Thank you to netgalley and the publisher/author for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This was a really fun ride. It’s pretty fast paced and there’s not really any slow spots in the story. There’s a lot of interesting flashbacks that put a lot of perspective into the characters and make them feel fleshed out and interesting. I read My Dearest Darkest a few months ago and I was excited to read this one. I can tell the author really likes Jennifer’s Body because both books seemed to be influenced.

I thought this was a super interesting and unique idea. An dystopian society where a lot of the population has turned into cannibals called “Hollows” and has to eat synthetic human meat to survive. A group of friends who all happen to be Hollows decide to go to a music festival where all hell breaks loose. I really enjoyed Zoey and her friends. They were all very different but came together in their shared grief of the Hollowing. There was a very good look at humanity and what makes us human and the prejudices that people have.

There’s some good queer and trans rep here which is always appreciated. There is a bit of gore with the whole cannibalism storyline so that appealed to be as well. I’m always here for any and all spooky queer books. I’m here for anymore of Kayla’s books and I’m glad I got to read this one this year too!

Kayla Cottingham does it again! Thank you SO much to NetGalley, the publisher, and the wonderful author for the advanced copy. This is one of my most anticipated books of 2023 and it definitely lived up to the hype.

This book was fantastic. We follow four best friends (who happen to be ghouls) on an adventure to a major music festival where chaos ensues. I saw someone say this was Coachella meets Jennifer's body and those are definitely the right vibes to get a feel for this book.

I absolutely loved the strong female friendships in this book.

There is excellent LBTQ+ representation in this book, as well. I was cheering for our main love interest to get together with the main character the entire time.

TWs are available at the front of the book and on GR.

CASUAL CANNIBALISM? SAPPHIC BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS WITH A TRANS GIRL LOVE INTEREST? FREAKY MONSTERS? CAMPY VIBES THAT ABSOLUTELY HIT THE MARK? EPIGRAPHS THAT ARE SO FREAKING HILARIOUS (like, one is Buzzfeed headline, that’s amazing)?

It’s such a wonderful blend of humor and horror, its an absolute blast to fall in love with.

Four best ghoul friends, a music festival gone wrong, and complicated relationships. When the world went through the Hollowing, it caused certain individuals to become ghouls who wanted to consume flesh... however the world adapted and created SynFlesh, a way for ghouls to eat and still behave like normal individuals. now four best friends: Zoey, Celeste, Val, and Jasmine have all become ghouls and are just living their best life, Celeste ( the influencer of the group) got them tickets to a music festival in the desert. With a cooler full of hard selzers and SynFlesh, the girls just want to have fun... except things are about to get bloody when at the festival the girls realize that someone is drugging ghouls to make them go feral and bodies begin dropping. When Val is drugged they have to figure out who and why, and it does not help that some band boys have made it very clear that they think ghouls deserve to die.... on top of that Zoey has begun to have a crush on Celeste but having a crush on your best friend can be difficult if you dont want to ruin the relationship. What’s a ghoul suppose to do? With more ghouls being infected, and more bodies dropping, Zoey and her friends will have to find a way to get the cure before it’s too late and they all become feral or before no one makes it out of the festival alive. This was such a cute read it gave me Jennifer’s Body vibes and I adored it. The friendship and care these girls have for each other was so sweet. So yes, I definitely recommend this book. It’s queer, its romantic, its fun and campy and its just an all around great read!

*Thanks Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire, Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This book was so good!! So much fun!! The very first paragraph drew me right in. We meet two of our main characters as they try to decide how to fit a cooler full of organs into the back of their car. This book takes place in a world that’s recovering from an outbreak that turned people into “ghouls” sort of like zombies but with more rational thought.

I loved the characters and the diverse representation! The story was super fun, I actually just wish it had been longer and fleshed out some of the relationships a little more. The book had scenes from during the virus outbreak “The Hollowing” and those scenes were so interesting, I would have read a whole book in that timeline!

this was a unique take in horror, it was what I was hoping for from the description and from the previous work My Dearest Darkest. I enjoy the way Kayla Cottingham write, it's a unique take on the genre and was a beautifully done sapphic horror. I loved the concept and think it worked really well in this context. I enjoyed getting to know these characters and loved getting to know them. It still had a great horror element going on and I really enjoyed reading this.

"She stopped inches from his face. Her claws reflected the dance floor lights, shining where they hung within gouging distance of Quentin’s eyes. He stood rigid, all signs of mirth gone from his expression. Jasmine gasped for breath, her shoulders shaking. She felt eyes on her and glanced around to find that people had stopped to look, jaws agape. On the other side of the dance floor, Jasmine caught Valeria Vega with a hand over her mouth while Celeste and Zoey just stared, wide-eyed."

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this eARC!

This book was so weird, silly, and even gross at times. Describing their cannibalistic urges actually made me shudder...and then someone would have a funny response and it made me laugh. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would, but if mentions of cannibalism, murder, blood, etc etc creeps you out, I would pass.