Overall a very creepy, atmospheric read. So, so, so slow though. Better editing would have made this one a lot better.

This book is told in three timelines. The first is when Charlie was eleven years old and her family comes to the seaside town of Hithechurch, England for a holiday in a caravan. There she meets another young girl, Emily. Charlie has a very active imagination, taking stories and embellishing them. She takes a story of a local girl who escaped pirates by dressing as a scarecrow, now a local legend called Stitch-Faced Sue, and creates an elaborate game for the two of them to give offerings to Stitch-Faced Sue in order to have wishes granted. This eventually goes horribly wrong.

The second timeline is the present day, when Charlie has returned to the caravan as an adult, ostensibly to research for a book on local folklore, but she gets caught up in a series of missing girls in the area. Later, the real reason for her visit is revealed.

The third timeline is a bit more mysterious, starting in the 1950s, about a young man and his life. Eventually, the three timelines converge to make a cohesive story, but it takes an extremely long time to get there. Readers may lose patience. If I didn't have such a stubborn streak I would have given up long before the story started to make sense.

Overall, I think there is too much time spent in the past and the initial part of the present day, and not enough time revealing what went on between those two timelines. It's hinted at, but never fully revealed until almost past the time when anyone would care. The overall way that things play out is actually pretty interesting and surprising, but you want readers to care enough to get there and I don't think very many will have that kind of stamina with the plodding pace.

Fortunately, I was able to get an audiobook copy so that I could get through it while I was doing other things. The narrator is decent, but speaks quite slowly and deliberately, so once I increased the playback speed I was able to enjoy the audiobook more.

Intriguing premise, but the execution is lacking.

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

A chilling mix of several interconnected gruesome stories. Imaginative Charlie loves a good scary story and can't help embellishing them either. When she finally finds an attentive audience in her new friend Emily, one of those stories goes way too far and costs another girl her life. Decades later, Emily is trying to blame everything on Charlie, who is determined to find the proof that would show it was Emily. She returns to the seaside town where it happened and unravels not only what happened in her childhood, but something even more disturbing that has been going on under everyone's noses when she tries to help find the newest missing teen. This is great read that will have you hooked from the beginning!

I'm so thankful to have received an audiobook copy of Games for Dead Girls by Jen Williams from Crooked Lane Books, NetGalley, and Dreamscape Media. I was totally captivated by the plot and the twist in the end which kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was listening. Games for Dean Girls is set to hit shelves on April 18, 2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I LOVED this audiobook. Once I started it I could not stop listening.
The slow but continuous burn had me unable to stop listening.
I loved the folklore mixed in with real murders and missing persons.
The three timelines/storylines fit in together perfectly and they were easy to separate from each other (listed with the year at the beginning of each one).
Charlie was a likable character throughout. A bit of a surprise with the whole Katie aspect though!
Narrator did a great job. Amazing audiobook.

I was always fascinated by urban legends and folklore so this was perfect for me. It took me a bit to get into it with the various timelines because there is a lot going on in this book but once I realized how they converged I was interested. The childhood timeline felt so authentic. I could remember playing in the woods and making up games when I was younger. There was a big twist that looking back I should have saw coming but it completely blindsided me - I love having that experience while reading. This reminded me of What Lies in the Woods so if you liked that one definitely check this out.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Jen Williams for providing me with a complimentary digital audiobook ARC for Games for Dead Girls coming out April 18, 2023. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

When Charlie was only eleven, she accidentally created a monster…

For Charlie and her niece Katie, it’s supposed to be a peaceful holiday in the idyllic seaside town of Hithechurch, England. Charlie is researching a book on the folklore of the area, and the gloomy waters and dangerous caves seem to offer up plenty of material. Meanwhile Katie is just there to run free and get some fresh air outdoors.

But Charlie’s research soon reveals a darker secret, one that uncovers her own, painstakingly hidden past. Because young women are going missing again: a teenage girl snatched from the beach in broad daylight, and before that, other girls through the decades have vanished from the area, their families left with no answers and no bodies to bury.

Charlie’s creation was a thing made of her imagination, of felt, straw, fury, and a rusty pair of scissors. This couldn’t be her monster come to life, could it? Charlie is determined to discover the truth about the girls’ disappearances, but she’s about to meet a force of pure, obsessive malevolence that threatens to destroy her.

This is my first book by this author and I’m not familiar with her work. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the narrator was awesome! I really enjoyed the story. There were some things near the end of the book that confused me a little bit. I think the timeline was a little hard to follow when listening to it. At times it seemed like it was trying to be a true crime and ghost story while juggling the story in the past. I think it could’ve been a little clearer at the end.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys thriller suspense stories!

Set in the seaside town of Hithechurch, England, the past and present both collide through our main character Charlie. The past where both Charlie and her best friend Emily fall prey to local superstition, trying to teach Emily's abusive father a lesson by summoning a ghost. During this time, they rope in another young lady - who tragically dies. Both Charlie and Emily are caught trying to dispose of the body and carted off to institutions. In the present, Charlie has returned under the guise of writing a book on the local legends of the area, only to find out that Emily is also writing a book, but one that places all the blame from their childhood squarely on Charlie. It's up to Charlie now to research the other deaths that could be related and clear the air - all before Emily's story becomes a best seller.

Williams has created a book that is the perfect combination of mystery, suspense, and psychological thriller all while doing an excellent job of creating a world that is both eerie and captivating. The characters are all well-developed, and I found myself becoming emotionally invested in their struggles.

One of the best things about this book was the writing style. Williams has a very unique voice, and her prose is both poetic and haunting. She has a way of describing images and emotions that really drew me in and made me feel like I was right there in the story with the characters.

The pacing of this one was slow to begin with, but once it gained it's pace, it didn't slow down until the end. I highly recommend Games for Dead Girls to anyone who loves a good mystery and is looking for something that is both suspenseful and thought-provoking. Fans of Jennifer Hillier, Darcy Coates and T. Kingfisher should add this one to their TBR pile!

I actually quite enjoyed Games for Dead Girls by Jen Williams. It's the first book from this author that I read but it really interested me enough to read more of her works. I feel like this is quite a unique story that follows 3 different timelines. It is a bit of a slow burn in the beginning and I was not sure if I'd like it at first but it really drew me in once I've figured out what was going on. It's different in a good way. This author is fantastic storyteller with rich and poetic style. It is a thriller and a coming-of-age story. I honestly really enjoyed it. I was a bit confused with Katie, the main character's niece. There is a lot going on in this book that is only about 12 hours long. It's also creepy.

Charlotte and Emily meet as two young girls. They get wrapped up in their imaginations and end up performing some rituals where they are trying to call upon the spirit of a local urban legend, Stitch Face Sue. Things go horribly wrong, and their lives are impacted forever. Fast forward to them as adults, and their past is being dug up after more girls go missing from the same area. Emily returns to her old town, determined to prove she wasn’t as guilty as everyone thought.

This was definitely a slow burn so go in knowing that. Stitch Face Sue provided lots of creepy imagery. I mainly listened to this one on audio and I did find the flipping timelines confusing at times. There were lots of little revelations that kept me listening as the girls’ dark past kept unfolding. The grand reveal was just as twisted as I had hoped!

Whoa. Okay.

So this was quite the thriller!

It has three timelines and sometimes they dragged a bit and took a long time to unravel because there was a lot going on but it was very enjoyable.

Creepy, eerie, and at times kinda gross.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for an advanced listening copy.

Hauntingly catchy, a book I liked more than I thought I would. The cover reminded me of Riley Sagar reads. Also I felt that the prose were somewhat similar to Grady Hendrix as was the story. Listened to this along with a book club fri3nd also approved and it was a great one to listen to together, it would be great for a larger book club read.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4!
I really enjoyed this twisty, psychological story with multiple timelines and narratives. It was a creepy story all around and there was one twist that left me with my jaw on the floor.
The narration on audio was a little off for me - it was super slow, but then when I sped it up to 1.5x speed it started to sound like Siri was reading aloud to me. With one narrator it also made it harder to keep track of timelines and POV's, so I had a period of confusion in the beginning - I believe more so than intended with a thriller.
I thought this storyline was also really unique - especially the 1961 timeline and how it wove into the others. At times it did feel drawn out, but that wasn't necessarily a negative to me.

I really enjoyed Games for Dead Girls, a spooky thriller audiobook by Jen Williams.

Charlie is visiting Hithechurch, England with her niece Katie.  It’s a town where
Charlie’s own family visited when she was a kid, and it’s seen mysterious disappearances of teen and preteen girls over decades.

Charlie herself has secrets from the past that intertwine with local folklore about a figure (monster? ghost? killer?) who haunts the shore and seaside caves.

This one is a creepy slow burn.  It goes back and forth between different eras, revealing secret about Charlie’s past, the missing girls, and the history of the town.

I loved the atmosphere and overall creepiness of this book, and the way it explores the darkness in little girls. Charlie is a flawed character and I completely rooted for her redemption.

There was a bit about Charlie’s niece Katie that I’m not sure worked for me, and the narrator’s voice didn’t feel rough enough for the character (I think I’d have preferred reading this book to listening), but overall I really enjoyed this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for my review copy of this audiobook.

When I saw the book cover I knew I had to try this book. The genre was something I always enjoy, however this one fell flat for me. It had differernt timelines that I found hard to follow and understand.

Title: Games for Dead Girls
Author: Jen Williams
Narrator: Mhairi Morrison
Pub Date: April 17, 2023
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📚Synopsis:
✨In 1988 Charlie becomes friends with Emily and Katie who are enjoying the summer with their families in Hithechurch, England. Young Charlie enjoys a good ghost story, tall tale, and urban legend. She equally enjoys spinning tales of her own. Trying to impress her friends, Charlie finds out what happens when her wild tales seem too real to her friends who struggle to know the difference between fact and fantasy. What was supposed to be a spooky game based on one of Charlie’s stories has become a dark and sinister disaster when someone ends up dead.

✨In present day, Charlie returns to that long ago summer town of her youth under the guise of a writer collecting stories, lores, legends and myths from locals for a book she’s supposedly working on. Some of the locals are hesitant to speak to her on the heels of a teenager who disappeared in broad daylight six months ago from their beach. Too many reporters and noisy people have descended seaside village leaving many with a bad taste in their mouths. As Charlie begins to get warnings to stay away she can’t help but think there must be a link between what happened all those summers ago and the girl who disappeared six months ago. The deeper she looks, the more she uncovers and finds many girls have been taken over the years. She will once again find that those around her are not always able to tell the difference between fact and fantasy and once again, people will die because of that.

📚Thoughts/Feedback:
✨I really enjoyed how the author flashed back and forth between 1988 and present day to lay the story out. It kept me engaged and intrigued as more and more clues were left. The narrator did an excellent job and that too is important in keeping me engaged when I’m listening to an audiobook. I would recommend this story to anyone who likes a tinge of the paranormal mixed in with their thriller. I would also recommend this for readers who are in it for the long haul and can enjoy the steady burn leading up to the big surprising pay out at the end. This is my first book from Jen Williams but I’ve already excitedly added others to my ever-growing TBR list!

✨Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape for the opportunity to listen to the book ahead of its release in exchange for an honest review.

Book was ok. Had a hard time getting into it so I got the audiobook version which definitely helped to catch my interest more. The plot and characters were decent. Still would recommend because I love Jen Williams.

Exactly what I wanted to read. I am so grateful to have listened to this audio arc. Thank you so much for it. I will be looking for other books by this author. thank you

I found listening to this audiobook solely was difficult as there were 3 different storylines but no differentiation in the narration, so I’d be a couple minutes into the next chapter but unsure of which timeline I was in.
The overall book is interesting, though. I love a seaside town with secrets and I love differing timelines. There’s a bit of horror and some interesting twists. Maybe a bit too far-fetched for me, though.
Overall, it’s probably a better read than listen (or maybe read WHILE listening).
The entire folklore story of stitch-faced Sue was super interesting and the whole vibes of the beach and the caves and the caravan and the fanfare were really intriguing and atmospheric.

I really didn’t find myself getting into this one. It felt boring with to many details and took quite a while to get into (1-2 hours).

A horror/thriller mashup with three separate storylines and occasionally painfully slow pace. The last 1/3 felt especially glacial. It was compelling, and I didn't want to give up on it, but I was very much ready for it to be over.