The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan seemed like my kind of young adult novel based on the cover and the plot. And for most of the novel it was, I got sucked into the main story and enjoy following the unreliable narrator as she tried to regain her memories. The setting was great as well. However, I did feel that the middle dragged a bit, I would have liked more flashbacks and less of the main relationship. I loved Dugan's writing style and that will keep me picking up from young adult thrillers from her in the future but this one was just okay for me. I was disappointed by the ending, it did not feel complete to me or fleshed out and I was left wanting a lot more from it. Despite that, I still enjoyed the novel and flew through the entire thing in a day. I still recommend checking it out. Thank you to Netgalley and and the publishing house for giving me a copy for my honest review.

Sloan and Cherry met at summer camp where they were counselors and begin a romance which turns into an intense trauma bond after being the only survivors of a mass murder. Sloan has no memories of that night and relies on Cherry to fill in the gaps. Sloan is desperate to regain her memories and seeks to uncover the truth, but what she finds may lead to more death.

I couldn’t put this book down. I read it almost entirely in one sitting. The author’s writing is beautiful; it’s descriptive but not superfluous, and Sloan’s recollections of that night are haunting. I love how it starts with Sloan’s injuries and confusion over what happened. It builds suspense and kept me hooked. This is a true psychological thriller. There isn’t much action, but it messes with your mind in the best way. Sloan is an unreliable narrator, so I was constantly questioning what was real. I had anxiety the entire time I read because I never knew if what Sloan had uncovered was true or which way it would lead. Thanks to NetGalley, Penguin Random House, and Jennifer Dugan for this free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

A queer summer camp massacre story sounds like my favorite type of book. I loved the idea of 2 girls trying to figure out the mystery of why they survived and relying on each other to get to the truth.

Cherry and Sloan started from the beginning being the most annoying couple in the history of the world. I would have thrown them both out of the window if they were anywhere near me. Sloan ignored every single person who cared about her because Cherry is the only person who will ever understand her ever again. Bleh. Cherry was the most annoying person in the entire book. If she just TOLD Sloan things instead of running around and hiding for “her own good” she wouldn’t be paranoid. I felt like the “no secrets no lies” rule was for giggles because neither of them did it! The only person with any sense was Conner and he seemed like a good friend who obviously didn’t know how to act around Sloan anymore. I felt like he actually cared about her and was blown off because of Cherry.

I didn’t really like the way they were speaking about the other victims as well. Dark humor is normal for these sort of things, but the jokes made me cringe. And that ending was wild. I didn’t hate it as much as other folks did, but I also don’t think it really made too much sense either. I enjoyed Jennifer Dugan’s graphic novel Coven and was a bit disappointed by this one. I just don’t think the story was for me.

Jennifer Dugan does it again. My students love Hotdog Girl and I’m so excited for them to have this as well. Perfect blend of friendship, thrills, and romance.

This is a book that I started in the morning and stayed up late to finish it. I've read most of Jennifer Dugan's books and I really like them. The Last Girls Standing, however, is on a whole new level. If you're looking for a sweet love story, avoid this one. The graphic descriptions of violence start almost immediately, but this has a psychological plot more than horror. I don't want to say too much because you should just read the book. That ending though--wow! Read this and all of Jenny Dugan's books.

Super interesting take on horror! so often with horror I want to know what happens next with recovery so I love this take. And the plot twists kept me on edge the whole way

The writing style was a bit rough at times and took me out of the book. This is the third time I’ve read a Jennifer Dugan book, and while it was my favorite by a long shot, it will probably be the last book I read by her

This is a very stereotypical take on a teen slasher, so don’t go in expecting to be scared, instead I think the stereotypes are part of the charm of it
And the relationship is not a healthy one, but I don’t think its meant to be. I think its meant to portray trauma bonding and co dependency issues. I do wish the book made it more clear it wasn’t meant to be romanticized

A fun and creepy story that fizzled out at the end for me. Nevertheless, I love the setting and backdrop of the whole summer camp motif as it never fails to give me a pang of nostalgia. It's worth a read and your appreciation of it will probably be based on how many similar books of this genre you've read. Having a book featuring real, genuine representation of a marginalized group is never, ever a bad thing.

This book had so much potential but in the end it was a little disappointing.
I will preface this with I recently read 2 other Queer YA horror books and
1 already published one and they were spectacular so maybe I went in with too high of expectations?

But overall it felt like a story about an incredibly toxic relationship with stereotypical views on mental health and ptsd. It left more questions than answers and ultimately the ending was disappointing.

All the slasher/horror parts were flashbacks and didn’t totally make sense and were usually the same scene over and over.

This is this authors first attempt at horror so maybe in the future it will be better? Or maybe needs to be marketed not as horror?


Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Books for the e-arc.

This was very fascinating. I'm still unsure how I feel about the ending, but Jennifer Dugan truly has a knack for writing creepy and disturbing stories.

I was not a fan of the writing of this book. This was definitely just not a writing style that I enjoyed reading and therefore really hurt the enjoyment of the book. The characters were incredibly unlikable and I found myself wanting to skim the book.

I actually liked this book and rated it 3 .25 stars for a nice solid read. I enjoyed the final girl aspect and the relationship between Cherry and Sloan even though it was not a healthy one. The majority of the book took place before the incident and I was expecting the book to go in a different direction. I did love the twists and turns but I would classify it as more Ya Thriller than Horror although it was scary at times. This was a good solid read and I would definitely recommend

4.25 stars. Woah woah woah. Sitting here, jaw mf agape. THAT ENDING!!!?!!??!! That is the best ending I’ve read in a while oh.my.god. Insanity. Idk what to do with my life after reading that last chapter. I think I have to stare at the wall for a while.

I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I expected. It started at 3.5 stars, but after it passed the 50% mark it continually got better and better. I was genuinely so confused for the entirety of it, going back and forth with who I trusted, and now I realize I was doing the exact thing that Sloan was doing. Wow. That was a whirlwind of a story. I really hope this author writes more horror/thriller cause bitch, sign me tf up to read it. This was such a fun read, and I’m literally shell shocked at the conclusion. And let’s not forget this was not only horror, but sapphic horror. Amazing. I am a shell of a human.

Twist of the goddamn century. Thank you netgalley for providing this arc.

Poor Sloan, but also slay (literally)

High off of recently finishing The Counselors by Jessica Goodman, I was excited to pick up another thriller set at camp. Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this one quite as much. Too much of the action takes place off page. And the pacing wasn't enough to keep my attention. Instead of fully dnfing, I did skim through to the end. The one thing I did like about The Last Girls Standing is that it went a different direction than most thrillers. That doesn't mean I liked the ending. It was just different. If you're just looking for another YA thriller or can't get enough of them The Last Girls Standing will be perfect for you. I'm a Librarian who has recently ventured into more thrillers. So I'm not exactly the target audience. But I do read A LOT of YA. Take my opinions with a grain of salt and maybe pick up the book and decide for yourself.

Thank you to Netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers for providing me with a review copy.

This is a horror/thriller book written by someone who has no idea how to write horror/thriller books. This seemed very generic. Nothing really original. This one was not for me.

The last girls standing was such an easy read & I read it really fast. The book did not go where I thought it was, definitely was going through a loop of thoughts of how it was going to end. A lot of the action is at the begging of the book. It had queer representation.

Thank You Net Galley For The ARC.
The Last Girls Standing

Initial Guess for Review Based on First Chapter: 3??
Actual Review After Reading Book: 1 Star.

Sloan finds a flyer on her schools bulletin board for a camp counselor position. In order to get away from her overbearing adoptive mother, Sloan interviews for the position and gets the job. Once there, she meets Cherry Addison Barnes and instantly falls in love.

Machete wielding masked killers butcher everyone except Sloan and Cherry leaving them as the last girls standing.

After the murders, Sloan and Cherry try to live normal lives while going to therapy. Sloan deflects most of the questions her therapist asks her. The events are partially blocked out due to a concussion she received. Yet, vivid memories and nightmares haunt Sloan. After finding a rabbit mask in her girlfriends new apartment, Sloan takes it upon herself to finally unlock what really happened that night at camp.

This can be a best seller, if you don’t publish it, rewrite, condense and edit scenes to makes them better. Make it more exciting. This was not it. The “therapy” sessions need to be reworked. I’ve seen more action on a nature channel.


Comments:

Right off the bat, I love the representation but I felt there was more chemistry between Sloan and her best friend Connor than I did with Sloan and Cherry.
Then I felt like there was no chemistry between any of the characters.
There were a lot of chapters that were really wordy that would have been fine being three pages like a James Patterson novel. I found myself skimming to the dialogue at times. Reading the essential bits. There were scenes that induced anxiety and they were wordy but it worked because it was building tension and suspense in a chapter. Sloan is frustrating, Connor, cherry, Allison are pushy and eerie and likes to gas light. It feels like there was forced drama in certain areas to further the plot. It didn’t have me wanting to read the next chapter. It had me dreading reading the rest of the novel. After ten chapters, I started to get anxious because i knew it was going to be a terrible rating.

Near chapter 18, I started skimming the novel because it had too much explaining decisions, describing minor things, and character dialogue with characters that had little to no chemistry. I was in it to find out the ending at this point. I wanted to DNF the book but I wanted the ending to change my mind. I don’t care if I missed details after this point. I was just tired of the word vomit. This reminded me of when I read Anxious People and I could not get over how many words that book contained versus how it could have been condensed.

The story just didn’t bring intensity. For the subject matter, you want Sloan to be scared for her life and not trusting anyone. You want clues that she could die at any point. It always felt like Sloan was too safe. It never felt like a cat and mouse chase, it felt like Sloan messing around and never finding out.

Everyone controls Sloan by withholding information from her and gas lighting her just so that she isn’t in a bad mood or feeling sad or scared, instead of being open and honest with her. How come Sloan had to find something out in every chapter by a coincidence or because another character let it slip.

These characters are not likable.

Why do these characters ask so many questions and don’t wait for an answer from the other character????????? ~ this is one long question because I read so many questions in this book.

What a coincidence that this is the second person to say “you came in guns a blazing,” after they didn’t tell Sloan something. Beth tapped her lips. “You came in here, guns blazing.”
Why is this still a YA trope of “we can’t tell you something because you’re young and reckless and you’re not a real adult with real emotions.”

Why the hell did the toxic therapist think comparing Sloan to the killer was an okay thing to do?
This makes me not want to get therapy.

This had to be written on chat GPT.


I was hoping this book was going to be good. I was hoping it would make me anxious to read the next chapter but it had me dreading opening this book. I wanted to be fair and provide a fair review of what I did and did not like because this was not it.

Not good. Nothing happens. Nothing. I mean nothing.did I say nothing. Like Sloan wakes up and walks to places and that’s it. That’s the whole book.

Good concept poor execution. Very poor execution.

What I did like:

I liked the social commentary that when rich people die, they seem to matter more than normal people. For example, there is a rich girl and her parents alluded during a 60 minutes interview that they think their daughter should have survived and Sloan and Cherry should have taken her place. This book is about how difficult it is to heal from traumatic experience and how everyone wants you to move on right away. And trying to heal because everyone keeps looking down at you with pity.

It was nice to see someone talking about how sometimes police can be blasé about a potential danger even though they have all the evidence to prove that someone might do something, the Edward Cunningham story reminded me a lot of the Jeffery dahmer case.

The cult was interesting and I wish there were more scenes trying to infiltrate it to find out more about it. I wanted more information about the cult and hope deep it went.


Chapter notes of Good/Bad Things:

Chapter 5- Ewwwwww, gaslighting.??? Odd chapter…

Chapter 6 - psychological thriller. Unlocking the mind and memories. Trippy. Love it. Here for it.

Chapter 9: weird that Connor conveniently turned on the TV.

Chapter 17: chapters missing from book sash gave her after Sloan gets off of connors car. Suspicious….

Chapter 18: should have been chapter 7 and chapter 7 should have been where she found the box and was able to look through it. Word Vomit. Ma’am please condense.

Chapter 19: should have been chapter 9. This book could have been paced better. Rearrange a few chapters and take out a few chapters.


Book Summary Breakdown By Bulked Chapter:
Chapter 1 - 10: Sloan trying to live normal life, Sloan finds the mask, she starts to unlock memories, plea deal for killer announced.

Chapters 11 - 15: Sloan takes it upon herself to dig deeper in to the mystery of who the killers were and to find out more information about the pod Morte Homius.

Chapters 15 - 20: it’s been twenty chapters and nothing has happened. What am I reading? This book killed me the same way the author killed the camp counselors, brutally and slowly…

This sections from chapter 20 is the reason I dislike this book:

“We have to stop kidding ourselves, Sloan. You are not okay. You’re not. We might have both survived the attack, but you’re not living. Not even a little. Last night you said I should have left you there to die, and now you’re all guns blazing wanting to run back to the person who left you catatonic for days. I do get to decide. Your mother does get to decide. You are not well, Sloan. You’re scaring me more and more every day. You actually accused me of being a part of Morte Hominus last night! You’re not thinking straight!”
“Because of you. Because of you and your secrets! You’re constantly keeping things from me. And I’m not just talking about the stuff in your closet. But also this! The Fox! Would you have even told me about Kevin’s thing if I hadn’t been there when Magda gave you the invite?” “
“Stop calling him ‘The Fox’ like he’s some magical movie villain or something! He’s not. He’s just a regular man in a creepy mask. We are not the babes in the wood. He is not a cunning fox. This is not a fucking fairy tale. His name is Edward Cunningham, and he lived in a goddamn van! He’s forty-three years old and never had a job or a family or contributed to this world in any way, and I wish he’d fucking fry.”

Sloan is right. They treat her as fragile and they don’t help her. They lie to her, baby her, and gas light her.

Chapter 21-25: Im tired of this book. And I’m only ten chapter away from finishing and nothing has happened. This had to be written by someone who uses AI or doesn’t know what keeping the audience/reader engaged means. When I say nothing happens, nothing happens. It’s been 26 chapters.

Sis, you need to condense. This is too much.
The whole book is Sloan waking up and going to bed. I guess it’s fitting because this book felt like a terrible fever dream. It felt like it would never end and nothing was happening!!!!!!!!!!!

Why couldn’t this book include all the families of the dead?
Why did it have to be the Sloan show?
I don’t care about someone grasping for straws and doing nothing in the whole book. Maybe that was the point of the book. Maybe the message was that nobody cares about survivors, they just care about what they went through. But why ,are it this boring?????

Noooooooooo!!!!! What is this chapter:

Chapter 26:
She goes to her hypnotist fake therapist for help and her therapist decides that she is cut off from uncovering her own memories because it’s too much for Sloan.
Did the author do any sensitivity readings for this. This a problematic piece of work.
“You can’t cut me off like that.”
“I’m not a drug dealer,” Beth said, her voice hard. This was clearly not up for debate. “I’ve given you a substantial amount of leeway in this process. More than most. And I need to maintain my professional integrity. Frankly, I shouldn’t have even brought you down today.”

Every time the main character is going to find something out, everyone around Sloan keeps informations from her.

“I’m not a doctor, Sloan, as you love to point out. I think perhaps you’ve outgrown your use for me.” “
“Are you firing me?” Sloan laughed. Of all the possible outcomes, this one was unexpected. “That’s not very live, laugh, love of you, Beth.”

Chapter 26 - The End: not worth the read.


Character List:

Sloan: Main character. One of the last girls standing. Adopted. Distant after the incident. PTSD induced flashbacks. Has a birth mark that intersects with her injury she received the day of the murders. Took sixteen stitches to patch her up. Environmentalist. Would go for bands like Doha cat and Olivia rodrigo. Is good at reading people.

Beth: therapist. Sloan doesn’t consider her a real therapist.

Cherry: sloans girlfriend. Brown hair. One of the two last girls standing. In to grunge bands. Dark. Pessimistic. Giving Billy Loomis - Scream Vibes. Freckles. Sun-kissed skin.

Allison Thomas - 46 years old. sloans adoptive mother. Sent her to therapy. Overprotective. Hawk parent.

Connor - sloans best friend since childhood. Golden brown skin. Dark curly hair. Bisexual daddy ❤️. Diversity yassss.

Rachel - connors girlfriend that thinks Sloan has to get over the ordeal that happened.

Rahul - Indian, tall

Becket - wore expensive hiking boots all the time. Ableist/capitalist according to Cherry.

Simon - sloans brother, plays baseball

Brad - sloans adoptive father.

Kevin - the middle-aged camp director who had turned his white skin various shades of red and brown due to his aversion to sunscreen, and had a penchant for listening to Nirvana and Soundgarden on repeat all day.

Cherry Addison Barnes -
Charla - was in the video interview with Kevin for sloans interview.


Dahlia - a white college sophomore from downstate with the longest, prettiest brown hair that Sloan had ever seen;


Hannah, a Korean American who considered not keeping up with the latest celebrity gossip a moral failing;

Anise, who once boasted without a hint of irony that she could trace her ancestors back to the Mayflower.

Shane, a quiet Black boy with an unusual obsession with cryptids, who upon meeting who upon meeting Sloan had launched into a speech about the Mothman’s continued relevance in American history, and had barely uttered another word after.

Ronnie, the camp cook, a thirty-four-year-old Black man obsessed with perfecting his own snow cone recipe,

Magda - artist, also has an only fans. Benefited from the murders and took advantage and did interviews for her daughter.

Edward Cunningham - the Fox. Arrested. His cyanide pill was a dud.

Sasha - edwards so called sister. White hair, too much make up.

Marco - Italian man that changed the pod.

Fox - Edward Cunningham
Bear - nothing
Stag - nothing
Lion - nothing
Bobcat - nothing
Bunny - Marco

Typo:

Chapter 9: Today, we were able to reach a plea agreement the (that) satisfies all parties involved, and we’re looking forward to transferring him into a maximum-security facility in the near future.

Chapter 15:
Weird wording.
I can’t tell (take out tell or explain) explain ‘why you’ or ‘why there’ or any of the other things that you asked in your email. But maybe,”

This book was unfortunately disappointing to me. The premise of a summer camp massacre hooked me in but all the action actually happening before the book was off putting.

I also struggled with the depiction of PTSD and coping in this book. While the paranoia and poor coping skills are VERY realistic, the turn they take as the book goes on felt a bit insensitive.

I LOVED the queer rep in here and the premise of the massacre itself was interesting. The execution was just off.

I was so excited for this final girls from a summer camp who survived and then fell in love story, but I’m not sure that I got what I was hoping for. The book was good, although very very weird, and it was a fast read. I think part of my problem was the majority of the action of the story happened before the book began and I was hoping for a little more of that. I will say that the book didn’t go where I was expecting it to and the ending had an interesting twist, but the story itself and the main mystery felt muddled and didn’t have a clear resolution when I wanted one. I love the queer representation, especially in the horror genre where you see it so seldomly, but I didn’t like the relationship and didn’t understand it. It wasn’t a healthy relationship, which did fit the story, but made me regret that queer representation. Overall the book was ok, I gave it 3.5 stars which I rounded up for the twist and I would give this author another shot in the future.

* Thank you Netgalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. *

I really wanted to like The Last Girls Standing. At times, I did like it - but around 45% in, I started to develop this unshakeable irritation with Sloan.

Here's a quick recap: Sloan and her girlfriend Cherry survived a massacre at the summer camp where they were camp counselors. In the aftermath, they're in love and rely heavily on each other as they navigate their grief, but somewhere along the way Sloan begins to doubt Cherry, and wonders if Cherry was a part of the attack at the summer camp.

Here's where I lost it: Sloan's refusal to see ANY of the truth that was right there. I won't get too in-depth about it, because it is a seriously baffling storyline at times, and it would be hard to comment on anything without spoiling it, but good god. Sloan had zero self-preservation skills. It was painful to read at times, and by the end of the book, I was just... confused. I don't understand why it ended the way it did, and I can't honestly say whether I liked the book or not. This will be one I have to sit on for a while to make a final decision, but for now, I'm rating it 3 stars - because I didn't hate all of it, but I'm not sure any of it made sense.

Sloan and Cherry meet at the camp they signed up to work at over the summer and become the sole survivors of a massacre that occurs right before the camp opens. Our story follows the aftermath as they try to process their experience and reintegrate back into normal society.
While Cherry has all of her memories from that night, Sloan is a complete blank. Cherry has filled in the blanks with her story, but is it the truth of what really happened? Will Sloan believe her or conduct her own fact-finding mission to get her memories back?

I enjoyed this book. It took me a little while to get into, being slow in the beginning, but once it gets going it is full of mystery, angst, and more questions. I definitely was not expecting what happened in the end and was quite surprised! If you're a fan of murder, mysteries, and plot twists, this one is definitely for you!