Thank you Netgally for this ARC . However this is an honest review .

I was pleasantly shocked by this book! I think this was extremely well placed for a slasher and it was very action packed, while also weaving the lore and history of this twisted ass family all throughout the story. The gore while gruesome, was palatable enough that you cringed but just couldn’t look away. The plot had me hooked, the characters had me cracking up, and even the dumb horror slayer moments had me screaming for them to RUN and stop being stupid (but seriously she was so real for needing a potty break in the middle of a slasher cause same!) I had so much fun reading this ! 5⭐️

Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook copy of Dead Girls Walking by Sami Ellis in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this horror story. It had vibes of Stephen Graham Jones, Justine Ireland and a little bit Fear Street. I loved the storyline and characters. It was a new spin on the cabin in the woods/final girl genre.

The plot was good, but I felt the story dragged on a bit more than it needed to. Great writing style and flow, really helped you feel the story and get into it. The characters were interesting and I think this is a great YA fic supernatural kind of book, recommend to fans of YA supernatural.

What Ellis accomplishes with Dead Girl Walking is unmatched in the genre, that genre being Slashers. A novel made for both adults and teens a like who love amazing queer characters, and well-developed plots. I've read a few of these in the past few years and this one stood out. If it's the gory shocking kills, or the twists that keep on coming. Everything I love about slashers on the page.

The story follows Temple as she goes back to the home, she swore she'd never return to, for a man she hates. Her father is an infamous serial killer, and now confessed to her that he killed her mother and left her body there. The farm has now changed to a queer horror-obsessed girl's camp. So, the meta element is so good as well.

The rep is so good here and for people looking for a romance less novel this one is for you. I couldn't recommend Dead Girls Walking fast enough and I hope it becomes an overnight hit.

When I saw this book available on NetGalley, I knew I had to request it based on the plot description alone. I’m so glad that I did! This book was a lot of fun! It’s full of cheesy horror cliches that you’ve read before, but somehow the author, Sami Ellis, manages to make them feel fun and fresh. The setting of a sleepaway camp filled me with the best kind of nostalgia for the classic horror films of the 80s, and the main character Temple is relatable enough. I will say that the first few chapters were a little repetitive and tough to get through, but once it got going I was hooked and finished the entire audiobook in a day. I definitely look forward to seeing more books by this author in the coming years!

I wanted to take a day to sit back and process how i felt about this book and what my honest rating is.

Quick plot summary: Temple lied her way into counseling at a queer horror camp for Black girls who love true crime (does this exist in real life?!) to get closer to her old home- a home riddled with trauma, including her murdered mom and murderer dad. As the book goes on, readers get to dive into Temple’s familial dynamics and see why Temple is the way she is currently. Some other tropes besides horror is found family, generational trauma, and a refreshing lack of main character romance.

For context, I love campground horror, I love zombies, and I have recently started loving paranormal slashers. So everything about this book was right up my alley, and I enjoyed most of it! There were parts that felt a little convoluted by the end, and I think if I were in the actual YA demographic some of the book’s various tangles of plot might have gone over my head. This is a debut, and I tend to give more grace for things like that in debuts, as first books are usually geared towards making a splash.

Temple is an unlikeable lead, and I think some readers may have issues with that. Me? I love a woman mad at the world. She gave me SGJ Jade Daniels energy circa My Heart is A Chainsaw. And without an unlikable character you don’t get the satisfying growth arc, which we were absolutely gifted with in this book.

This settles comfortable at a personal 3.75 for me; it was super fun, tons of diversity representation, modern references to entertain young readers, and a good heart of the story. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite make 4 star status for me, simply because it suffers from debut over-excitement. But I think Sam Ellis has proven in this that her follow ups will be worth checking out! For that reason I will be rating 4 stars.

A special thank you to Netgalley, ABRAM kids and RB audio for sending me both the ebook AND audiobook so that I could listen along while I read- the easiest way for me to consume stories. (Side note, the narrator did a great job of differentiating a multitude of character voices!)

Okaaay! While I do agree with some other reviewers that the "not like other girlsing" was a little much, I actually really enjoyed this one and felt like it did some pretty fun and fresh things with some pretty standard horror tropes. Yes, Temple was a little much, but damn, who wouldn't be based on the childhood she had. While she started off very standoffish she really came into her own and grew as a character. The not like other girls-ness of it all was toned down and by the end Temple had let her walls down.

This is a solid debut which I was expecting because I really like Ellis's short story in All These Sunken Souls. I'm really excited to see what she does next.

I listened to the audiobook and I enjoyed the narrator’s different voices for each character but some of them very louder than others and it made me jump! I thought the synopsis looked interesting but the writing fell flat for me. It seems like lots of timelines that bounced around that didn’t make sense to me with little payoff by the end. I’m sure this will be a favorite for some but it wasn’t the book for me.

This book was so damn good.

The storyline. The world building, the plot and all of the twists. At no point, could I honestly say that I knew what was coming next.

Now, this queer girls camp, for horror fans, made sense but not at North point Camp. the more the story developed the more freaked out I was. The story is a damn good one.

Temple is sooooo far removed from her peers. She is not into horror, social media or anything else the girls her age are into. But she also has a past that she is doing her best to keep hidden.

this is worth the read. worth the listen. the voice actor is really really good.



The plot all comes full circle.



I volunteered to listen an ARC of this book through NetGalley.

I think this book is fine. It had fun ideas and a concept I adore but the writing didn’t really hit all the marks for me. over-all it didn’t have any oumf to it and
I would have liked the person to be in first person to make us connect more with Temple. I would definitely recommend this as a fun and easy slasher for people interested in the premise and I look forward to see what more the author will write.

Dead Girls Walking
Rating: 4/5

Dead Girls Walking is a shocking, spine-chilling YA horror slasher that grips you from the very first page and refuses to let go. The twist in the middle of the book is just so good. Written by Sami Ellis, this novel takes readers on a rollercoaster ride of suspense, mystery, and psychological intrigue.

The story follows Temple Baker a 16 years old girl, whose father is the North Point Killer. A infamous serial killer known for how he marks each one of his victims with a brand. Her father was convicted for murdering 20 people .Temple father also confessed to killing Temple mother. He tells Temple her mother remains are at their old home,which now is an overnight queer horror themed camp. Temple gets a job as a camp counselor to go find her mother remains ,in the woods of her old home . Temple doing her best at trying to fit in and keep her true identity hidden. A girl is found dead, Temple thinks it is one of her fathers fans try to be a copycat. Temple not only try to find her mother remains , but also try not to get killed in the process.

One of the most compelling aspects of Dead Girls Walking is its complex and well-developed characters. Sam Ellis has crafted a cast of characters that feel incredibly real and queer. The other campers are funny and some times mean, but so is temple. The campers also have their own stories, pain and trauma. Sam Ellis masterfully builds tension with each chapter, keeping readers on the edge of their seats as they race to uncover the truth behind the murders. The plot twists and turns in unexpected directions, keeping even the most seasoned Horror aficionados guessing until the very end. Sam is great at painting a vivid picture of the camp where the story takes place. From the fog-shrouded woods to Temples old family farm. The setting of Dead Girls Walking is as much a character as any of the people who inhabit it.

If I had one criticism of Dead Girls Walking, it would be that some readers may find around the ending of the book to be a tad bit long. However Sam Ellis manages to make you love the characters ,hoping that your favorite character doesn’t die .
Overall, Dead Girls Walking is a blood-soaked Horror that will keep you up late into the night, eagerly turning pages in to uncover the truth behind the chilling murders. With its compelling characters, twisty plot, and atmospheric setting, this novel is a must-read for fans of the genre.

This was exactly what I was looking for in in a slasher/horror. The amin female character, Temple becomes a camp counselor only to access the grounds where her father (a serial Killer) may have buried her mother. When a dead body turns up in the woods at the camp, things begin to get really interesting and there are many twists and turns that will have you wondering who it is. However, on the road to finding her answers, Temple realizes her dad may not have been the only murderer in the family. This was a fast paced, fun and exciting slasher novel with great representation.

Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for a free advanced listener’s copy. I received this copy in exchange for my honest review.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book in the end. I was originally scared this would fall into the failures of most written slashers I’ve read before, which tend to rely too heavily on the physicality of the slasher genre. Though this book plays with the shasher tropes I think it navigates our main character’s mind in such a way that lends itself to suspense and it really kept me engaged. I loved the underlying conversation around the consumption of true crime media and how it painted all of Temple’s interactions with her peers. Her distrust and jaded outlook was a great tool for the narrative to keep you guessing. I genuinely felt frustration and anger on her behalf, separate from the plot of the book and Temple’s own temper was something that made her feel really complex, you could tell she was just a girl putting up a wall to keep herself safe even as she firmly roots herself as an outsider (which can read a bit ‘not like other girls’ but the way Sami Ellis deals with Temple’s anger does a good enough job offsetting it for me.)

Even though I thought the tension of the narrative overall was really enjoyable I do feel like some of the character interactions in the beginning felt weak and rushed which kind of affected the way I felt towards the middle and end when consequences started happening. I could have been more attached to some of these characters over all and it would have felt more weighty when you see choices being made towards the climax. This was definitely a plot-driven story which may not check boxes for people looking for a lot of heavy lifting from the characters.

If you liked the survival aspects of Eat Your Heart Out by Kelly DeVos and the vibes of 80/90s slashers with a twist, I’d definitely recommend Dead Girls Walking.

Thank you NetGalley for this audio ARC. I honestly had such a hard time following this story line. It jumped all over the place. Felt like a fever dream and not in a good way.

Reading from the POV of Temple, a serial killers daughter on a mission to find her mother, was a genuinely scary experience. The descriptions in this book were so vivid that I had to put the book down multiple times to process it. This book is also packed to the brim with plot twists, up until the very last page Making it so addicting to read.

♡ Audiobook Review ♡
♤ Release March 26 ♤
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•YA
•Horror | Slasher
•Summer Camp
•Paranormal Vibes
•Queer
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Temple Baker knows that evil runs in her blood. Her father is the North Point Killer, an infamous serial killer known for how he marked each of his victims with a brand. He was convicted for murdering 20 people and was the talk of countless true crime blogs for years. Some say he was possessed by a demon. Some say that they never found all his victims. Some say thateven though he’s now behind bars, people are still dying in the woods. Despite everything though, Temple never believed that her dad killed her mom. Turns out, the farm that was once her father’s hunting grounds and her home has been turned into an overnight camp for queer, horror-obsessed girls. So Temple poses as a camp counselor to go digging in the woods.
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This book is sooo well written! I enjoyed everything about this book, the representation is amazing. Black girls are doing major things in books this year. Thus definitely gave me the Friday the 13th vibes, and I LOVE it. This is my first time reading this author work and I will be waiting for more.
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The audiobook is narrator by Tamika katon-Donegal and she did an amazing job! She really brought the characters, story, and plot to life. I highly recommend the audiobook.
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♡ Thank you Netgalley, and RB Media for the ALC for my honest opinion

I don’t know how many times I say I’m trying to find a great horror book. My search has brought me to Dead Girls Walking. While my search for a great horror book is not over Dead Girls Walking was still an entertaining read.

Temple’s dad is a serial killer who admits that he killed her mom. Temple refuses to believe this and sets out to find her mom’s body to prove her dad did not kill her. She pretends to work at a camp that used to be a farm where her dad was known to kill. One of the campers is found dead and with Temple’s dad in prison, it leaves a lot of questions as to what happened.

This was a book that struggled to keep my interest and I thought about stopping pretty early on. I'm glad I did not and that I stuck with it because this one really picked up and I was surprised by more than one event as we approached the end of the story.

Temple is the daughter of a notorious serial killer and she’s going to sleep away camp. Finished this one in one day. Fast paced and the perfect YA horror novel.

This book was one of my most anticipated for 2024, however it is just middle of the road for me. I love horror and I like YA, so this book should be right up my alley but it just is okay.

I like Temple as a character but I think she was a bit flat.
I also wanted more of Anysaa and Temple.
There were a lot of things characters did and said that were just so dumb. Which took me out of listening.
I loved the narrator and the fact that she used different pitches for different characters.
I hope on a re-read I can rate this higher but for now it is 3 stars
Thank you Netgalley and Sam Ellis and Amulet Books for a review copy of this audiobook

It took a few chapters for me to get on board. I was intrigued by the fact that our girl's dad was a serial killer and that she knew and made no excuses. But her bad af attitude was a huge turn off for me.

But thankfully there was a fantastic line up of supporting characters that made this story enjoyable and after a few reveals/flashbacks and understanding I stopped disliking Temple. She can thank Callie, Brenda, and Yaya for that.

This was a fun read that I'd love to see adapted to the big screen. I appreciated the LGBTQ Rep & the fact that the setting was a Horror Themed Summer Camp that was specifically for POC and Queer youths.