A mysterious invitation lures Ava and nine other people to a derelict amusement park, all who believe they are being blackmailed with secrets they want to protect at all costs. But, when fog and magic swallow the pier trapping them on the island, the group find themselves cut off from the real world, and one by one, dead. Everyone has to decide how far they're willing to go to survive.

"Good Girls Die First," as a title, does not fit this story and neither does the associated artwork which is a shame because the gorgeous cover, compelling name and intriguing blurb wrapped together were what grabbed my attention. The book is described as "perfect for fans of Karen McManus and Stephen King" and I would say this is more King than McManus. This YA novel should definitely be marketed as a dark fantasy horror over a mystery/thriller.

To start, having ten one dimensional characters to be following and none of them likeable was a huge problem. In fact, I really didn't care who would die because I hated them all. It was a real fight not to leave this as a DNF when I expected this to be a story I couldn't put down. Unfortunately, there was too much going on, an intense amount of chaos and a confusing plot that couldn't hold my attention. I was happy to be finished, but it did leave me with more questions then answers; not enough that it will keep me up at night, I've already forgotten them.

I liked the concept and setting itself was thought-out, creepy and isolating, it just fell short in execution. Personally, I wouldn't recommend.

Fun, supernatural thriller. I read some reviews where people were upset to discover that this book is so supernatural, but I do like supernatural thrillers as well. I admit — the cover, which is amazing, did not give me a supernatural vibe, so that was a surprise.

I enjoyed the fact that with the time jumps and everything, we never knew quite what had really happened or how long it had been. I do question why no one looked for the teens on this creepy abandoned pier. Was the weather that bad the entire time? I’m also really curious to see an epilogue as I felt a little like I was left hanging.

I did find it really interesting. I love horror, and this one kept me up late reading. None of the characters are super likable.

The underage drinking and drug use will keep me from recommending it to younger teens as often, but it’s an interesting, creepy read for fans of Stephen King and Danielle Vega.

Great blurb, great cover - I was excited to read this one. I grew up reading Point Horror and Fear Street so I don’t mind a bit of cheesiness and silliness in my YA horror, but unfortunately for me this one went too far. The characters felt paper-thin, nothing they did made any sense, and the plot jumped around so much I got whiplash. A bit disappointing.

This is like a typical teen slasher flick, without the blood and gore. Ten kids are stuck on an amusement park-type island (think Coney Island) with no way out. They're all keeping secrets, according to the mysterious invitations that they all received. While on he island, they start dying one by one.

I found this book long and boring; also very hard to finish. None of the characters were memorable and I wasn't rooting for any of them. And ten seemed to be excessive when we didn't know much about any of them to begin with. They were hard to keep track of before they finally started dying one by one.

Also, while I was reading it,, the cover image for this book changed and it wasn't for the better (I preferred the cover with the carousel horse on it). A lot could have been done with the abandoned amusement park angle, but sadly, it was not.

So that’s the blurb for this book. I don’t usually link the blurb, but in this case I felt like the blurb was for a completely different book, in a different genre, aimed at a whole different sort of reader. I was expecting a mystery, maybe some violence, maybe some dark secrets. What I got was a dark fantasy horror.

That said, it wasn’t a bad book. I did finish it, though I probably wouldn’t recommend it to people, unless I knew that dark fantasy horror was what they were specifically after! It’s a very niche genre. Once I settled into this, instead of what I was expecting, I was carried along, and wanted to know what was going to happen.

It’s hard to know what to say about the plot, without giving too much away. There are ghosts, there are secrets, there are deaths….

I would have preferred to have known more about each of the characters on the island/fairground. The book wasn’t super long, and I honestly wasn’t invested in ANY of them, or their secrets. I kind of found the Big Bad to be the most interesting, and I wonder if that’s because we got so much more info about them, than any of the teens. If it had been six teens, for example, and we used the time spent on the other four as time to learn more about them, I think it would have been easier to follow, and I might have actually cared.

Content Warnings: Suicide, suicidal ideation, gore, murder, homophobia (I think?), dark spirits, demons, possession, gore (yeah, there’s a lot), death

Overall Rating (based on what I was expecting from the blurb): 1 star
Overall Rating (of the book itself): 3.5 stars

While this cover is probably one of my favorites within the young adult thriller/horror community, the book inside was not. Don't get me wrong its not a BAD book, it just wasn't really for me. I think things got a little too strange for me and keeping up with all the lies and secrets made it feel too chaotic. I recommend that readers check this one out for themselves rather than relying on reviews because I know it will be someone's favorite.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Good Girls Die First by Kathryn Foxfield is a YA supernatural thriller that is perfect for fans of Netflix's new Fear Street movies! The plot revolves around Ava, one of ten teenagers who are sent mysterious invitations to meet at an abandoned theme park. She decides to accept the invitation, because she's convinced someone is blackmailing her. The other teens decide to show up also. After meeting them, Ava isn't sure who to trust. It seems that each person there is keeping a terrible secret that could ruin their lives. Will Ava be able to keep her secret a secret? Who among the group of teenagers will she be able to trust? And will she make it out of the theme park alive?

Here is a thrilling excerpt from Chapter 1, which introduces us to Ava:

"On nights when the winds blew wrong, distorted music seemed to drift inland from Allhallows Rock. Sunset cast the island in foggy shades of red and orange, and for a moment, it appeared as if it was still burning.
Then tar-dark waters swallowed the lights, and the people of Portgrave once again looked away. Any questions they had about the abandoned carnival and its mile-long pier vanished. Most of the time, Ava forgot the island was even there.
Nothing like blackmail to refresh the memory.
...
Eight o’clock, Portgrave Pier. Can you keep a secret?
That was what her invite said."

Overall, Good Girls Die First is a gripping YA supernatural thriller that you will not be able to put down. I ended up finishing this book in a day. I was super into it and could not wait to find out what happened next. One highlight of this book is the mysterious and haunting setting. I absolutely love thrillers that are set in atmospheric, spooky places, like old sanatoriums and haunted hotels. I think it makes those books all the more terrifying. I haven't read any books set in abandoned theme parks before, though I can see how it would make an excellent setting. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of YA supernatural thrillers, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in December!

Wow, what a story! I just could not put it down and needed to know what happened next. The story is full of mystery, intrigue, murder and lots of suspense! For ages 14+, the story has swearing, graphic killing scenes and for me as it is set in the UK it feels so much more realistic!

Ava is one of 10 teenagers that is lured to an abandoned amusement park by a mysterious invite which depics her deepest secret. Ava and the others will do anything to stop their secrets getting out and have to figure out who is behind the blackmail.

Things go from bad to worse when the pier that attaches the island collapses and there's no other way off the island. Can Ava figure out who is the blackmailer or will the violent thoughts make her do the unspeakable?!

A gripping story from start to finish and would highly recommend!

Thank you to the publisher, author and NetGalley for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I had a hard time getting through this one, although I did finish it. I actually just finished it a few days ago and can't really remember what happened. Unfortunately, this one is utterly forgettable. Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for a digital arc in exchange for a review.

Ten teenagers are invited to an island, each with a secret eating them up inside. No, it's not Gretchen McNeil's <i>Ten</i>, although it owes the same debt to Agatha Christie's <i>And Then There Were None</i> (which should just have its own ATU number at this point) - it's a much more classic horror story than either of those books. The title's also a bit misleading, although perhaps by the end none of the characters, boy or girl, could be called "good." But it's the very fact that they have to come to recognize their own flaws and guilt that gives the story its teeth, and that's perhaps the best done element of the novel. Interestingly most of the girls are more nuanced characters than the boys, although that may have more to do with intended audience than anything else.

I do wish that the past of the abandoned amusement park - either as a park or in its other incarnations - had been explored more, because the book was at its scariest when detailing the way the carnival of the damned came to life each time the sun set. (Or maybe that's my own fears. Thanks, first Care Bears movie!) Foxfield does use the idea of the carnivalesque, when the world is turned on its head, very well, but if there's one piece that could have been developed more to get even more terror out of the story, that would be it. There's just a little something <i>missing</i> here that I can't quite put my finger on.

Despite that, this is a pretty solid work of YA horror. It doesn't stick too closely to its literary roots to prevent it from being its own story, and if you're not feeling squeamish and don't mind books where no one is sympathetic by the end, this is worth picking up.

This very much read like a 2021 Point Horror inspired book, so at least it was successful in that? But it was written so pretentiously and the use of adjectives and similes and metaphors was overdone. Also the characters all felt pretty indistinguishable.

Well, there are three things made me click the request button to demand arc copy of this book as fast as I could:

- the blood chilling, perfect cover
- The brilliant name
- The intriguing plot: ten teenagers who have ten different and ugly secrets gathered around one of the creepiest amusement park. They stuck in the place. There’s no escape from the island that creepy amusement park is located. Somebody or let’s say bodies start playing deadly games with them. They start to die by one by after they confess their big secret. Who is after them? How can they survive? What kind of game they have to play? What if they turned into bloody killers to work against each other for being last one standing?

Well, I loved those three qualities and impressive promising start of the book but as I reached the last third, the direction of the plot got out of control. It didn’t just waver, the entire plot crashed down and I barely finished the last chapters and I wish it would end sooner.

The characters including heroine Ava who is nerdy, introvert, unsecured girl doesn’t have enough qualities for us to easily resonate with her. And the other nine characters were also one dimensional and easy to hate which contradict with the name of the book because none of the girls of this book is good one and yes, some of them actually die ( semi spoiler alert)

The number of characters are way too much and they are not easily differentiated. All of them are equally weird and irritating and you wish to get rid of all of them so you can finish the book faster to read something with more lovable characters.

Overall: I loved the claustrophobic amusement park theme and 10 teenagers’s gathering who did truly bad things but execution and wrapping up the entire concept were a little weak and character development was one dimensional.

I concentrated the positive facts and promising plot so I’m giving solid three stars.

I wish I would find more things to enjoy this read but unfortunately it didn’t fit my expectations.

I still want to read another works of the author because of creative plot idea she formed.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest opinions.

This is a very scary thriller type of book. A Mysterious invitation and a group of people invited to an isolated spot. It was extremely creepy and I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen. I loved it.