Before I started reading this one I looked it up and saw that it is third in a series- I'm not sure if reading the previous two were necessary to understanding this one as I seemed to be able to follow it easy enough, however this book just wasn't for me. I couldn't connect to any of the characters- I don't find any of them remotely likable. I thought this was going to be a camping/slasher horror and instead got some kind of cult/supernatural monster and serial killer all wrapped up in to one book. It was just too much for me.

When I grabbed this one, I didn't realize it was a book 3 - and I think I may have enjoyed this more had I read book 1 and 2 to get some backstory.

But, as a stand alone, it does hold its own. The beginning is just a group getting together for a stay at a very old cabin. It's pretty typical horror and I was easily able to picture the characters, the setting, and the twists and turns. I found a few parts creepy but, otherwise, it was a pretty typical gory slasher.

I did like that I wasn't sure who to trust - there were a lot of people out for themselves (which I found realistic). I liked the addition of birds that added to the element of creep, along with the scarecrow.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

High school is almost over, and the expectation of losing touch with his friends has Josh organising a Halloween getaway. Only a couple of people could make it, but that's okay, it'll still be an amazing night and one last hurrah before adulthood calls. Josh's fun weekend soon turns to one of terror. He wasn't aware of the graves in the forest, or the bloody handprint on the cabin door. He most definitely didn't know about the dark entity that is stirring in the caves below, or that it won't rest until Josh and his friends are dead, their blood quenching the evil thing's thirst just before it bursts free from its cage...

I am a sucker for a horror story that is set across one or two nights. Throw in some ancient evil, a cult, the Appalachia and camping and I am so freaking sold. I've been trying really hard to catch up on my Netgalley reads, so I've been doing my best to work through the backlog of amazing books I have on that list, this being one of them. This was my first read from this author, but it won't be my last.

Romines did a fantastic job at really making me feel that I was in the middle of the forest with Josh and his friends. His descriptions of the forest were fantastic, and I thoroughly enjoyed the setting. I've recently, in the last twelve odd months, become absolutely fascinated by the Appalachian Forest and its surroundings. I'm absolutely OBSESSED with the different myths, legends and rules that I've learnt about from people who live in the area, and I feel like Romines really gave me that vibe of strange occurrences that are reported to happen. I mean, where else would you find a psychopath, a strange ancient evil, a cult and a gigantic flock of crows that are not behaving like crows? I was able to suspend disbelief with this story because of its setting, and I loved it.

The story itself was a super easy read and it did have me wanting to keep reading late into the night to see what was going to happen next. One thing that I found was a little bit of a letdown for me, was that there was more telling than showing. There was some showing in the narrative, but it was more telling which I find always makes me feel like I'm reading a story rather than living it. I also found that there were some continuity issues that pulled me out of the story a fair few times. I found myself having to quickly go back and skim over where a character had been left because it felt like they had sort of skipped ahead or moved from where they just were. I found that there were a lot of instances where I could have sworn a character was somewhere, but in the next paragraph suddenly they were over the other side of where I originally thought that they were. This is possibly just a me issue, but I did find that the narrative jumped around a little bit in environment and placement.

The characters were endearing enough, and I did care about what happened to them. I liked that Romines wrote the story that he wanted to write and didn't necessarily conform to horror formulas. I also enjoyed that each of the characters had some back story and something difficult that they'd been through in their lives which helped to build their personalities, their morales and also influenced decisions that they made throughout the ordeal. I enjoyed Nick's character a lot and I thought it was really awesome that we got an insight into what helped him change as a person and make better choices. I do wish that his support and driving force was more to do with the person than his newfound faith, but I did like that religion wasn't a super heavy aspect of the story and just mentioned as a part of the character's build. I find religion can be quite a story killer for me as I myself am not religious, so I find it hard to be able to throw all faith and outcomes to a higher power. But to be able to have Nick's friend be the support was good, I just wish that it was more because of her, not so much "God has a plan for you".

There was a lot going on in this story, and sometimes that can mean that the story is trying to take on too much at once, which can cause confusion and a feeling of overwhelm for me, that didn't happen with this one. I liked that each separate thing that was going on was also linked in some way. Even though the narration was not what I was after entirely, I still found this a page turner and a fantastic idea.

All in all, I found this one to be intriguing and a fantastic idea that possibly wasn't executed to its fullest potential. Romines has shown that he can write a creepy, atmospheric horror with sound characters that have you rooting for them from the minute the first axe is thrown, but I can also see that there is room for him to grow as an author and really step into the potential that I saw in this book. I'm looking forward to following this author and getting to watch him evolve into something absolutely amazing. I'll be checking out his other works and keeping an eye out for future releases. If you're after a fun, horror read that has all the trappings of an enjoyable horror movie, give it a go, just don't take it super seriously and you'll have an amazing time.

I received this book for netgalley in exchange for a review.
Halloween. Big night of scares and plenty to do. I think this was a perfect take on scary and things that happen on Halloween in books. If this was a movie i would love to see that happen. It had me on my seat waiting to see what happened with Josh and his friends. It kinda gave me Wrong Turn vibes.. And the video game Until Dawn. But still had its own unique grasp on scary. I would highly recommend.

This starts out well, with a group of friends meeting up at a dilapidated old cabin in the woods and finding a bloody handprint on the door. It's fast paced, atmospheric, and entertaining -- and then the pace speeds up and suddenly we've got a walking scarecrow, a group of murderous cultists, an unrelated killer who's been filling up a mass grave in the woods, caves, abandoned mine shafts.... It's just too much in such a short book and winds up reading more like an outline of what happened next.

Surprisingly my first time reading a horror genre book. Shocking, I’m aware. I found the book well written and fast pace, pretty enjoyable. A pretty solid reading.

Josh and his three friends plus his (uninvited) older brother are going camping somewhere in Appalachia for maybe their last time together before they finish high school. Josh has always been an outdoorsman and is very excited to be out in a rundown creepy cabin in the middle of the wilderness. His friends aren't quite as impressed with their surroundings and would rather be somewhere else.
Never in their wildest dreams would they think their lives would be in danger of a serial killer, a vengeful scarecrow creature and a satanic cult all looking for their perfect sacrifice and quenching their taste of blood. Of course, all the festivities are scheduled for (you guessed it) Halloween Night! Will any of this naive and unsuspecting group survive this horrific nightmare of events or were they doomed from the start of their trip?


A creepy and exciting horror story taking place on October 31st, but a great read for anytime of year. This book was full of continuous action and was written very well. The situations were frightening and horrific with a lot of the supernatural, violence, blood etc. and the characters were fun, snarky and entertaining although they made some really questionable decisions at times but that made for some great reading. I enjoyed this book and I would read more by this author in the future.

I want to thank the publisher "Sunbury Press Inc., Hellbender Books" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this YA horror story and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I have given a rating of 3 1/2 DARK AND CREEPY 🌟🌟🌟🌠 STARS!!

Okay, so, I'm a pretty critical reader, and there weren't grammatical errors or anything, but a lot of the telling instead of showing about the characters. And there's a lot of violence, which the characters would not be able to handle that easily.
BUT.
A cult, a serial killer, a killer scarecrow, and a guy just looking for redemption after abandoning his brother.
At the end, I felt really emotional. There was a ton of action, it held my attention, and I found out finally that I really had gotten invested in the characters. So I'm rating it higher than maybe I should because it really drew me into the story and I cared.

3.5 stars

I enjoyed this book. I’m a big fan of the slasher genre in general though. This was fast paced, exciting, and everything you expect from a slasher. Nothing ground breaking, but still a ton of fun!

Josh Rush wants to enjoy one final getaway with his friends before the end of high school. A spooky October camping trip in rural Appalachia sounds like the perfect opportunity to do just that.

This was fine. Nothing ground-breaking, but decently entertaining.

I got an ARC of this book.

This was super basic. The first 20% was scene for scene a basic slasher in the woods horror movie. There was nothing new, there was nothing exciting. Then it jumped right into the cult with little to no prep work. Then a lot of action back and forth. It wasn't scary. It wasn't exciting. It wasn't new in any real way. It felt like a dozen movies I had already seen.

It is not a bad slasher in the woods book, but it isn't anything that stands out. It is perfectly average and competent. I was hoping for more.

WHOA! This was intense. So sinister. I barely had a chance to breathe before the next evil thing took my breath away. Chilling and dark. Perfect for Halloween. It WILL scare you--between the scarecrow, the cult, and the deep dark woods.

Leave the lights on and hold on tight! Claustrophobic and intense. Evil cult, evil entities, evil living scarecrow, and evil psychotic woodsman - all while stranded in the deep woods with no car or phone. Yea, this one is intense and definitely worth the read. Perfect for Halloween or anytime.

This novel has a lot of creepy things that fans of horror are going to love. Possessed scarecrows, a demented cult trying to bring an ancient god to life, a cave system that might be home to something far worse than animals, a psychopathic serial killer in the woods, and a group of high school seniors who decide to go camping as a last hurrah.

If that sounds like a lot, it is. But all of these things come together really well in this story and gives it a feeling of hopelessness as our protagonists attempt to survive these horrors in the woods and cornfields.

This is a survival horror story as much as it is a supernatural one. The characters are put through some really frightening trauma (physical and mental) as they are chosen for sacrifice by a cult and being stalked by a scarecrow and an old man who's been hunting humans in that area for years.

With no way to escape, no way to communicate with the rest of the world, will these evil forces take them one by one? Or will their personal issues be their undoing?

I thought this was a great novel that wasn't afraid to throw a plethora of scary things into the mix. It kept me on the edge of my seat and the "near misses" before escape were exciting and action packed.

There are romantic angles between different characters that I wasn't a fan of. I don't know, maybe I'm just an old heartless bastard but I generally don't want romance in a horror book unless it enhances the narrative. I didn't think it did that here.

That's just me. I know a lot of people like and appreciate a dose of romanticism. Overall though, this is a scary, wild, imaginative novel with plenty of tension and, really, who doesn't love a bloodthirsty scarecrow?

I highly recommend this book and, despite the romantic angles, I thought it was awesome!

What do you get when you mix a group of teenage friends camping in a cabin deep in the rural Appalachian woods in October, surrounded by cornfields, an urban legend about missing persons and scarecrows, a murder of crows, and the occult? The perfect horror read just in time for Halloween. Reading this was like watching a movie in my mind, as it gives Children of the Corn and Wrong Turn vibes. It starts strong and doesn't let up with nonstop heart-pounding suspenseful situations through to the end. I have to give props to the character development as well. Such a great fun read.

Thank you to Sunbury Press Inc. and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC in return for my voluntary and honest review.