First of all: I really enjoyed the narrator, and there were some aspects of this that were very powerful or thought-provoking. There were several occasions when I shouted aloud about plot twists or dramatic reveals.

I didn't feel like the premise of the story was fully delivered. This is billed as horror, but I would call it magical realism. Large chunks of this story take place in an office, and there were a lot of moving parts and subplots that never quite paid off. The title... isn't really true, and while some rich people do get partially consumed, I didn't feel like the zombie/zonbi element was used effectively.

I've taken a little time to think about this, because I don't think it's fair to rate a book against the book you WANTED it to be. There were so many parts that, taken on their own, were compelling. I found the narrator's voice to be one of the best parts of the book, and the 'Haitian chorus' of Brielle's estranged sisters (who she has never met in person) revealing the family backstory was such an interesting element. There's also the fact that, by virtue of her life circumstances, Brielle isn't a zonbi or a zombie, but somewhere in between.

Still, I don't think the story delivered on its core promises. Did I enjoy reading it? Yes. I just think it was trying to do too much, and there were several large plot elements that didn't make a whole lot of sense. I would recommend this one, especially if you support women's wrongs, but not if you're looking for horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

“You think I want to eat your brain just because. How foolish. I want to eat your brain because it’s delicious.”

Brielle Petitfour, a teenage Haitian American zombie, is passionate about cooking. Though, as the daughter of an immigrant, she's familiar with the expectations of finding a respectable career. It's challenging to balance being a chef with her familial duties and supporting her mother, especially in light of their struggling financial situation. Currently, they both work on Hunter Island, home to the affluent “top of the food chain.” Brielle’s mother, in particular, serves the Banks, a billionaire family that created one of the largest health conglomerates in the world: Banks Corps. When Brielle is compelled to accept a summer fellowship at Banks Corps and establishes her supper club business on the side to entice the wealthy, she infiltrates the sphere of the privileged few to exact revenge. Using her zombie powers, the wealthy succumb to Brielle’s influence through her mouth-watering dishes. While she loves cooking, it's not only love that makes her dishes so appetizing, but also a secret ingredient: human flesh.

While people typically imagine the mindless zombies of American pop culture, what’s more horrifying is the original mythology, the Haitian zonbi, a creature of unending servitude derived from the fear of becoming enslaved. In The Summer I Ate the Rich, the authors utilize the zombie's supernatural horror to analyze reality's horror: the struggles of the immigrant experience, socioeconomic inequalities, corrupt health care, and labor in America. With Brielle’s perspective on these themes, I grew to love her character. Her narration can be darkly humorous, and her inhuman hunger, compassionate anger in confronting injustice, and difficulty expressing emotions make her compelling. As a fan of Greek mythology, I found “the Muses'” chorus in the novel’s interludes especially intriguing. During these intermissions, Brielle’s sisters in Haiti discuss what's happening in the narrative. This narrative framing added interesting layers to the story’s complexity. Similarly, I enjoyed the bonds in this story, like those between Brielle and her mother, sisters, best friend, and even her surprising love interest. While imperfect, these meaningful relationships brought out the human in Brielle and nicely contrasted her disturbing, manipulative qualities. Still, some parts confused me while I was reading. Despite the title, Brielle doesn’t eat the rich. Only the wealthy clientele of her supper club events unknowingly eat human parts. Also, Brielle’s zombie powers were somewhat puzzling, given the few explanations. Even so, the book’s sharp social commentary outshined its flaws, and I was satisfied by the end.

Brielle is a first-generation American dealing with a lot. Her mom is sick, bills need to be paid, and everyone’s depending on her to hold it all together. That pressure to succeed, to make everything better for your family, and to undo years of struggle really came through in this story.

I really enjoyed the multiple POVs. Each one added a new layer and helped build a fuller picture of what was at stake. I also listened to the audiobook, and the narration was perfect. The pronunciation of the Haitian Creole was absolutely beautiful.

What I appreciated most was the use of real Haitian zombie lore. Haitian zombies aren’t the brain-eating kind you see in movies. They come from Vodou tradition and are rooted in the history of slavery and control. That cultural depth added so much to the story and made Brielle’s actions feel even more powerful.

There’s no gore here, and it’s not a horror story. It’s a smart, layered fable about food, family, and revenge. I really enjoyed it.

I was bamboozled. I began this book thinking I was going to watch a badass, Haitian American immigrant consume rich people to get revenge on those who wronged her and her family, but I feel like that’s not what was served (lol get it?) to me. Advertised as a horror YA novel but I didn’t get any horror out of it.

there were moments i was incredibly engaged in this book, and many more moments where i felt totally lost. the most interesting parts were the flashbacks to valentine's story in haiti, but in the present brielle was... much more confusing, to say the least.

the plot was compelling and kept me reading, but there wasn't really a coherent politic that i could follow throughout the story -- maybe that's too much to expect from a ya book, but on the other hand when that ya book is called "the summer i ate the rich" i do feel like i should get SOMETHING of the sort.

i also just felt, oddly enough, that this story could have cone with a little more "tell" especially for the present day storyline. a lot of things were unclear to me: bri's power's, what her plan/goal ultimately was, etc. i enjoyed parts, but wouldn't run to tell others to read.

The cover, the premise, the title – everything about this book initially pulls you in because it's all so well-executed.

Big props for that! The writing style is also a strong point and really adds to the experience.

That said, my main issue lies in the lack of context throughout the story. The biggest gap, for me, was in how Brielle’s zombie traits were portrayed. It felt like that aspect didn’t fully land. I did appreciate the authors leaning into a more original concept rooted in Haitian culture – that was something fresh for me, especially since it’s not something I knew much about before.

Still, I was left wondering whether the authors had a clear vision for where they wanted the story to go… or maybe that uncertainty is just how it came across to me by the end. A lot of their ideas seemed to contradict each other, leaving the overall message a bit muddled.
In the end, some elements hit the mark more than others.

Giving this a 2.5 for now.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

The Summer I Ate the Rich is an interesting look at wealth, class, health, as well as Haitian culture and how all of those things might be dealt with by a zonbi. I didn't dislike the book, but I also didn't love it. I found the premise to be interesting and I am always game for some morally grey characters, but I felt like somewhere along the way the story lost its direction and identity a bit. I went into this book expecting it to include more horror elements than it did, and the plot lines that should have been full of tension just never really felt than tense. I was confused by the ending--what was Brielle's endgame? What ultimately was she going to do with her power?

The first third of this book sets up the plot, and makes each character likeable. I really liked the representation of minorities, lower income families, and the realistic perspective of the uber rich snobs. The characters are realistic, and not blown out of proportion just because there's a zonbi in it.

The rest of the story seems to lose track of everything it intends to do. The main plot of being a zombie becomes an afterthought. However, the inner plot of viewing the world that rich people live in vs everyone else's world, takes off and fully blooms into a fantastic story I will be thinking about for a long time.

There is a lot of social justice in this story. There is a lot of representation of minorities, invisible illness, and the privileges that predominantly white rich people take for granted. This book felt a lot like a fable in that there were lessons to be learned in reading this, but this was no finger wagging blame game. It allowed the reader to come to the correct conclusion, and to see that even bad decisions can come from good places.

Long story short, I'm not sure this qualifies as horror or thriller, but it makes a statement that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. I really appreciated the original storyline of actual zombies.

Thank you Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for allowing me to read this book ahead of release! And thank you, Maika and Maritza for writing such a unique story! You have a new fan!

The Summer I Ate the Rich was surprisingly tender and heartwarming in places, for a story that definitely leans into horror. This is a rumination on power, and rage, and family that culminates in a beautiful story that I can't wait to read over again.

No one ate the rich. There were no horror elements to this book. I agree that this is definitely a young adult book. But, that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be jazzed up with the horror

(3.5 rounded up!)

I really liked this book! I wouldn't call it a horror because nothing particularly horrifying happened, but it was still fun and enjoyable. I liked Brielle's character a lot, and I loved seeing her relationship grow with her mum. My favorite part of the book was probably the scenes relating to her mother in general, especially with the intermissions— having the sisters act like a Greek chorus was such an awesome touch, and I loved the backstory provided there. I also liked the descriptions and how they illuminated the story. In particular, the descriptions of food really showed how passionate Brielle was, and the descriptions of wealth helped illuminate the class divides in Miami.

I think the end happened a little too suddenly (especially with Franki's defeat and the marriage), and some aspects felt introduced out of nowhere— I would have loved to see more about the Banks Company's fraud before the end of Act 2, for example. I also think we could've spent a lot more time on each thing— it would have made a great series, personally! Finally, I wish we could have seen more of the relationship between Preston and Brielle after they both found out each other's secrets, as well as more insight into what Brielle's power meant— that felt way too sudden.

Overall, a fun read. Thank you, Netgalley & the Moulites, for the ARC!

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read. I enjoyed Brielle's descriptions of the cuisine she prepared. I liked the commentary on rich vs. Poor and the tie-ins with Valentine's lack of access to her medication due to lack of Healthcare. I enjoyed the author's depictions of the muses and I also really enjoyed Theo and Chad.

However, I felt Brielle's confrontation with Franki was anticlimactic, and her powers were never fully explained. I also felt the motivations behind her marriage with Preston after she confronts him with the video were nebulous and not clear to the reader. Her relationship and feelings about Preston seemed murky and never fully realized. Their romance felt very one dimensional and made me question if she actually cared for him or if he was just a means to an end. I also actually wanted more horror aspects to the book.

In conclusion, while I enjoyed the book, I felt the ending wasn't truly satisfying.

The Summer I Ate the Rich is about the legacy of slavery in Haiti, Haitian mythology, mind control, dreams of culturally showcased culinary excellence, the exclusivity of moderm medical devices, Miami uber-rich big pharma with hot sons, and the dangers of not knowing what's in your food. I think. It seemed to suffer from an identity crisis, jumping around between these themes, trying to be too much. The majority of this book is an unlikely YA romance that is not helped by the 17 year old first-person narrator. This is very far from horror, and the revenge plot feels like a subplot. This seems much more like a Cinderella retelling if Cinderella was actually a sociopath instead of anything aligning with the Eat the Rich movement.
I really like the cover. The audiobook narrators did a great job, though the Greek Chorus of sisters was a bit confusing via audio.
Thanks to NetGalley, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, and Macmillan Young Listeners for the ARC to review.

Having previously read the Moulite sisters, I was excited to see where they would take this particular story. They are so good at giving us very relevant stories, but with a twist. And this one comes in the form of zombies! Or zonbi in the case of this particular book.

The Summer I Ate the Rich is about a Haitian mother and daughter who live in Florida working for the wealthy. As many immigrants to the US, they came for a better life, but there is always a disparity between the classes and the Moulites show how this works in Brielle's life. Brielle is a teen that loves to cook and has a little side gig cooking for the wealthy. She has a penchant for meat, but likes to serve her customers something a little more unique. With her intentions clear, her dinner club is a hit and her customers are soon lining up. Thank goodness, because her mother suddenly loses her job, but Brielle comes up with a way to help her. After "assisting" a wealthy man and donating his money, Brielle is offered a summer internship which ends up helping her mother and also has her rubbing elbows with the rich in a way she never did before.

I liked the idea of this book and the way it started. I really wish the authors would've dove a little deeper into the horror aspect and gave us more of the zonbi life Brielle was living. Brielle is such a strong character and gave us just enough to keep me interested. The beginning was strong, but fell off when it became more of a love story between two people from different social classes. But I give the writers credit for the way they depicted the rich and the working class and adding conversation about racial inequality along with big Pharma and the way that affects the different social classes. It seems oh so relevant to the life we are living now. I just wish they would've leaned more into the thriller/horror aspect, along with the social topics, because they gave us a taste (no pun intended) and it could've been so much more.

Overall, this book had a great concept and I really liked many aspects of it, but my expectations were higher than what was delivered. It works well for a YA, but still could've been stronger. I liked the Haitian American culture that was included from the mother and Brielle's sisters, but give me more zonbi!! 3.5 stars

The book opens up with the FMC, Brielle Petitfour, cooking sheep brains - as we find out she is a Zonbi (No, not your typical zombies that you know from movies and tv shows). Brielle, a high school student, works at a restaurant to help her ill mother pay the pills. The family immigrated from Haiti to Miami, but Brielle's father passed away years ago and her mother deals with severe back pain. Brielle's dream is to be a chef, but when her mother catches her doing a surprise supper club tasting on the ferry, she continues to lecture her about how cooking isn't reliable income and she didn't come here for her to be a chef. When Brielle is waiting for her mother to finish work at the Banks house, she sees the eldest Mr Banks run over and killed by a white car. Her mother ends up losing her job at the Banks home as she was the caretaker of Mr Banks, and is no longer needed now that he has died. In a parting way, Brielle ends up getting more supper club jobs after someone on the ferry wants to hire her for a dinner party for her rich friends, but Brielle must learn to manage this and her new internship at the Banks family business. What is the key to Brielle's success? Human flesh.

This book had the potential to be amazing. The plot was fascinating and it was interesting to see Haiti culture, learn more about Haitians version of zombies. The plot for the most part had be really invested throughout the story except for when the sections where the sisters (the muses) would go on tangents - I personally thought this added nothing to the book and really broke up the book in a not good way. The other thing I thought was bad was the whole wedding plot lol it makes sense in a liability sort of way, but we have to remember these are high schoolers. Crazy.

I gave this book 100+ pages to pull me in, but it just didn't manage to do it's job. I think the authors were a little...confused about what tone they wanted overall, because it seemed to waffle between quirky satire and a more serious "issues" book. The zombie lore also didn't seem to make much sense, which was especially disappointing seeing as it was based on actual zonbi lore. I also think a book that promises cannibalism should probably include some of it by the 25% mark. I was also expecting more dead people, and I didn't really get that either. I'm sure there are going to be quite a few people who end up enjoying this one, but I have too many things to read to justify struggling though a horror novel that isn't scary, doesn't make a lot of sense magic-wise, and I find lacking as a whole.

While I don't think I would necessarily classify this book as horror, I actually thoroughly enjoyed this read. I loved the main characters, and the way the character history was told was very unique (through the voices of the "muses"). There was a bit that felt rushed towards the end, but overall I had fun with this one. Good, light-hearted, horror adjacent book.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Summer I Ate the Rich focuses on a Haitian-American girl and how she is affected by both racial inequality and struggles with wealth. Her mom suffers from chronic pain and Brielle, the main character, does everything that she can to help her mother—including “eating the rich.”

I did expect this book to lean more on the horror side, especially with the first scene where we are introduced to Brielle and learn about her life as a zonbi. The “zonbi” aspect of the story being rich in Haitian culture made up for the lack of horror within the book, in my opinion. I enjoyed how the author incorporated this into the story. I wish that the zonbi storyline had been nestled into the culinary storyline more, as well.

The characters were really enjoyable and felt well rounded. The moments with Brielle and Marcello were my favorites, but I even found myself rooting for Preston, though I definitely shouldn’t have been. The mixed media of the sisters’ dialogue flowed well with the story.

I felt as if I was reading three different books that were melded into one. I definitely felt as though this story could’ve been a few short novellas or even a longer novel, broken up into three clear sections. This book did have the Act structure, but they felt too rushed and too short in my opinion.

The ending of the book felt out of nowhere to me, though I understand why it occurred. I didn’t view the characters in this way, though, so it took me out of the story.

Overall, I found this story enjoyable, but not as much as I would’ve if I hadn’t gone in with the preconceived notion that this would be a horror novel, which was pushed further with the first chapter of the novel vs the rest of it. This book is a very solid magical realism story, though, despite its story map being all over the place.

Well, this wasn't as gruesome as the opening paragraphs made it seem like it would be, which was a mercy, to be honest. I thought this was a fun story; you definitely have to be willing to just accept the premise and go with what's happening. I really liked how all the zombie stuff was handled, actually, and I appreciated having a zombie book that gets to the actual roots of the practice. What I found harder to swallow (pun intended?) was how easy it was for our MC to get the access she got to the rich. And while it was an interesting way to provide backstory, I got really tired really fast of the interludes with the sisters. And I quickly got annoyed at the use of creole without translations--a little is fine, but too much and it starts to feel like a badly written fantasy novel. But those are my only critiques, and they are minor.

Overall, if you want a truly original take on a zombie story, you should enjoy this! It's definitely fun, and it's very, very satisfying for anyone looking for a good anti-capitalist story to go with their supernatural/paranormal reading.

The Summer I Ate The Rich is a wickedly sharp satirical YA horror that must be on your summer TBR.

This is eat the rich done right. It has a deep seated anger that it actually allows its central protagonist to delve into. This is a dark and brutal read at times with an unflinching look at ableism, classism, racism and particularly the US healthcare industry. It reminds you that a capitalist society sees you as just another body, so why should Brielle not do the same. There is an edge of dark humour to proceedings that balances that scarcely contained fury. The scenes where Brielle does get to unleash are a much needed catharsis. I love narratives that examine the inner world of the privileged and how this can be unpicked. This is a strong offering of that – offering a uniquely twisted peek into this elite world. There is just so much to love here.

Brielle has such an arresting voice. Right from the first few pages, you are hooked. It is such an interesting take that infuses the pages with Haitian mythology. The horror is on full display with both our realm and that of the supernatural. It is all about power and control with certain acts of violence pushing across this. I really enjoyed Brielle as a protagonist with her fierce determination, smart wits and secretly deeply caring heart. She ultimately will do whatever it takes to help her family thrive and she relishes in it. For me, this was such a refreshing change – to have someone fully own their capabilities and power unashamedly. There is plenty of muddly morality here but you root for Brielle through it all.

The Summer I Ate The Rich is a fantastic YA offering from two authors you should keep a firm eye on – rich characterisation and a story that pulls you in and will not let you go. One to devour.