♡ thank you to Miranda Smith & Random House Publishing for an ARC of this book ♡

3/5 ⭐️

this book had a mix of eerie suspense and messy drama. i was definitely intrigued from the start and found myself wanting to read more. while it wasn’t a total jaw dropper, it did have its moments! some twists were super unexpected, some were a little less. but the ending was satisfying!

📖 plot & pace: the story follows a cast reunion with occasional scenes from the original movie. these cast members hold a dark secret that they're determined to keep. the pacing was fast, but i felt the first half of the book was very repetitive. the ending where all of the drama happens seems rushed, i just wished it could've played out better.

👥 characters: honestly... i didn't care for many of the characters. i think the only character who i truly enjoyed was petra. aries also grew on me! BUT, i do think this story was very representative of people in Hollywood.

🤩 tropes: secrets behind the spotlight, death on set, unreliable memories


overall, i thought this story was good, but i wish there were some changes to the pacing, but i still enjoyed reading this!

I have enjoyed Smith’s novels, but this one was out of my comfort zone, which can be a nice change. If you like horror movies this is the perfect book for you. I love scary, more than horror, but the idea of a “final girl” is always fun premise.

Ella Winters was that girl! She made her name with the cult-classic slasher “GRADE NIGHT”. At the top of her career she leaves to care for an ailing parent. Years later she returns with the cast and crew to film a documentary. Secrets come out and they are doozies.

WOW!

THIS is what I'm looking for in a thriller!

Ella starred in a horror movie 20 years ago, where she was cast as the Final Girl. It gave her the needed boost into the film industry, but as the years went by she was haunted by what happened behind the scenes and slowly lost relevance. Eventually, she left the industry to care for her mom, but now she is ready for a comeback. However, doing so comes at a price- she must attend a reunion shoot on location where her big break started.

Ella shows up and greets her cast mates, who have also been carrying around the awful secret. They agree to get the reunion over with quickly, and move on to hopefully renewed careers.

But someone knows what they did, and they will pay. Ella was right when she thought it wasn't safe to go back to Blackstone Cottage.

The book goes between past and present as well as including scenes from the movie Ella starred in. It was a good choice from the author and well done.

Thank you, NetGalley for the ARC!!!

Right from the first page, I noticed something very unique about this book. It's presented in a similar manner that a script is written in. There were times when I questioned if what I was reading was part of the movie (fantasy) or if some of the events were real-life (reality).

The first half of the book continuously alludes to something tragic happening during the first taping of the movie "Grad Night" 20 years ago. It isn't until two-thirds of the way through the book, when the cast has gotten back together for a reunion, that the reader finally finds out what horrible event occurred. While the cast is together filming the reunion, crazy things happen, making their time at the cabin more reality than fantasy.

All in all, this book wasn't one of my favorites, but it also wasn't horrible.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion/review.

Reading the synopsis of the book I thought it was an interesting idea, but while I was reading I was like I absolutely have already read a book like this before and that kind of just took away the fun of it for me. I did finish this book though and it was fun to read, but I feel like I just couldnt get that into it because of the previous books I have read. It was an engaging book and I was never bored while reading it and it kept me engaged the whole time. It was just not a book that was for me unfortunately.

Smile for the Cameras was a really fun way to read a horror movie! I enjoyed the slasher movie type dialogue set to read like a movie in certain chapters. It made the flashbacks and progression of the current timeline part of the story make sense. I was even actually pretty surprised at how things ended! Overall, the was a really fun book if you’re a fan of 90’s inspired slasher/horror movies!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC to read.

The story centers around Ella, an actress, who is returning to film a reunion with her fellow cast of a horror/slasher movie titled “Grad Night”. The book has chapters in the then and now format throughout. I did enjoy the scenes included from the movie throughout that slowly revealed what occurred in the film. The scenes in the film began to play into the story in the present. Ella and her cast mates were involved in something during the filming of the original film that is slowly revealed throughout the book. I did enjoy attempting to figure out what exactly happened in the past and who the villain is in the present.
Readers who enjoy horror or “scary” movies would enjoy the storyline of the book.
I did feel the pacing of the book was slow. I did lose interest in some instances. I also had the feeling of when is something going to actually happen? The character development was lacking; I do wish I had cared about the characters more to care about their fates.
I was really drawn in by the premise of the book and the cover, but the storyline fell flat for me.

I was excited to get this book about horror movie actors reuniting 20 yrs after the original movie. However, I felt like I've read this before and even though there was a twist, it just wasn't enough. Good beach book for a quick read.

Thank you for the ARC!

Special thanks to Random House Publishing, Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I really wanted to like this a little more. It screamed of Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Freddy and Jason, just in a book.

I really do like horror, but to me slasher isn't real horror. The beginning was slow going but picked up by the end. All I can say is been there, done that and I'm not trying to be cruel. The writing was good, it just didn't grab me, ya know, or scare me and that's what I look for in a horror..

╭──── 🌿 Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith
╰ ❝“Dear God, I think she might be dead.”❞


╭──── 🌿 A B O U T – T H E – B O O K :
Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith is a psychological thriller about former teen star Ella Winters, who returns to the site of her cult slasher film for a reunion documentary. But when cast members start dying in ways that mirror the movie, Ella must confront a deadly secret from the past.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

╭──── 🌿 O V E R A L L:
╰ ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5
This book offers a gripping tale of fame, guilt, and survival. While the beginning is a bit of a slow start, the ending is filled with unexpected twists to keep you guessing until the last page.
There is a dual timeline that jumps between the past and present, but it is easy to follow chapter by chapter.
I also really enjoyed the 90’s slasher-type feel, and the general campiness of it all.

"An actress desperate to reclaim her fame must survive the real-life plot of the horror movie that made her famous in this psychologically twisted locked-room thriller influenced by nineties slasher films.

Twenty years ago, Ella Winters was the it girl. She made a name for herself in Hollywood and throughout America as the sole survivor in the cult-classic slasher Grad Night. But the real horror is what happened when the cameras weren't rolling - something terrible that Ella and her co-stars agreed never to speak of again. Shortly after the movie's premiere, Ella disappeared from the acting scene under the pretense of caring for her ailing mother, hoping for a quiet life out of the spotlight to ease her guilty mind.

Since her mother's passing, Ella has decided to return to the silver screen. And with the cast and crew of Grad Night in the process of filming a reunion documentary, Ella has an express ticket back into Hollywood's good graces. Weighed down by the secret she's been keeping all these years, Ella apprehensively makes the trip to the original set - a cabin in rural Tennessee - to reunite with her castmates for the first time in more than a decade. But when the actors begin to meet the same gruesome fates as the characters they originally played, falling victim to someone dressed as the Grad Night villain, it's clear their secret is out.

Now, the question is: Can the final girl survive one last nightmare?"

So the documentary was totally staged for a revenge killing right?

This was a great mystery thriller! Normally, I’m not a fan of flashbacks being a big part of the story, but the past held just as much interesting information as the present. I was eager to read both timelines and try to figure out what was going on!
Also, not only did the past and present timelines mesh well, but the “script” scenes actually had me picturing the movie. It was pretty great.

With this book, not only do you have a mystery with some pretty gory details, but there’s also some underlying drama of a toxic relationship.
You think you know these characters and will most likely have a favorite, but don’t get too comfortable.
You’re gonna be in for a ride.

I was so excited when I got the email saying I was going to be able to read this book early. Something to know about me, is I am a HUGE horror movie fan, especially the slasher genre. And when I was growing up I always wanted to be a film director. So this was the perfect fit.

I dove headfirst into this story with my horror-loving heart like a masked maniac through a flimsy door. It was basically one of those gloriously gruesome 80's and 90's teen slasher flicks in written form and I LOVED IT. This was the slasher goodness my soul craved.

I was going to write out a whole plot synopsis, but I think it would be best for the reader to go into this book fairly blind. But if you need a quick little taste, here you go.

Twenty years after a horrific event on a movie set, the past returns to haunt the survivors when they reunite, and someone wants their secrets buried... permanently.

4.5 out of 5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions.

Part I Know What You Did Last Summer & part Scream. I liked the characters and overall felt very nostalgic while reading it.

I wanted to like this one, but just couldn't find my way into it... I am not a horror movie fan, although do read a fair bit of horror. Maybe that's why I found the back-and-forth between movie script/past experience/contemporary storyline so difficult. I really didn't find the movie script entertaining at all, and the shift in perspective kept pulling me out of things. I didn't connect to any of the characters, who all felt like stock personalities taken from 80s horror, with many causing eye rolls that might work in movies but didn't do much for me in book form. This one just wasn't a good fit for me.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the author for the chance to review this great book! As a lover of thriller and slashers ever since I was little I can definitely say that this book had a bit of everything I love. You have a final girl with a dark secret, the ever handsome love interest that will play a role in the plot line and ever so amazing complementing characters that add spice and mold the story into a great undoing.

I definitely wasn’t able to put this book down since I started it because I needed to know what were their secrets and how everything ended. Even though this is not the most scary or gory book I would more than definitely recommend to anyone who loves a good 90’s/2000’s slasher movies and that is trying to get into the genre!

Thank you to NetGalley for early access to this novel in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

Holy moly! I LOVE teen slasher movies and this book was basically watching one of my favorite movies in book form. This aaa everything I wanted Mister Magic to be.

A slasher film from early 2000s— low budget movie that no one thought was going to make an impact turns into a cult classic. A reunion 20 years later in the exact location that the movie was filmed. A secret long buried is exposed and you don’t know who to trust.

The book flips between the screen play of the original movie and now.

I need this to become a movie. Because WOW! Only reason it wasn’t a 5 star for me is because I felt like the ending was a little rushed. But huge huge fan of this book!

So good! I am so excited that I was given the opportunity to read the ARC for this!
Kept me on the edge of my seat!
By the end I could not put it down! I would love to see this turned into a movie or show!
Also! the twist at the end! I almost dropped my kindle! I thought I was going crazy! Totally did not see it coming!!

Campy movie type setting, a filming of a horror film, and people dying one by one. This one had potential for being really good but I found it to be just okay. Everything felt like I've read it before and the twist just wasn't twisty enoug.
I did like the writing and format, with the script throughout. And it read fairly quick. And I did really like the cover.
Thank you, Netgalley, publisher, and author for the ARC!

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this Advanced Reader’s Copy of Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith due to be published June 24, 2025.

Ella Winters was the “final girl” – the one who survived – in a horror movie twenty years ago. Now the cast wants to reunite at the same cabin where the film was made. They all have a terrible secret. Will this reunion be good for them or will their secrets be revealed?

I didn’t think I was going to like this book since it was about a slasher/horror film, but it was great! The entire cast of the film made twenty years ago reunite and so many secrets are revealed until the final ending – a big surprise! I would definitely recommend this one if you like psychological thrillers!

Also recommended by Miranda Smith: Not My Mother.

#NetGalley #Miranda Smith #RandomHousePublishingGroup #SmileForTheCameras