Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A black teen facing jail time is given a deal and ordered to instead spend a summer at Camp Lanier.

YA Horror is very hit or miss for me, and I honestly didn't realize this was YA when I picked it up. That being said, this reads more on the juvenile side. The main character talks to the reader frequently, and while I can't say that it "didn't work," I just had a hard time with the voice. The side character Victoria was a standout and probably my favorite.

The themes are very heavy-handed, and I'd prefer if they were more nuanced. Again, because it's YA, I'm going to give it a pass.

I enjoyed the horror elements incorporated at the end, even if the execution and writing felt a little amateur.

Overall, I did have a good time, and I think a younger audience or someone who reads more YA and middle grade horror than I do will love this.

When Taylor is accused of committing a crime and sentenced, she is offered a get out of jail card: work a summer at Camp Lanier instead. The offer seems too good to be true, and maybe it is…the idyllic lake holds more than a few secrets, and some secrets are dying to be told.

Camp Lanier is a fast-paced horror that merges slasher and paranormal horror in a great combination that works surprisingly well. Through the entire story there is a constant but gentle reminder that systemic racism in society and Black History in America is more terrifying than a lot of horror books can even dare to imagine. The history behind the story will break your heart and set your pulse racing in equal measure, and every character is well developed. Barzey clearly has a love of the horror genre, and I really enjoyed the Easter eggs that were peppered in to the story (shout out to Gale Prescott).

The book contains minimal gore in favour of building suspense in the story and I think that worked well. My only criticism was that I found the ending a little rushed, I wanted more scenes with the lake and seeing what was there! But overall this was a great read and I loved the history behind the influences of the story at the end to add lots of context

What a ride this book was! Was not expecting the twist and turns that occurred. It sucked me in from the beginning with the gripping story of the FMC and the history behind it. My favorite thing about this book is the history the author gives you after the book is over about Camp Lanier and Oscarville

I downloaded a review copy of this from Netgalley on the basis of its interesting plot, which is a fictionalized version of a real place and events (look up the history of Lake Lanier). This is YA, and a bit on the younger side of YA, so comparing it to something like Tananarive Due's brilliant "The Reformatory" is not really fair, but it immediately read to me like a more simplified/slasher fic version of that book. That's not to say I didn't enjoy this one. While you might not get all the depth and nuance here that's in the Reformatory, let's face it, sometimes you want the full, five-course gourmet meal and sometimes you just want some easy fast food. I read this through in two days, the plot is somewhat predictable if you're at all familiar with horror conventions, but plays with it just enough to keep you wanting to turn the page. The most interesting parts to me were learning the history of lake and the town, and at heart this is a good old fashioned ghost/revenge story, with a bit of camp slasher thrown in and a satisfying, if mostly unsurprising, ending.

What a great story this was. Firstly, I have to talk about Taylor. She was a straightforward main character with whom to connect. You wanted her to succeed in everything and felt for her when she was knocked back down. I physically yelled at my phone when I read about how her so-called friends did her dirty and got her sent to this bogus camp. This started as a creepy ghost story. The image is indeed under my skin. Then, it took a hard turn into a slasher novel towards the end. I loved how the novel blurred horror genres and showed a little bit each. This was a great ghost story with some fantastic slasher elements.

Thank you NetGalley, Sterling & Stone, and Sylvester Barzey for the early access copy of Camp Lanier.

Camp Lanier follows the story of Taylor Johnson, an on-the-rise basketball star in high school, who finds herself in legal trouble after trying to fit in with her wealthy, white "friends" from her new school. After a failed attempt to shoplift, her friends throw the blame on Taylor, which leaves her with the choice to go to jail or work Camp Lanier to serve her time with community service. Seems like an easy choice. That is until Taylor realizes that Camp Lanier is no ordinary camp.

Urban legends say the camp was built on a Black town that experienced atrocities. When Taylor begins to see and hear things that no one else can, she is left to try to figure out what is happening before she becomes another “runaway.”

Stay away from the lake.

Camp Lanier is a descriptive and gripping YA horror novel.

I wanted to like this but just couldn't. So many parts of this book are disjointed and don't make sense. I understand sending the kids to a work camp and Lake Lanier are both true stories but they didn't blend well in this story. Taylor's accent comes and goes and I just could NOT like her.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC! 

Camp Lanier follows, Taylor, a young black girl who attends a mostly white private school. When her friends get her to steal from a store in the mall, she ends up in more trouble than she thought possible. 
She is sent to a program at Lake Lanier instead of jail, but Camp Lanier has hauntingly dark secrets lurking in its waters. 
Taylor is haunted by the lake’s history and must solve the mystery of years of missing people at the Camp. 

I’ve always been saddened and intrigued with Lake Lanier. I’ve lived in Georgia all my life and our history is full of tragedies like Oscarville. While this story is lightly based on the history of the lake and Forsyth County, GA, this story gives hope for the victims of our history to find peace. I’ve always steered clear of Lake Lanier and will never step foot near that lake. Seriously, stay out of Lake Lanier.

This supernatural YA horror story reads closer to middle grade, in style if not content, with the protagonist constantly addressing the reader directly, and it felt both forced and unimaginative, though maybe a younger audience would find it more inviting. I can get over the style, because even if it didn’t vibe with me it was a clear, artistic decision. But everything just felt so expected. The characters were exactly who you would expect them to be, stereotypes/archetypes to a tee. Even their family histories and traumas felt like boxes being checked without much creativity. There wasn’t anything particularly original or unexpected in the plot, and when the ending is revealed it is exactly what you expect it to be from the start.

I appreciate a story that is focusing the Black experience, and using horror to reflect on institutional and generational horrors that many marginalized people are born into, only to have to face additional horrors on top of that bloody inheritance. But everything in this story felt really ham-fisted; there wasn’t any subtlety or nuance to the story at all. The underlying message, or the fire energizing this story, doesn’t need to be subtle—racism in contemporary America isn’t subtle. But the story itself could have used nuance, it could have explored characters that weren’t so stereotypical and predictable, be they heroic or villainous.

This story might work well for young readers, and I am inclined to give it an extra star to compensate for just how much this is not written for my particular aesthetic or enjoyment—I knew from the first chapter alone it wasn’t writing hat appealed to me. But I have read other horror stories for young readers and enjoyed them, as it is possible to write YA stories that have depth and complications, that build up characters that feel genuine, and that are willing to challenge and push their readers instead of serving them the simplest and most expected version of a thing.

This isn’t a bad book, and the central conceit is engaging and has a lot of potential. It just felt clumsy and expected, not really making the most of its premise.

(Rounded up from 2.5)

I want to thank the author, the publisher Sterling & Stone, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This girl lets herself be influenced by her so-called friends to rob a store... 1. What kind of values ​​does she have that she couldn't deny? 2. Is her need so much that she prefers to be friends with the worst people at school? 3. Why does she complain about when her parents punish her for being a thief? She was expecting a prize, perhaps?
I think she is old enough to help with household expenses, but apparently she only serves to cause more expenses...
14% and the protagonist becomes more unfriendly as the book progresses. Until now the complaints and lamentations do not stop. She even seems plaintive!
Cariño, no sólo eres tonta también eres estúpida y además una malcriada llorona e inútil. Honey, you're dumb and stupid, but also a whiny, useless brat.
Sorry, life is too short to waste it reading about a person who isn't worth the air they breathe.

What an amazing read! I loved it immensely and found it so engaging. I highly recommend it! Don’t miss out!

Thank god this was short and I was able to finish in a day 😵‍💫 This book read like a poorly written YA novel. Truly, it was like a horror story and old student of mine (4th grader mind you) could have written. Everything felt so rushed and cliche.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this book

I enjoyed this story for the most part, but I was hoping for more slasher horror. I didn't realize that it was classified as YA. That was my mistake. This book took a while to get to the "scary" parts. I would consider it more of a supernatural read with the real horrors being the racism and injustices that the Black characters had to endure. And, to find out that the town and lake are real and the Oscarville story is based off of true historical events. Just more entitled white folks stealing shit that doesn't belong to them and killing Black people because they don't want them in their community. Assholes!! I loved our FMC, Taylor. Her lingo and sarcasm made this book fun. I know that this was an ARC, but I hope that the writing errors are fixed during editing. It made it hard to read at times. I would definitely recommend it for supernatural lovers.   

Thank you to the author, Sterling & Stone, and NetGalley for granting me digital access in exchange for my honest review!

In all honesty I thought the book was hard to read at times due to me not liking half of the characters due to the outright racism. I was mad almost the whole book. I did enjoy that there was some Black Phone elements with the dead children helping her out towards the end.

I had a hint of what this one was about just from the title .. I’m a big fan of the spooky, so I’m fairly familiar with the haunted history of Lake Lanier. This book definitely hit on some of those notes and more.

I can’t lie, I lost the plot a little bit towards the end. There was definitely a lot going on all at once. A little rushed and a lot of jumping around. All being said though, it was a perfectly enjoyable summer camp supernatural slasher.

This was super interesting. I liked the storyline and general pacing. I was kept interested the whole time and just couldn't stop turning pages

Thank you NetGalley & Sterling & Stone for a copy of Camp Lanier. Chilling horror story based on Lake Lanier. I knew who the culprits were but still enjoyed the book! Definitely recommend..

I'm definitely in the minority here ... but this was more "camp" than "camp" for me, if you catch my drift. I was hoping for "Get Out" meets summer camp but the execution left much to be desired. Things happen at a swift pace, and the side character Victoria was entertaining, but that's it. This is not realistic in any way. This reads like the author's never been to summer camp. The horror elements are banal and the lead character Taylor's reactions make zero sense. There was something uncomfortably stereotypical about the writing ... the voice was definitely off ... but it was more than that. For example: '"Come play with us, Taylor!" they said in chorus, then everything went black. Because I fainted, but like a gangsta.' This kind of dribble. I wanted to love the full-frontal condemnation of racism but it was not deftly done and the baddies are about as basic as starched linen. The concept was great, but only in theory. A shame.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

All opinions are my own.

Camp Lanier is a YA horror based on the urban legend of Lake Lanier.

Our protagonist, Taylor is a young Black girl attending an almost all white academy whose only downfall is befriending three white girls who couldn’t care less about her. She is sent to Camp Lanier after her so called friends set her up to take the fall for shoplifting.

This has all the feels of the campy horror movies we all love. It was fast paced and interesting. I enjoyed how it tackled racism and classism.

"I know black history. It's not my fault it reads like a horror novel."

"Out of everybody, why me?"
"Because you've been dying to scream, and I hoped if I pushed you long enough, you'd scream for us too."



Camp Lanier is a YA horror based on the urban legend of Lake Lanier. It focuses heavily on racism and the horrible acts and treatment we, as black people, still receive today.

After being sold out by her so-called friends, Taylor Washington is given an ultimatium- either do 2 years in jail or work a summer in Camp Lanier. Taylor chooses the work release program at Camp Lanier, believing it should be a breeze. That is until unexplanable things start happening. Almost immediately upon her arrival, Taylor sees a little girl running around in a white dress, but quickly learns she is the only one who can see this girl (ghost). And then Taylor's new friend, Mia, goes missing, Taylor knows something isn't right. After some digging, Taylor learns the dark, ugly truth of what has been happening at Camp Lanier for the past few decades and is determined to bring it to an end.

Camp Lanier is a quick and very interesting read, captivating from start to finish. I loved the paranormal aspect of it and how the author was able to incorporate facts and history into the book. At the end of the book, the author provides us with the horrific historical truth of just some of the violent things that happened in Oscarville and Lake Lanier. The reveal isn't as twisted as one would expect, however, given the nature of the book, it is no surprise and adds to the primary topic presented in this book- racism. I admired Taylor and how she felt it was her duty to make a change.

Thank you NetGalley, Sterling & Stone, and Sylvester Barzey for this riveting arc!