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courtneys_shelves's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Gore, Blood, Violence, Death of parent, Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Physical abuse, Stalking, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Body horror, Cursing, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Homophobia
This book is incredibly intense, as it covers topics of abuse and family curses. However, for this who can read it, it Carrie’s an ultimately hopeful message, and watching a hopeless character grow to realize that she does indeed have hope and support and is ultimately good is worth the read.bookishmillennial's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
Woweeeeeee! Whatever I thought this book was… well, that doesn’t matter. I was *wrong* !!! I find horror so delightful because I have no idea what to expect. Is this going to be a serial killer? Slasher? Paranormal horror? How much disbelief must I suspend to accept the story? It is always such an entertaining ride and I am so grateful to this genre for just letting me have fun!
Temple goes back to North Point Park, which has been turned into a queer horror-loving camp/retreat, which was awarded to about ten young women. Temple applies as a counselor, hiding her identity (her dad was the North Point Killer and this property was his home!) because she is desperate to find out what happened to her mom five years ago. She is 16 now, and her mom went missing five years ago. However, people begin to get murdered and Temple has to act quickly to figure out how to stop the killings and to get out alive!
Temple was funny, fierce, and a young woman on a mission! I appreciated her backstory of she knew some of the other girls, and how fearful she is of becoming like her murderous father. Some of the scenes towards the latter half of the book were so hard to read, specifically because I feel queasy whenever I read about deliberate child abuse😔
Anyway, I thought the reveals and the explanation for what was happening at this camp were incredibly wild! It felt like an ode to classic summer camp slasher films, but also stood strong enough on its own! There are interview transcripts of Temple’s father Thomas from his time in prison, as well as excerpts from this book that mirrored the reality of the NPK murders, which I felt worked really well & gave me a bit of context surrounding the social climate!
I will totally read more from Sami Ellis in the future, even if 3rd person, present-tense is not my fave !
Woweeeeeee! Whatever I thought this book was… well, that doesn’t matter. I was *wrong* !!! I find horror so delightful because I have no idea what to expect. Is this going to be a serial killer? Slasher? Paranormal horror? How much disbelief must I suspend to accept the story? It is always such an entertaining ride and I am so grateful to this genre for just letting me have fun!
Temple goes back to North Point Park, which has been turned into a queer horror-loving camp/retreat, which was awarded to about ten young women. Temple applies as a counselor, hiding her identity (her dad was the North Point Killer and this property was his home!) because she is desperate to find out what happened to her mom five years ago. She is 16 now, and her mom went missing five years ago. However, people begin to get murdered and Temple has to act quickly to figure out how to stop the killings and to get out alive!
Temple was funny, fierce, and a young woman on a mission! I appreciated her backstory of she knew some of the other girls, and how fearful she is of becoming like her murderous father. Some of the scenes towards the latter half of the book were so hard to read, specifically because I feel queasy whenever I read about deliberate child abuse😔
Anyway, I thought the reveals and the explanation for what was happening at this camp were incredibly wild! It felt like an ode to classic summer camp slasher films, but also stood strong enough on its own! There are interview transcripts of Temple’s father Thomas from his time in prison, as well as excerpts from this book that mirrored the reality of the NPK murders, which I felt worked really well & gave me a bit of context surrounding the social climate!
I will totally read more from Sami Ellis in the future, even if 3rd person, present-tense is not my fave !
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Toxic relationship, Blood, Torture, Murder, Child death, Body horror, Death of parent, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Physical abuse
storiesatstarfall's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Blood, Death, Gore, and Body horror
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Death of parent
Minor: Stalking
sophiareads_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.5
Content Warnings: murder, violence, gore, death of a parent, desecration of bodies, stalking, child abuse, fire/fire injury
Temple, the daughter of an infamous serial killer, returns to the woods in which she was raised - the woods where her father's victims were discovered - hoping to find the truth of her mother's disappearance. But the woods, now a campsite, are still a site of multiple missing persons cases, and Temple soon finds herself investigating a possible copycat of her father's crimes.
So, this was definitely different than I was expecting, but I think it was different for the better! Ellis definitely does a good job invoking the energy of a horror flick with this book - her writing sets the spooky atmosphere, and the descriptions of gore, while not my exact cup of tea, are definitely reminiscent of a slasher film. Going into this, I was definitely not expecting a paranormal kind of horror, but once this element is introduced, it works really well. Plot-wise, I think this is really great. It's full of twists and turns, and it's fun to see all of the various plot threads introduced throughout the book come together to create a cohesive narrative. My only issue with it, really, was that I wished we were given more information sooner, because frankly, I don't think I fully comprehended what was actually going on here until the 90% mark or something. I totally understand wanting that 'unfolding mystery' vibe with your book, but for a little too much of this book, I just felt a little too out of the loop, which didn't make for the best reading experience. That being said, totally possible that I'm just dumb and other people would totally have grasped everything earlier! And everything did totally come together - definitely a case of 'when it clicks, it CLICKS'.
Still, I think plot was the strongest element here. I really wanted to like Temple as a character, but she sort of gave off 'not like other girls' vibes. (Like, come on, aren't we over calling other girls 'Barbie' as an insult?) Ultimately, I think her character arc was pretty good, but I did find it difficult to warm up to her. I'm really glad the book didn't have a romance though - I was worried it might and it SO didn't need one, so I was glad everyone was just bestie vibes only at the end. Also I really appreciated the discussion of the ethics of true crime buffs - we didn't get a super deep dive into the topic, but I really like what there was, and I thought it was great to include!
Huge thank you to NetGalley, Sami Ellis, and Amulet Books for the eARC!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, Vomit, and Child death
Minor: Stalking
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