I am YELLING. I totally misunderstood what this book would be, I thought it was a general thriller with serial killers and was not expecting the supernatural elements (yes I am an idiot) so I got a big surprise part way through 😂

The book was a slower start but once the shit hit the fan it was so fast paced and impossible to put down!!

I'm in love with every character being a sapphic black woman, besides the family members of temple, and that we got to see fleshed out authentic personalities that grew along the way. I can already tell so many people are going to love this book and Temple!! Badass queer women fighting serial killers in the woods, what else could you want!!

Thanks for the opportunity to read and review this book. My review will be live on my blog on March 19, 2024. I'll also post my review to Goodreads and retail sites around the same time.

Review:
I am a huge horror fan - especially anything slasher or paranormal. I don't particularly enjoy body horror or gross-out scenes, so I often find myself drawn to YA horror because it tends to be less graphic. One of my favorite tropes is the tried and true campground slasher - teens cut off from the outside world fighting for their lives. It has been a favorite of mine since I was ten years old and first watched "Friday the 13th". Because of this, I'm always going to read a horror novel set at a camp, so that (and the amazingly creepy cover) is what drew me to this book when I saw it on NetGalley.

The story follows Temple Baker, a 16-year-old young woman whose father is The North Point Killer - a notorious serial killer who murdered and mutilated several people. He's been caught and is now in prison, having been charged with several murders, but the one murder that still haunts Temple is the death of her mother. Her body was never found, and many believe she may just be missing, but Temple's father told her himself that he killed her.

When a horror camp opens up on the outskirts of Temple's family's old farm, she does everything she can to ensure that she is selected as a camp counselor so that she can get to the camp and explore the land. The family farm is where all of the bodies were buried, and she is certain that this is where she will find her mother's body and finally close that chapter in the messed up book that is her life. But when she gets to camp, strange things start to happen. Temple can hear voices and strange knocking - all things her father used to warn her about. When someone winds up brutally murdered in a similar fashion to her father's murders, Temple fears there may be a copycat on the loose, and it's up to her to figure out what is going on before everyone at camp winds up dead.

Ellis does a fantastic job of creating a tense and atmospheric setting, and this is probably one of the strongest aspects of the book. I could easily picture the creepy woods, hear the sounds, and feel the energy. The overnight camp for queer, horror-obsessed girls serves as the perfect backdrop for an unconventional and intriguing mystery.

I liked Temple and understood why she was the way she was, and I really felt for her. Anyssa (the resident mean girl), Cali, a slasher-obsessed trans girl, and Yaya, a God-fearing lesbian, were some of my favorite characters, but I have to admit, the other characters all kind of blended together for me. Honestly, it felt as though many of them were just there to up the body count, which is fine, but I had zero emotional attachment to any of them.

While I thought the overall story was intriguing, and the addition of the paranormal element added a refreshing twist to the slasher trope, I felt that the plot was a bit convoluted. For about 80% of the book, I could not figure out WTF was going on. There's a subplot about a local author who ended up buying the land and wrote a book that many of the girls at camp are obsessed with that, for the longest time, felt unnecessary. It finally comes together at the end, and we figure out why the author and the book were important to the plot, but for the longest time, it seemed totally irrelevant. I feel like this could have either been fleshed out more or edited down. Also, the paranormal element - while fresh - felt like it was a little overdone. While the complex plot adds to the suspense and intrigue, it also detracts from the overall cohesiveness of the story. I also didn't really get why we needed the interview transcripts, forum chats, and other things that were thrown in. They really broke up the momentum, and none of them held anything super relevant to the overall progression of the story.

Overall, this is an intriguing novel with a pretty cool concept; I just wish the execution had been tighter. There are some good scares and some tense scenes, but the fact that I spent most of the novel feeling like I was missing something really ruined the overall enjoyment for me. In the end, I liked the resolution, but the journey to get there was very frustrating.

This very much reads like an ode to classic horror & I think what this book did really well was create a good horror atmosphere. Multiple times I felt anxiety as if I was watching a movie which I don’t experience all that much reading horror typically. It also reminded me of games like The Quarry/Until Dawn which was fun, & I liked the kind of witty ending there.

My gripes are that the writing felt discombobulating at times, I found the character/world-building to be a little confusing and nonsensical at times & it did take me out of the story often.

Overall, however, this was a fun time

This book shook me! It was gory, bloody, and will give you nightmares. I've not read a book in a long that time that kept me up at night. It is so well written you are transported into this horror filled nightmare and I absolutely loved it. Not for the faint of hart.

2.5 stars

I had no idea what was going on for 90% of this book. I don’t mean that in a fun twisty way; I mean I literally had no idea what was happening. The blurb for this promises the story of Temple, a queer, Black teenager, returning to the woods where her serial killer father hunted. The area has been rented by a horror-themed summer camp for queer girls, and Temple is masquerading as a camp counselor in an attempt to find out once and for all if her father murdered her mother years before. Of course, once bodies start piling up again Temple has to uncover if it’s a copycat or if there’s something truly evil about these woods.

I read a lot of horror and thrillers, and can appreciate an unreliable narrator or a book not giving me all of the background up front in order to allow an air of mystery to linger as I read and solve things myself. But this felt so much like it started in the middle that I was just confused for most of the book, and then when things got answered they weren’t always relevant enough to the main plot for me to understand why they were hidden before. And then some of my larger questions went unanswered altogether.

I still think the concept for this is really cool, and am interested in reading from the POV of a serial killer’s child who questions if they’ve inherited that evil, and loved the mixed media inclusions of prison interviews etc. Also a horror-themed queer summer camp sounds awesome and is the perfect setting for a horror book or movie. But I didn’t particularly like Temple, and while there were some bright spots early in the book and side characters I liked, I mostly felt unsatisfied by this book. Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Temple’s dad is a serial killer, and he’s sent her on a mission to find her mom’s remains. This quest leads her to the campgrounds where the bodies are buried. This feels like the fifth Scream movie, with the meta moments and the “is being a killer genetic?” trope. There’s a lot to like between the queer Black representation, the complex characters, and the many twists that make this story so compelling. The author makes a few hard right turns that threw me for a loop, but they eventually get back on track once I bought back in. Great addition to the YA horror catalog. Very unique.

Temple comes to camp alone because a crowd makes it difficult to go corpse hunting.

Dead Girls Walking by Sami Ellis


Quick Summary
Temple knows evil runs I her family, with her fathering being an infamous serial killer and all. But one thing she doesn't believe is that her dad killed her mom and the only way to find these answers is to return to her old home.
Turns out the old farm has been turned into an overnight camp for queer, horror obsessed girls. Temple decides to pose as a camp counsellor to be able to go digging around in the woods and hopefully find answers.

Final Thoughts
Thank you @NetGalley, ABRAMS Kids & Amulet books for this eARC of #DeadGirlsWalking. This ended up being a book I'm glad I stuck through because I was not loving the beginning, don't get me wrong. The opening sentence was FIRE. But I lost interest for a small portion of the beginning until ultimately needed to devour the entire thing. This was a fun take on summer camp slasher tying into family history.

While I understand teenage girls, the cursing and name calling may be a little much for some people so I do want to give warning.

Other than that a fun YA Slasher Book.

I love the premise of this book and the horror aspects were fantastic. I love the setting, unfortunately I had a really hard time getting into this book. I wasn't hooked until about halfway through and at that point it sped up to be a whirlwind.

Temple Baker knows about the evil in her blood being the daughter of an serial killer named the North Point Killer, but when she fallows her dads clues back to their old home site to try and find her mother and lay her to rest she gets the shock of her life.
This book is such a wild ride with all its twists and turns, and suspense and action that goes on for days. Being a young adult book I am not sure if it would be a thriller or horror, but it was very good and I liked the characters a lot. This is a book that will have you up past your bedtime.

I'm not sure how I feel about it if I'm being honest; I really enjoyed the first half, but once the second half got into full swing, there was so much going on that I found it hard to keep track of everything.

I will admit that it's nothing like I thought it was going to be, and I didn't end up enjoying it as much as I thought I would. I found the synopsis a little misleading.

Oh man this was a book that I thought I was going to love. I am from Virginia where this book is set, I am a fan of YA horror/ Thriller books, I love that there is queer rep, and I love supporting black authors. But this was just not good. Very immature characters. I found myself very bored with this one. The main character just gave me no reason to root for her. This was also a hard book to follow. This missed the mark for me.

This story had an intriguing premise and it mostly delivered. Having not only a story with a queer protagonist, but a black queer protagonist was a novelty to me - and having the majority of the secondary characters slot into the POC queer umbrella as well felt revolutionary! Temple's story is definitely unlike any other I've read before, however, it did feel rather disjointed at times and I often had to reread paragraphs to realise what had happened or how the story had suddenly got from A to B without any warning. Despite that, it was a fun read that was more grotesque than horror and had multiple one-liners that I laughed at. If you're looking for a book rife with representation or a soft horror flick, then this is the book for you!

A brilliant ya thriller

I had such a good time reading this book it was intriguing and left me guessing where it was going to go

The opening paragraph is very hooking and left me wanting so much more.

The book is set in a camp where our main characters temples father set about his killing spree years before and tempest is trying to find out what happened to her mother

Although Temple is not very likeable I did find myself rooting for her throughout the book.

4 stars it was very good

Absolutely loved this YA horror. It had fantastic and unexpected twists and turns. This will definitely satisfy YA readers who want spooky mysteries.

2/5 ⭐️
Thank you NetGalley and publishers for the ARC of this book.

I was really looking forward to this one but I’ve got to be honest, a quarter of the way through and I was ready for it to be over.
The writing was all over the place, the characters unlikeable and the motivations convoluted and hard to understand. It also wasn’t very scary. Graphic, yes, but not scary.

The premise itself was very interesting but unfortunately it wasn’t very well executed.
I do find it interesting that there is a lot of positive reviews, maybe it just wasn’t for me.

Temple applies for a position as a counselor at a queer girls horror themed camp. She doesn’t have to watch the movies or read the books to know what horror is, however, because she lived it. Temple’s father is a convicted serial killer and while she saw the aftermath of his kills, she can’t help but feel there’s something else lurking in the shadows.

This was a multilayered that was a wild ride. The characters were well developed and most of their backstories were explored, which made them easier to relate to. I also found the story to be unique and not one I had read before. There are also a lot of twists and turns that will keep you guessing.

I did, however, struggle a bit with this one. The main issue for me was the pacing. I get it was a slow burn with a detailed backstory and I still felt the story just plodded along. I wish it had gotten to where it was going a little faster. Also, while I found the characters relatable, I didn’t much like any of them. Three of the characters sort of turned. It around in the end for me and that was a long time in coming.

Despite my issues with it, this is a good book. My advice would be to read it in the middle of the day because you never know what’s going to come out of the shadows.

Teen Summer Camp Slasher type stories are having a bit of a moment in YA horror right now. My general librarian philosophy is to give the kids what they want, and to that effect I've been reading a lot of these types of stories. Comparitively, this one ranks somewhere in the middle of the pack.

The set-up is strong. "My father was a serial killer and now I'm back at the camp where he killed" is a premise a potential reader will immediately be drawn to if this is their kind of story. I like it when horror books initially leave you wondering whether the goings-on are supernatural or not. In my opinion, this book makes it clear which side of that line it comes down on a little bit too early, but that is very much just a matter of taste.

The main reason I don't rate this book higher than I do is because there's something about the way that it's written that's just kind of... confusing to me? I found myself often having to reread sentences a few times, because it was often unclear to me who was speaking to who, or where things were supposed to be, or sometimes even just what was going on.

Overall, I'd say this would be a pretty good buy if you've got a lot of horror reading teens, but I'm unsure if it would appeal to readers not already kind of savvy to the genre.

Rating: 3.5 (rounded up)

Content Warnings: murder, violence, gore, death of a parent, desecration of bodies, stalking, child abuse, fire/fire injury

Temple, the daughter of an infamous serial killer, returns to the woods in which she was raised - the woods where her father's victims were discovered - hoping to find the truth of her mother's disappearance. But the woods, now a campsite, are still a site of multiple missing persons cases, and Temple soon finds herself investigating a possible copycat of her father's crimes.

So, this was definitely different than I was expecting, but I think it was different for the better! Ellis definitely does a good job invoking the energy of a horror flick with this book - her writing sets the spooky atmosphere, and the descriptions of gore, while not my exact cup of tea, are definitely reminiscent of a slasher film. Going into this, I was definitely not expecting a paranormal kind of horror, but once this element is introduced, it works really well. Plot-wise, I think this is really great. It's full of twists and turns, and it's fun to see all of the various plot threads introduced throughout the book come together to create a cohesive narrative. My only issue with it, really, was that I wished we were given more information sooner, because frankly, I don't think I fully comprehended what was actually going on here until the 90% mark or something. I totally understand wanting that 'unfolding mystery' vibe with your book, but for a little too much of this book, I just felt a little too out of the loop, which didn't make for the best reading experience. That being said, totally possible that I'm just dumb and other people would totally have grasped everything earlier! And everything did totally come together - definitely a case of 'when it clicks, it CLICKS'.

Still, I think plot was the strongest element here. I really wanted to like Temple as a character, but she sort of gave off 'not like other girls' vibes. (Like, come on, aren't we over calling other girls 'Barbie' as an insult?) Ultimately, I think her character arc was pretty good, but I did find it difficult to warm up to her. I'm really glad the book didn't have a romance though - I was worried it might and it SO didn't need one, so I was glad everyone was just bestie vibes only at the end.

Huge thank you to NetGalley, Sami Ellis, and Amulet Books for the eARC!

Your Father is a Killer, a now on death row a serial killer convicted of killing 20+ people and one of them was your mother
We follow Temple as she poses as a Camp Counselor at her father’s killing ground turned overnight camp. When a girl ends up dead, Temple goes on a mission for answers To protect her fellow campers she must face that her father may have not been the only monster in these woods…
This book was definitely a mixed bag for me. I really wanted to and say that I loved it, but I didn’t. I can’t say that I hate it either, so it pretty much falls in the middle for me.
First and foremost, I got lost so many times with the way the author wrote this book. A lot of the jumping back-and-forth between past dialogue/scenes and case notes had me so confused. I just wanted it to be a straightforward story about a girl trying to protect the campers from an unknown entity. And to add on that a lot of the characters didn’t get as much development time as they should have. I can’t really say that any of these characters, including the main character, are my favorite. Which is kind of a bummer because you really want to like the main character or at least a character. The all kind of felt like they were on one level if that makes any sense.
What I liked:
I did like that it was LGBTQ+Friday the 13th inspired type of novel mainly and a good portion of the dialogue had me cracking up in its wittiness.
The big reveal was kind of a shocker. Cause I honestly didn’t see it coming which is a plus but the way that it ended was kind of like being left with a severe case of whiplash. And not necessarily a good case.
Overall, this book was a so-so book. I was kind of expecting more from the spooky cover and the synopsis. It just felt like a lot of parts were rammed together to create this story and I wouldn’t say they connected the way I would have liked.
Would I recommend this book?
I’m always the kind of person that wants every reader to give it a chance. Just because I didn’t particularly like it, doesn’t mean everyone won’t like it. I would give it 3 stars. A wobbly queer inspired slasher novel that left me confused and unsatisfied.

Thanks to the folks at NetGalley for ARC of this book. My review is a honest reflection of my feelings towards this book.

A fantastically fun YA horror set at a horror camp, with the main character Temple searching for her mother’s dead body. The setup and premise are thrilling and the writing is snappy, the stakes are clear, and the setting is spooky. While not totally scary, parts in the woods and creaky houses are definitely creepy.

The book does try to do quite a lot within a short space of time which at around the 30% mark is a bit disconnecting, but I found that I started to get sucked in all over again after this point.

As a lover of all things Scream and slashers, this appealed to teenage me who loved to be scared while rooting for amazing characters. Temple might not always be likeable, but she’s relatable and isn’t trying to be every other YA MC.

Definitely recommend for YA horror and thriller lovers.