This was an entertaining read for me. I didn’t see some of the stuff coming & I LOVED how practically everything played out.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, & the publisher for allowing me to have early access!!

As a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I really enjoyed Lily Anderson’s Big Bad, so I was excited to trying some original by her and jumped at the chance to read her newest book: Killer House Party. Lets throw a graduation party in an old abandoned haunted mansion…what could go wrong? While not the biggest fan of the main character, the story was good, the locale adequately creepy, and some nice scares. I won’t claim it was as good as her Buffy book, but then that would be totally unfair to do anyway since then she was working with characters that were already developed and had a huge amount of lore around them. The ending wasn’t bad, but it did feel somewhat..blunted maybe? I always enjoy books that give us a view of how characters are moving forward in the aftermath of an adventure. Still it’s solid. 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4) Thanks so much to Macmillan and NetGalley for the ARC.

Killer House Party is a great book for the upcoming spooky season. If you like haunted houses and teen slasher flicks, I’ll think you’ll enjoy this book.

The book focuses on Arden, who has just found out that her parents used her college fund to buy the local haunted house so they can turn it into an investment property. Devastated, because even though she’s the valedictorian and scored some scholarships, it still isn’t enough to pay for her first semester. Arden decides to throw a graduation party at the Deinhart Manor and charge an admission fee. No one has been inside the manor before, so it makes for the perfect setting to draw in paying graduates.

The Deinhart Manor is a local legend. Nobody knows what really happened to the Deinhart family and why the house was boarded up for so long. Arden doesn’t believe in ghosts, but she does believe in making some cash to pay her tuition. With the help of her friends, they set out to throw a party that no one could pass up. It turns out it’s a party that nobody can leave. The house has other plans for Arden and her friends. Arden has to join forces with her recent ex, and put aside their differences so that they can figure out how to get everyone out alive.

This was a fun and slightly spooky read. I like that it shared different character’s versions of what happened to the Deinhart family that helped create the lore. This book also has a body positivity message and features an awesome plus size main character. It also has a great message of believing in yourself and to never lose hope. This should definitely be on your TBR for the spooky season.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I decided to read this, but I wasn’t expecting a haunted house story!!! Definitely YA, but it was creepy good!! 🙌

Thank you to NetGalley, Henry Holt Books, and Lily Anderson for the opportunity to read the eARC in exchange for my honest review! ❤️

Hello spooky season! Perfect time of year for this creepy book. I think this was a good YA horror book. It had lots of gory details that I think the YA audience would love. I liked that the title had a double meaning. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader’s copy.

I thought this was on okay YA Horror. I have to say, I didn’t originally look to see what genre it was, I thought it was a thriller not horror, so color me surprised when the blood and gore showed up. This had a fun paranormal angle, and kept me awake at night. Spooky, suspicious, haunted house, unsuspecting visitors … it was a ride. This author is new to me, but plan on checking out their other books.

What if your parents had purchased the haunted house in town. More importantly, what if they had used all the money they had for you to go to college in the fall. With zero hopes of achieving the dream Arden had for years, she turns to this obscure idea. What if I threw a party in a haunted house and charged people to attend. By the end I might just have enough money to start college in the fall. It is the simple solution to a complicated problem. Or is it. This story is crazy. The house itself is alive in ways that Arden could never have imagined. Readers will be wrapped up in a haunted world where the past and present collide. I think teens will really enjoy this dark story.
Thank you so much to Macmillan Children’s Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read an advance copy of this title.

I absolutely did not vibe with this book at all. The characters were shallow and flat and barely differentiable; the writing was wooden and unexciting. I struggled to get through it.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Lily Anderson for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for Killer House Party coming out October 1, 2024. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I’m obsessed with creepy, abandoned places. I thought it was a great setting. Teens are going to party. I wasn’t expecting some of the things that started happening. I was expecting more of a slasher story with people there. I was surprised it was more supernatural, but I really enjoyed it. There were a couple plot points that seemed a little out of nowhere, but overall, I really liked it. I’d check out more books by this author!

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys supernatural YA books!

OKAY! I am glad this was not the type of story I expected. The cover makes you think it will be a slasher book with gore that was difficult to get through. It was not that at all! It was a perfect paranormal haunting with uncomfortable teenage romance sprinkled in.

We have the spooky Deinhart Manor that has sat empty for years and was recently purchased by a husband and wife real estate duo. Their daughter Arden, is super smart, valedictorian of her class, has a small friend base, and plans to attend medical school post-graduation. She finds out that her parents have used her college fund to purchase the home and decides to host a party at the manor to gain funds to keep on track with her plans.

Numerous stories are floating around the town about what happened to the family that lived there but the actual story was a shocker! This book moves at a nice pace, the characters are believable, and they behave like teenagers and not teenagers in adult situations. The problem-solving, and social insecurities were appropriate for newly graduated high schoolers. I enjoyed this part.

This was an easy read. I will be looking for more books by this author.

Thank you Netgalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group | Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), and Lily Anderson for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was a creepy tale that I really enjoyed. It was everything I would expect of a house party gone wrong. Probably would be a great read for the Halloween season. It had its twists and kept up a good pace during the story. If you like unruly haunted houses then this is the perfect story to check out. 3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc.

I’d like to start off by first saying thank you to Netgalley, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, and of course Lily Anderson for this advance copy of Killer House Party in exchange for my honest review of this book!

Killer House Party was just so, so fun. I am, admittedly, a wee bit out of the target demographic(turns out mid-20s isn’t 18 anymore), but this book was able to really bring me back to who I was at the time. This book deals with a lot of complicated issues that many teenagers are forced to face, particularly the ripples of parental divorce. Lily Anderson’s “about the author” here on Goodreads says that she was a school librarian, and that is something I fully believe. As a child of divorce, I can say no one knew me better during that period of my life than my high-school librarian. Everything about this book bleeds a true understanding and care for teenagers that more adults could stand to show.

The characters in this book are fun and diverse, all with their own wonderful little cliches and tropes perfectly fitting of a horror story. The horror of this book is something I know I wish I experienced more as a teen. It’s exaggerated, fantastical, and downright horrifying in many aspects. One of my favorite books I’ve ever read in my life is a horror book aimed toward children, and a huge part of that is because it never felt like it dumbed down or shied away from the genre for the sake of the child audience, and that’s something that I noticed in this book that I know I greatly appreciate on behalf of younger me.

This book is all around a very fun time. Some campy horror, some internal and social struggles that many teens(and people who used to be teens!) can relate to, and some incredibly interesting storytelling. I enjoyed every moment!

this gave me such monster house vibes. i never knew what was coming next or how it was gonna end. i was on the edge of my seat the entire time! i feel like the characters had just the right amount of personality to lee you drawn in and actually care what happens to them. there’s not really a lot of books that i’ve read where the FMC was larger, so i really liked that aspect about this book! the FMC was such a good character!! i loved her inner monologues, the jokes, i was giggling the whole time even though this is a thriller. i cannot recommend this book enough!

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I've previously read Undead Girl Gang.

Killer House Party starts off very witty and fun. The main character Arden invites the graduating class to a house party at the notorious haunted mansion in town that her parents bought as realtors, only they used her college fund. She's trying to raise money to keep her plans intact. She wants to be a doctor so she can help kids who are overweight, with being comfortable in their size. Admirable.

The house of horrors was little too much for me. Some who enjoy horror will like this book. I enjoyed aspects of the book such as the tone of thr characters sarcasm. It just took a skeptic like Arden to see with her own eyes.

Oct 1, 2924.

I absolutely love the cover. This was a quick and fun, easy read. Not a new concept or idea but still somewhat entertaining. Nothing special about it to remember. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity

I thought this was going to be a slasher, but it's not. It's a YA haunted house book. I really enjoyed this fun unique take on the genre. This book is short and I flew through it. It was a bit jarring, however, how often the author mentioned these kids ethnicities. She REALLY wanted you to know that these kids aren't white 😂 we get it! Don't need to beat us over the head with it! Anyway, this is a great one to pick up for the spooky season.

This book was a wild ride - not at all what I was expecting! Reminiscent of “The Shining” it kept me on the edge of my seat!

DNF @ 42%

I’m usually one of those people that is willing to give someone a second chance (depending on what they did) With authors, I always give them more than one. The more they write, the more they grow, and become stronger at their craft.

That is where Lily comes in. I’ve read one of their previous books and it wasn’t my favorite but I saw the potential. I was willing to give her a second chance. Second times the charm but it’s not here sadly.

I love creepy books that contain hauntings, so I was eager to start this one. The main character annoyed me from the start but I decided to read on a little further. Turns out that Arden grows more unbearable as the story progresses. Arden, girl, what the hell!? That’s not how I wanted my second experience to go and it saddens me. Alas, I had to say goodbye to this haunted manor tale.

What I enjoyed was Arden and her friends deciding to have a graduation house party inside of a haunted manor. It definitely adds a certain creep factor that not other places would. I also loved how supportive Arden’s friends all were. Besides that, those are the only things I enjoyed about this book.

Killer House Party wasn’t the haunted thrill ride that I was expecting. It’s one I would pass on due to there being a ton of ya horror being released this year.

I requested this book with the hopes of being spooked out and having my heart racing, the synopsis sounded amazing and a good horror. The release day is October 1st and I was hoping this would be a good Halloween book for me to promote etc during that month but it fell short for me. I read 38% and had to stop. It’s a DNF for now but maybe I’ll pick it up again closer to Halloween. The horror wasn’t there and once the storyline picked up I just couldn’t believe what I was reading. I won’t spoil it but yeah. I will give it a 3 stars for now since I did read a decent amount and the storytelling was there. The build up was there I just couldn’t read anymore. I will edit if I do pick it up again and finish it. Thank you Netgalley for my copy.

This was good YA horror book. It did feel a little young. But it had the right amount of spooky vibes.