4 ⭐️
This is a YA horror slasher and it was so fun! It takes place in a summer camp for QPOC and the main character is the daughter of a convicted serial killer. The beginning was a little slow but it quickly picked up and I couldn’t put it down. The main character has so many issues, I love her. I don’t want to spoil any more of it so believe me that this was great! I definitely recommend it when it is released tomorrow, March 26th! I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Amulet Books for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book began in medias res but then never went back to explain what was going on. I could never get who everyone was or how they knew each other. I felt like I missed reading the first book or something due to the lack of information given throughout the story. There was way too much show and not enough tell. Maybe I'm just not a traditional horror fan because I want there to be more of a logical progression of events and more subtle creeping dread than in-your-face gore and violence and this just felt like sucker punch after sucker punch. Overall, it just wasn't for me.

This audiobook was made available to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a young adult horror novel set at a camp with thriller and supernatural elements sprinkled throughout. Similar to 'You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight' by Kalynn Bayron and American Horror Story Season 9 '1984'. This just has that nostalgic 80's horror movie feel. As I'm a Gen Xer, this is like revisiting my childhood horror stories.

This is an action packed novel and pulled me right in from the first page so to speak. Temple is a Camp Counselor at Pride Rocks, a themed LGBTQA+ horror overnight girls camp. Added to the horror is that the 'camp' is located on the family farm that Temple grew up on. Temple's father is the famous North Point Killer, a serial murderer who is behind bars as the story opens.
Temple has returned to where she grew up to look for her mother's body. Her father has confessed to murdering her mother but her mom's body was never found. Temple has to know what happened and goes undercover at the camp as a counselor to be able to access her old family farm.
Once Temple is ensconced in the camp as a counselor, a dead body turns up. It's too freshly killed to be left by Temple's Dad. Temple has been haunted by her father's weird serial killer groupies and immediately thinks this is a copycat.
This has supernatural elements and the horror is hair-raising. The action is pulse pounding. I could not stop listening until this story was over. This is layered and very fun.

This novel is expertly narrated by Tamika Katon-Donegal. Her voice is perfect for an older teen novel of this type. I like that Tamika applied tone changes to represent other characters in the novel. I'll be sure to seek out additional books narrated by her.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook novel. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own.

2.25⭐️

The narrator does a wonderful job of making Ellis’ words pushing you to the edge of your seat. Unfortunately at about the 40% mark I was struggling to stay focused and root for Temple. It felt very disconnected at times and would have benefited from being written in first person instead of third.

The premise of the book was a great idea, but there were too many moving pieces making it hard to follow along. I had no idea where this book was going and not in the fun plot twist way… I kept hoping that eventually it would all come together in a huge twist, but unfortunately it never got there for me.

This was such a fun camp slasher with absolutely horrifying horror. The family history was put in in such a good way! And the body take overs were completely terrifying.

This was just an okay read for me if I'm totally honest. There was nothing too standout in this YA thriller featuring a Black female MC at summer camp. It would make good summer thriller and I'd definitely recommend it for fans of books like The Black girl survives in this one or You're not supposed to die tonight. Good on audio if you enjoy that format. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review! I might have just been too old to hit the target demo for this one.

Do you love a gory slasher movie?! If so, then Dead Girls Walking is for you!

This YA horror slasher follows Temple Baker to summer camp. The camp happens to be on land that use to belong to her father’s family. Her father, a notorious serial killer, is on death row for killing at least 20 people. He confessed to killing her mother and burying her on the family land, so Temple is out to find proof.

This audiobook is well narrated, fast paced, and full of plenty of things that will scare you. I don’t recommend listening before bed or it may cause you to lose sleep or have nightmares 😳

Thank you @recordedbooks for allowing me to listen to this audiobook ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

(This same review was shared on the Barnes & Noble website)

Thank you Net Galley and publishers for letting me listen to this book for an honest review.

This was my first audio book and I don't normally read horror so it was definitely an experience. I enjoyed the narrator alot, she kept me interested and changed her voice with every character. The book itself was entertaining. It was really slow and kinda dragged for about half the book. I got annoyed at the mc alot, she was the stereotypical teenager and really mean, I couldn't vibe with her. After the halfway mark that's when things took a spooky turn. The setting was a horror camp for lgbtqia teens and the mc was a camp counselor. The camp itself was her family's farm and she returned to find out what happened to her mom since her dad was a serial killer currently in jail. We find out that the camp had darker intentions and there are worse monsters out there. I sped through the ending once it picked up.

I had a chance to check out this story via audio, and it is narrated by one of my favorite audio hosts, Tamika Katon-Donegal. She is the same one who did the Echo Knight series, and I am excited she blessed us with another reading. This was a great 11 hours of listening.

I had a great time, y'all! DGW is an actual horror book filled with generational serial killers, cults, ghosts, possession, and you can't forget the slashers. OH, IT WAS SUCH A GOOD TIME! I haven't read too many "horror" books because most aren't horrifying. However, with all these elements DGW provides, it is hard to deny its presence in the community.

I enjoyed Temple's character. She had a good arc with her redemption story. She is the intrusive thought I sometimes wish came to fruition. To come from a family of pure evil and try to reverse the reoccurring cycle without falling into the cracks takes willpower most people will falter for.

Good start for a debut author!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel to read in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who has read a lot of horror, I thought this book felt fairly unique, especially given that this book is set at a camp and camp horror tends to follow a lot of the same tropes. There were a lot of things I liked about this, from the interesting characters to the fresh plot, but I gave it a three stars because there were a lot of parts of this book that felt convoluted or not entirely easy to follow. Everything does come together towards the end and the unexpected twist made it a worthwhile read.

If you're a horror fan and you love camp horror this is one to check out.

A+ for gore and for BIPOC queer girls being front and center.

Unfortunately, the plot progression felt… weird. To be fair, I’m extremely picky when it comes to horror and the supernatural elements here were strange to me and felt kinda jammed in at the end. It felt like we were supposed to know about / accept those supernatural things much earlier, but some of that explanation was too little too late.

I liked Temple’s prickliness, particularly given her secretive and distrustful nature. Though I felt like none of the other characters had much depth as a result (since we spend the book in Temple’s head).

I want to start with the positives: the narrator, Tamika Katon-Donegal, knocked it out of the park. She did a wonderful job ensuring none of the characters were difficult to tell apart. The representation is perfect.

There were a few eerie scenes and I loved the spooky vibes. Overall, a good little slasher.

The negatives: It was a little too slow for me. I didn't feel any pickup until around chapter 20, then it seemed to fall flat again until the chapters in the 40s. I had a hard time keeping up with who was gone and who was still kicking. I also felt Temple's objective got lost in some areas. However, I feel the relationship between Temple and her parents was really well written.

Overall, not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for this audiobook before the release!

Oh I liked this one - lots of characters to keep track of lead to some confusion. But oh the representation, creative backstory and somewhat grisly. I could not stop listening to this audio.
Temple is the daughter of an infamous serial killer - currently on death row and her mother likely one of his victims. Her father finally gives her clues to her mother's location - living on what used to the family farm or buried somewhere. Returning as a camp counselor for the summer, Temple must navigate her duties while investigating. Surrounded by horror obsessed teenage queer girls and lesbian camp leaders, focused on what happened on the property and the infamous book by a woman who disappeared somewhere on the property.
Slasher vibes, queer people everywhere and a deep rooted secret.

A YA Horror slasher taking place at a summer camp for queer, horror obsessed girls. Sounds amazing right?

I’ll be honest, this book just wasn’t it for me. I couldn’t help but compare it to Kalynn Bayron’s “You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight”, which was absolutely amazing, making this one seem so sad in comparison. (Definitely give that one a go if Dead Girls Walking was not everything you wanted it to be)
I honestly couldn’t care less if any of the characters made it out alive, and the main character Temple annoyed the absolute shit out of me.

That being said though, I absolutely loved the representation within this novel, and I would not want to discourage anyone from picking this up. If you are a fan of Friday the 13th movies (or horror movies in general), and don’t mind an unlikeable narrator I absolutely recommend you giving this a go!

Big thanks to Netgalley, RB Media, and the author Sami Ellis for allowing me to listen to an audio arc of this novel.

Oh my gosh I was expecting none of this and I was so into it! I love Temple. I wanted her jaded self to have everything she wanted and needed. Also the narration with all the different voices was so good that I got chills at one point.
The ending is perfection.
This is not a happy story but it is a good one.

Dead Girls Walking is a YA slasher, Temple's father is an accused serial killer and goes back to her former home, turned queer horror camp to find her mother's body. The beginning is slow and the middle lag a bit but overall a fascinating horror story that took a turn that I was not expecting. I enjoyed the premise and inclusive representation. The characters are funny and realistic and even horror fanatics do not always make the best choices in a real life horror. The narrator added more chills to the story.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for the ALC.

ARC received from NetGalley.

When I received this and the synopsis it gave Friday the 13th vibes and if you know me you know when October around I am watching all the scary movies.

This book is about a daughter of a serial killer who goes to a queer horror summer camp. Sounds good right while…… most of the time I was reading it was hard to follow, I was bored (not bored enough to DNF) and overall confused most of the time. Now that I finished the book I can’t tell you what I read.

I definitely want to give this another another try.

This was a good story and a great intro to thrillers/horror. I loved how diverse the cast of characters were.

Thank you to @recordedbooks for making the audiobook of 'Dead Girls Walking' by Sami Ellis available as an ARC on @netgalley

We start off with the premise that our main character, Temple Baker, must return to the home where her serial killer father has confessed to her that he buried the body of her mother. As the land has been turned into a camp for queer girls who are fans of horror, Temple sets us up for a slasher experience of her own by signing up as a camp counsellor in order to explore the land for clues to her mother's location. When a body appears, though, we soon learn that this is much more than your typical slasher - and Temple is going to have to come to terms with not only her father's actions, but her family's history.

'Dead Girls Walking' reads like a horror story written by someone who knows their horror stories back to front. If you think it's heading in a certain direction, you're probably wrong. On the one hand, this means that if you also know a lot about horror, you're not going to get bored by the same old stuff you're used to. On the other hand, it means that there's often A LOT going on, with a large enough cast of characters running to and fro that it can be hard to keep track of everything that's going on at times.

Speaking of the characters: for such a large group, especially given the genre, they're surprisingly distinct from each other. They're also not necessarily the types of characters you'd typically find in a slasher and are certainly more diverse than you'd usually get. This is, of course, helped by the narration of Tamika Katon-Donegal, who is able to give a distinct voice and tone to each character's performance.

While I do feel that some elements of the story could have been pruned in order to make the overall story a bit more manageable, I appreciate that Ellis was clearly trying to do something new and interesting with the genre. Even with its flaws, the pros outweigh the cons.

Rating: 4/5

The audiobook will be available from the 26th of March.

Dead girls walking follows a group of girls at a horror camp for LGBTQ+ kids. Temple (the fmc) has lived her whole life without friends due to her father being a serial killer. She is awkward socially , and internally fears that she is evil.
I really enjoyed listening to this book. Temple’s evolution and redemption arc was nice to see. I also really enjoyed the other characters. Even grandma was interesting to me.
The narrator did a great job with so many characters to voice. I could always tell which character was speaking.
There is definitely a lot of gory parts so keep that in mind if you’re squeamish!