I hate giving up on books, but unfortunately, I had to DNF this one. I requested this at a time when I was reading YA books, and I don't anymore, so it's no longer a good fit for me.

Thank you so much to the publisher for the ARC, I am truly grateful.

Go Hunt Me follows film school hopeful Alex following her getting waitlisted by her dream school. She becomes convinced that she can secure admission if she improves upon the horror short film that she originally submitted, so when Alex and her friends get the opportunity to spend their spring break at a remote castle in Romania filming said improved film, they can't refuse.
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I will say that this book ended up being a lot darker than I expected, like, people actually die. A lack of supervision and WiFi leave Alex and co. stranded, so when members of the group start getting murdered, they have nowhere to turn. They speculate that a cloaked stranger is behind it, which does poke fun at classic vampire stories, but there is nothing satirical about the atrocities that this mystery person commits.
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Alex finds herself not sure who to trust anymore which I thought was done really well. Alex's friends are alternately cast in suspicious lights, and it definitely made me wonder who was hiding something or if perhaps one of them might even be the murderer. The book alternates between Alex's interviews with a detective after the fact and the events as they are unfolding through Alex's eyes, which was an interesting choice as it makes her, herself, a bit of an unreliable narrator.
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Overall, a fun vampire book for those who maybe don't want actual vampires but want that vibe.

The setting was so much fun and the premise sounded amazing, but it just kept getting less and less believable. I honestly felt sad with the way it turned out, almost like I wasted my time building up to the disappointing ending.

Archived prior to being able to read the book. Lost interest in trying to pick it up. I was originally interested but as it sat in my library, I did not feel the summary grabbed my attention anymore.

But where are the vampires 🥲? I feel like I must have read the synopsis totally wrong or something because we didn’t get a single vampire lol. But that wasn’t really the issues, I just plain old didn’t enjoy this one. I didn’t like the characters, especially the main one which now makes more sense looking back. This book kind of felt like it wanted to be scooby doo but with a twist at the end that I just didn’t care for. I wish I would have enjoyed this one, but sadly I didn’t.

Go Hunt Me by Kelly deVos had me intrigued from page one and kept me on the edge of my seat until the final reveal.

All Alex and her close group of friends wanted to do was make movies. With college acceptance letters coming in for some, but not all, of them, Alex needed something special to get her into film school. So when the opportunity to film her Vlad Dracul inspired short film at Castle Prahova – one of Vlad the Impaler’s actual residences – comes up, Alex and her friends can’t pass up the chance of a lifetime. But once they get to Romania, the nightmarish scenes won’t only play out in front of the cameras. As their final spring break of high school turns into the final spring break most of them will ever have, Alex and her friends find themselves at the mercy of the shadows and secrets around them.

review

From characters, to setting, to overall plot construction, I was instantly pulled into Alex’s story. I was left reeling time after time as each revelation played out on the page. Kelly deVos certainly didn’t pull any punches. I was actually surprised at just how much happened on the page in terms of gore and description.

Characters and plot are the largest parts of what makes this book such a thrilling and exciting read. But deVos’s formatting also contributes greatly to the overall atmosphere. Cut in between the gruesome events at Castle Prahova, readers get these horror movie-style snippets of Alex’s police interview after everything is over. These little interview segments do such a wonderful job at furthering the plot as well as adding a heightened sense of danger to Alex’s narrative. From start to finish Go Hunt Me plays out on the page like a horror movie or thriller plays out on the screen.

The characters that deVos created were intriguing, suspicious, secretive, and naïve. The perfect cast of young adults to keep readers guessing as the plot progresses and the bad guy picks them off one by one. I think deVos did an excellent job at giving every single person at Prahova the motivation and means to commit these gruesome acts. By using a singular point of view, we end up with limited knowledge of the big picture until the end. I, for one, did not see the big reveal coming. Though I’m sure the more intuitive reader will spot clues I’m sure I missed.

in conclusion

From the very first scene to the big reveal, deVos gave readers some amazing settings that are anything but short on description. From backyards in Arizona to a haunting forest in Romania. Well-lit castle sitting rooms to the darkest and dankest of bathhouses. The details in every scene truly helped stage the terror and anguish and fear that the characters were feeling. deVos made it very easy to visualize being at Castle Prahova with these seven students, It made Go Hunt Me one chilling, young adult novel.

If you’re looking for some well-done, twisted horror that makes you question everything – including who the real monsters are – look no further than Kelly deVos’s Go Hunt Me.

I love a classic horror trope novel! High school angst puts a fun spin on this one against the film backdrop that was some hilariously overt foreshadowing. Felt like reading a version of Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer.

This books pacing is going to cause teens to lose interest quickly. It is far too long and does not balance this out with enough character development, plot. It was more atmospheric than anything, and I think most teen readers will not find that enough to maintain their attention.

A fun story but kinda predictable and and a tad boring at times. Some of the teen drama was annoying and not my favorite.

I did not enjoy this book. I thought the intro was long and drawn out when a summary couldve been done and the characters going on this trip being good enough for the introduction and world building.

I buddy read this book with my friend and we enjoyed the journey! The twists and turns were pretty good for a YA horror/thriller. I think that some of the characters were not as likable but that doesn't surprise me for the genre! They just frustrated me with their choices!

I love the insight & the glimpse into the world of budding filmmakers & actors. I also love the blind faith & friendship these kids seem to have. Then we have the creepiness & fear while filming in the castle, & suspense of knowing something happened but being left guessing at the end of each chapter. Some areas seemed to glossed over but overall a good read for the horror lovers!

A Dracula retelling with dark and spooky themes. But also slightly anticlimactic. The story was okay and I managed to finish it but it didn’t knock my socks off

Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin Young Readers for sending me a copy of this book! All opinions are my own!

I was really excited for this book, but it was a little disappointing to me. It was really slow to start with, and took way too long to take off and get to the spooky parts, despite the intro which had me intrigued. It was also very unrealistic and was hard to suspend your belief for. What are teens doing with a movie star? Literally how would any of this ever come about? Why is a drug lord targeting them they're literally just teens.

The ending had a pretty good twist, but it's also a trope that I don't enjoy, and made the whole thing even less believable.

The idea was a great one, I just did not enjoy the execution.

The premise of this book is good. This book didn't blow me away, but I enjoyed it enough and was occasionally spooked.

Not a homerun, but enjoyable to say the least!

I thought this book was very interesting! It definitely held my attention and I felt like I had to keep reading. The one thing that kind of frustrated me was the cover, because it made it seem like it was a supernatural book but it really wasn't. It was more along the lines of a thriller/horror.

Who doesn't love a good horror story just in time for spooky season? Go Hunt Me by Kelly deVos is about what happens when seven teenagers who love making horror films somehow get a GoFundMe funded for them to fly to Romania and film a version of Dracula at his castle from the point of view of Lucy. For Alex Rush, this trip could be life changing. Unfortunately, she has been waitlisted for USC Film School and this trip could get her off the list. Unfortunately, members of their group keep dying one by one. Also, there's no actual adults at the castle. Oh and there's some shady gangster involvement with it. But, also there might be a vampire? Things are getting real dicey for Alex and her friends.

Unfortunately, Go Hunt Me was not the book for me. The narrator is Kimberly M. Wetherell. The audiobook is 9 hours and 51 minutes. I listened at 2x speed. It just felt...overdone to me. Like, overly emotional in the narration to where I was like, ok, I wish this could be sped up even more because I can't with this. It also didn't help that I didn't care for any of the characters. There was no one for me to root for. However, this book is pretty gory. So if that is up your alley -- definitely pick this up for some Halloween thrills and chills. It wasn't for me but that doesn't necessarily mean you might not enjoy this one.

This YA slasher horror follows a group of teens who want to make a horror movie to get into film school. It's also another slasher with mixed media: police interview transcripts, media transcripts, social media transcripts, which added suspense or gave us a bit more info than we had during the actual events. The main timeline takes place during the event, the murders, while we jump back to present time for the police interviews or past with other mixed media. I liked this set up and really lead to a lot of great suspense moments.

Like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, we never really see the killer until the murder where they're masked - we don't know how they appear, when they'll appear, or how many there are. I did like that thie idea of the friend filming at a remote location, but wish we got to see the movie. In other movies with a similar idea, we at least got to see some of the scenes play out.

That being said, there was very little down time. We never felt like we were meandering. I had a couple of suspicions throughout the book, but never the end twist - and if I'm being honest, I wasn't right in my suspicions anyways lol. I had a blast reading this, just hope for a bit more.

It wasn't until the very end and I re-read the title that I realize just how clever it was - if you've read it you know (maybe? Or I've made a random connection lol).

If you're looking for atmospheric YA thriller with a little bit more blood, with fast paced plot and mixed media format, this is a book worth the try! The setting is incredibly creepy and atmospheric, in an isolated castle where people keep dying one by one. It's really dark but also satisfying!

Very fun and homage-filled take on And Then There Were None and horror movies! An easy breezy read that entertains and engages.