As a non horror person, I liked but didn't love this book. If you're a fan of slasher/horror films, it feels like there are a lot of nods to the genre you might really enjoy in Dead Girls Walking. Overall, I thought the pacing was really good, I found the main character to be super compelling, and overall it was perfectly gruesome and freaky.

This story follows Temple, whose dad is just an absolute violent nut. He's not only a serial killer, but has confessed to brutally killing her mother while on death row. So now Temple is back at a summer camp for queer girls interested in horror (maybe a bit hyper specific) to try to figure out what really happened to her mom.

I loved this book. It was so suspenseful! When I thought I figured out the ending there was an unexpected twist that was greatly appreciated. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves gore and horror.

In the book dead girls walking by Sami Ellis first of all I’ll listen to the audiobook narrated by Tomika Katon-Donegal although blessed with a great voice she has no character distinction and every person sounds like every other person. Not to mention I thought this was going to be a slasher A camp sleep away tight book but it’s more about tempest whose father is a Serial Killer and she wants to know if he killed her mother and he tells her she has the find the body to find out the answer so she becomes a camp counselor at Northpoint Farm her SK dads killing ground. First of all the campus for transgendered girls who love True Crime such a niche descriptor The book started strong with tempest digging up the grave of her mother or what she thought was her mothers grave and her inner thoughts about how much she was going to dislike her job as a camp counselor I do want to say some of the things Tempestad made me laugh this author is truly talented I just did not like this book as I thought it was going to be something else than what it was an Instagram or does go missing and there is a copy cat or what they think is a copycat killer on the loose it just wasn’t the type of book I thought I would like tempest goes from modern day to past events in her life throughout the book there are spooky paranormal events that happen but the good stuff didn’t happen to write at the end of the book some may love this if I’m going by other reviews it just wasn’t my type of book so I didn’t like it but it has more to do with me the reader then the book itself as I said I found the author very talented and would not pass up another book by her I just didn’t like this one. I want to thank recorded books and net galley for my Free arc copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

I loved listening to this audio book. The darkness and violence of a slasher plot is right up my alley and this did not disappoint with the amount violence and mystery.

DNF at 42%.

I unfortunately could not finish listening to the book. As much as I love slasher horror, especially YA horror, this just felt way too juvenile for me to enjoy. I wasn't enjoying a single aspect of the story - so instead of giving a bad rating, I chose to put the book down instead.
I won't be putting any ratings on other sites, as it's not fair for me to rate a book I didn't finish.

Thank you very much for the ALC to listen to.

thank you for giving me a copy of this book early! i thoroughly enjoyed this book. i loved temples character and the supernatural elements on the story worked realy well.

Temple’s dad is a serial killer, and though he admitted to killing her mom, Temple can’t bring herself to believe him. Deciding to find answers, she returns to the abandoned family farm that has since been turned into an overnight camp for queer, horror-obsessed girls. Temple doesn’t like anyone, so signing up as a counselor might have been a bad idea, but it was the only way she could think of to gain access. But when some strange things begin occurring at the camp, Temple realizes she may have just bitten off more than she can chew.

The book is written in an interesting way, with voices and sounds interspersed throughout the narrative that highlight everything constantly running through Temple’s mind and odd things that she hears. Temple is an angry protagonist, so angry that I did find it off putting and her inner dialogue became quite repetitive. It made it difficult to connect with her as a protagonist. The secondary characters were all quite difficult to tell apart as well as there was almost no development given to them.

The setting was well written and brought to life through detailed descriptions. It helped to add to the atmosphere of the read. There are also multimedia elements to this book, including an excerpt from an interview and posts to forums, that are scattered between some chapters.

This book got weird, especially in the last portion. There was a lot going on, and it didn’t take the direction I thought it was going to based on the blurb. Instead, it was more supernatural/magical realism that became pretty odd. I had a difficult time being drawn in by the things going on, which made the resolution a little less punchy than I wanted it to be.

If you’re looking for a YA supernatural horror with great representation that explores multigenerational trauma and has an angry protagonist, you’ll likely enjoy this one. My thanks to NetGalley and Amulet Books for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

I think the narrator did an amazing job differentiating the voices of different characters and starts and stops of the dialogues and had great intonation.
The story itself wasnt really that compelling to me, considering the blurb and what it promised me i find that the story is a bit of a let down, also the stereotipical cat fights really dissapointed me because i came here for a thriller and i got so much teen drama i kept forgetting that there was a killer
Also the skips between flashbacks and current happenings were not properly written and sometimes confused me

"Dead Girls Walking" didn't work for me. I felt like I was dropped into the middle of a story to the extent that I went back and checked if it were actually a sequel. I couldn't tell if Temple had some sort of power, and the dream(?) sequences weren't cut in clearly. Every other character seemed like the same person. It was just confusing to me, and I couldn't finish it because I didn't know what was happening. The synopsis sounded amazing, but this one didn't grab me.

Title: Dead Girls Walking
Author: Sami Ellis
Page Count: 368
Dates Read: 4/2-4/5
Format: Audiobook
Length: 11Hrs 37 Mins
Rating: ⭐️
Review: This was an Arc given from Netgalley for an honest review. Book was released March 26th. I listened to this on audiobook.


Temple goes to camp to go back to her Serial Killer Father's home. She is on the mission to find her mother's body and discover the truth behind it all.

This was an interesting read to start out with. Then the story kind of turned Juvenile with the drama. The story tries to relate to current times and fell a little flat to me. I did enjoy the mystery behind the story and the horror aspects.
This will not be a reread for me.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC!

3.5 stars

I really loved the first 60% and was sure this would end up as a 5 star read. Sadly the last 40% dragged on a bit too much. A lot was happening and yet nothing at all.
It felt as if the climax of the story came too early and then the author tried to bring a point across but it took too long.
Temple was a really interesting character and the setting of the story (a summer camp) was appalling.
The slasher vibe was so immaculate but I really wished it would’ve stayed a classic slasher. Personally I couldn’t quite connect to the paranormal twist this whole story had.
It was definitely interesting but I guess I’m just more into the classics.
Generally I feel like there was a lot going on with all these side plots and a ton of characters, personally I would’ve toned it down a bit but still: a good story!

Since it’s YA it’s not super horror-ish but that was fine.
I think this should be on everyone’s summer TBR this year!
Also the audiobook was really well performed I loved it!

I'm not entirely sure where to start this review, because this book was so much. This was my first "slasher", and I did not expect that. When that is said, I found out that I'm not a fan of that kinds of books, but Sami Ellis really know how to write them!

I really enjoyed the backstory connecting the maincharacter to the place and the whole story. It may start a bit slow, but when the action starts it REALLY starts. It's no turning back after the first few chapters of Tempel Baker's twisted world.

I really love the cover though!

I got this as an ACR Audiobook from #NetGalley. Thank you so much!

3.25 Stars
Love the premise and setting!

As someone who enjoys Friday the 13th, I was excited to read a book set in a creepy summer camp for horror fans. While I love the premise, I felt that the execution could have been stronger. Although the story had potential, I found myself struggling to fully immerse myself in it due to some issues with character development and plot progression. In particular, I found Temple, the MC, to be unlikable and the other girls in the story to be underdeveloped and blended together. Additionally, the plot felt somewhat disjointed, which made it difficult to follow at times. Despite these issues, I like the big reveal. If you're a fan of YA slasher/horror/paranormal stories, this may be for you.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Sami Ellis, and RB Media for graciously sending me the audiobook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

There's a lot going on in this book. You kick off the book already in the heart of the story and need to piece together whats happening as you read which made the story a bit hard to follow. I did enjoy the plot, but after the 50-60% mark it started getting rather repetitive. I do think I would have liked it more if it was just a little shorter. It definitely a slasher with more layers to it. The writing was good, the book was very eerie, funny in the right spots, and very gore filled.

overall its a good debut and I'm happy to have read it!

thank you Netgalley for the audio arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was such a tense read. The author did a great job of setting the tone because I felt like I was constantly looking over my shoulder. I loved that the book was set at a summer camp too. Classic! This was a really well done YA horror novel.

First off, many thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this book as an audio ARC! I greatly appreciate it!
As a horror movie fan, this totally hit the spot! And it was so cool to see a cast of entirely queer Black characters! I mean, yes, most of them died, but still. Hazard of the genre.
I had a hard time getting into this story at first, because oh, boy, Temple is obnoxious. She might just be the most unlikeable main character I've ever come across, even at the end, post-character development. The writing was lovely, though, so I stuck around, even though the middle was pretty saggy. Overall, though, I definitely enjoyed this book!
Four stars out of five for Dead Girls Walking!

2 Stars

Temple’s father is on death row for being the infamous North Point Killer. Temple knows he’s guilty, but she never thought he was responsible for her mom’s disappearance until her most recent conversation with him. Now, she’s returning to her childhood home in the woods to see if she can corroborate her father’s latest confession. However, the woods is being utilized by a sleepaway camp for horror-obsessed queer black girls (I know, super niche camp concept. I was wondering how they keep in business, but apparently it’s scholarship funded and free? Who knows). Temple manages to get hired on as a counselor as a way to get back to her father’s hunting grounds, but her own investigation will need to be put on hold as the campers start turning up dead. There’s a new killer in town, and this time Temple is not going to sit idly by.

I should have gathered this from the title, but this is a zombie book! I have never read one before, so this was a really cool experience. I loved the creative spin that the zombies were the victims of Temple’s family of killers and that the reason behind the killing was to achieve some sort of zombie immortality. It was really creepy imagining corpses being possessed and coming after you!

However, that’s the extent of my positive critique for this book. As much as I love the concept of it, the plot had more holes than swiss cheese and made it difficult to fully immerse myself in the story. Firstly, the first ⅓ of this book is incredibly confusing. The story starts with Temple already at the camp, digging up what she thinks might be where her mom is. I’m all for in media res and what not, but that’s usually followed by a flashback or some exposition. NOPE! Because of this, I was relying heavily on the book summary to help me understand, but then the other counselors knew who Temple was. In fact, they seemed to go to the same school as her. The book blurb specifically says that Temple is trying to keep her identity hidden from the others at camp, but then they all go to school with her? All of this led to a lot of confusion and a frustrating beginning to this novel.

Little backstory on Temple and her murderous father… Temple was highly aware of what he was doing when she was a child. She mentions seeing her first dead body at 8 and touching her first dead body at 10. That is bound to eff a person up, right? I was thinking Temple was most likely entered into Witness Protection since she wasn’t sent to juvie, but NOPE! This is just absolutely bizarre to me and not at all how this would work. How is Temple planning on keeping her identity a secret if she doesn’t in her day-to-day? Like, all someone needs to do is Google her. It’s maddening to think about.

Besides the fact that this book doesn’t work whatsoever and the whole premise of Temple keeping her identity a secret is practically non-existent in the book, the fight scenes and the surviving were cool, that is, until the final boss “battle.” Without going into too much detail and spoiling this book, during her fight with this final boss Temple thinks at one point “the final boss could have gotten to me by now if they wanted to.” Okay… then why haven’t they? This actually enraged me. What motive would the final boss have for stalling? Absolutely none. Should the stakes be higher and this final fight better played out, it might’ve saved this book for me. But with a line like that… what was all of this for? UGH

The zombies end up being the thing in this book that makes the most sense. A creative spin on the walking dead ends up being overshadowed by a clunky beginning, unrealistic and/or lacking exposition, and a lame final fight. I’m hoping this author’s next novel allows her writing style and imagination to shine through.

Thank you NetGalley and RB Media for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun YA horror that I surprisingly was shocked by. The narrator did a fantastic job portraying the characters. The beginning of this story was a little slow and gets a little confusing but when it all came together, it was a fun ride.

Okay
so this was interesting
what begins as a seemingly slasher camp movie with some psychotic elements quickly delves into a supernatural slaughterfest
I really like that this book wasn't afraid to kill people, even if they had a big role
the only thing that slightly bothered me is that the main character kind of started out as the typical "i'm not like other girls, my life is hard and i'm angry"
and sure, she might indeed be a little different
but it was a little too on the nose, and lasted for a long time

other than that, a great listen, the audiobook was narrated very well, and i enjoyed my time with this story :)

thank you to netgalley and RB Media | Recorded Books for allowing me to listen to this book. This is one of the books I've been looking forward to this year and this book gave me everything I was looking for and more.