So disclaimer, I went into this thinking it was a YA novel. The cover looks YA to me, so there is that. The description was a supernatural book about 2 young girls, so you can't blame me. This book wasn't what I had wanted it to be. The writing felt like it was a draft and the horror element wasn't really there for me. It could be because of the author's writing style, though. The now and then altering chapters made me aggravated. Overall, I didn't care for this book.

This book was set up well and the premise sounded interesting, but diving further in left me wanting more. It seemed strangely written and hard to follow. It wasn’t what I thought it would be and I was left wanting more and disappointed. It was dark but not in a thrilling way; just awkward and less than.

The Dead Girls Club was only my most anticipated read of 2019 and I am so happy to say Damien Angelica Walters delivered a twisted thriller. Beginning thirty years in the future, Heather Cole is a successful child psychologist with a secret of her own. In 1991 Heather Cole and her three best friends were part of The Dead Girls Club, the four were intense fans of the creepy and macabre, at least until one of them, Becca, died. Heather has repressed many of the memories of the night Becca passed away, but she knows she was involved and now, after receiving the other half of a friendship necklace in the mail, she knows someone else knows too. Alternating between 1991 and present day, The Dead Girls Club follows Heather as she becomes the desperate, unreliable narrator I so wanted her to be.

You aren't tired of me recommending unreliable narrator books yet, right? I hope not, because this may be the last one of 2019, but I already have a long list ready for 2020. Heather Cole would never be my first pick for a child psychologist, in fact it's surprising that any of the children she is treating stay with her through the end of the novel. Her downward spiral is swift, while readers aren't revealed the complete events of the fateful night in 1991, we are made aware quite quickly just how afraid Heather is of the truth coming out. She is desperate, unhinged, and pulls away from everyone in her life. She believes she's holding it together, but we know from the flashbacks that the death of Becca is all that's on her mind.

What seems just a bit abnormal for four young girls soon takes a psychological twist. We're led to believe it's supernatural, that one of the stories they are hearing, shared by Becca, is real and coming true with them as the victims. While in reality it is four impressionable pre-teens making the horrifying events occur, causing their bonds to sever and the events to turn darker, scarier, fatal. I'll admit some of the events are not believable, as an adult reader it is easy to pick out the holes in the young girls' experience, but when in their shoes it all seems plausible. The flashback scenes are the most interesting, giving readers the mystery and thrill they're seeking when picking up a book like The Dead Girls Club. Even when Heather became so unreliable and even more unlikable I held on, wanting to know what, who, and why the girls' story club turned so deadly.

A gripping thriller, The Dead Girls Club satisfied my desire for a creepy read and I really liked the urban legend twist. The story was creative, the writing fantastic, and the character's were as hysterical and unreliable as I had hoped. While it isn't the horror that was promised, it was an entertaining, fast paced read that I would recommend to mystery and thriller fans.

I attempted this book twice, but just could not get through it. I liked the idea of the use of urban legends, but it just seemed too... childish? For me. I thought the dialogue was extraneous and the alternating past/present timelines was too much. I did not finish this book, but maybe I will circle back around to it one day.

Heather receives half of a "best friend " necklace that once belonged to a childhood friend who died 4p years ago. Strange things continue to happen and she fears her past has come to punish her for her actions. Has ber friend returned from the dead or is it all a cruel game?

I just couldn't get into this one. In the present day, Heather is receiving clues that someone knows what she did to her friend Becca...but Heather herself seems unclear about what actually happened that night and she's giving the reader little clue about what she thinks happened until the end. I didn't like her as a character enough to want to know what happened to her then or now, and the two other members of the Dead Girls Club didn't seem to have much to do with the plot at all. Halfway through, I started skimming because I hate to leave books only half read. It does pick up near the end, but not enough for me to count this as a satisfying read.

I read a lot of suspense novels and this book just didn't work for me. It wasn't very compelling and I probably won't read anything by this author in the future.

*I received The Dead Girls Club through NetGalley, in exchange of an honest review*

From the start of reading The Dead Girls Club, you could see that Heather Cole is a woman living with the huge burden of guilt from the past. As the story progresses, Heather's guilt causes her to spiral into delirium, each mysterious 'gift' further impacting her situation.

The Dead Girls Club tells the story in a dual timeline, featuring the relationship of Heather Cole and Rebecca (Becca) Thomas: the first timeline featuring Heather in the present time, and the second highlighting Heather and Becca's relationship when they were 12 years old. Along with two other girls, they share tales about serial killers and other dangerous stories. After some time, Becca begins sharing a tale about the Red Lady, taking the group along a path that forever effects their relationship.

One thing that The Dead Girls Club does wonderfully is feature the complex dynamic of female relationships. Women navigate the complicated process of gaining (and maintaining) trust in each other from a very young age, and this is featured prominently throughout the novel. With the loss of Becca, Heather's desire to maintain close friendships are thrown in a loop. The realization that someone may be aware of Heather's past pushes her into deep distrust with everyone around her.

The Dead Girls Club definitely kept me on edge, and reading both aspects of Heather's life left me with a uneasy feeling as to what might happen next. I really enjoyed reading this story of loss and mystery in the name of friendship.


--Cathleen (WovenFromWords)
https://wovenfromwords.com (Review on blog posted on December 30)

Was someone in the house the night Becca died?
Dr. Heather Cole, a child psychologist who is haunted by her past keeping a dark secret the past thirty years. She receives a package in the mail the mail with a necklace that Becca had on the night she died. Someone is determined to bring the truth out.
The story is told in two different timelines- the present and the past.
Heather and three of her friends, Becca, Rachel, and His belong to The Dead Girls Club. The girls share stories of seriel killers, ghosts, and monsters. Becca, who is a troubled and abused girl, tells the story of the Red Lady, and ends up with her dying at the hands of her best friend, Heather.
I could not put this book down until the end. The author did a wonderful job with all the creepy twists keeping you thinking and on the edge of your seat.

Thank you to Crooked Lane and NetGalley for the eARC

The past can never really be forgotten or laid to rest. So begins this deliciously thrilling coming of age story of "The Dead Girls Club". A macabre tale that will keep you up late into the night.

What do you get when you have the following equation:
4 girls + dark tales of the Red Lady + an empty house + group hysteria=?
A death you can't remember, but something happened and someone knows something... and now they want you to learn the truth.

A past that is too shocking to remember...correctly!

4⭐
Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and the author Damien Angelica Walters for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy!

I didn't think I was going to like this one when it first started out. It was a little slow to grab my attention, but once it did I was hooked! I loved it and couldn't put it down once the plot picked up!

This book follows the story of a woman named Heather who is haunted by her past. She did what she thought was right to help her best friend when she was young and it is now plaguing her as an adult. She tries to figure out who from that time has figured out her secret and why they want to bring it up 30 years later. I enjoyed the journey to figuring it out. I liked the back and forth between the "now" and "then". It was done really well. Some authors make it very hard to follow. I didn't think anything was rushed or too drawn out either. It was nicely paced.

The synopsis of The Dead Girls Club had me so intrigued, however the story didn’t pull through in the end. This was a light spooky read that I would recommend to thriller-lovers.

As a teen (and as an adult), I adored R.L. Stine. This book is like the an adult version of a Stine tale!
Written with vivid scenes and paranormal elements, this is one of the best horror-thriller hybrids I have read this year.

I thought the writing was subpar and did not entice me to continue reading. I had to put it on hold because other titles seemed much more interesting to me, even though I had wanted to read it due to its synopsis. Unfortunately, a good premise is not enough. I might pick it back up later.

Sadly, this just wasn't for me. I like a good thriller. I like to be scared. I just never got there with this one.

The Dead Girls Club is a great telling of a story of past actions coming back to haunt one of the characters. As the story opens, Heather is confronted by reminders of an incident from her childhood, one in which her best friend Becca ends up dead. The novel uses a common narrative technique, alternating chapters telling the story of the past interchanged with how Heather is dealing with the repercussions now. This is a brilliant story. My eyes were flying across the page and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough to find out what exactly happened in the past, and why she was being haunted by it now. The group hysteria of the young girls, the impact of repressed memories and the believable twist and resolution at the end of the novel all combine to make this one of my favorite books of the year.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

When Heather was twelve, she and three friends were members of The Dead Girls Club. They talked about true crime, bizzare deaths, and the supernatural. One of their supernatural stories was about the Red Lady, a vengeful witch. It's all fun and games until one of Heather's friends ends up dead. Nearly thirty years later someone wants the truth of that night to be revealed.

Told with alternating timelines - then and now. Heather has worked to forget her past, but she is forced to remember what happened when she receives a necklace in the mail. The necklace her friend was wearing on the night she died.

A coming of age story and suspenseful mystery. This novel has been listed as horror by some, but it reads much more like a mystery thriller. Dark, dramatic, and creepy.

I received a free digital copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

There are a few things I absolutely adore when I'm reading horror, or thrillers: female central characters, some sort of coming-of-age or teenage tragedy aspect, and a chapter-to-chapter time jump. I got all three of these with Jeremy Hepler's recent CRICKET HUNTERS, and I didn't expect I'd be so lucky as to find another in a recent release so soon. I'm absolutely ecstatic to say that Walters completely nailed every single thing I love in my thrillers on the head.

I started this book intending to only read a little bit of it before doing something else around the house, and ended up spending the next couple of hours binge-reading the entire thing. I was absorbed from the very first page by Heather and Becca's friendship & story, and I loved every second of reading this!

The friendships between young girls can oftentimes be very fickle, but strong friendships and bonds can be formed early on. With Heather and Becca, we see both sides of this - their close bond and ties, and also the strength of those ties being tested by whispered rumors and giggles with other girls. When you're a little girl, everything can feel very life changing and monumental, especially in regards to friendships and social situations - and Walters conveys that in such a believable way that there were parts where I really, really related to the characters & their worries and troubles from my own memories of being that age.

Becca is every popular girl you wish you were as a teenager, but there's a darker layer to her as well. Although I won't say too much to avoid spoilers, but I will mention a warning to those sensitive to household / domestic abuse, as the story does touch a bit on that subject. The Red Lady spirit that Becca believes in becomes a character in the story herself, with the small little stories about her that Becca tells to her friends. I did have a bit of confusion while reading on what was real and what wasn't, and I think the unreliable narrator aspect of both the girls in the past (under the duress of being teenagers & their situations), as well as of current-day Heather (who, I will admit, was a little annoying at times with a couple of the decisions she made), really kept me on the edge of my seat, not knowing what exactly was going to happen until a sort of 'big reveal' near the end of the book.

I did enjoy the ending, but I almost wish for something a little different, just so the outcome could be one that made me less sad. Again, I'd hate to ruin the review with spoilers, so you're definitely going to have to read this one so we can discuss it - ending included!

An interesting story that combines the past and the present to tell the story. There was plenty of suspense as the story went on. Characters were realistic and, at times, totally unlikeable but that only added to the story in my opinion. I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.