Thank you to Bantam for the ARC!

This was so much fun to read! I appreciated the mixed media approach, the flashbacks, and the characters. I loved the references to slasher horrors and their tropes, and the fresh take the author spins on it. Overall, I found myself hooked from page 1 and trying to figure out who the killer was (I was actually surprised) and what was going on. If you want a fun slasher for your fall tbr, I recommend picking this one up.

Smith's latest, Smile for the Cameras, caught my eye with its setting: a movie set, where the now-adults of a cult classic teen horror movie to film a reunion decades later (it's giving I Know What You Did Last Summer). Final Girl Ella, the most reluctant of her fellow cast members to return to rural Tennessee for the reunion weekend, is ready to make a comeback after spending years out of the spotlight. When other reunion members begin being murdered in ways similar to the film, it seems the cast is being hunted by their very own Grad Night killer. Considering the darkness that surrounded the cast during the filming of the first movie, was the reunion a trap for someone to get retribution?

Smile for the Cameras is just the right amount of Camp to be fun. I wouldn't say that the characters are ones that are particularly worth caring about, but I loved how the alternating flashback chapters kept pace with what was happening in present day. In fact, this reminded me quite a bit of the Scream franchise that we know and love, as Ella/Sydney were both similar characters. Just like how Scream kept you guessing until the end, Smith kept us on our toes in a way that felt exciting and fresh. I enjoy not being able to predict the ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I went into Smile for the Cameras looking for a creepy, action-packed, horror-mystery and that's exactly what I got. It follows Ella, an actress who is trying to make a comeback after several years off. In order to do this, she reluctantly decides to take part in a reunion special for a slasher movie she starred in 20 years ago. Haunted by a tragic act that all the film's stars took part in back then; the reunion becomes a horror story in and of itself. While none of the characters really stood out, the plot itself was super fun, and was scary enough to keep me reading. It felt reminiscent of other slashers I've enjoyed, like Josh Winning's Heads Will Roll, and The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix. I didn't like this as much as I liked the former, but definitely more than the latter. I liked the isolated setting, and some of the reveals were interesting. However, the biggest reveal just didn't work for me. It just felt silly and came out of nowhere. Still, I appreciated the horror movie vibes and references and thought the references to abuse in the film industry were thoughtful. I think this would be a great pick for a mystery lover who is just starting to explore the horror genre.

Loved the premise about revisiting a horror movie with the original cast. However, this one drug a little bit for me. Definitely didn't see the ending coming

I really loved the first half of this book. I gave very much slasher 90s camping final girl vibes. And I absolutely loved the concept. The second half of this book is where you lost me and I have no idea what happened. It seemed like the book got really busy and almost too much.

I enjoyed this book very much….It was slow to start imo but the characters were interesting….The story was predictable but still fun!!!!

The concept was good. A horror movie that had something happen that was covered up for years.
That's about where it ends. The book did have a good twist but I was so confused when the twist was revealed. Finally, I understand after reading more into what happened but I really did not like the ending. Something went wrong and it was covered up and someone's tied to the person ended up being the killer. It was hard for me to like any of the characters honestly. The ending was lackluster.

THIS WAS TOTALLY WILD! I could not have predicted what was going to happen when I first picked it up but I was totally engaged and loved it.

Smile for the Cameras is a chilling, meta-slasher thriller that blurs the line between fiction and reality as former scream queen Ella Winters returns to the horror that made—and nearly broke—her. Haunted by a long-buried secret from the original film’s production, Ella reunites with her castmates for a documentary, only to find the past isn’t just catching up—it’s killing them off one by one. Set in a remote Tennessee cabin, the story crackles with suspense, nostalgia, and creeping dread, asking whether a final girl can outrun not just a killer, but her own guilt. A clever, blood-soaked love letter to classic horror with a deadly twist.

Rating: 4/5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Pub Date: 6/24
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Huge thank you to PRH Audio, NetGalley, Miranda Smith and Bantam for the ALC and eARC in exchange for my honest review.
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Ella Winters - the it girl from her role in the cult classic slasher - Grad Night. After horrors occurred off camera, Ella decides to go off the grid; then agrees to film a documentary twenty years later. That’s when the other characters start meeting the same fate as the original movie. It’s up to Ella to figure out who found out the original casts long held secret.
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I cant begin to express how obsessed I am with these revival of horror movies and bringing cast back together to the original sets and then things going awry. I was immediately hooked, I flew through this in a day. I loved the characters, I loved the mystery and I devoured every single second of the secrets being revealed. The execution was great, the pacing s superb and I think this is the perfect spooky season read!! My only wish is that there was a bit more death where the opportunity was presented. Otherwise - fantastic! Make sure you check this one out!
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I listened to this via audiobook while reading my eARC. With a full cast, Abigail Reno, Marian Salama, Louisa Zhu, Vas Eli and Jeff Ebner were incredible. I loved every single bit of this audiobook. If you are going to read this one - make sure you get the audio.

I absolutely loved this book!

This book encompassed everything I look for in a psych thriller. I live for a locked room, isolated type setting and the slasher element brought it to another level.

I'm a huge fan of the Scream movies and this book gave all those vibes. I loved this story so much I did not want to finish it and not be able to keep living in this horror movie narrative. It was just like watching my favorite scary movie!

The characters were perfect for the story line and by the end of the book I felt like they were my friends too.
The twists and turns were awesome. I did not see them coming.
I loved how everything tied up by the end of the book and how it tackled some really important issues.

5 stars!! Highly recommend this one!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishers for this opportunity to read this awesome book!

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine for giving me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. ****SPOILERS AHEAD***** I was quite looking forward to this book only to alternately bored by the predictability and confused about what the author wanted this book to be. Was it a paranormal thriller with Ella seeing the ghost of the missing woman? Was it a psychological thriller with Ella struggling with mental illness and blocking out what happened, confusing who went missing and what exactly happened? Was it a slasher within a slasher with real life following the old movie script? It seemed to slip in and out of all of these with no clear direction or cohesiveness. The 'twists' weren't. The killer was fairly obvious and the character development was lacking. I didn't care about the characters and thought the pacing was too slow for the thriller genre. If the author had made characters we didn't celebrate dying and landed on a theme, I would have enjoyed this much more as it did have potential. Three stars.

3.75 ✨️ Rounded Up

The slasher loving girlie in me ate this up. It is fast paced, you essentially have three plots, present, past & movie script. I found the movie script aspect to be different but a bit boring. I love the play on archetypes in horror movies, specially slashers.

I found the twist at the end to miss the mark a bit. I wanted a bit more from it. I did love the twist about who died though....no spoilers!

I highly recommend for slasher fans.

Not a bad book, but I definitely thought there was a lot of build up (and not actually building up suspense, just additional storyline that I'm not sure how necessary it all was). Slow start, eventually somewhat building to be a slightly faster pace. Quick, easy read. While I thought the ending was a bit random (-ish, seemed like it was just trying to quickly tie things up) the whole thing did fit into the "slasher" trope. I did like the mix in of the OG script throughout the book, that was a nice touch.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I DNF'ed this book, which is incredibly difficult for me to do. But the beginning was just not building up enough suspense for me. It felt so childish instead of eery and I was having such a difficult time picking this up. It definitely put me in a reading drought. And mind you I loveeeee thrillers so it was very disappointing especially because the synopsis sounded sooo good!!
I will not be posting this on goodreads largely because I DNF and that is unfair to the author.

Regardless, thank you for the opportunity to attempt to read this eARC!

This one was different. I always appreciate a unique story and this book is definitely that.
Growing up with classic slasher films this book has a nostalgic vibe while also creating an unfamiliar atmosphere.
Ella Winters was the final girl in the surprise slasher flick Grad Night. The film jump started her career, and had quite a cult following. 20 years later she is invited to the reunion show. Can she really go back to the place where her career blossomed, she fell in love for the first time, and secrets still linger?
I enjoyed this one. Thank you netgalley for the arc!

I felt like the idea was a lot of fun and had potential. The script aspect was interesting. However, I just didn’t care about any of the characters. They felt underdeveloped and a little stilted which made it difficult to care about what happened to them.

The twists were easy to spot a mile away. Which might have been okay (it’s a genre book about a genre movie!) of the characters were compelling. I truly can barely remember any of their names.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith was my first by this author and I can say that it was ok. Not Great but not bad. Ella was the star of Grad Night, a cult horror movie that was filmed 20 years ago. Desperate to revive her career, Ella signs up for a grad Night reunion. Ella has been hiding a secret for 20 years and when the reunion starts, suddenly the cast and crew beginning dying like in the movie.

Smith does a good job at building suspense with dual timelines while adding parts of the original Grad Night script. I did enjoy that part! This gave Scream vibes and I am not upset about that. There were parts that seemed very predictable but overall the slasher/survivor aspect get my interest. The reveal was not what I was expecting.

Overall it was an ok book. I enjoyed the read. I definitely recommend everyone to read and form your own opinions. 3 stars

She was giving thriller of the summer! Then she was giving, let down of the summer. Seriously, this sounded like it was going to be a fun ass summer thriller. I found the it girl of the book to be super annoying and on top of that, I also thought that the twists and turns were too predicable.
Thank you Netgalley & the publisher for my early e-arc.

Smile For The Cameras is about Ella who was part of a cult horror movie 20 years ago. She's been struggling after the initial fame and accepts to join a reunion special for the horror movie she starred in that brought her fame. However, Ella has been hiding a secret since that last night of the shoot; something awful happened that night. And suddenly one by one the cast and crew are slain by the very same killer of the horror movie they made.

This was a struggle for me to finish. I didn't like the cast of characters or find them likeable at all which made it hard for me to care for any of them. The book also wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be more slasher focused but instead what it was half of the book being about the romance and relationships between the characters.

What I did like was chapters with the script excerpts from the movie the characters were making. I thought that was an interesting touch like we're 'watching' the movie.

I do appreciate the chance to read Smile For The Cameras. And thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy to review.