I gave this a four out of five stars I really enjoyed this. I liked the friendships. I really liked this especially because I have been listening to My Favorite Murder podcast and it gave me that vibe.

Although I had a bit of a difficult time initially getting into this book, I found myself enjoying and being increasingly drawn into it the more that I read, making its 400+ pages feel long but still full of story. And while it wasn’t initially as scary as I expected, the tension and stakes continue to ratchet up as the story goes on and make it both hard to turn the page while being a little scared to. This book also feels unabashedly queer. Even if there are some elements of the queer community in it that I’m not personally as much of a fan of, I appreciate that they get to exist in this book and I especially appreciate how Adam Sass looks at the idea of the mean queer in response to abuse within the queer community. All in all, this book ended up surpassing my expectations despite some initial concern, and I think it’s well worth the read if you’re interested in a scary queer horror/thriller.

I’ll admit, I have some mixed feelings about our main character, although I think I ended up feeling a lot more positive towards them near the end. In all honesty I’m not a big fan of YA books that focus on how much the characters are hooking up with people or make out teenage relationships as sex-crazed but I can also acknowledge that a. that happens and b. queer characters reclaiming their sexuality is an important thing so it’s really up to you to decide how you feel about it. All that aside, both our main characters are a little abrasive at first meet, but I honestly found myself more empathetic to Cole once I was able to differentiate his perspective from Dearie’s. Both have their flaws, both as people and as characters, but I can say that I liked their ending and the continued emphasis on platonic relationships as well as just non-romantic relationships in general.

Plot-wise, I really enjoyed what Adam Sass did here. I can’t say how much horror I’ve read with a more serial killer twist but I honestly enjoyed it and was decently scared throughout the book (without being unable to go to sleep). I really can’t say if the twists are obvious because I didn’t personally guess anything but the well set-up final twist once the characters themselves began to figure it out. There are a few erroneous elements but nothing that sticks out to me enough to put into words.

Overall, I pretty well enjoyed this book once I was able to fully get into it. I thought the concept behind it was pretty interesting and well-executed in my personal opinion. This is probably my favourite Adam Sass book so far, and I hope he writes more within the horror/thriller genre in the future!

This book is really great at creating suspense. I did think some of the dialogue and slang sounded a little forced and unnatural. Also I got really sick of reading the word “flop”. That being said, I did eventually really enjoy this book and was excited to find out how it concluded.

Interesting story of a serial killer that’s come back from 40-50 years ago but this time isn’t killing single people only but people found or connected to the high schools queer club. Two students are determined to figure out who it is but will they be the killers next target ?

This YA Horror had me on the edge of my seat!

It had a great balance of thrills and comical relief. Cole and Dearie’s BFF status had me rooting for them to make it out alive!

I figured out one of the twists fairly early on, but completely missed the other big turn!

This book was incredible! I read it just in time for Halloween and it could not have been more perfect. Dearie and Cole remind me so much of me and my best friend and I loved reading about their banter with each other and just that undying love that platonic soulmates have for the other person. And the TWISTS in this book. So well done! I couldn’t predict any of them which I always love when that happens and each one shocked me more than the last. I truly loved this book and I hope there’s more to come from the Dearie and Cole saga

4/5 Stars!

Reading this ARC it was difficult to get into but I found it on Libby and listened to it and I was HOOKED!!! The atmosphere is so great and the story had me silently screaming at work in fear and anger. I do think the killer reveal could have been better (and that’s all I can say without spoiling) and some of the lingo took me out of it. I /was/ the gay kid in the lgbtq+ club in high school and just the thought of hearing some of these people talking in real life would have had my head spin! But otherwise the story is very good and had me on the edge of my seat! If you have the availability to listen on audiobook, I definitely recommend! Perfect Halloween read!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

2.5 stars

I loved the premise and idea of this story. It’s what sold me on wanting to read it.
There were times where the story was really good. Especially with Mr Sandman. But there were many times I’d get thrown off by the banter, which would take me off course. I don’t know. I don’t wanna say I’m too old, cause I love reading YA. Between the actual story and conversations between characters, it just didn’t mesh well for me. And unfortunately, that’s where this fell flat for me.

REVIEW

As you may know, I have taken it upon myself to create THE SLASHER LIST, a comprehensive list and review of slasher-inspired novels. I’ve been away from the project for a bit (work, life, personal demons, you know how it is), so I haven’t been able to dedicate much time to pursuing the project.

So when I started reading Your Lonely Nights Are Over, I wanted so much, despite knowing it would make the fall worse if I was disappointed.

I am so happy to say that Your Lonely Nights Are Over was everything I wanted and more. I devoured this book in two sittings.

We’ve got twists, we’ve got turns, we’ve got messy queer characters, and, of course, the most important element of every slasher: buckets of blood.

The death scenes and the tension is brutal. These kids die, man, and Sass doesn’t hold back. There’s a Saw-trap-esque strangulation by barbed wire in the first few chapters.

I will say that if you’re like me and you read and watch a lot of slashers and are familiar with the tropes, the twists might be a bit easy to predict. I knew who the killer was pretty quickly (and the twist about the killer, because I’m familiar with Saw and Scream).

That all said, while I caught the foreshadowing and know the genre a bit too well for my own good, it wasn’t frustrating to wait for the characters to catch up with my realizations. Twists don’t have to be unpredictable to be fun.

This is a YA book. I typically don't like YA (I'm just not the target demographic), but I think that this is one of those YA books that, while definitely for teens, is fun to read as an adult, too. (Especially if you were in a queer club in high school. Because, woof, this book captured that feeling of young queer drama well.)

This book has an important message about queer community that is vital for young queer folk to learn, especially in an era of the internet full of toxic queer spaces. Ultimately, Your Lonely Nights Are Over is a story about friendship, community, and recognizing the danger and toxicity of queer abusers, all wrapped up in a witty, barbed-wire slasher with a breakneck pace.
FINAL THOUGHTS

Your Lonely Nights Are Over is definitely going to be one of the crowning jewels of THE SLASHER LIST, sitting in pride of place beside My Heart is a Chainsaw.

If you loved the Scream movies and want a book with that same smart, meta horror vibe, then you’ll have one hell of a time with Your Lonely Nights are Over.

Thank you to Viking Books for Young Readers for providing a digital ARC via Netgalley! If you are interested in Your Lonely Nights Are Over, it is out now!

If possible, support indie bookshops by purchasing the novel from your local brick and mortar or from Bookshop.org.

User-defined content warnings are available via Storygraph.

if you liked: the fear street movies, scream, Bottoms, and Clueless you MUST read this book

i am still very new to the horror genre (i’m a bit of a scaredy cat) but i LOVED this and devoured it in under 24 hours. Sass managed to write a book that is incredibly funny but also discusses serious topics with care. the book also has content warnings at the very beginning in an authors note

i really hope Sass continues writing campy, slasher, queer horror stories because i ALREADY miss reading this book so so much.

Your Lonely Nights Are Over is the perfect combination of horror and humor! We follow best friends Cole and Dearie, who trying to survivor their senior year when a serial killer reappears. As their town is terrorized by Mr. Sandman, Dearie and Cole find themselves at the top of the list of suspects. This book was thrilling and campy, while also tackling some heavier topics.

I was tentatively excited to pick this up as Sass' debut, Surrender Your Sons [ my review here ], was a surprise hit. While their follow up didn't work for me as much as I would have hoped, this at least was a return to a darker story like the debut. As bad as it feels to call a book about queer people being slaughtered by a serial killer, this was a fun time. I didn't quite expect for the novel to go as far as it did, for the murders to start as soon as they did or for the scenes to be as descriptive as some of them wound up being.

Unlike other books I've read I really felt like I was watching a teen horror movie play out as I read through this book. The middle dragged slightly, simply because I am never invested in playing detective. I think it's very admirable that these boys wanted to clear their name and get the person that was setting them up unmasked, but I had a pretty firm idea of who was behind it and was just waiting to see if I was right, so these boys could play detective for as long as they wanted as far as I was concerned.

Speaking of our two POV leads, I loved them. 2023 seems to be the year of me reading queer books with protagonists that break the mold of what I've come to expect from queer representation in this age category, and while I was side eyeing Dearie quite a lot in the end I did really enjoy him and Cole and the way the two of them interacted as well as the way they interacted with the other prominent characters.

This book comes out right in time for the Spooky Season and I think that any October would be thoroughly lacking if this wasn't included.

2.75 stars.

I wanna start of by saying I appreciate receiving this e-arc from NetGalley. I really wanted to like this book, the cover looks great and the blurb sounded great. However the more I started reading the more annoyed and frustrated I got because of the writing. Since this is a YA book, I also felt uncomfortable with how all the different sexual scenes and talk about sex was portrayed. Honestly with a lot of the writing in this book it felt as if an adult tried to sound “hip” and sound like a teenager but failing miserably. A lot of what different characters said and how they acted made me say “what the f” out loud several times. Because no one talks like that, certainly not a teenager. I also think the book was a bit too long, and dragged out. Which leads me to the ending…what was that. Why is everyone so cool and okay with Cole literally killing a guy. Yes, he killed a serial killer but he still killed another human being. How is he not struggling with killing another person, how is everyone else seemingly so okay after witnessing several dead bodies and killings??

Overall I do think the story could have been great, but the writing and story telling was just not it. It made me dislike the book and towards the end I just wanted to be done with the book because I was not having a fun time.

I’ve seen so many mixed reviews on this one so I was a little nervous going in but I loved this! It was a great mix of horror and humor and kept me on the edge of my seat and guessing the entire book! I loved the friendship between Cole & Dearie, I think so many stories focus on solely the romance aspect of love and put friendship on the back burner and this book was very much the opposite of that. Cole & Dearie’s friendship was very much front and center and you could just tell how important they are to each other! I also loved that a huge focus of this story was loneliness and the specific emphasis on queer loneliness and how having other queer people in your life brings a solidarity that gives you a little more closeness with each other! Just thought this was a very solid story and a perfect read for this time of year!

What I liked:
-So many horror references!
-A strong friendship between the two MCs (I’ve been reading quite a bit of books lately with more focus on friendships than romance and I’m loving it)
-The twists. Ok so with this one I was able to guess the big twist pretty early on, BUT I just really enjoyed the way things were revealed.
-The audiobook production. Some chapters are like clips from a tv show and they were fun via audio. Also, I love a book with multiple narrators for multiple POVs.

Not for me:
-Slashers in general are hard for me in book form. They are my favorite types of horror movies but the translation to books just always leaves me wanting more.

I wanted so desperately to like this book. It was on my most anticipated read for 2023. What happened? I think I'm slowly coming to the conclusion that YA just doesn't do it for me anymore. The writing was disjointed. The characters were unlikable and would act in ways that wasn't believable. I wanted to have one connection with one of the main characters. This was a murder mystery, give me a reason to not only want them to survive, but also get satisfaction from finding out who the killer was. I'm sure this book has a target audience that would enjoy it. Unfortunately, it just wasn't me.

#YOURLONELYNIGHTSAREOVER. #NETGALLEY #ADAMSASS

Your lonely nights are over by Adam Sass was my first novel by the author and I wasn't disapaointed by it at all! This was a perfect thriller in my eyes because I read it in the beginning of September and just now doing my review for Penguin Teen! Thank you once again for sending me an e-arc & a finished copy for Your lonely nights are over!
What is this book truly about? Well this follows two main characters both named: Cole & Dearie and we also have a huge cast of queer characters in here and on the pages of the book it tells us what character identify as what. So Cole is Bi and Dearie is gay and Dearie also have two moms so I thought that was pretty cool to see, we need more reperstentaive like that!
As we follow our two main characters we are trying to figure out who and why and what is Mr. Sandman who is the msterious killer in the town killing all of the queer folks, including some of Cole's & Dearie friends that are part of the queer club at their local high school!
This book had so many twist and turns and despite me getting spoiled for a little thing I still didn't saw that twist coming! This was a very fast pace novel because there was short chapters in here and u didn't know what characters to trust or who not to trust. A solid 4/5 stars for this new book by Adam Sass and I'm looking forward to reading more from them!(:

This was my first book by Adam Sass and I can honestly tell you that I am now a big fan of his. I’m looking forward to reading more from him.

This is the story of Frankie Dearie and Cole Cardoso, two best friends who face down a murderer and, in doing so, end up suspects themselves.

“Your Lonely Nights Are Over” is a super fun and entertaining young adult murder mystery. It was a page turner. I was constantly trying to figure out who was the murderer. And while I did eventually guess who was killing everyone, it wasn’t obvious right away. Sass had me following right along with his clues and twists and turns.

Your Lonely Nights Are Over balances terror and Celebration. Fear of this potential serial Killer re-emergence but also grounded in queerness, love, and friendship. In the ways survival and existence is rebellion, how our love and feelings are valid. It's about misconceptions with deadly consequences, abuse, and intrigue.

There's so much to love here like the podcast snippets, the dual POV, and the ways they have to explore their own perceptions and misunderstandings. If you are already in the fall thriller mood and looking for books, this is for you!

I adore Adam Sass as a human and as a writer. I will literally read anything he writes. When I originally applied to be on the Street Team for Your Lonely Nights Are Over, I had planned to be more proactive with promoting it. While life got crazy and I missed some of the 'preorder' period, I'm still here for his books. Throughout our library system, I did make sure we had his books on our shelves. Your Lonely Nights Are Over is a fun campy horror story with friendship at it's heart. Perfect for spooky season. I could easily see it being adapted into a movie and hope it does eventually.