This was a well blended selection of excerpts. I will be reading each piece in full. I have been growing away from young adult novels but this selection was incredibly crafted and left me wanting more and more. This writing was beautiful and I will be looking into each authors backlist. The queer representations in these stories were wonderful and heartwarming.

Do you enjoy horror/thriller books? Do you want to read something different? The four titles included in this sampler is the book to read to find four books that has me wanting to read more than just the sample given. I will be looking forward to reading them. In the sample from the book “ The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan” I found myself enjoying the psychological thriller but ended up at the same time wanting more than is given. There is a mystery that is hidden that at least for me doesn’t stop my wondering of Sloan and Cherry. ““The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall”. Is a fascinating read. There is a ritual at the school where one goes ito the woods to “cheat death.” The students jump the Narrow — it’s a thin ribbon of water flowing that is wider than one leap
Between the banks. If you don’t make a successful leap across the fast running water, you won’t survive or at least that is the legend. Will students survive the leap? Eden barely makes the leap. When she arrives back at school, she is requested to see the dean. She finds that her parents have not paid her tuition and boarding. To solve this problem she is offered a position being a companion to Delphine Fournier. Her mother would pay the full tuition and she would live at the Abigail House with Delphine. Delphine had been Eden’s roommate but became ill. Now Delphine lives in a In very careful climate controlled room. Will Eden do it? In “The Meadows by Stephanie Oakes.” In this dystopian world, everyone hopes for a letter—to attend the Estuary, the Glades, or the Meadows. These are the special places where only the best and brightest go to burn even brighter.
When Eleanor is accepted at the Meadows, it means escape from her hard life by the sea. Despite its facilities, endless fields, and pretty things, the Meadows keeps dark secrets. The purpose of the Meadows is to reform students, to condition them against their attractions, to show them that one way of life is the only way to survive.
Why? What is the reason? In “ Everyone hopes for a letter—to attend the Estuary, the Glades, the Meadows. These are the special places where only the best and brightest go to burn even brighter. Why? What is the Meadows purpose? In “your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass“ the story starts out without BFF going to the Queer Club at school. As Cole and Dearie wait for the members to arrive, they hear shooting in the hallway. The two top queer people of the club are dead. Cole and Dearie had gone to the Queer Club meeting in hopes of clearing up that they didn’t send messages about dying. While the police clear then, others do not. Who is going to die next. Has a serial killer from the past come back from the grave or is ts a copycat? I’m sure that you the reader will find me at a bookstore looking for these four books. I want to know what goes on in the story. I like reading samplers but find myself having more books to read. This sampler will have me looking and getting all four. The authors wrote their stories well. There were no misspelled words. I hope I have intrigued you with reading this sampler and perhaps read at least one of the four books if not all. Adults will enjoy this sampler too..

Penguin Teen Read Proud Sampler: Horror/Thriller Edition contains extracts from The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan, The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall, The Meadows by Stephanie Oakes and Your Lonely Nights are Over by Adam Sass. This sampler was a great way of discovering new authors that you may never have found otherwise and I loved its emphasis on amplifying queer voices.

The Last Girls Standing is a young adult psychological thriller where the sole survivors of a massacre at a summer camp try and uncover the truth of what happened that night but don't realise that their investigation may just get them killed. The premise of this book sounds very exciting however from the extract I found the beginning slightly slow and therefore am not sure whether I would want to continue this book.

The Narrow is a young adult horror novel in which a ghost haunting a stretch of water outside a boarding school known as the Narrow uncovers a teenage girl's best kept secrets. I'm typically not the biggest fan of horror and from the description of this book I wasn't sure if it would be something I would enjoy. However the extract was extremely atmospheric and creepy and I'm curious to see where the story goes.

Your Lonely Nights are Over is a young adult horror in which a serial killer starts targeting a school's Queer Club. From the extract this book seemed similar to a 90s slasher film and it was very fast paced and easy to get into. I enjoyed the writing style and would be interested to read the rest of this book.

Fantastic collection of shorts and stories! I love samplers and anthologies like this, as they give me a chance to find new authors to follow and adore.

This thriller horror Sampler from penguin house has several books that want to read the sample you will be adding to your TBR and although I have read most of them the ones I did not I quickly went bored and add it to my library. The last girl standing is a book I had already read and thoroughly enjoyed the narrow by Stephanie Oaks is one I hadn’t read yet but will be reading soon it’s about seniors for teenage girls and an accident not to mention one is keeping a secret and it looks so very good the next one is the Meadows another book I added to my TBR about the alternate world where some people are oppressed and one of those is a 18-year-old girl who has a plane to get out of it The last one is your lonely nights are over A book I read and thoroughly enjoyed about two best friends that belong to an LGBTQ group or they did rather it when someone goes around killing fellow group members the same way the serial killer the saying man did they get blamed that was also a very good but I love books from penguin house especially their teen horror/thrillers that is why every spring I love to read the sample book put out by publishers and this one did not disappoint it’s a great way to get your TPR books ready for the summer and fall in this one totally lived out to my expectations. If your TBR pile is getting low can I penguin Sampler so when you’re ready to read you have a great books on hand. I want to think penguin house and Net Galley for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review

Glad as always for these samplers and I really enjoyed the theme of this one! Some intriguing stories in here. The Narrows particularly caught my attention and I will definitely be picking up the full version. I was also interested in 'Your Lonely Nights are Over' so I might check that out if I get the chance

I’ve actually read two of these books so far; it’s a great year for queer horror. Last Girl Standing is a great horror/mystery with a sapphic subplot, and The Meadows is an amazing story that brings the queer side to dystopia.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

I loved this sampler because it allowed me to glimpse and see what wonderful books there are out there, which is useful, especially with the fall season beginning and Halloween coming up! You've got retellings, monsters, blood, and more! Everything you need is all rolled into one book. Will definitely be adding all the books in the sampler to my TBR!

I am especially appreciative of the Penguin Teen Read Proud Sampler: Horror / Thriller Edition. Many of my creative writing students love reading and writing horror. It's not my first choice, but I have far too many students reading and writing it to avoid the books completely. These samplers help me stay updated as well as identify books that aren't too gory for my tastes. These make a huge difference for me! Thank you for taking the time to make them--and make them readily available.

The exerpts of the YA horror/thriller novels in this collection were, for lack of a better term, thrilling. Diverse and exciting, all with interesting premises, hooking me and leaving me wanting more. While one of the exerpts left me mildly confused on the world of the story, I was still throroughly entertained and I am intrigued to pick up the full novel to learn more. The standout exerpt has the be the final in the collection. Your Lonely Nights are Over, hooked me from the beginning, and by the end of the exerpt, I was ready to pick up the rest of the novel. A mystery where are two main characters are the main suspects intrigues me in a way few mystery/thrillers do. I cannot wait for the novel to release and to have a chance to puzzle through it myself.

Thank you to the publishers and Netgalley for an eARC of this sampler to read and review!

My top book genres are usually thrillers and horror. Now add in queer characters, and there is no question that I will love the book!
I enjoyed all four Penguin Teen Read Proud Sampler stories: Horror / Thriller Edition. Below are my thoughts about three of the four titles.
All four books will be added to my TBR!

Your Lonely Nights are Over by Adam Sass. This blurb brought me into the story very quickly. I want to know if the killer is a copycat or is the original.
The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall. This book reminds me of PLL. Girl group and crazy drama and maybe murder?? Just up my alley! I am excited to read the rest of this book this fall, it will be a great spooky read!
The Last Girl’s Standing by Jennifer Dugan. This was my favorite cover of the four in the sampler. I also love the storyline. After reading the blurb, I need to know if the two girls are fated to be together or if one is hiding something…

I don't really know if I really have something to say, or even give a rating. I mean, I really liked reading all those excerpts from all those different books, and I want to read most of them, because, damn, they were good to be honest. So this "book" just made my wishlist bigger than it was a few pages before. And this is the same for all the samplers.
Because we love seeing queer stories thrive, especially horror stories. So thank you Penguin Teen and NetGalley!

I received this sampler in exchange for an honest review.

This is a strong, enticing quartet of samplers. Just enough to assure me I'd be hooked on each of the novels before leaving me high and dry. I will be adding all of these to my TBR. I can't wait to read them in their entirety!

Picking up the Sampler books published by Penguin or Penguin Teen is a quick way to introduce me to a handful of books in a specific genre or of a specific description. It's far more useful than having to sort and source 4-5 different books out of dozens and dozens for myself, which are roughly of the same genre or theme, and THEN read a couple chapters of each once I get past the backs of these books which are often covered in reviews instead of in a summary... And THAT assumes being able to access the books I think I might be interested in, instead of seeing if they're available or on hold at my library. That's a tall order for me. OR make it easy and enjoyable to read through Sampler books like this one.

It doesn't help that I'm one of those people who plows through a whole book or can't get through two chapters. I stay engaged through 4 seasons of a show or I drop off in three episodes.

The first story is one I hadn't seen yet. "The Last Girls Standing" by Jennifer Dugan looks like a dramatic book of the pull between family and romantic partner, enmeshment, trauma, inability and refusal to replay a situation and not being ready to do so... but the sample was over too soon. I'm awaiting the whole book.

The second story featured "The Narrow," which I'd seen a lot of booktok or youtubers talking about. "The Narrow" had also been featured on a GR newsletter. I had already marked it "to read" but now I don't know. There's nothing wrong with the story so far at all! I was initially interested because it's a ghostly horror tale about high end schools and conflict with the living. The first few chapters were engaging with character building, settings, and already filled in some dynamics to be explored. But I ended up giving up on it, maybe because one part of me could ABSOLUTELY see the characters as real people... but I could also see them as the real people I avoided because they were idiots who would jeopardize themselves and others to Have Fun. Even when I was a kid/teen, I wasn't a very kid-like kid.

I absolutely couldn't read past the first few pages of "The Meadows." It's described as being part "Handmaid's Tale" and part "Never Let Me Go," and it is. I just had a history of religious abuse (much more common in America than most people know, even ones who were IN those environments.) I Cannot with stories like that, especially in a state where evangelicals are very actively removing safety and civil rights for people like me. Where people like me never even HAD some of those rights or protections at all, except in name. There is nothing wrong that I saw in the writing for that few pages. "The Handmaid's Tale" isn't exactly an unpopular book to be compared to, either. I'm sure this is the story for *someone,* just not me.

"Your Lonely Nights are Over" was an interesting bit of fun. Somehow it reminds me of the Fear Street books, but if they were 'modern true crime' and not 'true crimes of Salem witch hunt days.' The couple of chapters were over in what felt like minutes. It's another book that wasn't even on my radar but now I will have to put it on a To Read list.

A strong collection of book samples. I've added all of these to my TBR and can't wait to read the full releases in the future.

This sampler was great! Always looking for new thriller and horror books for my young readers, this has given me plenty of great reccomendations.

So in this edition there are four samples from four books with LGBT+ stories.

The Last Girls Standing by Jennifer Dugan

I was already very interested in this book before reading a sample. It includes the last girl standing trope, which is one of my favourites.

The Narrow by Kate Alice Marshall

I'm not sure about this one. I think I need more than just two chapters to know if I'd like it. It sounds good and the writing is interesting, but it didn't hook me right away.

The Meadows by Stephanie Oakes

It's introduced as The Handmaid’s Tale updated for young adults. I found that very interesting and I've added it to my Wishlist. I also think there might be some Hunger Games vibes maybe... It was interesting and I want more.

Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass

Love a good murder mystery. I've also added this to my Wishlist. It's a mystery that takes place at a school at a LGBT+ club. After the couple chapters we were given, I wanted more. Can't wait to read the rest of it.

An interesting glimpse into some exciting upcoming releases. All 4 featured titles sound amazing and I can't wait to read them!

The idea of being able to read snippets of upcoming books has blown me away. Seeing the covers themselves in this format is as beautiful as it is to have access to a TBR catalog. I have most definitely marked a lot of books on here as books I want to read, and a lot of them I had never heard of before today, so this source of taste-testing is perfect and should continue, I think.

I do suggest however, that like the contemporary version, that penguin house makes sure to sensitivity read MULTIPLE times before this as I had issues with the other one.

Fortunately for I, I have an ARC of Adam Sass's book and I'm already obsessed.

A nice sampler of first chapters from upcoming queer YA thrillers/horror novels. I added most of them to my TBR!