This book was a spooky delight! With a very creepy and uncertain atmosphere, The writing style is whimsical and pairs nicely with the illustrations. The story has good pacing, and the twist at the end? So effective! I didn't see it coming. I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a spooky read that's a lot of fun, and feel like the middle grade audience will absolutely obsess over it.

Read at Your Own Risk by Remy Lai is an engaging and whimsical graphic novel that celebrates the joy of reading and the adventures books can inspire. Through charming illustrations and clever storytelling, Lai explores the journey of a young reader who encounters various characters and plots, showcasing the magic and wonder of literature. The book cleverly addresses themes of imagination and creativity, making it an enjoyable read for both children and adults. It’s a delightful reminder of the transformative power of stories and the thrill of diving into new worlds.

Not a graphic novel as I had hoped, but rather an illustrated journal. Very creepy and a bit too gory for me (but I am not a fan of horror books). I don't think this is a good fit for most elementary age kids.

Hannah and her friends were just having fun up in the school’s attic when they tried to communicate with spirits. Little did they know that something would be there and crawl its way into the pages of Hannah’s journal. What started out as a game has turned into something dire that Hannah tries to fix.

I originally asked for an ARC of this because I loved the idea of a haunted journal and what that would look like. Remy Lai didn’t disappoint in captivating my attention on the first page and keeping it throughout. The artwork is very Coraline-y, so I feel like a lot of readers will enjoy it from that alone.

The story itself is simple but still holds lessons to be learned.

This would fit right alongside those readers who enjoyed Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark as well as Goosebumps. This will no doubt lure our horror seeking youths but I think adults will also get a kick out of this as well.

*Thank you Henry Holt and Co. and NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

Hannah has a journal where she records her terrifying encounter with a vengeful spirit that she invoked by playing a silly game with three of her friends. Hannah tells a harrowing story of a seemingly inescapable curse taking over her life. Can she find a way to break the curse before it’s too late?

The reader is along for the journey as Hannah details the events of the curse and the scary happenings as it unfolds with malevolent consequences. This book is formatted like a ruled notebook with sketchy illustrations and handwritten entries detailing Hannah’s daily events, conveying an escalating sense of dread to readers. Younger readers will enjoy the creepy-crawly, completely relatable type of horror with some humor thrown in. Remy Lai makes some interesting choices that keeps this story from being predictable, and it only adds to the fun. Though short, the pacing is good, leading to an ending that is surprising, but satisfying. Hannah is spunky and likable without being unrealistically perfect as she tries to figure out how to save herself without putting loved ones and those around her at risk. Looking for a short and gratifying middle grade horror book that makes great use of its unique format? Check out Read at Your Own Risk.

I loved the creepy art style and the journal format. This is definitely great read for a horror loving kid. I just found the ending twist fell a bit flat, but I enjoyed it overall.

Happy Spooky Season 🎃👻
The other day I saw comment about how adult horror readers exist because they got engaged at a young age. I've always been a coward, yet I loved R.L. Stein and Adventures of the Bailey School Kids. Now my niece and nephew are reading middle grade books and I'm excited to pass some creepy tales to them too.

I've been diving into some of these myself after receiving recommendations and recently finished READ AT YOUR OWN RISK by Remy Lai. It was engaging and creepy, but also empowering for kids. The story centers on a girl who is cursed after a Ouiji game in the schools haunted attic. The book is her notebook where she journals her curse. The illustrations are fantastic, unsettling a chaotic, elevating everything.

If you're looking for a horror book to introduce a young reader to the genre, or want to relax with a quick read on a busy day, I recommend this book.


Thank you NetGalley and MacMillan Children's Publishing for access to this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really fun spooky story! The illustrations are fun and it has a fun writing style. I would recommend this to young horror fans! Thank you to Remy Lai, MacMillian Children's Publishing and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

I had a really unique and fun experience reading this. I like how it is told from the perspective of a journal. It kinda had some Pallbearer's Club (Paul Tremblay) vibes, too, particularly where it pertains to red ink on the pages. IYKYK. I loved the body horror elements in this with the blood and bugs and all the icky. It's a great middle grade intro to figuring out if body horror will end up being an interest or something that is a complete turn off. Just a pretty fun story with a good message in the end.

Seventh grader Hannah Lee and her friends skip an assembly to go to the school’s supposedly haunted attic, where they attempt to contact the spirits. Soon after, Hannah realizes she’s unwittingly released an evil curse. Now she must contend with bad luck such as accidentally being skewered by a scalpel during science class. Hannah suspects that Leon Star might know what’s happening and seeks help; unfortunately, he tells her she doesn’t have much time before she’ll succumb to the curse. Hannah writes her troubles in a mix of doodle scrawls and diary entries. Even the pages of her notebook aren’t safe from the malevolent spirit, who often interrupts her musings and responds in red ink. Readers will find much to enjoy in this fast-paced but extremely macabre tale. Body horror abounds. The diary’s pages become spattered with blood as Hannah’s teeth fall out. When she sees her dentist, he tells her that her gums are overrun with silverfish. She is upset and can’t stand to think the silver fish are causing her to lose teeth. Will she be able to get the evil spirit to stop doing it? She tries very hard to break the curse but will she?

The author has made narrative and visuals work together. In the cartoonish illustrations. It made me enjoy the story very much. I liked Hannah as she is a great character showing the reader she was not going to give up on breaking the curse.

This is just perfect for spooky season. Read At Your Own Risk had elements of Scary Stories in The Dark. When Hannah and her friends decided to play a dangerous game of trying to contact ghosts, everyone goes sour. After everything is done, for some reason Hannah is the only one being haunted by an entity. The ghost communicates with her through her notebook. Now she will have to break the curse before it takes a darker turn.

The illusions were so eerie and unique, it reminded me of Coraline in a way. Thanks to her journal we get to know the ghost and how it disturbs Hannah. It is perfect for kids who are starting to read spooky books.

This was a fun diversion from adult reads and is something I can see my daughter devouring in the coming years. Horror meets graphic novel - reminded me a bit of Tom Riddle and the diary he left behind but spookier. Definitely will be remembering this in the future!

3.5 ⭐️
This story was CREEPY! I loved the body horror and how this diary literally sucked the reader in, but I would have loved more story to support the creepiness. I feel like learning more about the curse, the kids who were previously haunted, or the origin of this spirit and the game that brought them out would have added so much more and made the things happening to Hannah even more impactful. This is surface-level creepy and a great introduction to horror for middle and high school readers.

Read at Your Own Risk is a fun (If you can say scary is fun), quick horror read for kids who enjoy spooky, gross-out scary stories and fun comic art. Reminiscent of a “Dairy of a Wimpy Kid” layout, which made it both easy and fun to read. There were hidden messages (like be nice to friends, and listen to adults, etc).

Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan for the advanced copy!

As a fan of Schwartz’s Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, I would have devoured this book in my youth! Just enough creepiness to be a bit disturbing without crossing the line of being too intense for middle grade horror readers. In fact, I think it could have gone a bit further when I compare it to the horror I was reading as a middle grader.

The illustrations and aesthetic vibe of this book give Diary of a Wimpy Kid gone dark. I personally feel the story landed more amongst upper elementary due to the number of illustrations versus written word. In this way, I could see it appealing to middle graders who prefer graphic novels to prose. As an adult reader I was craving more story, but my middle grade daughter enjoyed it while feeling like it was just enough. She enjoyed being able to finish the book in just over an hour but didn’t feel like it challenged her much.

My biggest rave about this book is how it comes with a fun call-to-action at the end, encourage readers to write their own story/stories. I felt it was a fun way to get the imagination fired up. Some reviewers stated that they wished the author would have expanded on the original ghost’s story, but both my daughter and I enjoyed the element of the unknown. In fact, with the call-to-action at the end, I feel the unknown within this book sets up a great avenue for readers to come up with their own fictional tale(s).

I would recommend this book to young readers who enjoy paranormal and low-grade body horror, and who may find themselves struggling with books that are heavy on the prose.

Read at Your Own Risk is quite a departure from Lai's previous works with black and white drawings in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid style. Hannah has been cursed after her and her friends try to communicate with the ghosts in her school's haunted attic. The ghost begins communicating with Hannah and warns her that the eighth day will be her last. The story is slowly revealed to the reader in a mixed media journal format in such a way that I continued to turn the page to find out what happened next in the story. I would recommend this book to readers who are fans of R. L. Stine or the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series, however if the reader is squeamish about body horror (specifically bugs, teeth falling out, bloody noses) they I would look for another option, but overall I really enjoyed this "cheeky" horror graphic novel.

Like mixing Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark with a large side-helping of R.L. Stine and a sprinkle of Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

Okay, so maybe not so much DWK because it's not funny, really, but the sarcasm and the illustrations would appeal to DWK readers who are ready to branch out into the scary genre. And kids who enjoy scary books will love this, especially if they've read Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and are looking for more haunting stories. There's plenty of creepiness to keep readers engaged, and the short chapters combined with the childlike yet spooky illustrations (reminiscent of Scary Stories) make a great combo for reluctant readers. Perfect for a wide variety of middle grade readers!

**Thank you, NetGalley and publishers, for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.**

One day, during a school assembly, Hannah and her friends snuck into the haunted school attic to play a game, Spirit of the Coin. However, when they returned, Hannah was never the same again; she became cursed, and her teeth fell out. She only had 8 days to live. What really happened in the attic? And why was she the only one cursed? Read at your own risk.

As soon as I started reading this book, I was captivated by its compelling storyline. Since it had been a while since I had delved into a horror novel, I found the change quite refreshing, given that horror is my preferred genre.
The gradual unfolding of the events that occurred in the attic throughout the book held my attention from start to finish.
The illustrations in the book contributed to the eerie atmosphere, which I particularly enjoyed.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone in search of a gripping narrative and a thrilling fright.

Happy Spooky Reading, Laly 📚 👻 🎃
Thank you, @netgalley & @henryholtbooks, for the complimentary ARC, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

When Hannah and her friends decide to communicate with spirits with a coin, they never expected things to go wrong. For some reason, Hannah is the only one who has been cursed, and now she’s communicating with the evil spirit through her notebook. Now she’s determined to figure out how to break the curse before she finds herself dead all thanks to a game she wishes she never played!

This is such a perfect middle school read for any kid who loves scary stories. I was a huge fan of "Goosbumps" when I was growing up, so this is the type of book that I would’ve loved even more during that time of my life. We follow Hannah through a notebook that’s become her illustrated diary that she also uses to communicate with the evil spirit that’s cursed her. While I wish we got to know more about the evil spirit, I think it’s a perfect read for middle schoolers. I found myself sucked into the story after a few pages and a little grossed out by all the bugs! I’m excited to check out the author’s other work because this was such a great read.

Lai goes full-on horror with her latest book, and I am delighted. I have been a fan of Lai's since I read Pie in the Sky and love her talent for tender family stories. With Read at Your Own Risk, the author uses an illustrated diary format, similar to Pie in the Sky but with more illustration. The book reads as the diary of a girl named Hannah, who played a game with her friends but is now cursed, and is filled with the creepiest, crawliest storytelling that will delight middle graders. Lai's characters remind me of Junji Ito's human characters, sporting wide black eyes and creepy smiles; during Hannah's interactions with the spirit - played out in the diary itself - we get loose teeth, drops of blood, and sinister wordplay. Illustrations are black and white, with splashes of red for gore - I mean, good - measure. Your Goosebumps readers are going to squeal with terrified joy at this one. A must-purchase.