stars

Sam, a black scholarship student at a predominantly white prep school meets her favorite celebrity writer, Etta Vee.

I'm not sure how I feel about this... I liked how the story flowed pretty easily and was a quick read.

But other than that, it just didn't really make sense? There was no lore behind the phone at all, so it was hard to actually care or connect with the story and characters.


Black Pride by Justina Ireland
3/5 stars

Sheryl decides to go to her friends' cabin by the lake for the summer, but there's something mysterious attacking people vacationing there.

This story makes me feel the same way as the previous story. Liked the flow and the overall vibes, but there definitely needs to be more hints dropped about the reveal. It just ends with a big explanation that had no lead up at all.


The Screamers by Daka Hermon
2.5/5 stars

Amaani and her family move to a new house with a very sinister past.

I was wondering when I'd reach a very meh/average story in this anthology and here we are.

Everything happened too quickly imo. There was no time to connect with the FMC and her family before the evil ghost haunting. The story was also very predictable and tropey. I wanted to love the connection between the FMC and her deceased brother, but I felt very meh about it all.


Queeniums for Greenium! by Brittney Morris
5/5 stars

Synthia's sister, Diana, invites her to a "smoothie club."

Damn, like a few other stories in this anthology, I loved how the author used a spooky trope (Stepford Wives in this case) and made it their own.

The very fleshed out FMC (plus size girl with severe allergies), the inclusion of an MLM cult, and the high stakes writing style made this a great read in what would otherwise be a typical tropey story.


Inheritance by Camara Aaron
4/5 stars

Delany recollects her summer in Dominica with her Auntie Margot, a suspected soukouyan.

I quite liked this one! I wasn't too keen on the flashback storytelling method at first, but I'm a sucker for stories that explore a community I'm not familiar with. I know nothing about Caribbean folklore, so this was a fun and creepy learning experience.


Black Girl Nature Group by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite
3/5 stars

Lucky goes on a nature hike with the local Black Girl Nature Group chapter, which turns out to be a lot more than she bargained for.

I really liked the Get Out vibes in this one, along with the female empowerment story and the power of black female friendship.

In the end though, it feels very generic and forgettable. But that might just be me.


Cemetery Dance Party by Saraciea J. Fennell
2/5 stars

Alle, a horror enthusiast, throws a high school senior party at the local cemetery.

Damn, this story was just cliched and tacky. I wish it would've expanded more on the enslaved witch cursing a white slave owner, but that was just a throwaway one-liner.


The Skittering Thing by Monia Brashears
3.5/5 stars

Sunny and Charlotte are invited to a sleepover at the new girl's house.

I liked the creepy monster vibes in this one, but logically it made no sense. I wish there were more actual hints leading up to the monster situation, even though Sunny's fear and obsession with Biblical end of days situations should've clued me in to the ending.

Anyway, I think I would've liked this more if the second half was expanded instead of the set-up taking so much time.


The Black Strings by Vincent Tirado
3/5 stars

Mal's band is invited to a competition, but Mal can see each competitor's imminent death, including her own.

Really cool concept with Mal being able to see black strings that predict that someone's death is coming. (Oddly, the black strings kind of reminds me of that video game with Norman Reedus, Death Stranding.) But the ending was very over the top and kind of ruined it for me. Like the vibes went from The Ring to Final Destination.


Local Color by Eden Royce
3.5/5 stars

Veronne finds a supposed treasure map leading to a location in one of her hometown's parks.

This gave me Junji Ito's Uzumaki vibes like no other. But I wish there were more hints about Gramps because that ending felt like it didn't quite connect with the rest of the story.


Foxhunt by Charlotte Nicole Davis
4.5/5 stars

Flex, the new girl at Arbor Hill High, participates in the yearly Foxhunt game.

Wow! What a great end to the anthology! The origins to the foxhunt game was mostly obvious, but I did like how Flex survived by taking advantage of a really fucked up situation. Straight up main character energy.

Huge thank you to NetGalley and Flatiron books for this ARC.

I will have to say that this is the first anthology that I have read in a very long time. When I applied for this book, the premise is what really sold me - YA horror stories with Black female main characters who all survive. Every single story is written by a Black author with the sole focus of making space for Black girls in horror.

There are 15 different stories in this collection and the entirety of it encompasses a TON of representation. YES - there are queer characters! The intro to the anthology alone was such a well written piece of work and really spoke to the motivation and inspiration for the project..

As with all anthologies, there are some stories that are going to be great, and some that don't quite hit their mark. I felt that way about some, and I definitely have my favorites. Overall, though - I enjoyed this as a whole collection.

I love horror, and I love that these authors came together to create a wonderful collection of Final Girls.

I don't usually do scary but I love that black women are the final girls. i would give it a chance. I like it a lot. I feel like black women and girls are the final girls in life in general.

In 2023, I’ve loved all the YA horrors where the Black girls survive. This just added to the roster and I enjoyed it.

I absolutely loved loved loved it. I personally would’ve liked less stories with expanded versions of some of the more thrilling stories. Overall I think it’s a great body of work.

I haven't enjoyed a horror anthology series so much in a long time. I plan to add to my personal collection. It's creepy, atmospheric, funny, and breaks the mold of traditional horror in a variety of ways depending on the author. Which means I have so many new authors to look out for now! A few of my favorites from this anthology were Black Pride, by Justina Ireland, which features a group of friends on their way to stay at a cabin in the woods, despite a white girl dying there not long before. It got a twist I loved and I would read an entire series about these characters. I also really enjoyed both Local Color and Welcome to the Cosmos, by Eden Royce and Kortney Nash respectively which also fit into that box of "Why isn't this it's own series?" The writing here is strong, the stories are all good, something that can rarely be said about anthologies, and I found the representation refreshing. And I don't mean that there are black characters. That's a given. This book has autism rep in The Black Strings by Vincent Tirado, neurodivergent rep in Foxhunt by Charlotte Nicole Davis, and plus-size rep in Queeniums for Greenium! by Brittney Morris (which had me laughing nearly the whole time btw). Horror fans will find this an amazing change of pace from the standard plot, and overall its a fantastic addition to any library and a can't-miss-it read this Halloween.

I enjoyed this one! Tons of great short stories in this! Some had me shook or on the edge of my seat. I loved how the authors each took things we may have known or read before and put their own twists to it. Some weren't 5 star for me. Overall, the entirety of the short stories was a solid 4 star read! Good gripping tales that will make you want to not read these alone at night.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publishers to read/review. All of the statements above are my true opinions after fully reading this book.

First and foremost thank you Netgalley & Flatiron Books for allowing me to be one of the lucky ones to read this beauty. Give it up for the cover. I mean just freaking beautiful.

Overall I really enjoyed these collection of short stories. I believe i will pick up a copy when it comes out to add to my shelf. Of course there were few stories that didn’t quite keep my attention but they might do it for you.

I love how every story was different. As well as some endings leaving us to our own imagination. And yes these stories also let you know that not all black/bipoc people think the same. Honey the way I wouldn’t have been playing with some of these characters LOL. I would have been one way right at home.

My favorites:
-Harvesters
-Ghost Light
-Queeniums for Greenium
-Black Girl Nature Group
-Cemetery Dance Party
-Foxhunt

Y'all....Y'ALL! I Absolutely adore this book.
I need to start with the dedication. It feels personal and to a degree it is. It's for all the black girls who love scary stories but never really truly saw or grew up seeing themselves be the lead of the story. Often, we're regulated to the "are you okay?" supporting character (if we're there at all.

I'm a woman who grew up loving the crypt keeper, Freddy Kruger, watching "are you scared of the dark?, Christopher Pike, R L Stine, Steven King, heck Halloween is my favorite holiday.

In short, I throughly enjoyed the book. The first story started off strong. The ending....poor Brandon😅.
Thank you Desiree S. Evans, Saraciea J. Fennell and NetGalley. I've already reserved my physical copy for my bookself. My daughter will see herself represented in these amazing stories.