What a great read. I haven't read from Jennifer Dugan before, but after this one I will be checking out what she puts out in the future. I thought the cover was great, plus the story itself was phenomenal.

I wanted to love this. Hello queer wlw rep in a summer slotted release?! Perfection in theory, not in execution. I re-evaluate all reviews prior to posting final thoughts to socials so I need to sit with this.

Both of the main characters, again, felt unique in their initial description, but the execution made them feel underdeveloped. I want to enjoy the twist but when there's such a lack of connection to the main characters, it's hard to be invested in the stakes, let alone stakes that are sensical. I wanted to read this because the description made it sound like what I'd wanted from the Fear Street movies in a book with more nuance. Fell short for me and that has me torn with the final rating because 2 feels too low yet I don't know if it meets my criteria for a 3 star rating if I'm being completely honest.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this eARC!

I had pretty high hopes for this one, and I’m left feeling more than a little let down. I love a slasher as much as the next guy, but I was really ready to finally read a story about what happens to the final girl after the cameras stop rolling. I expected a story about a survivor reclaiming her life and bonding with her fellow sole survivor, but instead I got… this.

First, let’s talk about what worked: this is a quick, highly binge-able read. In fact, I read about 70% of it in one go. Just like Sloan, I needed to know the truth. What really happened that night? What part did Cherry play in it all? The author does a terrific job of making you fly through the pages to finally put all the pieces together.

What didn’t work was how the pieces fit together in the end. Since the release date is so far away, I’ll try to dance around spoilers, so bear with me. Logically, I can see how the ending makes sense. I definitely see the author’s vision, and I think she definitely told the story she was meaning to tell. I just don’t think it is satisfying, in any way. There is a certain element that makes final girls almost universally appealing, and the author really drives a blade through that element at the end.

Ultimately, I think this book is just trying to do too many things. It’s so short that there is no way to pack in all the character development and the storylines the author is aiming for. I think this is a book with an excellent premise and promising characters, but desperately needs more editing and rewriting.

Also, I would ask that an editor remove the word “junkie” when describing a certain character’s backstory.

I'm sorry but this is quite possibly that absolute worst (and nonsensical) ending to a novel that I have ever suffered through. And I do mean a suffered through it. But now you won't have to!

The first may 20% of the book was good. It had me engaged and wanting to read more and making predictions. And then suddenly...it lost me completely. There are so many irrelevant details included. So many side characters that have absolutely no impact on the story and don't need to be included.

And then there's the ending. The ultimate let down. The unsolved quest for answers. The left field psychotic break. The fade to black finale. The most disappointing ending a "thriller" could have ever provided.

Pretty good horror story! I really loved the psychological aspects of it and I def will reread it/buy it around the fall when I'm in more of a spooky mood! (I'm a mood reader so it's three stars for now but I feel like it could get a higher rating if I were in the mood for horror!) Also, the cover art is amazing and pulled me in from the beginning! The writing was really compelling overall but I have to give it 3/3.5 stars! (Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC! It was pretty decent)!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this arc!

I have been saying for a long time that there is a severe lack of summer camp slasher books in circulation. It’s a such an underused plot nowadays and I’ve been dying (no pun intended) to see more of it.

Now into the review, I really appreciated the centering of a queer couple for this story seeing as it’s such a popular genre in the LGBTQIA+ community, but with that said, the relationship didn’t make much sense to me. Both characters lacked in personality and I couldn’t really describe either of them in a definitive way if anyone asked me to.

The pacing in the story was hard to follow. The first 50% was very slow and didn’t hold the conflict I hoped it would. It was clear that the reader was supposed to believe that Cherry was in on everything, but there wasn’t also plot points that also made me doubt that she was a part of it until the very end. With suspense, I always like to feel like I could be wrong all throughout the story. I never want to feel like I’m firmly in one camp or the other while reading. I want to feel just as conflicted as the main character is.

The ending twist was unexpected, but not just in a surprising way. It came out of left field. It’s clear that Sloan’s mental state was slowly devolving, but I didn’t peg her as a delusional murderer. I really appreciated the deep look into how trauma would effect a slasher survivor cause that is a view we rarely see in horror, but her jump from paranoia to believing in the cults belief was too quick.

I could have believed her killing Cherry out of fear and self defense because she was under the impression that Cherry believed it, but it didn’t seem genuine that in the last 10% she switched up like that over one conversation with the fox.

I think the premise of the story was super interesting and there were definitely parts where I was glued to it, but the ending was not on par with what I was expecting.

I will admit, once the plot hit a certain point, I was skimming. So this book didn't really work for me, but it was *incredibly* effective at capturing a back-and-forth tension over whether the MC was being gaslit or paranoid.

Well… I really wanted to love this book. And I did enjoy it for the most part, but the ending left me so unsatisfied. I need more answers than we’re given and hate being left like that. Sloan and Cherry both drove me a bit nuts through the story, clearly they were nuts too.

Wow! Thank you NetGalley for a copy! I throughly enjoyed this story and was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I was completely blown away by the ending as well. Did not see it coming!

I received an ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review.
I have… mixed feelings about this book. It was very interesting, fast-paced, and we’ll-written.
However, I did have some issues with it. The protagonist’s relationship was just so unhealthy. She literally blocked out everyone in her life except for Cherry. And the “surprise twist” at the end wasn’t what I saw coming, however it felt sort of out of place and an unnecessary, unrealistic display of trauma and what it does to a person.
I did enjoy the constant wondering of who’s telling the truth and who’s gaslighting though.

I’m trying to fully understand what I just read because I’m completely in shock.. The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan is due to be published August 15, 2023.

Overall it was a good read but the story it’s self was so jam packed I could barley keep up. I felt like there was a lot of stuff missing but also way to much stuff to understand at the time. This story is inspired by all of the 80’s flasher films!

Thank you NetGalley, Jennifer Dugan and G.P. Putmam’s Sons for allowing me to read this ARC.

We love an unreliable narrator! This was a few of my favorite things; final girl trope, sapphic love, summer camp. it was a perfect thriller with an unexpected twist that made me want to shake the main character repeatedly for being so daft. I just wish we actually knew what was real and what was not!

I'm not sure what I was expecting from this book honestly, murder summer-camp cult conspiracy leaves a lot of room for saying "what is even happening right now?!" But overall it was a pretty interesting ride.

Let me start by saying I am giving the book 4 stars for the story but the actual ending itself was a solid 5 stars from me. Absolutely LOVED it, did not see that coming.

I took off a star from my rating because I didn't care for how the story was written. I understand why we are following Sloan as she heals from the camp massacre trauma but I really wanted to read more about what happened that night instead of only getting small glimpses in between therapy sessions and make out sessions. I don't know, I get why it was done that way, but it still felt like I had picked up this book in the middle of a story.

Overall however, definitely one to add to your TBR if you want to pretend you have any grasp of what's going on only to be blindsided... probably... hopefully.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. It definitely kept me interested but I will honestly say it was a strange one with an ending I didn’t expect. Would recommend it though since it was a quick easy read. Can’t say more without spoilers!! 3.5 stars ⭐️

Sloan was looking forward to her spending her summer vacation working as a camp counselor far away from her overbearing mother. There she met Cherry, and the pair instantly hit it off, flirting and talking late into the night. But soon, Sloan's carefree summer turned into tragedy when the camp was attacked by masked men with machetes, killing everyone but her and Cherry. Now, months later, Sloan and Cherry are bonded by trauma, but as new information starts coming to light, Sloan can't help but wonder if Cherry is hiding something. The more Cherry tries to prove her innocence, the less Sloan believes her. As Sloan's hazy memories slowly creep back in, will she discover that her girlfriend is a victim or the perpetrator?

After reading the synopsis, I was ready for a fun summer camp slasher, but that isn't what I got. The events take place after the massacre, and you're left sorting out the details of what happened along with Sloan. You quickly realize that she isn't the most reliable of narrators, so you don't know what to believe. I appreciate the attempt to make this a twisty, psychological thriller, but the whole thing needed work. The plot itself was just too messy. Some twists didn't make sense and left so many unanswered questions. The pacing was also super clunky and not engaging. I could look past all that if the characters were amazing, but oof. Sloan and Cherry were the definitions of toxic. Their relationship was so unhealthy. I had high hopes for this one, but sadly, it didn't deliver.

"The Last Girls Standing" is *almost* a great book. It has an exciting premise, an interesting main character, and little twists that keep you flipping the pages to see what comes next. The author does a great job of building paranoia in the narrator that transfers to the reader. Just when you think you know what's going on, something comes along to make you second guess yourself, much like the character of Sloan. That paranoia builds throughout the novel at a fun pace, but for me it fumbled a the very end. I didn't dislike the ending per se, but it felt a bit rushed and abrupt without enough answers or resolution to the central mystery. I'm all for a book having an open ending and leaving the reader wanting more, but I closed this one feeling a bit unsatisfied. Other than that, it was an enjoyable read.

Thank you to Netgalley for sending me an advanced copy in return for my honest review.

I love the dramatic cover and premise of this book: two final girls falling in love, bound by a tragedy that no one else truly understands. A young woman desperate to discover the truth, even if her soulmate may lying about everything.

After finishing the novel, I’m torn. I honestly liked the ending; I don’t mind a novel that’s dark, and I love me an unreliable narrator. But I can’t help but wish these dark veins were spread more evenly throughout, that way you have a better idea of what you’re signing up for. I also wish that the romance between Sloan and Cherry <i>felt</i> as desperate as Sloan claims it is. I don’t need it to be spicy, but I was looking for something a little more than lukewarm from these two. I didn’t feel like their relationship progressed or regressed in a meaningful way until the very very end. I found that I enjoyed the plot more than their relationship.

I think hindsight makes some of the things I initially disliked work: Cherry being a walking red flag from the very start, and Sloan going back and forth at least ten different times about whether she believes Cherry or not. It makes narrative sense, but it still gave me whiplash. I just think there were other ways to accomplish the same end goal.

All and all, I liked this book. I would just go into this knowing that at the end of the day, it definitely falls into the horror genre.

Thank you to Netgalley, PENGUIN GROUP/Penguin Young Readers Group, and the author for my advanced reader’s copy.

I have mixed feelings about The Last Girls Standing. I really like Jennifer Dugan's writing and how she portrayed the aftermath of a massacre and how the trauma can affect memories, what's real versus what isn't. What I wasn't a fan of, is how most of the book is trying to find the reason behind the ritualistic killings and if anyone else was involved, shift to the main character believing she can save them from the darkness..? Up until that point I thought the story was pretty good, but the ending really lost me. I felt like it didn't fit in with the rest of the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Groups for a copy of this eARC!

This one's gonna be divisive, I'm sure of it, but I LOVED it. I think one of the most engaging parts of this book is how it deals with memory– there are a lot of elements that rely on the main character's memory to figure out the truth, but given how suggestible and fallible memory is, Dugan plays with what that means and what damage that over reliance can create. This is a victim surrounded by adults, and not one of them is taking care of her in a genuine way. There are attempts at boundaries and she works with a hypnotist, but this only really serves to make her worse. This reminds me a lot of The Wicker King in the way the subject matter is dealt with, though The Wicker King certainly has a more hopeful ending.

If you like having answers, don't read this, because you really don't get any. If you liked fucked up explorations of grief, trauma, survivor's guilt, and obsessive, controlling love, then you'll love this.

To preface, I read an uncorrected text. This is a tough one for me. I really enjoyed the writing but feel like the book overall ended up being a miss for me. The premise was something I found really interesting as a lover of the slasher genre. I just didn't end up connecting to the characters. I do think there will be plenty of people who do enjoy this book. I just, unfortunately, wasn't one of them.