Eva is one of my favorite people (catch me in the acknowledgements for Where Secrets Lie!), so I was pumped when she came out with this Fear Street/Christopher Pike vibes thriller! It's got a job at a haunted house, murder, and a tiny bit of romance. And because it's Eva, the writing is beautiful and the tension is just right.

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

I most enjoyed the setting of this book. The different scare rooms combining with the real horror was well done and enhanced everything well. The plot required a little suspension of disbelief that the other workers could be so oblivious to what was going on and that more effort was not made to figure out how to tell the police. But that is also part of the fun of the mystery and how things get more tangled and the stakes even higher. The aspect that didn't work as well for me was the main characters falling a bit flat. The main character is a jock but also secretly kind of a nerdy introvert and definitely a bit dumb. His love interest is the smart one who is a bit of a manic pixie dream girl with her poetry but also doesn't get to have enough interests beyond saving the main character to fully fit the stereotype. This is even more annoying because his best friend and room partner is much more well rounded so it really felt like a missed opportunity to leave the main characters lacking. The plot was fun though predictable and I did still enjoy seeing how things unfolded.

A nice young adult thriller for a younger audience that enjoys drama. It wasn't bad but it was predictable and not all that thrilling. Would definitely suggest to younger ones wanting something a bit edgier than usual.

3 stars. This one was just a meh read for me. It wasn't bad, I think younger me would have enjoyed it. But with all the books like this thar already exist, this one didn't stand out as much as I hoped it would have.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was surprisingly (and pleasantly) bloody for a novel aimed at younger audiences. Any horror set in a haunted house (the fake kind) is a win in my book, and the details about props and scare actors were very fun.

3 for neutral, was unable to access my netgalley account until today. I apologize for the inconvenience and hopefully will not have any more issues in future.

Nice YA thriller but to me read more like a middle grade. Wasn’t much thrill or suspense to it even though the plot is a murder at a haunted attraction. The book overall was cute and had a great mix of all things YA such as romance, drama and the all too cute awkwardness.

In itself, the book fell pretty flat. The twist was not a twist. I think if things didn’t happen so early in the story and was paced better, it would have held up more comfortable.

i was really excited about this because i LOVE books set in an amusement parks/fun house/carnival type settings. but i think my main issue with this is the setting was not utilized enough - i really feel like this could have been set at any workplace. i don't think the haunted attraction was used enough to amplify the story.
a character also says something about halfway through this book that made it SO obvious who the killer was.
wasn't spooky enough and i did not enjoy the romance.

Dave is spending his final summer before college working at Frightmares House of Horrors, a struggling haunted house attraction held together by malfunctioning killer clown mannequins, a cheap replica Annabelle doll, and a lot of improvising.

After a particularly disastrous shift ends at the Florida tourist trap an employee walkouts. Dave reluctantly takes over a role for his friend but finds a real dead body, hidden on set. When Dave returns with help, the body is gone. Though the killer covered their tracks, Dave realizes they must know what he saw.

This was a good and fast read. It wasn't quite as scary as you would expect from a horror book, more like thriller. Keep in mind that it is YA horror so maybe that's why. I found it to be on the predictable side. I loved the concept of this book and it did have a creepy feel to it. It reminds me of Goosebumps books but with some cussing. I did enjoy it and do recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Random House Childrens/ Underlined Books for the gifted E-book! ❤️

I received an ARC of Frightmares from Netgalley and Underlined and MAN, was I impressed by this book! Come on, a thriller set in a haunted house run by an old horror actress?! This book 100% exceeded expectations, and may’ve redeemed the YA thriller genre a tad for me as well lol. I am a jaded reader who usually reads over 200 horror & thriller books a year, so I am easily put off by a bad plotline and writing. I am also especially jaded by the YA genre- just because it’s for teenagers, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be GOOD! Luckily, Eva V. Gibson’s Frightmares has done its part in reinvigorating my love and respect for the YA horror genre!

Dave Summer is a 17 year old swim team-popular kid on the cusp of both summer vacation and a breakup with long time girlfriend Cate. Of course they looked like the perfect couple but, as one of my favorite lines in the novel from Dave says, “A polished turd is still a turd.” Luckily, Maya Green comes into the picture- the cute, assertive classmate who caught Dave’s eye during open mic nights at the local coffee shop with her spoken-word poetry. Cate who?

Dave’s job is working as a costumed cast member of Frightmares House of Horrors with the rest of his Misfit-Dolls cast of friends, and I was SO jealous because I would’ve LOVED to work in a haunt such as this with people like these! The setting of this novel was its selling point, for sure. Frightmares is a haunted house that does tours run by B movie, ex-scream queen Loretta, who is past her prime and managing a cast of actor hopefuls on busy evenings and weekends. On any given night Dave and colorful, badass friends like Josie, Oliver, and Mickey slap on the fx makeup and costumes and scare the crap out of the attendees in creepy room sets like Dolls Alive!, Demented Doctor, or Dave and Josie’s room, Captive Countess. Dave can be found in a cape and covered in Josie's fx blood, flailing an ax around and whipping her fake animatronic legs to the giggles and gasps of onlookers.

During an especially hectic night where the cast is shuffled around due to a no show castmate, Dave discovers a dead body during his set and freaks out! After his initial panic, Dave returns to call the police and notify Loretta, but the body is gone and Dave is in utter shock. He gravitates between questioning his sanity, and his anxiety over being unable to take action without some sort of evidence, as it seems that no one else realizes that this person is even missing, nevermind dead. You can’t report a dead body without a dead body, right?

Dave’s entire life is changed after this. He no longer feels safe- what if the killer is after him for finding the body? Who can he trust at work- his friends are a bunch of aspiring actors! Luckily, his newfound friendship with Maya becomes a way to investigate his workplace- at least he can trust her!

Okay, no spoilers from me guys, so let’s talk about the writing of the book itself! Like I previously stated, I want to be hopeful when I crack open a YA thriller/horror novel, but am always let down by ridiculous things. Sometimes I wonder if the writer remembers even BEING a teenager, because the dialogue can get cringey, or the characters behave in unbelievable ways. Not from Gibson!

At several points during reading I found myself cracking up at the dialogue, especially Dave’s closest friend Josie at Frightmares. I loved everything from her jokey nicknames for Dave, her punk rock style, and her dialogue was really smooth and cleverly written. I could totally have seen me and her being bffs many years ago, kicking ass and taking names. Frightmares as a setting is rich in atmosphere, being a haunted house and all, but Gibson has a way with descriptive metaphors and similes that made my heart swell! I was fascinated by the inner workings of the place in general, and was psyched to discover that a good 85% of the book took place within its dirty, creepy walls!

The book is very fast paced, and I gulped down this novel in less than 48 hours, eager to see if my predictions were correct as I got to know each coworker as the pages turned, trying to keep track of everyone’s movements to do some detective work myself!

I was just about to go to bed last night when I started reading the ending, and man, the way things go down is a freaking doozy. That’s what I get for taking a “quick glance” at the start of the pivotal chapter… I literally stood in the middle of my living room, unable to place the dang bookmark and put the book down, because I just HAD to know how it turned out! It was very well written, and by the epilogue I was very satisfied with the way things wrapped up for our characters.

A professional haunted house is an ideal place for a thriller/horror novel, and this book did not disappoint! It’s the perfect read for teens and adults alike, just in time for pregaming spooky season!

slow start, was hard to get into. Could be better for another reader, though, because it does have a good writing style.

I wouldn't say this book was horror or chilling. I'd call it more of a YA murder mystery novel. It was highly predictable. I gave it a three star rating due to the fact that from Chapter 22 on it was pretty fast paced. I liked that.

A solid, slasher murder mystery. I would say it's more of a thriller than straight up horror though. The best way to describe it is that it felt like a book version of a made for tv slasher movie.

It was an easy read, with an amazing setting. The setting of the book went a long way in my enjoyment of it, it's not exactly a unique concept but it's something that hasn't been done TOO many times to make it feel stale.

The characters were your standard teen thriller assortment, but i did really like David. He was solid as far as protagonists went. I saw the ending coming from a mile away, but that's more to my familiarity with the genera than anything against the book.

I recommend if you want a quick, fun read that doesn't make you engage your brain too much.

I adore spooky attractions, gloomy theme parks, haunted houses, etc. all of it. My favorite season is fall because there are more of the spooky things I enjoy. Thus, I found the premise of this novel to be immediately intriguing. To read it, I had to.

I really like the ghost. Everyone seems to be winging it, just as in other of the local haunts. But I wished there had been more of that particular scene. The most of the action occurs outside of it.

What happened to the dead body in the horror house?
Frightmares House of Horrors, a Florida tourist trap, is a horror show that lasts through the summer. Dave is spending his last summer before college working alongside many others, with lots of creative improvising, in this cheap attraction that's being held together by a thread. After one particularly disastrous night, an employee has had enough. Dave reluctantly fills the role, however, in doing so, he stumbles across something horrifying...a real dead body. When he comes back with help, it's nowhere to be found.
I felt like this story had a lot of potential and I was really looking forward to it. Although it was an enjoyable read overall, I'm disappointed to say this one just wasn't for me. It started off strong, then a lot of nothing happened for about half of the book, and then it ended strong. I didn't find this story to be "nail-biting" or to really fit in the YA Horror category. I'd say it's more of a YA Thriller but there wasn't much thrilling happening for a lot of the book. A lot of the decisions being made by some of the characters were very questionable and frustrating. If it weren't for the ending, it would've been a two-star for me. I do also want to note that the narrator did a wonderful job reading the story and made it fun to listen to. I will definitely give Eva V. Gibson's work another try in the future.
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and Edelweiss+. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

I was hopeful for this one but sadly it was not for me. The swearing was a little much and over the top for my taste. I also wished that this would have more of a paranormal vs a murder story. I think it would have worked out a lot better. But that being said I mean this just was not for me. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be so that was a let down.

This book was ok. I would have liked it to be scarier, but it is usually, you win some, and you loose some.

The story was more spooky and fun than scary which was fine by me. What it lacked in scare made up in humor and an overall good spooky read. The book keeps you interested and guessing until the very end. Good story.

I was really hoping for more in this YA Horror, but it fell a bit flat for me. Maybe I'm too far removed from the age, or maybe these characters were so unlike anyone I knew growing up that I just couldn't connect. Whatever it was, I DNF around 20%, after struggling to enjoy the characters at all. Perhaps this will be more enjoyable for today's teens and pre-teens so I'll give it 2/5 Stars for now.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's, Underlined for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.