Teenage lesbian cannibals?! What?!
At the start of the story, Zoey and her three best friends, Celeste, Valeria, and Jasmine plan a trip to a local music festival in the desert as a last hurrah before they go their separate ways after highschool. Of course they have to bring along their cooler full of synthetic organs, as these friends are part of the population who transformed into ghouls after The Hollowing (a zombie causing plague) which happened a few years prior. Luckily they've been able to lead fairly normal lives since the invention of synflesh. At the festival the sun is bright and the music is popping. What a great time... until one of the girls goes feral and attacks one of the musicians. Uh oh. Someone must be behind this. Can they solve the mystery before they all turn into true monsters?

What a fun story: dark and gory, with a compelling mystery, great friendships, and a queer romance thrown in for good measure. I was pulled in from the start, and couldn't put it down. Love the representation. The friendship between the characters was perfection. The developing romance was sweet. There's definitely a lot of creepy imagery, well done. A very enjoyable piece of YA horror.

This Delicious Death by Kayla Cottingham was cinematic! Great plot points and sequencing as well as well-developed characters. I really like the journey the characters were on and the relationships forged along the way. If you like The Walking Dead, you will LOVE this book's perspective. I want to read this author's backlist because this book is one of my favorites of 2023.

I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

This is such a fun delightful read! I loved My Dearest Darkest and this has the same fantastic LGBTQIA positive spooky fun vibes. This is a fantastic new take on zombies, think more the equally delightful iZombie rather than the Walking Dead. Zoey and crew are Hollow aka when something from the permafrost thawed and turned a portion of the population flesh hungry they were among them. But much like in iZombie (although it's not just relegated to brains) as long as they feed regularly (on a new synthetic substitute) they can lead lives as normal people. The four head out to Desert Bloom aka a new music festival) and while there something starts happening to the hollows. Some start going feral. In a race against the clock, as one of them is infected, they have to figure out what's going on.

Told from Zoey's point of view, most chapters also include a news article, a memory of one of the characters when the hollowing went down, or a text thread, some form of communication to give us some back story or insight into what is going on in the world and I really enjoyed that. It was a fun way to keep the pov while keeping us in the loop with things going on either in the past or not from her perpective.

This one has a little bit of everything, teen angst, romance, mystery, a touch of horror, music festivals, and more! What more could you ask for? Highly reccomend!

This was a queer horror novel compared to Jennifer's Body which immediately intrigued me. I haven't had luck with this author in the past but I actually ended up enjoying this one.

Funny and YA teen zombie read. It was a mix of teen drama and oops I ate my boyfriend all mixed together. The writing style makes it very easy to read and flows well. There is a same sex romance and transgender love. Great summer read.

What seems like a normal vacation to a music festival morphs into a horrifying weekend survival story. Ok, so, it’s not that “normal” to begin with. The four girls on vacation are actually reformed zombies 🧟‍♀️ who live off synthetic organs. If you’re already thinking, that’s gross 🤢. There’s more gore.

Personally, I loved this book! But, I’m a huge horror fan. This Delicious Death ☠️ is a survival horror story.

I certainly recommend checking the triggers before beginning this book. I did. It helped me a lot! I knew what to expect.

I have to say, this is probably the best take I’ve seen on a zombie apocalypse ever. It’s not your typical take on it because for one, the “zombies” aren’t zombies, they’re ghouls. For another, they’re not mindless creatures incapable of doing anything but shambling along and eating flesh. What makes them even more unique? They can only eat human flesh - animal flesh or plant-based foods make them sick. I love it.

While I’m not overly fond of Jasmine or Valeria, I love Zoey and Celeste. I love that most, if not all, of the friend group are part of the LGBTQIA+ community. The characters are well defined and we get back stories for each of them from the Hollowing, which gives insight into their experiences. Oh and I want slap the crap out Zoey’s parents, just saying.

The writing is well done and is easy to read, with the pacing of the book moving along at a great speed. It took me less than 24 hours to finish the book. There are interesting plot twists that you don’t see coming but that make the story even better.

I gave this book 5 stars because Kayla Cottingham does an amazing job of taking the tired zombie trend and bringing it back to new life.

𝙰 𝚍𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚞𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚘𝚘𝚕𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐.

This book was so much fun, I literally read it in a day because Zoey, Celeste, Val, and Jasmine became my BGFs (Best Ghoul Friends) that I had no interest in parting with.

"𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦 𝐼 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟 - 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠, 𝑢𝑚, 𝑚𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡"

A virus quickly makes it way throughout the world and those who survive the infection develop a taste of human flesh (and a few animalistic properties too). The government develops a synthetic flesh that curbs their apatite allowing the infected to safely reenter society. That is until everything goes wrong at a music festival in the middle of the desert when one of our 4 main protagonists goes feral and her and her friends need to figure out why before more people are eaten.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 was a fun spin on the zombie apocalypse trope. The characters are likeable and well fleshed out (no pun indented) making it easy to become well invested in the mystery at hand. It was fun, fast pace, and campy, with a smidge of gore and romance this book is perfect for any summer reading list.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
🏳️‍🌈 Sapphic / Queer Horror
🧟‍♀️ Post(ish) Zombie Outbreak
🤗 Found Family
🎸 Music Festivals
👩🏼‍❤️‍💋‍👩🏻 Best Friends to Lovers

Thank you @sourcebooksfire and @netgalley for the gifted copy

#ThisDeliciousDeath #NetGalley #ParksideReads #QueerHorror #ParksideReads #BookReview

This was a fun YA horror novel. It takes place after an event called the Hollowing, which has turned some people into zombie-like creatures known as ghouls that need to feast on human organs in order to survive. Fortunately, the government has developed synthetic organs to keep these people fed. The book follows a group of four friends (all of whom are ghouls) as they go to a summer music festival.

I really enjoyed the flashback scenes to the Hollowing and would have liked to see a book just about that event. The current day story was also interesting though, and I liked the girls sleuthing to figure out the mystery. I really liked the whole friendship dynamic between the four girls. There's also a friends to lovers romance subplot that's really cute between our main character and her best friend.

Overall, a really enjoyable read that reminded me of TV shows like iZombie and Teen Wolf. It does involve cannibalism and there are some gory parts in it though, so just a head's up if you have a sensitive stomach. There's also a list of trigger warnings in this book, so I'd check those out beforehand if you're unsure.

This Delicious Death is sapphic horror story about four friends who become ghouls after a pandemic. They live off of synthetic flesh but when they attend a music festival, one of them ends of eating a boy. as they try to figure what to do, they uncover bigger mystery. I loved the queer representation and the unique premise of the novel. It was fun and engaging, i look forward to more from Cottingham.

This was a fun YA horror mystery filled with a lot of great representation.

Set in a world post-pandemic that turned humans into flesh eating ghouls, This Delicious Death follows Zoey and her friends as they go to the first Coachella equivalent festival to occur since the world came out of lockdown. Zoey and her friends are all ghouls and we get flashbacks to see their experiences when the pandemic hit, which I thought was really cool and helped build out character relationship and the world.

I thought the mystery was interesting and kept me wanting to keep reading, though I do think it resolved a little too quickly for my tastes. I saw that Cottingham was inspired to write this book while watching a documentary about Fyre Fest, and I can totally see that inspiration here. It also made me laugh out loud at the “At least Fyre Fest had salad” line. The book also has a will they/won’t they / friends to lovers trope, which I thought was really sweet.

Overall, I think this was a book I would have ate up as a teen and would recommend to anyone looking for a good summer horror recommendation.

MY REVIEW: DNF

I thought this was going to be a cool horror story about something else and it wasn’t.

* Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital copy of the book.

5/5⭐️

This is the sapphic zombie apocalypse thriller of my dreams and I loved EVERY SECOND OF IT.

I mean seriously this book had EVERYTHING. Gay panic? Every chapter. Bisexual disasters? In abundance. A pandemic turning the aforementioned chaotic gays into the best zombie girl group to grace the YA section? But of course.

Seriously though, this book was like a hybrid of a bestie road-trip adventure story, apocalypse thriller and murder mystery all rolled into one devourable package and I couldn’t put it down.

Celeste and Zoey? Everything. The four besties? Goals. (I mean if your besties won’t help you hide a body, are they really your besties?)

I found this book to be a really unique take on the genre (is YA queer dystopia a genre? God, I hope so cause I need more) and the first of its kind. A must-read!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me an ARC of this book in exchange for an open and honest review! All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thanks so much netgalley for the chance to read this book! I really enjoyed this read and could kind of possibly see something like this happening in the way future. I loved the characters, the story and what the whole book was about. Who knew ghouls could be pretty similar to hunans!?

Another fun, queer, horror novel from Kayla Cottingham! Overall, I enjoyed this book. It definitely gave me Jennifer’s Body vibes, which I’m always here for. The perfect, quick YA novel that (once again) includes the representation that I wish I had in books growing up.

I enjoyed this so much more than I ever thought I would. I received this book for free from Netgalley (thank you) but was not expecting much. This well exceeded my expectations. It was fun, adventurous, monstrous, and full of heart. What an enjoyable ride and even more enjoyable characters.

"This Delicious Death" by Kayla Cottingham is a thrilling Queer YA horror featuring four hollow "zombie" girls at a desert music festival. As they face dosing incidents and an infected member, the girls must uncover the truth before more lives are lost. This gory and entertaining book offers diverse queer representation and a strong friendship bond. With unexpected twists and a satisfying ending, it's a must-read Queer YA thriller.

A YA story about 4 best friends who turned into ghouls after the melting of permafrost, count me in!

The beginning of this book hooked me from the start. The girls trying to decide if they packed enough synthetic organs for their music festival trip. They get to the hotel, meet some boys in a band, and then Val kills one of the boys. The mystery, horror, and fun begins.

The author does a great job explaining how the government has an app that tracks what they eat and a ghoul also must request to travel outside of where they typically live. I like the flashbacks and the diversity this book brings. I do feel like this book became sluggish and off point at times. I feel like the vibes of the concert venue was off.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

Get in losers, we’re going to the Desert Bloom Musical Festival!

Zoey, Celeste, Valeria and Jasmine attend the Desert Bloom music festival, a rite of passage prior to graduating, but this isn’t the core adolescent memory it should be. Several years prior, the Hollowing occurred where an illness swept across the world in which the afflicted could only survive by consuming human flesh and as it happens, these 4 friends are ghouls (the name given to those with the illness). But like Fyre Fest, while at Desert Bloom, things don’t go according to plan and they bite off more than they can chew (pun fully intended, and no, I am not ashamed to say this).

I loved how every chapter began either with a flashback from the perspective of the various main players to expand the readers understanding of how the Hollowing had affected them, or excerpts of work instant messages, text messages and excerpts from fictional books about the Hollowing to give context to the world the characters inhabit. However, this only emphasised the fact I would have liked to have seen greater world building as the social and political context which the story takes place in are thrown at the reader. Consequently, these ideas never felt fully explored and ultimately felt glossed over.

While it was absolutely fantastic to see so much positive LGBTQ+ representation and a romantic subplot that felt realistic, I felt the pacing throughout was inconsistent which meant that I didn’t feel fully invested in the characters or storyline until the final few chapters when all hell broke loose. This was a surprise given the book was under 300 pages, but I acknowledge my qualms are likely due to the brevity of the novel.

I could easily see This Delicious Death becoming a book series or being adapted for television which would allow further opportunities to flesh out (this time, the pun is intended) the world Cottingham has created.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

When four best friends with a hunger for human flesh pack a cooler and attend a music festival in the desert, they discover a murderous plot to expose and vilify the girls and everyone like them.   
   
A gory horror book filled with cannibalistic queer ghouls? Yes please. This book was fun! It was a perfect mix of humor and horror with four best friends who I simply adored. This book was a wild ride filled with flashbacks and plot twists. I definitely recommend adding to your TBR if you’re looking for a fun horror book!