How to Survive Your Murder by Danielle Valentine
@DanielleValentineBooks
Pub date: August 30, 2022
Narrated by Valerie Rose Lohman
@ValerieRoseLohman
Duration: 9H 38M
4 stars

Alice is a nerdy girl, preferring to stay In and watch horror movies and true crime instead of going to parties or basically, anything else. When her friends persuade her to go to a Halloween Party with a little pushing from her older sister, Claire, she decides to go. I mean, what could happen to a bunch of teens partying in a corn maze anyways? Alice knows exactly what can happen, she’s seen the movie! If there’s one thing Alice knows, it’s how to become a Final Girl and nothing good happens in a corn maze on Halloween!

When the unthinkable happens, Alice gets a shot to go back and change her one regret but this doesn’t come without some strings attached. She’s got until midnight to save her sister and to find out who the real killer is but beware, sometimes the wolf appears in sheep’s clothing!

First off, the character of Alice is fantastic – her need to save her sister and others is not only noble but well thought out and second, what the heck! This is no fluffy YA thriller that’s all happy happy – there’s some real meat with these potatoes! Then there’s a whole host of references to some of my favorite horror movies and even a Sidney Prescott look-alike guide (kind of?). I really enjoyed this and Alice’s take on the various movies! Spot on, my friend!

The plot is tight and action-packed with one hell of an ending! I’ll be recommending this one to all fans of the genre.

Narration: Valerie Rose Lohman is spectacular and brought the tension and thrills. A true pleasure to listen to! Well done, Valerie!

My thanks to @PRHAudio and @PenguinTeen for the gifted ALC and DRC!

Allie was the only person to see her sister get murdered. When she is knocked out on day one of the trial, she finds herself waking up back on the day of the murder. Can she turn events around and save her sister this time?

YA thrillers are usually hit or miss for me. I'm pleased to say I quite enjoyed this book. It was fun, entertaining and fast paced. I have to admit, I was also particularly roped in by the cover - if you liked A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, you'll enjoy this one.

Thank you Penguin Teen for my review copy.


I'm a big fan of the 90's and Scream is my FAVORITE movie franchise so I jumped at the chance to check this book out. I was living for all the references as well. The plot started off strong, kinda of stalled in the middle, but went full speed ahead towards the end. I did figure out the killer early on, but the ending was wild. I was not expecting that at all and the author chose straight violence!!

If you’re looking for a good horror story for spooky season check this one out and then come to yell at me about that ending in my messages. I listened to the audiobook from PRH Audio and the narrator was very good and sounded like an actual teenager which can be hit or miss at times.

Thank you so much to @penguinteenca for the advance digital reading copy of How to Survive your Murder by Danielle Valentine. HTSYM comes out tomorrow, August 30, 2022.

I went into How To Survive Your Murder nearly blind, I knew it was suspense, and that it was YA but that was about it.

I was so enthralled by this book that I managed to finish it in a day. I don't want to say too much about it, because it was so much fun to be on the ride without knowing where it was going. This is another case where I recommend going into the book totally blind!

What I will say is that this book feels like a love letter to Horror Movies, slasher flicks, and pop culture through the years. There are a ton of references to the big 90's horror movies (Scream etc), as well as the slashers that started it all (Maybe I should change my ring tone to the halloween theme?)

As someone pretty familiar with the horror movie genre, I didn't find the book particularly scary, but there is some graphic slasher stuff - but it's YA, so it wasn't too gory.

I enjoyed figuring out who did it, it took until I was about 80% of the way through. I was so pleased with myself.
Highly recommend this book if you're a fan of horror/slasher movies. It will be right up your alley.

Right now my attention span only allows for quick thrillers and mystery books and this one was just what I was looking for.

Alice is a self proclaimed expert on Final Girls. And, sadly, she’s the only witness to her sisters murder. But when a Final Girl appears telling her that she is wrong it causes her question everything and she’s given a chance to make things right.

This one made me question everything. I thought I had people and stories figured out but it just kept twisting around. I really enjoyed the nostalgia of all the horror movies I grew up with that you can tell the author clearly loves. And I really enjoyed the anticipation this one built up in me while I waited for each page turn.

How To Survive Your Murder is a tribute to slasher horror movies that lovingly incorporates classic tropes from movies such as Scream and Happy Death Day while staunchly establishing its own identity in the horror genre with very creative and unique plot twists. It starts out innocuously enough with a killer in a cornfield wielding a chainsaw against a hapless teenage girl (just normal horror things!) before pivoting to the first-person perspective of our protagonist, Alice, and recounting the events that led up to the attack which ultimately ended in her sister Claire’s death at the hands of Owen Trevor Maddox.

A year later, Alice is bitter and traumatised with her life in tatters and no goal other than seeing Owen sentenced to prison. The blurb mentions her encounter with a Sidney Prescott doppelganger on the day of Owen’s trial and it’s safe to say that you will not predict her real identity nor understand the role she has to play until the author pulls the curtain off that reveal. There is a large amount of suspension of disbelief required as the Sidney aspect is outrageously on-the-nose; I almost feel it would’ve been better not to have included her because her presence is so distracting, but the character is vital to Alice’s arc as she miraculously finds herself in the past on the day her sister died. Now she has the chance to save her sister from Owen—it’s almost too good to be true, but Sidney cautioned her that he was innocent…despite witnessing him kill Claire with her own eyes, could there be more to the truth than Alice realises?

Beyond any time travel quirks and slasher shenanigans, the real key to the success of Happy Death Day and similarly themed horror-comedy movie The Final Girls was the emotional journey of its heroines as they struggle to deal with their grief and loss after the loss of a loved one. How To Survive Your Murder utilises its own fantastical trappings to elevate the plot beyond a by-the-numbers slasher, but at its core is a very believable and emotionally resonant arc about a girl in pain because she blames herself for leaving her sister to be killed. Even though there was no way possible she could have known that Claire would die that night, Alice regrets not being at her side, and this rings very true for most people that have experienced loss. What would we change if we had the benefit of foresight? Don’t we all regret not having made the effort to spend more time with loved ones before they passed? Aren’t there last words we would change if we’d known at the time it would be the final time we spoke to them?

As genre-savvy fans will be aware, changing one event in the past inevitably opens up a new can of worms; Alice saves her sister, but now there’s a killer on the loose and she knows other people will die unless she intervenes. Her desperate efforts to thwart the killer she’s absolutely certain must be Owen becomes bogged down in confusion and suspense as she starts to uncover details she never knew about before and the spiralling changes to the timeline throw her off-kilter. For readers, this will be an absolute blast to read – the author expertly leads us down the garden path right along with Alice, showering us with red herrings as bodies start to drop. I very confidently predicted the killer about five times before giving up when proven wrong yet again, but that’s all part of the fun!

The ending will be controversial as the rug is pulled from under the reader’s feet right in the last couple pages. If you’ve enjoyed the journey, it will only be a minor frustration, but I can see some people throwing their book or e-reader at the wall once they finish the story. Your mileage will vary depending on how you react to unresolved endings—this one is perfectly set up for a sequel, however the book is listed as a standalone. Unless the pleading screams of the audience move Danielle Valentine to put us out of our misery, it appears the reader’s imagination will have to suffice regarding what happens next. I have to applaud her audacity as it ensures this book will live rent-free in my head for years to come!

Slasher fans will relish sinking their teeth into How To Survive Your Murder, an engrossing, heart-pounding story with many call-backs to fan-favourite moments in horror and fun deconstructions of popular clichés through a genre-savvy heroine. Its thought-provoking central plot of going back in time to prevent a murder and dealing with the frantic bloody aftermath is effortlessly engaging, suspenseful and memorable. With a strong focus on the bond between sisters that brings sincerity and poignancy elevating the stakes beyond a typical slashfest, this is well-worth adding to your TBR.

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC via NetGalley for review.

CWs: blood, gore, injury detail, murder, death, coach/athlete relationship (high school girls with married man, mentioned but no details)

I found this one took me a little bit to get into, but then once I was into it I didn’t want to put it down. Until the very end. I’m conflicted over the end. Not sure I really like what happened. There isn’t really any kind of resolution or closure, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.
I liked Alice’s character. She’s super into horror movies, so there are a lot of references to characters, plots, and villains. I liked how she was trying to think like a Final Girl, and she recognized when she was making dumb horror movie girl decisions. It gave the narration some humour that I enjoyed.
The writing was easy to follow along with, and I liked the narration style. The characters were good. Alice and Claire were both really interesting. The plot was really fascinating, and I was completely hooked. Again, it was the ending that threw me for a loop but not really in a good way. I wanted real answers and resolutions and the ending didn’t satisfy me after the intensity of the last 30% of the story.

Murder. Family. Time travel. Death. Cornfields. Halloween. Horror movies. What more could a ya, horror/mystery reader want? The answer is nothing. This book was very close to flawless for me.

There's a fine line between making a mystery too easy for the reader to solve or too hard. I've read mysteries on both sides of the spectrum, and, usually, I brush off books I guess early because, to me, that makes them poorly written. Not so with this book! I had my theories and there were hints given along the way, but when it was revealed (and I was RIGHT!!!!), I was still on the edge of my seat.

I'm not a horror movie watcher, so I'm not sure if all of the references would add to the reading experience for those who understood them or take away. As someone who doesn't have any experience with them, they were an added piece I appreciated and it didn't feel overwhelming for a horror newbie.

The characters were super fun and I liked all the side characters in the MC's life. The MC's failure to really try and SOLVE the murder for the first half really bothered me, but I understand the book was playing on typical horror movie tropes. And when there's a murderer after you, it is difficult to get your thoughts in order.

So why isn't this a 5-star read? It was super close! But ultimately the ending felt very rushed and I thought there was a better way to go about it. Maybe the way the ending is written is typical in horror movies as well, but that's my preference.

Definitely recommend!

This was a tense YA slasher full of red herrings and a murder spree on Halloween night. The ending was WILD and I felt like I missed something because of how abruptly it ended. It lost a star just based on me wanting a little more and being confused if Wes actually died because the judge didn't list him by Alice said he was? Anyways I guessed what was happening with the girls and why they were being targeted and wavered on who the killer was but ultimately found the reveal to be satisfying.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”
This book took a different turn than I was expecting. I did not expect the paranormal side of the book to be a part of it. Once the story started flowing and I got the justness of what was going on, everything made sense. This is a book that horror lovers will love because it is a lot of talk about horror movies within it. For me, I thought that was neat. I was not expecting the time travel, so I was confused until it hit me like, duh. Our main character lost her sister, and when given a chance to possibly change what happened, she goes for it. Yet, she has to remember what her choices will be that can cost others their lives and who truly is behind the murder/s. That is the part that had me going NO WAY!! This is a book I will keep in my library for my older students to read. I think once they got into it, they would enjoy this one. Just keep reading because it does it better. It was not super gory or graphic, so I know the teens will like this one.

I ate this book up with its slasher film reference’s and 90s nostalgia.. oh take me back to those days!

Alice is the only witness to her sister Claire’s brutal murder. Her parents have divorced and she has moved into a small apartment, life just isn’t what it was for her. A year later she’s forced to face her sisters killer in the courtroom with a bunch of skeptical people who don’t really believe what she saw. While she’s preparing herself for the trial, she gets knocked out in the bathroom and wakes to Halloween a year earlier, the same day as Claire’s murder, and she gets a chance to save her sister and discover who the killer really is before someone else dies.

This story instantly made me think of Happy Birthday to Me, where the main character reawakens on the same day to solve her murder, but instead this one’s a year early and a sister is involved. This book is exactly what my horror loving heart needed. And to all those slasher flicks of the 90s I love… I’m especially looking at you SCREAM!!

If you’re looking for the perfect Fall/Halloween book, I really recommend this one. There honestly isn’t enough YA Horror out there and I really really enjoyed this one. My only reason for a 4star instead of 5 is that a bit of it was predictable. And sadly that happens when you read a ton, but the whole execution was perfectly done. The plot and characters were well written. And honestly I really hope there’s a sequel.. because what’s a Horror movie without a sequel!!

Check out the aesthetic video I made for this book on TikTok @katherinebichler. Here is the link:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRfh8gjS/

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4/5 STARS

This is a YA horror/thriller.

Alice witnesses her sister’s death at a Halloween party. A year later, she gets the chance to travel back in time to see what really happened to her sister.

This book is full of 90s nostalgia horror film references, like Scream, and has a final girl trope. It has a fun, younger aspect to a horror book as it is YA. I did not love the time travel aspect, but it worked for the story. It is an easy, quick read, perfect for Halloween. There is a twist at the end when the killer is revealed.

It does have the potential for a sequel and I would definitely read it if there was one.

Thank you Penguin Teen for an advance reader copy! 🔪🎃🩸

This was too YA for me. It reminded me of The Mary Shelley Club so I think a lot of YA horror/thriller readers will like. Thank you but was not for me.

If, like me, you grew up in the 90s and devoured/loved every and all slasher and “final girl” movie that was made up to that point in time, this book is for you.

Well, even if you weren’t raised in the 90s, any horror and thriller fan of any age will enjoy their time spent lost in these pages.

Valentine delivered a stellar and heart-stopping, edge-of-your-seat novel.

This was freaking.. EPIC. Alice being the only witness to the murder of her sister in a ~spooky~ cornfield on Halloween night, must now relive the worst night of her life in order to save her sister’s life. THAT is all you need to know to dive into this AMAZINGLY PERFECT spooky season (or all season) book.

I was literally obsessed from chapter one. Being a HUGE fan of Scream, scary movies, the “final girl” trope and spooky season in general, this book knew how to suck me right in. The twists just kept on coming, this was LITERALLY a page turner for me and I can 100% see myself recommending this a ton during this upcoming fall season and in general!

I will say, I did guess who did what but I couldn’t figure out why literally until near the very end. But even still, I genuinely enjoyed it. Which is saying a lot since I knew who done it haha.

I’ve seen some chatter about a sequel. Is that true? I don’t know. Do I hope it’s true? YES.

FOR FANS OF:
- 90s slasher flicks
- Final girl references, Scream style
- All of the spooky season vibes 🎃
- Sidney Prescott look-alikes
- Charter named Wes as in Wes Craven?!
- Twists and turns galore
- Page turner
- Heart stopping//STRESSED
- Spooky corn mazes
- Teen scary movie stupidity
- Crazy endings?!?

How to Survive Your Murder was a first for me! I don’t usually read the horror genre which I thought it was (the horror part is more of the homage to horror films the characters love) but more of a thriller story with a time travel twist. Alice is the only witness to her sisters murder and after that night everything has fallen apart. Now it’s a year later and she needs to face the murderer at the trial but she ends up reliving that day after she’s knocked out in the courthouse bathroom. Can she save her sister?
I love time travel books and with the 90s slasher vibe made it a nice twist. The actual twists I. The bill were pretty predictable but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Thank you Penguin Random House International for my e-ARC in exchange for the honest review.

When Alice sister’s Claire died, her life has completely fallen apart not only to herself but also to her parents. Alice’s mom and dad has been divorced, her dad started drinking and they sold the house where she grew up. Now she moved into an apartment alone. Then she goes to her sister’s murder trial and she is being forced to face her sister’s killer at the courtroom. It was so traumatizing when Alice saw her sister got killed in front of her by the chainsaw.

She was at the bathroom unconscious because of the reporters. But then someone is calling her name to wake up and when she open her eyes she saw Claire. She can’t believe that her sister is alive and she thinks that this was all a dream. After that, everything that happened at the cornfield, is starting all over again and now she has until midnight to save her sister and find the real killer before he claims another victim.

If you watched and loved Scream and Happy Death Day, this book is for you. And wow that was a big twist.

" But this was real life. No matter how well you know the rules, no matter how smart you think you are, you’re never prepared for your life to turn into a horror movie." 

A YA slasher and thriller book with a supernatural twist! Alice is the only witness to her sister’s murder trial. Alice’s life fell apart after one year after her mother's death. On the first day of the murder trial, she is knocked out by a Sidney Prescott lookalike in the courtroom bathroom, only to wake up on Halloween a year earlier; the same day her sister was murdered. Will she be able to save her sister and find out who the real killer is ?

Fans of Happy Death Day and Scream will find this very intriguing. It was good! I was on the edge of my seat, my heart racing, and yelling at the characters to run!! Reading this book was so much fun that I want it to be made into a movie. The characters are interesting and relatable. I love "Final Girl" horror movies because, girl power, duh! One of my favorites is the Scream franchise, so it was fun seeing the characters make references to the movies.

There are many twists and turns, and if you pay very close attention, you will figure out who the killer is right away. I’m known for figuring out the big twists in books and movies, so this was very easy for me to figure out. It boosted my ego.
However, I have a bone to pick. Everything was great but the last two sentences of the book ruined it for me. I needed more closure. You will probably be very pissed off and throw your book against the wall.

If you like slasher and Halloween movies, this is right up your alley ! You must read it.

Thank you, Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am always immediately in whenever I hear that Danielle has a new book coming out. I know that no matter what the subject or plot is, I’m going to be entertained. She is well known for writing really fun to read YA horror and thriller books, her characters are always snarky teens with lots of fun banter, and there’s plenty of twists. So as soon as How to Survive Your Murder hit my radar, I was on board without even knowing what it was about. (I’m so serious, I added it to my TBR without even reading the description. She’s an auto-author for me!)

But for those of you who do want to know what it’s about before reading, How to Surive Your Murder follows high schooler Alice Lawrence, and Alice is a girl after my own heart. She loves horror movies, even the cheesy ones, and especially the 90s ones. (And even has a classic Final Girl name, which I don’t know if that was intentional, but I hope it was, and I like it.) She’s happier staying home watching a scary movie with her friends than going out to a loud party (same). Her sister, Claire, is quite the opposite. Claire is the quintessential All-American girl, outgoing, major extrovert energy, much more of a party girl, and wants to be a famous actress.

One fateful night, Claire convinces Alice to stop by a Halloween party complete with a haunted corn maze, which leads to Alice being the only witness to Claire’s murder at the hands of an outcast young man. A year later, Alice is meant to testify in the trial against this young man, but things don’t end up going how she expected. After running into a Sidney Prescott look-alike, she wakes up back on Halloween night a year ago. Claire is still alive, nothing bad has happened yet, and she has a chance to save her sister. But she only has until midnight, and it might not be as easy as she thinks.

As Alice renavigates that Halloween night, doing everything differently and trying to save as many people as she can, she starts to realize that things might not have unfolded how she thought they did, and this whole story is much more convoluted than she expected. Now she’s in a race against time, she doesn’t know who she can trust, and people around her are dropping like flies.

So was this a super fun read like all of Danielle’s other books? Yeah, of course it was!

Let me tell you, if you’re a fellow fan of horror movies, especially slashers, you’re going to love this one and have a lot of fun with it because the main character loves classic slashers and is constantly referencing them, right down to wearing outfits inspired by some of her favorite movies (AKA a super cute look paying homage to Katie Holmes in Disturbing Behavior, which, yes, obviously.)

Once she finds herself in the process of trying to catch the killer, she uses her knowledge of rules to survive horror movies that she has learned from watching so many horror movies in an attempt to help herself along the way.

This is one of those books where you are guessing what is going on along with the characters and trying to figure things out as you go, and yelling at the characters trying to help them along the way when you see something that they don’t. And trust me when I tell you, there were moments when I was yellinggggg at Alice! I wanted to go through the screen into the book and help her so much.

Like most of Danielle’s books, there’s no shortage of twists and, true to her form, she will keep throwing them at you right up until the very end of the book.

This really was a super fun read, you’ll go through it really quickly because you will want to know what’s going on, and again, I think it’s perfect for fellow horror fans who will enjoy all the references—both overt and subtle—to their favorite movies and franchises. This is a great read for any time, but with it releasing on August 30th, it’s hitting shelves just in time for spooky season and the atmosphere of this one will be perfect to get you in the mood for Halloween. If you love YA, slashers, and scary movies, definitely pick this one up from Penguin Teen this August.

How to survive your murder was a YA slasher, horror and thriller book with supernatural elements. It paid homage to all the 90's slasher films with the so called "Final girls". It is definitely for fans of Happy Death Day, Scream and all the creepy Halloween movies. It started off with a classic horror setting of being chased by a killer in a corn maze on Halloween.

The book was so thrilling and I had my heart racing as I read it. It was also super creepy and dark which I enjoyed. The characters in the book were quirky but relatable. The whole traveling back in time to the night of the murder to save your sister thing was really fun to read. I always liked the trope of the final girl killing and unmasking the murderer in horror flicks, so this was right up my alley.

Alice was the nerdy sister into slasher films and Claire was the popular sister who was beloved by all. On the night of Halloween, Alice witnesses the murder of Claire. But your eyes can deceive you sometimes, so she gets a second chance to really find out what happened. But as soon as she goes back, the whole thing unravels and goes bonkers. I really enjoyed the whole book except the ending, that's why I knocked off a star for it.

If you like slasher horror and Halloween movies, this is a must read for you.