This was a surprisingly dark story of transphobia, homophobia and child abuse, but it's also really hopeful, and has constant moments of light to get through the dark ones. It's made clear at the start of the story that Jaq, Mallory and Fern are Queer - but five after only two of them emerge from the forest, they seem to be living straight, cis lives, leaving the reader to puzzle out what happened.

The vibe often reminded me of Grease, the relationships and dated ideas mimicking the musical Fern is particpating in, in the story. The horror elements are frequent, and I liked how well balanced the story overall was, I really grew to love the characters and I was devastated by some of the events in the ending. There was one moment I felt was a little too tied up neatly that lost a star, but overall I loved this.

This book was amazing, and the horror elements were done quite well and created a strong sense of suspense. At times the book felt too real, as the elements of conversion therapy, and hiding being queer. It reminded me of my teen years when I was still figuring out myself. The book was masterful.

2024 had a lot of great Queer horror books, COME OUT, COME OUT included. This story had a lot of real moments, a lot of dark moments, but somehow it also highlighted a lot of hope and positivity if you looked for it. Interesting and good read!

This book was just not for me and I'll be DNFing it - it doesn't really have anything to do with the author. I was approved for this request and I'm not a horror reader, so the characters and plot didn't really work for me. Thanks anyway for the ARC.

I loved this book! It perfectly captures the eerie vibe of towns that aren’t quite right. Jaq and Fern, former best friends, are drawn back together after Mallory’s disappearance and a haunted house in the woods stirs up old memories. A fantastic queer YA horror!

Before I start, I do want to warn readers: This book contains some major religious trauma, specifically related to queerness and conversion therapy. It's an emotionally taxing book, so be sure to check the triggers and take care of your health.

With that said, this is an important book. It's terrifying because it's so real. The setting and the atmosphere and the paranormal elements certainly added to the horror elements, but what really made it horrifying was the elements of reality. The religious trauma, the conversion therapy, it all made it deeply unsettling and deeply emotional.

I gave this a 3.5 rounded up. I thought the representation of the lgbtqia community was beautifully done.

3.5 but rounded down. i loved the characters and the writing was lovely. i also loved the representation of lgbt kids and struggling with homophobia not just at home but in the town you live in and how to navigate that. i just felt the overall message of the book was getting pounded into me way too much way too often when it was very obvious from the beginning.

This was a horror but didn’t feel horrorish. Atleast not boo scary but more so social horror. When the memories from the girls started to come back it lured me and i couldn’t wait to find out what Happened.

I loved this book. One of my favorite tropes is about towns that aren’t quite right and this did not disappoint. Jaq and Fern were once best friends, along with a girl named Mallory. Mallory disappeared a few years back and Jaq and Fern are basically strangers, but they can’t seem to recall what happened to cause their falling out. Add in a haunted house in the woods and a spirit that may or may not be their old friend, and you get an excellent queer YA horror.

Begging Freeform/The CW for an adaptation because I think this would translate so well!

This book was really good and interesting. I was hooked the entire way through. I rated this one a 4 stars. I would recommend reading this one.

5/5⭐️ I didn’t know what I was expecting from listening to this book! I felt like we were going down a rabbit hole that we couldn’t get out of! Lo and behold we get a story about teenagers dealing with parents not able to process their gender identity and sexuality by making them do conversion therapy! Like it was a lot! But this is real life! And it’s not always talked about! I love the way the author written this in a mystery/thriller style and that reveal towards the end was chefs kiss! So good!

Fantastic book with lovable characters that you just want to protect. I loved it so much. Three teens go into a house, two come out not knowing what actually happened and it kicks off from there. This book is some of the best kind of horror.

I want to wrap these characters in hugs as they go through their baby gar journeys. Thank you for sharing them with us.

This is a poignant queer YA horror novel about a group of teenage friends who discover a haunted house in the woods. Initially, they see it as a safe haven, but soon realize it is a perilous trap meant to change them. The book tackles serious issues such as homophobia, transphobia, toxic family dynamics, and hate speech, which may be difficult for some readers, but it also mirrors real-life challenges.

The story itself was engaging, and I appreciated the representation of queer experiences. It effectively delves into the emotional struggles faced by LGBTQ+ individuals, which I found compelling. However, I initially chose this book because it was labeled as horror, and I felt disappointed by that aspect. The horror seemed secondary, so I’m giving it a rating of 3.5 stars.

*Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for the ARC.*

Thank you so much to Penguin Teen and Netgalley for approving me for this book. I'm not going to lie, but I didn't know what I was getting myself into with this book, and I was shocked by this whole thing, and I ended up loving it way more than I did.

The book starts off following Fern and Jaq, five years after their best friend Mallory went missing one night after the three of them hide in an old abandoned house seeking refuge, needing safety. Fern and Jaq have never remembered what happened that night nor do they remember the secrets that they keep from before that one fateful night. Fern and Jaq seem like normal, happy, cisgender teenagers, but all of a sudden Fern and Jaq start seeing a spirit who looks exactly like Mallory, seeking revenge for her death. As they are being haunted, memories start flooding back and something begins to shift inside of them. They will stop at nothing to figure out what happened to Mallory and figure out why all of a sudden they are starting to feel like their true selves again.

This was another book that was so important to read around election time. It's a story that tries to erase gay, queer, and trans voices and wants to stop them all together. It is categorized as a horror novel, but it's not exactly horror in the sense you think of, more like a horror of the issues of the real world. I don't really want to say much about this book because you need to read it yourself to experience it fully. Overall, I did really enjoy this book. I loved the found family aspect of the book, along with finding your true self and finding your own voice. I definitely am not the right audience for this book, but I highly enjoy it, and will definitely be recommending it to so many people.

Queer horror is quickly becoming one of my new favorites in YA, but for whatever reason, I never quite clicked with this book. I’m not the biggest fan of strong religious themes, and had I read the description more carefully, I might have realized I wasn’t the best audience for it. I really struggle with religion as a form of oppression, and quite apart from any supernatural threats, the main characters’ home lives are horrorshow enough, to the point it’s actually painful at times to watch their parents force them into the personalities they find pleasing. Their very real circumstances are far more frightening than the monster in the woods.

That being said, I did find the supernatural aspect a bit lacking, particularly at the end when it’s all finally revealed. I think it’s partly that my investment had simply checked out at that point, but the villain/confrontation is a bit lackluster. On the other hand, I very much enjoyed the gender-swapped Grease that Fern is putting on at their high school. 10/10 would go see that, where can I get tickets? Although this wasn’t the right book for me, there are plenty of teenagers and young adults who face this kind of oppression and homophobia every day. I hope it finds its way into the hands of its right readers and gives them hope. I received a free e-ARC through NetGalley from the publishers at Penguin.

I review regularly at brightbeautifulthings.tumblr.com.

The premise of this one was quite interesting, and I enjoyed the way that the author incorporated the past and present timelines. The reveal of information between the timelines was balanced well and helped to maintain interest throughout the read. The use of the folklore and rhyme was also incorporated quite well and added some spookiness of the read. That being said, the horror aspect was kind of underwhelming (the only true horror came from how awful the adults acted in the book) and I don’t think the supernatural element was handled quite as well as it could have been.

Themes of this story focus on repressing your true self to keep others happy, struggling with sexual identity, acceptance of yourself and family, and more. These themes were handled well, and I enjoyed how they affected different characters in different and similar ways.

While I wouldn’t classify this as a work of horror, I do still recommend this if you enjoy YA stories that focus on queerness, identity, and friendship. My thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this book.

Told in dual timelines with 3 POVs, this is the story of two young women who are coming to terms with their identity.

I loved a lot of the ideas in this book. I found it dark and a little creepy, but also repetitive. The story is in the present with Jaq and Fern, as well as in the past, when Jaq, Fern, and Mallory are 13. What really disrupted my reading of this book was that age jump. The past chapters do not read like young girls. I have a daughter that is about to turn 13, and she's nowhere near that grown. Those chapters read like an older teen, so there's really no distinction in tone between 13 year old characters and the 18 year old characters they are now. It was quite distracting.

The characters in this novel felt so real, from the main characters and their struggles with their identities to their parents reacting to their children coming out. The horror aspects were creepy without seeming over-the-top, and the villain was revealed at the perfect moment. The only issue with it is that the ending seemed pretty abrupt.