What an incredible read this was! ‘Deadstream’ was a terrifying look at what supernatural beings could do with technology and send those who use it into an absolute spiral. There were multiple times this book creeped me out and made me get up to walk around to shake the feeling of being watched. For this being a debut novel and a Young Adult genre title, I cannot wait to see what Romasco-Moore does in the future, as this was an incredible way to burst onto the scene.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4! I love YA thrillers that have a social media element done well, and Deadstream definitely hit the mark for that! This was exactly the thriller I was looking for when I was in the mood for something fast paced and ghosty. I wasn't a huge fan of all of the streamer terms that I have no clue what any of them meant, but aside from that I really enjoyed my time and will look forward to this author's future releases. Thank you Netgalley and Viking Books for my early copy!

When I first picked up 'Deadstream,' I thought I knew what I was in for: a techno slasher, maybe with a little camp thrown in. I was wrong on many accounts. It's a reimaging of a ghost story. A place where people are so obsessed with viewer counts that they live on beyond the grave. It's also about friendship, both irl and online. Throughout the book, a chat stream was utilized to provide other opinions and to carry the story along. I think the author used it successfully. If you ever get an online prompt to "Open the door," please disconnect your system. There are some places you don't want to be. 4.5 stars.

In this book we're following a teen girl who is an online streamer by the name of Replay. She clips exciting things that happen during other popular streamers LIVE events and reposts them to her own channel, hence the name. During a popular streamer's live feed, something weird and spooky starts to happen and Replay is there to capture the moments. When the weird things start to happen more and more to other streamers and starts to seep into her personal life, she starts to wonder if she is going crazy.

For quite a while I wasn't sure how I felt about this book. I'm not a big live stream watcher so I'm not super familiar with some of the lingo used and had to ask my husband about some of the acronyms used. I did like that at the beginning of each "live stream" there a description about what was on camera at the moment and that there was the chat log. There were parts that were written from a different POV...but that doesn't sound right and I don't know how to say it without giving anything away and but when things clicked, it turned my rating from round my 4.5 down to a 4 to rounding up to a 5. Another reason for it not being up there as a 5 star from the beginning is because there are chat threads and text threads happening throughout the story but it isn't clear who is speaking each line and I would have to read those a few times and make a guess because I wasn't always sure.

There were some things that I wish I could have read about, like an after convo between Replay and Jolley...you'll understand when you read this. Overall, I enjoyed this book and I hope I can find a physical copy soon!

3/5⭐️ 🎧

» 𝘏𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳/𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳, 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘴, 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵/𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘶𝘮𝘴, 𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘴, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘶𝘮𝘢.

» This was a fun little fast paced, slow burn! Delving into the online world of streaming and sharing your online persona. I for-sure got The Ring vibes from this, but by no means was that disappointing!

» In this you’ll be on a mystery hunt with our teen protagonist Teresa, known online as Replay, whose bedroom bound searches through streams to figure out why users are falling victim to the “open the door” prompt.

I enjoyed this book and gave it 4 stars. I really enjoyed the deep dive into how the internet can affect how we see each other in real life. It showed both the positives and the negatives being online has on our lives. Definitely had some twists I wasn’t expecting. I truly thought it was going to be a straightforward mystery and was pleasantly surprised that there was way more.

I think this one was just a little too out there for me. The concept was interesting at first but felt like it lost the plot a little in the middle. Ending was strong though!

Brick is a big streamer with thousands of subs and viewers. So it's no big deal when he gets in front of the camera again and hits to go live - for donations. But it doesn't take long - a random donation with the prompt "Open the Door" pops up. Once the streamer opens the door, he becomes catatonic. He stares off, for hours, not talking, drinking, eating, nothing. Teresa is just one of the many watching that day - but as a streamer as well, it's an opportunity to get a stream going to try to figure out what is going on.

This was such a fun, spooky read. I did this as an audiobook and the sound effects and reading of the chat logs was so fun and really added to the feel of the story. I watch a few gamers who stream and the chat, the trolls, and the reactions felt really realistic. I loved the twist - and that it wasn't just "go touch grass" but had actual meaning around what everyone had gone through. This is a good addition the horror genre, one that kept me entertaining, hooked to know what would happen next, and didn't preach.

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Group/Viking Books for Young Readers, and Mar Romasco-Moore for an advanced copy of Deadstream in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This was a really interesting blend of paranormal and thriller. It was a fun/spooky take of creepypasta and modern streaming culture where we are currently finding ourselves in. I loved the mixed media aspect (videos, chat, live streaming) and how that was handled in the audio as well as in the ebook. It was very firmly YA, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if it was adult and went a bit darker, but overall it was an enjoyable, quick read.

This book had me gripped from the get go! I enjoyed the mingling of streamer chat rooms in the formatting and loved the way the characters were written! Very clever story line that read like a movie in my mind. Would definitely love to see this made into a tv series.

Great premise, but slow and plodding to the end.

Technology and horror are my favorites but usually the books are quick paced and interesting. This one just didn’t hit right for me.

This was ok, the premise was interesting - with some kind of ghost/demon type thing haunting live streamers though the internet.

After serving a car accident that killed her best friend, Teresa is terrified to leave the house and has become “stuck” in her bedroom. To find some kind of freedom and community she turns to live streaming; spending her days watching other streamers or streaming herself. After seeing one of her favorite live streamers become possessed by something live, she becomes obsessed with solving the mystery and putting a stop to whatever is happening before all her internet friends wind up dead.

Exploring the dangers of steaming and how it can take hold of a person def was an interesting route to go down, but it did come off as a bit preachy at times. I did enjoy the LGBTQIA representation throughout.

DNF at 25%.

Despite this being labeled as YA, I felt this could really be considered more middle-grade. The writing style was just quite amateurish and the young characters and their chat logs were very annoying to read through. This plotline has been done to death before as well and didn't really add anything new, in my opinion. This was just not my cup of tea.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

I am a /huge/ sucker for technological horror so it comes to no surprise that I absolutely loved DEADSTREAM..

This was a fun YA horror that dives into the world of internet personas & gaming livestreams. & makes use of mixed media elements alongside the actual narrative writing to tell the story, like transcripts of stream chats and text messages.

DEADSTREAM was so fast-paced & exciting; I loved flipping through the digital pages, excited to discover what was going to happen next. With technology being so prevalent in all of our lives, it helps lend a hand at making this sub-genre pretty ✨scary✨.

I don’t know how strongly I’d recommend this to those who really don’t enjoy YA books, but if you do — DEADSTREAM is a fun one worth reading!

I do get the likeness to The Ring but this reminded me more of the movie Pulse, just the young adult version. But I also liked that movie a lot more than I liked this book. Take it with a grain of salt since I'm not the targeted audience but a lot of it felt dull and boring to me. A couple of parts did have my eyes widening but then there would be moments like the main character googling how to wake her brother up and I'd be rolling my eyes. Also a lot of what's said in the chat rooms made no sense to me but I don't watch streams. I'm giving it 3 stars only for how fast I read it and the representations were good.

This book is a chilling gem, blending the voyeuristic tension of Hitchcock’s Rear Window with the eerie supernatural vibes of The Ring. It feels fresh and modern, weaving a gripping tale around Teresa, a compelling protagonist whose trauma and resilience anchor the story. After enduring a harrowing experience, Teresa finds comfort in her online connections, and her journey to confront her fears to protect her safe haven is both relatable and inspiring.
The inclusion of streaming chats and text messages elevates the immersion, making the story feel alive and immediate, as if you’re right there in Teresa’s world. These elements add a layer of authenticity and engagement, pulling readers deeper into the narrative. For fans of psychological thrillers with a tech-savvy edge, this book is a cool, captivating read that delivers suspense and heart.

Horror is not a genre I usually dive into, but Deadstream was a book that I felt intrigued by, so I had to read it. It was a far shorter read than I expected and I ended up finishing it rather quickly. The descriptions were very vivid and engaging, interspaced with formats akin to Twitch streams as well as other social media. I did feel chills going down my spine as I read it, because the way the events pan out felt pretty terrifying. And what made it feel even more real (and scary) is the way certain commenters (chat) were acting - it was exactly as they do irl, and you could imagine similar comments popping up in a Twitch stream.

Aside from the horror aspect, the book offers commentary on parasocial relationships and how they can deeply affect an individual, especially one who is constantly online. While that is something that the book does pretty well, I do feel it kind of falls short in conveying its message but only due to the short length/span of the novel. This length also made it a little hard to connect with the main character Teresa - even at the end of the story, I still felt like there were unanswered questions about her.

Nevertheless, Deadstream was a pretty great read, offering some very important commentary on the damaging nature of parasocial relationships online, and the harm they may cause.

Special thanks to @penguinteen @netgalley for the #gifted eARC.

👉🏼 swipe for synopsis ➡️

𝙈𝙔 𝙍𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙀𝙒:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

So I'm not one who watches many streamers or gamers or even know how to do any of the above. We're lucky i get my book reviews to post in a reasonable fashion most days 🤣

This one sucks you in from the beginning and is truly unputdownable, even if you're not familiar with the world. The way I also have so much in commen anxiety / thinking wise as Teresa, is crazy and it makes me feel crazy when I see how out of bounds I go with my tangents.

Throughout the book I'm dying to know about "the accident".
The amount of underlying creep that forms throughout this story is amazing.

Oh em gee the last half the book went by in a flash. I don't think ive ever read so fast. This was amazing. So creeptastic so horrifying, so frightening.
This is a must read and an easy 5 stars. Grab this one ASAP

Thank you NetGalley for my copy

I was here for this until about half way through and it just fell flat. I also don’t understand why we needed to repeat gender over and over again. This idea had so much potential and this just wasn’t it.

I received a copy of the book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I think I'm too old for this book. I grew up when social media was barely a thing and no one made a living from streaming. The Ring is one of my favorite horror movies and I was VERY excited to read a book with that comp title. However, most of the book takes place in the main characters bedroom (as they are agoraphobic), so it began to feel repetitive extremely quickly. Only so much can happen within the same four walls.

While I still read and enjoy many YA books, this was definitely written for the YA demographics of today. I could see this being relatable for younger teens growing up with social media, but I found myself rolling my eyes because of the choices Theresa made. Overall I realize this wasn't written for my enjoyment, but as I did finish it, I will rate it.