this is a no from me. I only made it about 40% of the day through before I gave up. it was slow and confusing and just couldn't keep my attention.

I have no strong feelings about this book either way. It was well written and it did a good job of depicting its queer characters, even connecting that with the rum goings on. I thought it also sustained the atmosphere well. But I personally did not connect with any of the characters and I wasn't invested in the story. The plot is that an anxious teen is sent to a summer camp and there is a secret society in operation there. Which would have been a great grey academia style story except that there were gaps in the plot and nothing really felt resolved at the end. It's possible that I'm just outside the target audience for this one.

Content warnings: sexual assault, body horror, murder, entomophobia, vomiting

I really don't enjoy novels where the protagonist has trauma from some big event that keeps being hinted at but the author refuses to reveal any details about until well past 50% of the way into the novel. Unfortunately PRIMAL ANIMALS does this and leans heavily into it without giving readers the background information they deserve so it just gets annoying. Also... this is being promoted as a feminist story but I have a hard time buying that feminism = girls murdering boys that behave badly, but that's the closest this story gets.

I stuck with this until the end, but I didn't enjoy any of the characters and the ending made me really mad that I dedicated so many hours to this book instead of abandoning it along the way. Even though it pulls from a lot of tropes, there is a good story here, but for me, this needed more editing to clean up the plot points and dialogue. Overall this was not an enjoyable read.

Suzy Jackson does a decent job with the audiobook narration.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, RB Media, and Recorded Books in exchange for an honest review.

2.5/5
Sadly this just wasn't for me. There was a dichotomy between how young the narrative voice felt and how gorey the plot could get. I appreciated the representation of anxiety, phobias and queerness in a familiar horror, camp, cult-y setting, but the story didn't quite come together for me. I think ultimately it came down to pace - I couldn't quite buy how quickly and intensely these bonds were being formed with seemingly no real foundation.
If you want something unhinged, dark and quick, this would be worth a go, but I can't also quite tell what specific reader who'd love it

Primal Animals was one of my favorite reads of 2022.

If you’re looking for something different, off the walls - this is your kind of book. It made me really uncomfortable at times. I talked to myself the whole book, yelling at the characters. I couldn’t put it down. Definitely recommended if you’re into books that make your skin crawl.

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press & Wednesday Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately, this was a miss for me. I was really excited about the premise and loved the promise of a queer horror. Sadly, I found it to be confusing and that the story didn't really lead anywhere. It's a beautiful cover though.

I am not sure what the point of this book was. It had elements that could have made it interesting, mystery of what her mother did, mystery of what she did, a secret society, a blossoming love affair, but it didn't work. Yes there was some character development, but we were left hanging and for what point
Full review on YouTube

I was really excited about this title and I loved the cover. However after trying to listen to the book I found that it was not for me. I was confused the whole time which is a bummer considering I was really looking forward to this book release/

Many thanks to Netgalley, RB Media and the author, for the ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was nothing like I expected! It was weird, and not weird haha! Yes it is supposed to be a horror YA but I did not expect the level of gore it contained.

The book follows the story of Arlee Gold who is what is considered an usual high school odd ball. She is entomophobic and introverted. The story starts with Arlee being dropped by her mom, Sam to an elite college prep summer camp, Camp Rockaway. Sam being an alum of the camp is super excited for Arlee to spend the summer there. However, once Arlee spends a day there, she realizes her camp mates are scared of her mother and no one seems to be forthcoming of what exactly her mom the infamous Samantha Gold did to receive such bad rep.

As the story progresses, Arlee slowly sinks into the weird customs and life at Rockaway and make some friends, particularly, a good friend Winnie. She is then recruited into a secret girls sorority whose motto is 'save the girls'. What follows is bizarre and graphic twists and turns. We get to see more of Arlee's past, with abusive piano teacher, manipulative and abusive parents and how it shaped her into being someone who bottles all the rage in her till she explodes.

Arlee as an MC was erratic and unpredictable and to be honest disturbing. The whole set up of the camp gave away the feeling of cult life and nop, not what I signed up for. The ending of the story was both sufficient and insufficient. There was a lot of inconsistencies in the story, for example, her father whose living situations was described as bad and sad, while he also seems to have paid for Arlee's tuition to this very expensive camp. Same goes for Arlee's mom being a successful lawyer and very close to the head of the camp yet, Arlee not being send to the camp sooner.

(Part of the review with spoilers has been uploaded to goodreads, if interested)

The narrator was at times annoying, but I would like to attribute that to the Arlee being annoying, But they did manage to bring in the entire gory atmosphere of the story to life.

TWs : Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Manipulation, verbal abuse, blood, gore, cult, animal flesh eating, desecration, death, murder, parental abuse.

I didn't quite connect with this audiobook but I loved the writing style and look forward to reading this physically

I really enjoyed this one. I was trying to figure things out the whole time. I felt Arlee's fear of bugs deep! Im right there with her. I just can't. I loved the secret society of girls thing. It was very interesting. I was not expecting that ending! I didn't want to put this book down until I knew all the things. I definitely recommend this one. Thank you to Netgalley and RB Media for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

I think this book will be appealing to any of the teens who like a bit of scifi with their thriller. I could see recommended for fans of Wilder Girls.

I was hooked by the beginning of this book - the sense of atmosphere was well developed from the start, and I really liked Arlee and her bunkmates. Unfortunately, things seemed to shift from a slowly building sense of unease to full-throttle cult antics very abruptly, and I felt left behind in the dust. There was promise here, and I would read another work by this author, but in the end this one wasn't for me.

Okay I finished this yesterday and needed time to sort of process this one.

I'll start with Narration- Suzy Jackson's narration of Primal Animals just made it all that much more enjoyable. Her tones through out this book really translated the ominous feeling that our main character Arlee gets from the infamous Camp Rockaway.

I do think over all this is a perfect summer spooky story, the beginning does feel a little slow but I can understand that it was to set the setting for that gut punching ending. If you were a lover of The Grace Year, or Wilder Girls - this book is for you. As they say, I support women's rights & women's wrongs.

Arlee as a main character also adds to the tension this book instils in you, through the narration you can really feel her fear but also her anger and frustration.

I've heard multiple people say they like this book but I promise you'll like it even more with the audiobook.

A bloody and brutal summer camp tale. It is a slow build to the action, but there is a payoff for those that wait. Will recommend to readers looking for a summer scare.

DNF 60%

Nothing is happening and I’m quite bored with it. The only *thrilling* part was the ritual when she enters the sisterhood, but at more than halfway in the book I would have wanted answers as to her phobia of any animal that flies - what’s the deal with that? And what’s the history on this camp, the legacy of her mom?? It’s just taking way to long to even get clues to these answers and I’m not for it.

Thank you Netgalley and Recorded Books (RB Media) for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was interesting and different than anything I've read before. I wouldn't really classify it as horror, per se, as it has been classified. I would consider this more YA fiction or YA fantasy. There was a lot of gore, but not a lot of scares. There were no parts that had me creeped out, which is why I wouldn't lump it into the horror genre. All that being said, it was a very unique story. Also, fun fact, Arlee is a family name in my family, so I instantly related to the protagonist, Arlee. She was tough and weird, like me. I found her to be one of the most relatable characters I've read recently and she was significantly younger than me.

Arlee is dropped of at an elite summer camp by her mother. She is quickly introduced to a secret society and what happens after that is weird, violent and shocking. I won't divulge any more as I don't want to ruin the story.

There were a few questions that were left unanswered and I didn't really understand Arlee's aversion to insects, but all in all, it was really well done. The audio was fantastic. A solid 3.75 stars. It was left a little open ended, so there may be a sequel????.....

(CW: Gore, death, extreme misandry, animal death).

So by the time you're done reading this (in my case, listening) you're still left confused, and feeling unfulfilled in general by this story and plotline in general. There's a secret society with way more to it than what both the main character and I signed up for.
I mean, there was just so much death and random plot-twists that just made no sense or felt out-of-place. By the end, after the all the biggest reveals, I felt as though I listened to a story taking place in a few weeks but it felt like months were going by. The story acts in sort of a very pressing atmosphere at all times, yet the story just moves slow as molasses that as much time should be going by, feels like twice than in real time.
Arlee was also just not a likeable main character, like at all. I didn't enjoy her thought processes, her dialogue and assumptions with/about others, a lot of things about her, just like the story, make no sense.
For example, the story never explains why she's so deathly afraid of bugs, and why near the climax she suddenly feels okay with bugs. The closest thing I could think of was for a metaphor for Arlee coming out of her shell socially, her fear of bugs slowly dissipates in time with her social anxiety getting better as apart of her feeling belonging in her sisterhood.
I liked this narrator, she did a wonderful job of maintaining tone and atmosphere, her voice was a great match for Arlee, but at least I didn't find the narrator annoying. She hit every exclamation and climax in the story absolutely on point.
I digress, this story would probably be a good first horror novel for a newbie to delve into, given that its not very scary, but has a super unsettling atmosphere with very manageable gore. The spooky atmosphere of a summer camp was wonderful in terms of summer reading, however I feel the characters are never really delved upon and instead just serve as background noise. Pretty much only three characters are made central to the story, and everyone else pops up when the plot needs some filler.
I'm not saying to not read this book, but I am saying maybe do it passively, via audiobook.

This book was definitely interesting, and I think I really enjoyed it overall. But at the same time … it was also quite weird. It didn’t feel like a horror at all, unless it’s only classified as one because of the gore. The synopsis of this book built up a story that just wasn’t delivered for me on the page, which left something to be desired. My expectations didn’t match up.

I also was quite disappointed in the ending. I was ready for a big take down or some kind of confrontation, but instead, Arlee just left the camp, went home, and then off-page turned in the cult. A couple of times, I felt like pieces of the plot didn’t quite add up with Arlee’s thought process. Some things seemed incredibly obvious that I didn’t realize they were meant to be a hint until Arlee suddenly didn’t know this information anymore. For example, I would have loved for Caroline’s involvement to be more of a twist. It almost felt like it was supposed to be a twist, but it was stated earlier in the book that she was involved, that I’m not sure why Arlee went to her in the last couple of chapters and was surprised she drugged her.

Overall, what really pulled me in was the voice and atmosphere of this book. While I had some issues with the delivery of the plot/twists/horror-nature of the book, I truly did love the dark, ominous nature of this book and will be picking up Julia Lynn Rubin’s next book!

Enjoyment: 3.5
Total rating: 3.93


Arlee feels like she has always lived in her mother's shadow. With the added pressure of being perfect, she fails to live up to her mother's harsh expectations. Her mother enrolls her at an exclusive summer program, hoping to, well, fix her. Not a fun way to start a summer.

At Camp Rockaway, nothing and no one are what they seem; before she knows it, Arlee will discover exactly what looms in the woods. After all, she is a legacy.

I will preface my review by advising you to check the content warnings before going into this book. I did deduct points for the way some of it was handled.

I loved the queer representation in this book, it felt natural, and it was meaningful to the plot. I also really enjoyed the overall story and tone of the prose. Primal Animals is committed to its themes of cult (secret society) and darkness. I enjoyed Rubin's writing enough to pick up other books by her, but Primal Animals wasn't for me. Some of the contents were too disturbing; I like my dark horror less graphic and shocking. If you have a strong stomach, you will enjoy it more than I did; Be warned - Rubin goes FAR.

Primal Animals is a fast-paced read and utterly unpredictable – two things I enjoy.

Suzy Jackson did a phenomenal job narrating this book. While staying true to the source, she brought a lightness that I appreciated.


Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to the publishers and NetGalley for providing a copy of Primal Animals.