Reviews with content warning for Animal death - The Last Girls Standing

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan

9 reviews

creolelitbelle's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Very unsettling. Everything from what happened at the camp to events after with Sloan trying to cope in the aftermath was really screwed up. Sloan's mental state and her interactions with those around her made me uncomfortable in a way only a well done slasher that's also worked into a psychological thriller can. Unreliable narrator with missing memories who has an unstable grip on reality and uncertainty of who she can trust. The answers Sloan begs for are not even found by the end... Or are they?

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sonygaystation's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I love it when women are insane!

(i do wish this book had more of the summer camp slasher vibe than it did. It was pretty focused on life after the Event, which did keep me guessing. I feel like I got no answers though and I’ve definitely read better thrillers/horror, queer books, and queer thriller/horror. But it was just unhinged enough to satisfy the insanity palette iykwim. Although the main couple were TERRIBLE together like if I had to hear them fight one more time lmao 😭 as a 29 yo gay person in a committed relationship my young besties if you fight like this I’m gonna need you to do some serious inventory on if “love” is worth it lmfao 😭)

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smugreadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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moreadsnrambles's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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islandbookwyrm's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

The Last Girls Standing pays homage to Friday the 13th and the extreme climate change movement in this slasher thriller.

While it's an odd combination, this book mainly focuses on Sloan, who lost her memory of that awful day and her girlfriend and fellow massacre survivor, Cherry, as Sloan attempts to remember what happened through hypnosis.

As the story goes on, the plot twists so slightly that you will feel like you are starting to question what is happening with the character's motives and what actually happened during the massacre.

This is a very thrilling and compelling read, the ending is rushed, confusing, and abrupt but leaves an opening for a sequel.

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tofugal's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I’m a fan of Jennifer Dugan’s YA and adult romance novels, and I loved the premise. Unfortunately, the book didn’t measure up to my expectations. I was hoping for a sapphic spin on the Christopher Pike teen horror books I grew up loving. At the very least, I thought we’d eventually get more glimpses of the campground slaughter scattered throughout as Sloan unraveled the mystery.

Instead, it hyperfocused on Sloan and Cherry’s toxic, codependent relationship and Sloan’s rapidly declining mental health. Both were frustrating to read about.

This not a thrills and chills book. This is a mess with your mind book.

Perhaps my disappointment was my own fault. While the title and cover both scream “horror” the book is correctly advertised as a YA psychological thriller.

Part of the problem was that the most interesting part of the story happened before the book started. And since the Sloan had no memory of the events, I was robbed of what drew me to the book in the first place.

I considered giving up several times, but like Sloan, I wanted answers. Heck, I needed answers. After slogging through Sloan’s trauma and screwed up romance, I deserved answers.

There were no answers. The ending was WTF, and not in a good way. And as if that wasn’t irksome enough, this book also checks all three boxes of my least favorite lesbian cliché that has been overdone to death.

Jennifer Dugan is a talented writer, but this wasn’t the right story for me. I’ll stick to her romances from now on. If you’re looking for a gay Gone Girl, however, this book might be for you.

I received an advanced copy from the publisher and am voluntarily leaving this review.

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getlitwithamy_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

First off, thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I was very excited about this book since it features a summer camp mass murder. Not to mention that the cover is hauntingly beautiful. There was so much potential and it was such a great concept, but THE LAST GIRLS STANDING missed the mark plenty of times.

The beginning definitely had me curious, but on the first few pages, it felt too info-dumpy. There were things about Sloan's life that could have been mentioned later in the story.

My main concern with the book is that it was very repetitive.

The "What are you talking about?" that Cherry would constantly say got tiring after a while.

I also believed that the idea of Cherry possibly being involved would have been so much more significant if it were mentioned later in the story and wasn't even mentioned in the summary of the book. It would have made such a great potential plot twist/train of thought for Sloan to consider.

I also felt the reveal of the murderers' intentions to be rushed. Dugan did a decent job inserting information bit by bit as the plot progressed, but the overall reveal felt so sudden. That plus the rushed ending ruined it for me.

Sloan's decline at the end to the point where she fell into the prophecy of the cult because she saw a rabbit after killing Cherry didn't make *that* much sense besides the fact that she just became psychotic.

I wasn't a big fan of this, especially since it undermines the C-PTSD that Sloan was experiencing.

Instead of actively trying to get better after finding out the cult's final ritual, her becoming wrapped in the conspiracy wasn't the best move.

Regardless of how Sloan reacted, I wish there was a chapter following the events where Sloan tries to regain her life again. This usually happens in thrillers/horrors, but the ending was cut off in a way that was so anticlimactic.

The reason why I rounded it up to 3 ⭐️ instead of 2.5-2.75 is because Jennifer Dugan did a good job of making me want to find out what happened. Sloan's progress in trying to regain her memories raised the stakes despite the issues I mentioned before. She also did a fair job of portraying trauma bonding and toxic relationships, as they are big parts of the book.

Overall, THE LAST GIRLS STANDING unfortunately did not meet my expectations.

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nrogers_1030's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

In this YA thriller, Cherry and Sloan are the "last girls standing" in a camp massacre. Once Sloan begins investigating what happened, she finds out more than she bargained for. The story is told in Sloan's POV.

I was really excited to read this - the cover art is amazing and the book description sounded right up my alley. After what they experienced at the camp, it's not unimaginable to see how these two ended up being together and being each other's everything. But the relationship is very toxic (to the point of full-blown obsession, including stalking). Things started picking up in Chapter 5. Once I hit Chapter 15, I couldn't put the book down because I *needed* to know what happened next. Without giving away the meat of the story, I wish the storyline didn't feel rushed. The progression from being paranoid about her girlfriend's involvement in the cult-related murders to believing in the doctrine of the cult was a bit rushed. There was no gradual decline of mental facilities. Bam, boom, it's done. One chapter she's investigating, the next shes in a full fledged mental break. I would have liked to have seen more development in that regard.

That being said, I really enjoyed The Last Girls Standing. It's dark, it's LGBTQIA inclusive and it definitely sets itself apart from the standard lone survivor trope. Being geared towards ages 14+, I feel like the content is appropriate for those not wanting to read heavy sexual content.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced reader copy.

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