Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - This Delicious Death

Really cool concept and such cute friendships and wlw romance. Hated the lesbian character being in love with a straight girl trope (you win some you lose some). The plot twist was really predictable and even though the book came with a trigger warning page it didn’t talk about the racism in the book? Which is off-putting to me especially when reading from non-black authors, paired with the first three pages being like, “This is Zoey, this is Zoey’s Black friend, this is Zoey’s white friend, and this is Zoey’s Latina friend”. Like it just gave me an icky feeling having the characters introductions being reduced to their race. I don’t know if maybe I had a bad copy because there was also some grammatical errors and my epilogue chapter says “ehilogue” so idk. All that aside it was still a fun story to read, I just don’t think I’ll be picking up anything else from this author.

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minimicropup's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

Convival. Hopeful. Persevering.

🇺🇸 Set against the backdrop of a music festival in Nevada’s Mojave desert, USA

POV: The story unfolds across two timelines: one during the outbreak of a virus and the other in the present, following a high school senior and friends en route to a music festival.

Narrative: Present timelines are first person perspective following our MC. The past perspectives are third person following our MC and friends.

Mood Reading Match Up:

-A blend of a day-in-the-life narrative with vampire-zombie-human elements

-Mad scientist and quest themes amidst a music festival setting

-Explores coming-of-age themes, friendships, crushes, and romances, all within the context of a murder mystery.

-Key themes include friendship, otherness, and infection

—

🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕

✏️ Writing: The style is distinctively YA, with straightforward and descriptive prose that makes characters’ actions and nuances jump off the page.

🫥 Characters: The characters are likable yet naive, with a blend of awkwardness and angst. They evolve from acquaintances to true friends, overcoming initial judgments and social faux pas.

🗺️ Worldbuilding: The world is well-constructed, providing just enough detail for the reader’s imagination to fill in the gaps.

🔥 Fuel: The story starts by exploring the “Hollowing” and the initial infection, building suspense around trust issues and escalating tensions at the festival. The suspense shifts from identifying the predator (or prey) among the festival-goers to finding cures and managing unfolding events.

🐇 Pacing: While the pacing sometimes drags, especially during quest-like scenes towards the end, it generally maintains a good balance.

🎬 Scenes: Flashbacks effectively show rather than tell, providing insight into the characters’ personal experiences with the virus and their evolving relationships.

💭 Random Thoughts: It’s an entertaining read that realistically portrays societal judgment of “otherness,” though it’s pretty optimistic about governmental responses to a pandemic like this. The audio narration might have missed some graphical elements present in the text! I’m pretty sure I missed out on getting to see the pamphlets and stuff.

🎧 Audio: The transition between past and present can be jarring in the audio format, requiring careful attention. The narration is solid, but the use of the same voice for flashbacks and most characters can be confusing.

—

Content Heads-Up: Pandemic (fictional; prejudice, monitoring/government restrictions, quarantine). Medical (vomit, digestive). Transphobia (implied, anxieties, deadnaming by peers). Body horror, gore. Cannibalism and food horror. Starvation. Murder. Body disposal. Blood.

Rep includes: White, Latine/Latino, transgender, queer, and bisexual characters.

Format: Library Audio via Libby.

“Reviews are my musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI Bestie ✨”

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evelynyle_88's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

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midgereads's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This book was a lot better than I expected. It’s VERY gory so it’s perfect for halloween, but it also has some funny moments, so it’s a nice balance. It’s also pretty short and very readable, I had a hard time putting it down sometimes.

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ktame001's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

3.75

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sav_22's review

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adventurous dark funny hopeful medium-paced

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

4.25

This was a fun ride! It’s a perfect balance of horrifying and endearing. The main group is a group of girls trauma bonded by the event that changed the world known as The Hollowing. I found all of the girls to be relatable and intriguing to get to know; even when it mainly follows a first person one narrator format, we get pov switches in the form of flashbacks in 3rd person to dive into other characters. There’s romance and a hint of a love triangle, but I would say that it is very much a subplot to the overall plot. All of the four main characters are sapphic, which to me is something I always appreciate when writers realistically write queer people sticking together.

There are some questions left unanswered imo, and it’s kind of an open ending, but it doesn’t deter from the overall satisfaction of the book for me. There are some intense horror elements like body horror and gore, but it wasn’t overdone or overzealous. I really enjoyed reading the evolution of the main couple, even if it wasn’t a major focus and it was predictable I think that it complimented the story and themes well.

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danaslitlist's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

This was thoroughly delightful and entertaining. A wonderful blend of Bratz meets Jennifer’s Body that had me flying through the book within a day and a half. Seriously, this was just a good time.

I really loved the flashbacks used in the story in order to give us background and information regarding the outbreak. The author is really talented in managing to evoke fear and sorrow.

I also appreciate the trigger warnings at the beginning of the book and how extensive it was.

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qcupquake's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This Delicious Death
4/5

- i liked this book a lot

- i kinda hated how the plot came up so quickly. like val was like "hey i think i got drugged" and then zoey was like "oh yeah i remember doing research on that stuff" and the mystery about what made val go crazy was solved in like a page

- i like how diverse the cast is

- eli can suck an egg

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