My thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is the second book by Kayla Cottingham and I have to say, I loved it! Intensely dark, graphic, but not overly so, and tense. This book listed a content warning at the beginning with all kinds of warnings, even if something was just briefly mentioned, and I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into going in. This book is filled with very diverse characters, featuring a friend group that includes people of color, a Trans person, bi, and lesbians. There was definitely body horror galore! I wasn't sure how I would feel about that because I'm not in love with over the top gore, but I felt that Cottingham struck a nice balance with her descriptions, giving you enough to terrify you, but not gross you out. This was the perfect YA horror for me!

It's been two years since The Hollowing changed the world, transforming a swath of the world's population into flesh-eating, rampaging ghouls. However, in that time, things have gotten back to a state of near-normal thanks to the advent of SynFlesh, an artificial protein that quells the hunger. What were once murderous monsters have more or less reverted to their old selves … though the ghoul impulses are still there and can be triggered. Many people live in fear of their former friends and family members, the ones who look human most of the time but sometimes change into hideous fiends.

Zoey's family is among that fearful bunch. They don't know how to process what their daughter has become. And they have zero forgiveness, comfort, or acceptance to offer. Instead, they have a chain for the bedroom door if she shows signs of losing control.

Zoey's best friend Celeste has a mom who is the polar opposite. Wendy accepts her daughter's new condition as fully and unconditionally as she accepted her child's coming out as trans. She also accepts her child's best friend without hesitation. Both teens were at summer camp when the terrible incident happened, and they both became Hollow together. They did unspeakable things to survive, but those crimes have been pardoned. They weren't in their right minds. So when Zoey and Celeste take their first road trip together, to a music festival called Desert Bloom, Wendy is totally on board … stocking their cooler with enough Costco purchased SynFlesh to last the whole trip.

The prospect of Zoey, Celeste, and their besties Valeria Vega and Jasmine hitting the road together, flirting and having fun on the last summer before they have to split up for college? It's too much to resist. Unfortunately, Zoey's fun is a little complicated because of a growing affection for her best friend. Young love is blossoming, but she dares not say anything—what if it wrecks the friendship? Better to suffer in silence, right?

Well, maybe not.

Soon enough, the quartet will have plenty to keep them distracted from such mundane problems. At the concert, something triggers Valeria's ghoul behavior and a cute but judgmental guy from an up and coming band winds up dead and devoured. The foursome is faced with the very real need to figure out what the hell is happening, and that will involve hiding the body before donning detective caps and tracking down clues. Their investigation will reveal a secret, shut-down facility and its unwholesome experiments as well as a whole new spin on the Hollowing, a truly monstrous breed of ghouls known as the anthropophogi … As they race to find answers, the friends discover that an all too human evil has been reading the festival to become one massive smorgasbord. Is there a way to stop the coming horror, and if not that to at least survive with their humanity intact?

With This Delicious Death, Kayla Cottingham has done the remarkable task of taking something that's overdone (that whole zombie apocalypse thing) and finding a way to make it fresh and interesting. Like other pandemics, the initial outbreak was a bad time, but the rigorous application of science and good government has stemmed the worst elements and found a way for people to return to a kind of normality. But the risks, though mitigated, are never eradicated ...

Using the Hollowing/ghoul state as a kind of parallel for the kinds of ostracisms kids with alternative sexual orientations or gender identities face is also a clever twist on the subject matter. Way back in 1988, Clive Barker linked up the monsters of his novella Cabal and the subsequent film adaptation Nightbreed (1990) with these same concerns. Barker's 'breed were the sympathetic stand in for queer folks and other outsiders, and the human beings who hunted them were the real monsters. Cottingham doesn't replicate those particular projects from a plot perspective, but This Delicious Death is nevertheless an LGBTQA+ YA fiction bookend to both that novella and film. They might not exist in the same universe, but they both share a heartfelt reinterpretation of and a love for flipping scripts about widely reviled monsters. This is a book that never doubts its queerness, and while some of the characters' barely concealed hate for ghouls is an analog for homophobia, transphobia, etcetera, Cottingham's narrative neither shames nor apologize for its protagonists, and it never accepts those naysayers and haters at their word.

One of the cool touches about the book from a structural perspective is how the author drops us into the middle of things and yet also fills in the blanks on what came before without devolving into "as you know" infodumps. Every chapter is divided into two pieces. An opening epigraph, fictional newsbyte, or flashback scene immerses us in how things came about, while the bulk of the chapters keep the present day narrative rolling along. The worldbuilding is therefore as immersive as the main storyline, particularly in the way it provides a lens for how the decisions our main quartet of friends make come about.

The mood of the thing is often suspense and horror, but with liberal doses of humor thrown in. Zoey and her friends are a funny lot, jokey and free-spirited. In fact, I'd love to spend more time with this book's survivors in a follow-up volume. The world they occupy, however, is not quite as free spirited or freewheeling as these characters. Cottingham gives us an emotionally rich reading experience, using those worldbuilding elements as well as some of the encounters Zoey and her friends endure to stoke anger, build frustration, chill us to the bone, and even break our hearts.

The main narrative of This Delicious Death is a survival horror story blended with a summer road trip yarn. It's not quite a coming-of-age work, so much as an opportunity for the friends to embrace difficult truths about their tight group as well as the world they live in. It's a chance to get real one last time before saying an inevitable goodbye. And of course, there are life and death stakes of ravenous monsters prowling the night just to keep the pacing up …

Both of those aspects work well together in Cottingham's capable prose. The survival horror and summer road trip angle are perfectly synthesized, and though the narrative shifts from one mode to the other as the dominant motivator for a given scene or sequence, we never lose sight of the importance of the other. It's a challenging juggling act to keep all these balls flying around, but Cottingham makes it look easy.

This Delicious Death is the author's second novel. I look forward to checking out the first, My Dearest Darkest, for our annual Pride month read in June. However, I am also excited to see what the author cooks up in the future. This is a writer to watch, someone who appreciates penning a superb horror novel as well as composing relatable characters who happen to fall along the LGBTQA+ spectrum.

I wish this book had come along thirty years ago, when I was a confused teen grappling with my own sexuality. I hope it gives someone who might be dealing with that stuff in 2023 the two-fisted offering of delirious entertainment and the unapologetic reassurance that they are not struggling with these big, identity shaping topics alone in this weird, often difficult world. Kudos to Kayla Cottingham for writing such a moving and beautiful book.

Now, get moving on the next, please. Your readership is bound to be ravenous for the next. I know I am.
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A special thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for offering an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This cover caught my attention right off the bat. And the synopsis made it seem like a Santa Clarita Diet thing and I loved that show. I didn't even realize this book was YA at first. Because even though it is somewhat comedic it is pretty graphic.

If you are looking for something with lots of blood and guts this definitely has it! I was so surprised. I think this is the most gore filled book I have ever read. But I mean it is a zombie book so, I think that's to be expected.

I really enjoyed this one. It was fun and gruesome. I think if you're into this kind of thing you'll enjoy it as well.

Thank you to Netgalley and Source Books Fire for this eARC in exchange for my honest review

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an early copy of THIS DELICIOUS DEATH. This one publishes on April 25.

I really enjoyed this book and I ate it up (pun intended) super fast. I was hooked from the very first paragraph. I loved these characters and this wild supernatural story. I loved how Kayla Cunningham intertwined current events but with a twist, a love story and a music festival all in one captivating story. Go get your holds and preorders ready for this one!

A few years ago, a virus swept through the world and people ended up being “hollow” or “ghouls” – they are empty inside and survived seemingly normal lives, except for their diet – human organs. Now they are all surviving on SynFlesh – synthetic organs.

Zoey, Celest, Valeria, and Jasmine are all ghouls who live together in Southern California. They’re about to graduate so in celebration they decide to head to a music festival. With their cooler or hard seltzers and SynFlesh they load up and head out.

Things take a turn for the worse the first night of the festival when Valeria goes feral. As her friends rally together to try to get the bottom of this, they can’t help but wonder if they will loose her forever and everyone at the festival is in danger.

Okay, this book – just yay! So many things I enjoy. I was dystopian and horror, but also had a delightful sapphic love story. The writing was on point and the author did a wonderful job of portraying some not so pleasant things (eating organs!). I just love a story where I can dive in and get lost and I was able to do so with this. I love a good dystopian novel where the world gets a big plague, and everyone is changed. My only complaint on this one was that the love story was towards the end, and I wished it would have been more present, versus at the end where it felt rushed.

Special thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Fire, @sourcebooksfire, and Netgalley, @netgalley, for this e-arc in exchange for the honest review.

It’s summertime and college is just on the horizon. A group of unlikely friends is setting off on a mini road trip to a music festival in the middle of the desert. It’s just what they need after the last three years of being monitored and unable to venture far from their small community. But why are they being monitored? What’s with the cooler packed to the brim with human organs? And what exactly is The Hollowing?
If you enjoy:
💀 Supernatural creatures
❤️ Friends to lovers
🏳️‍🌈 LGBT+ stories (Trans love interest!)
🦠 Ancient germs that turn people into monsters 👀
📖 Page turners…
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
This was one hell of a ride.
I am not one for annotating books usually, but I started highlighting and taking notes on page one of this story. This author took the whole concept of “hook them from the beginning” and ran with it.
The story follows a group of friends; Zoey, Celest, Valeria, and Jasmine but is largely told from Zoey’s perspective. However, the beginning of each chapter weaves in flashbacks, back story, and other POVs that do an amazing job of tying the story together as a whole.
The author takes you on a suspenseful, bloody tale that I didn’t find predictable at all which was a nice treat for me. The whole concept was something new and very refreshing.
This is a very queer-friendly story with a cast of very diverse characters. I love this, love the representation. My one issue is that at one point in the story, characters were solely described by their race, followed by their sexuality/ gender identity – a little strange.
The lack of character description was my only real issue with this book. Not a huge deal, but I will also note that we don’t know much about what our main characters look like other than race, sexuality, and clothing choices.
Overall, this book is full of twisty, bloody, summertime madness. Think Jennifer from Jennifer’s body goes to Coachella.
*This book was provided for by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

This Delicious Death is gruesomely delightful and a very unique twist on ghouls (in this case a virus that makes people cannibals and they turn feral if they can't their nom noms). It's different and fun, and I loved every minute of it.

Don’t get me wrong my favorite romance is LGBT and it is my all-time favorite it is so good anyway I just wanted to state my opinion. Despite that I love this book it was so much fun and I am definitely going to be reading more from this author in the future whether she writes about lesbians trans or heterosexual goals or whatever! I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review. Zoe Celeste Jasmine and Val were so excited to go to the music festival in the desert it was the first festival since the hollowing and they were ready for fun. The hollowing happened two years before when a contagion was released as the icebergs melted it gave people an insatiable urge for human flesh and although some didn’t live through it before friends did and now that everything was getting back to normal they were ready to party. They stopped at a hotel on the way to the festival and this is where they met the band Val was excited to meet the boys that Zoe was just over it in anyway she started finding herself being very attracted to her best friend Celeste… Something she desperately tried to keep under wraps. Not only was Zoe not in the mood to party with these guys but when they started talking about ghouls as if they weren’t “normal“ Zoe knew her night was over and quickly went to the room. Unfortunately this would not be the last run in with the guys Val totally loved the music and definitely wanted to see them play. It was on the first night of the festival however the Zoe and Celeste knew this wasn’t going to be there average concert event. They found out someone was putting something in partygoers drinks and they would also meet the Gooals 2.0 . After the hollowing people tried their best to get back to normal they synthesize human flesh so the goals wouldn’t attack friends and family members or random strangers and they got on with the business of living. So the random reports of the concert of people being kidnapped in partiers seeing strange looking ghouls was just at the beginning and the girls wanted to get to the bottom of it. Did the investigation would take them to an abandoned science research laboratory a run-in with hunters in much much more. I have never read a sad fake novel before and I must say I absolutely loved this book. I love that we got each girls backstory and that even though they were your average girls and this isn’t your average story the plot was written in a serious mode in one I could definitely get behind. I found this book so interesting and although I’m not gonna lie I love Yale mysteries but I really am getting tired of every main character being trans or lesbian. I get it everyone needs to be represented so where are the heterosexuals I mean my daughter is a lesbian and so I have no problem reading books with LGBT aspects and characters but it seems every year book I read the main character is trans or lesbian

ARC REVIEW
I've been really into zombies at the minute, and this was no different. For one of my most anticipated reads of the year, it did not disappoint, and I'm so thankful to have received an ARC of it. I loved the queerness, the found family elements, the romance, the rep! And the mystery and horror elements throught. The perfect quick read when you need you need just a dash of zombie. The approach of a zombie like virus was very creative and unique. i loved the concept of synflesh and how the "ghouls" transform. Overall, it was a great read, and i read it in virtually one sitting.

First of all, I absolutely love the idea of the story. It was unique, it was gruesome, and I really had no idea where it was going or how it was going to end. It was a lot of fun! I would absolutely read more books with this unique ghoul-centric world.

However, my biggest gripe with it is it was too short of a book for having four main characters. Going into the book, it was very hard for me to feel hooked, because it felt like I was stepping into an already established friend group and I was the newcomer. They all had their romantic interests and friendships already defined, with no backstory up front. The book did offer backstory as the story went on via flashbacks, but it took a long time and over half the book to actually understand the characters and their histories. And by that time the book was in the latter half and ending too soon.

I think this book would have benefited by either being longer, or doing more of the character history at the beginning of the story.

By the time the book ended though, I loved the story and I loved the characters and I wish I could read more about them and their lives as ghouls!

I am not sure, what to say - I am still in a horrified daze...

However, as a YA horror novel it hits all the right spots for millenials...
People become cannibals through a virus, and a whole music concert in the desert becomes a questionable food-fest for ghouls...
And once the synthetic meat runs out...

Sorry - that's all I can say about this book right now.

I know, it's not much I have to say about this - but I wouldn't even know, where to start...too much going on.

This book was absolutely awesome. It’s centered around four queer women (gay, bi, and trans are all represented) who became quite different when the world went through The Hallowing. Now, post-Hallowing, they can live a mostly normal life — as long as they eat their SynFlesh, that is.

When they go to a music festival, however, something goes wrong and the entire festival becomes a bloody mess. What happens? You’ll have to read the book to find out. :)

If reading a book with some graphic depictions of human flesh and organs isn’t a no go for you, then I highly recommend reading This Delicious Death. It has queer characters — including an influencer (which has been a part of several books I’ve recently read), very dark humor, and a ton of gore. It also perfectly encapsulates the queer experience — there are people who don’t like them just because of who they are. Fortunately, each of these people is cast in a not-so-great light.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

Arc provided by Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

First things first, the book was camp! This delicious death was a dark comedy sapphic horror novel set in a post pandemic world where some people are left with cannibalistic urges referred to as Hollows. The main characters are 4 young girls freshly graduated from high school on their way to a music festival, who quickly realize someone is drugging Hollows and turning them feral.
I have to give points for originality. this book was so unique and a good twist on a typical coming of age story. I’d give it 5 stars alone for creativity.
The biggest problem this book had for me was rushing. With 4 main characters all getting their own backstories, multiple romance subplots, trying to establish the world it’s set in, and the primary murder mystery plot this book never had room to breathe. It felt like things were constantly being thrown in to keep the reader on their toes and instead i wished things were more fleshed out. The epilogue was so abrupt and everything wrapped up far too neatly for the sheer amount of plot lines we were given. Also a couple of the pop culture references were well placed, but most made me cringe.
Regardless of pacing problems, it was a fun sapphic coming of age story, with great character dynamics and an original plot.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the Advanced Readers Copy of This Delicious Death. The synopsis was intriguing, so I was happy when I was approved to read this book. I received this book for free in exchange for my honest review.

Just as an FYI, there were several content warnings at the beginning of this book, including but limited to alcohol consumption by minors, cannibalism, drug use and drugging, gun violence, murder, parental neglect, suicidal ideation, and transphobia. According to the publishers and NetGalley, this book is considered to be in the following genres: Young Adult, Horror, and LGBTQIAP+.

At first, this book was a bit slow to start, but it did start to pick up pace, and I ended up enjoying the storyline for the most part. When I first started reading This Delicious Death, it reminded me a little of the television show Santa Clarita Diet starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. Although there was quite a bit of mystery and horror in the book, it did include some lighter scenes and romance. I don't really have any complaints about this book.

Even though horror is one of my favorite genres, This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham wasn't my cup of tea. Well written, I think many teens will enjoy the storyline, and I'm glad there is a book that is inclusive of the LGBTQIAP+ community. Children need books that represent a variety of things and people who might be like them. Four out of five stars.

Zoey, Celeste, Valeria, and Jasmine are the four unlikely high school friends who bonded after they all turned into flesh eating ghouls after an event called The Hollowing. The four friends have all gotten their flesh eating urges under control by eating a synthetic flesh product and they decide that they are ready for a vacation and head to a music festival. They are all having a great time and everything seems to be going according to plans until one of the girls begins turning feral and starts eating human flesh again. The four must work together to solve the mystery behind why some ghouls are acting feral. This was a cute young adult story and I really liked how unique it was.

Humanity had a rough few months during the Hollowing, when a pathogen unleashed from the melting permafrost turned a fraction of humanity into mindless, ravenous ghouls. The invention of synthethic human flesh allowed the afflicted to regain their sanity and their lives, to the extent that teen ghouls Zoey, Celeste, Val, and Jasmine are allowed to attend an awesome music festival so long as they pack plenty of fake meat and check in regularly. When ghouls inexplicably turn feral, the hip desert venue turns into a bloodbath. Decent amounts of gore and a rather sweet queer romance, but the mystery aspect didn't hold up.

Jennifer's Body meets the sapphic best friends to lovers version of Riverdale you all desperately need in your life. This book consumed me - pun intended. Need I say more?

This book was fun! The characters are well written, as in there is 4 teenages girls and they don't feel like all the same. The story was entertaining enough, without being ground breaking. The ending felt a bit rushed though. I would recommend this book to people who want a fast paced read with some gore-ish element without it being heavy.

iI will, forever and always, be Kayla Cottingham's number one fan. My Dearest Darkest was the first horror book I ever read and it made me fall in love with the genre, This Delicious Death I loved just as much if not more, it took all the body horror and gorey descriptions from My Dearest Darkest and added humor elements and a music festival which made it impossible to put down and turned it into a book that I would highly recommend to anyone who loves queer YA horror, whether you're a massive fan of the genre or are just getting into it, I can guarantee you'll love this book.

Ghouls just wanna have fun!

YA, but for sure can be enjoyed by science fiction, mystery, or any fiction readers with an open mind and a great thirst for a unique read. It was fast paced, with strong female leads, and had fantastic representation without feeling political. I loved how natural the story flowed for something that had so much packed into a quick read. It's modern take on what would happen in a zombie apocalypse if it happened today, was much more realistic than stories I've read in the past.

I highly recommend this one for many reasons, but mostly because its something a little different. Gobble this one up, it really is delicious! ;) Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC, and give my honest opinion.