Thank you to the author, the publisher and to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I am a huge fan of queer horror and this sampler has gotten me very excited for these book releases! Come Out, Come Out caught my attention the most, even before reading the section, and I'm more excited to read it afterwards. Moving on to themes of grief, witchcraft, unknown killers, unsolved murders, zombie viruses, queer friendships, and queer love with the other book sections... This was full of intriguing stories! The sampler ended strong as well, with Hearts Still Beating also displaying some representation for disability.

This YA anthology offers a captivating blend of horror and suspense that is sure to leave readers on the edge of their seats. The READ PROUD Horror and Thriller Sampler showcases the creativity and talent within the LGBTQ+ literary community. What sets this sampler apart is its amplification of queer voices and perspectives, offering nuanced portrayals of LGBTQ+ characters.

The perfect book to get into these stories and what there about! I really like this opportunity to get a feeling if I might like the book or not! I would definitely recommend this!

This was a fantastic collection, the two chapters of each were the perfect teaser for each, and definitely gave me some new books to look forward to! I loved the queer theme but also the pervasive theme of body horror and breaking social norms. I honestly think I'd buy or at least borrow from my library each one of these in the sampler!

This was an excellent sampler of opening chapters of YA horror novels. I’ve actually already read Hearts Still Beating, and the rest are now on my TBR. I think these samplers are a great way to get a feel for a handful of books.

The formatting leaves something to be desired. As a migraine sufferer who lives on dark mode, the glaring white spaces left for covers was pretty awful (I assume they’re going to be filled on the published version, but worth mentioning for netgalley accessibility). In Come Our Come Out and Last Breath there were many broken hyphenated words throughout that weren’t at the end of lines with my reading setup/size that were very distracting.

That aside, a great sampler! I’m looking forward to more if these to get a taste of more books I’d like to read.

This is a great collection of samples that allow one to have a glimpse into several books before committing to a specific one. I always enjoy reading samples of books I'm interested, and even those I am not. I've found several books I wouldn't have been likely to consider after reading an excerpt/sample of it.

I'm typically not the biggest fan of horror novels however I love thrillers so I was keen to check out this sampler as a way to discover new authors within the genre. I love that in these samplers you not only get the blurb and covers of new releases but also a couple of sample chapters of each book so you can get a taste of the author's writing style. Of the five books included in this sampler, I would be keen to read Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C. Parker and One Last Breath by Ginny Myers Sain.

Overall this sampler was a great way to discover new books and authors as well as championing LGBTQ+ stories and voices.

This was a great sampler! I'm super excited to read all of these books. There are so many cool premises and compelling, dark YA horror that's either recently out or coming out in the next few months!

I great way to introduce people to more queer books and narratives. I love that there are multiple different takes on the genres included, so you are bound to find something to your liking.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

YA Horror and Thriller is becoming darker and darker every day. My wife just listened to Hearts Still Beating and said it was good but predictable. This sampler is awesome though, because I can give myself ideas of books before I dive it to fully read, so if they are too dark, I can nope out sooner rather than later.

I don't think I'll be the only person saying that I need to read "Your Lonely Nights Are Over" by Adam Sass as soon as possible! What a book that must be! Also, I'll check out "Come Out, Come Out" by Natalie C. Parker in the future too, because it seems like a special book.

I'm so grateful for publisher samplers! I feel like I'm able to get a much better sense of what the reading experience will be like from the excerpts, in addition to the summaries.

Some featured books that I requested and/or am interested in reading (thanks to this sampler):
- Come Out, Come Out by Natalie C. Parker
- Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for access to this sampler!

Thank you to NetGalley for this 'READ PROUD Contemporary YA Sampler." All opinions are my own.

I appreciate reading this sample to see a sneak peak at a few new books that feature proud LGBTQ+ individuals. Can't wait to read!!

2.5 stars.

Not a big horror or thriller fan, but this was a good way for me to find out about some new books that are coming out soon! Might even pick up some of these once they come out!

I love these! They make my never ending growing tbr pile grow more! And I love it. Even love these more!

I absolutely love the idea behind these samplers and amplifying queer voices! There is a good selection and I'm really looking forward to a lot of these books, loved getting a peak at them. This is a great idea and I hope it's done more often (maybe for POC authors and female authors)

Very much appreciated the sampler! I'm sure that there will be books my students would be interested in.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for this ARC!

I enjoyed this!! I didn’t look to see what it was about but I am pleasantly surprised. It’s a good way to see what’s to come. I liked that it was a few chapters of each story.

My favorite of these samples was the first one, Come Out, Come Out, by Natalie C. Parker. It feels more like realistic fiction than a haunting mystery horror, but I liked the voice and situations in those first chapters best. The premise blub at the start made it sound like the characters were more stereotypical than they came across on the page. I would enjoy finishing that book most.
Note: There is an additional story that is not listed on the NetGalley description: Your Lonely Nights are Over by Adam Sass.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for these chapters to sample!