Smile for the Camera by Miranda Smith was my first read by this author, and it delivered a thrilling, nostalgic punch that kept me hooked from start to finish. The story follows Ella Winters, a former teen scream queen who starred in the cult slasher film Grad Night. Decades later, she returns to the eerie cabin where the movie was filmed to participate in a reunion documentary with her old castmates. But what begins as a chance to reclaim her fame quickly turns sinister when the actors start dying in the exact gruesome ways their characters did in the original film.

Smith masterfully blends psychological suspense with slasher-style horror, creating a locked-room mystery that feels both modern and steeped in '90s nostalgia. The novel shifts between present-day events, flashbacks, and snippets of the Grad Night script, adding layers of tension and meta commentary on fame, trauma, and the stories we tell to survive. Ella’s guilt over a long-buried secret shared by the cast becomes the emotional core of the novel, and as the body count rises, it’s clear that someone knows what really happened behind the scenes and wants revenge.

The biggest twist comes when the line between fiction and reality blurs beyond recognition. The killer, dressed as the original movie’s villain, forces Ella and the others to relive their worst nightmares, and the final reveal is both shocking and emotionally satisfying. As a first-time reader of Miranda Smith, I was impressed by her ability to craft suspense that’s not just chilling but deeply character-driven. Smile for the Camera is a clever, unsettling ride that proves sometimes the scariest stories are the ones we thought we left behind.

This book gave me total Scream vibes and I loved it! Ella became famous 20 years ago as the final girl in Grad Night, but filming wasn’t all glamour—someone died and the cast kept it a secret. Now she’s back for a reunion she doesn’t even want to attend, and of course, things are not what they seem.

The mix of past and present kept me hooked, and the twists had me constantly guessing. The reveal was not what I expected at all, which made it even better. Such a fun, twisty slasher-style thriller!

Big thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Ella rose to fame 20 years ago as the final girl in the horror film Grad Night. While filming, she found love and enjoyed parts of the experience, but a dark secret haunted the set—someone died, and the cast kept it quiet to protect the film. Now, two decades later, Ella is convinced by her agent to attend a reunion special. She’s hesitant, with no fond memories of that time, but she’s promised it’s the only way to get her career back on track. What she doesn’t realize is that the reunion is more of a setup than a celebration.

This book gave me total Scream vibes, with its mix of slasher-survivor energy and “movie within a movie” setup. I loved the way it shifted between past and present, slowly revealing what really happened all those years ago. It kept me hooked and constantly guessing, and the reveal of who was truly behind everything wasn’t what I expected at all.

A fun, twisty horror-thriller that fans of slasher films and dark Hollywood secrets will enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Ella landed the role as the final girl in Grad Night, a cult classic slasher, early in her career. At the time, they had no idea how successful the horror film would be, or how traumatic the experience would be to create it.

Twenty years later, Ella has been out of the spotlight for some time now. Eager to revive her career, Ella finds the opportunity to attend a reunion for the Grad Night series. However, attending the reunion would also reopen old wounds. Is the fame worth the price?

This was a fun slasher with several twists and interesting characters. I found some details (that I will not mention because I refuse to spoil it) to be less-than-plausible, which affected my rating, but that was me being super picky. I still definitely enjoyed reading this one. Overall, this is a great beach reader, especially for fans of I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith in exchange for an honest review. A documentary for a reunion of a horror movie with secrets buried everywhere. This is the premise that kept me reading all night long, finishing the book and finding out secrets and buried bodies.

I LOVED the homage this story gives to fan-favorite horror movie franchises (especially Scream), and I thought this was so fun to read. This has two timelines revolving around a girl who was the final girl in a cult-classic horror film 20 years ago, and she agrees to film a reunion with the original cast because she’s having a hard time getting more work as an actress. We then bounce back and forth between what she’s experiencing in the reunion and what happened during filming all those years ago. Something bad happened that the original cast covered up, and even though they have all stayed silent about it, someone found out and is out to make them all pay.

This was good but not great. The vibes were off the chart, and it was brimming with classic slasher nostalgia. It felt like watching a 90s horror movie, and the writing was so engaging and felt perfect. I just didn’t love the reveal at the end. There were definitely a few twists that truly took me by surprise, but I can’t help but feel like I wanted more from the reveal. It felt a little Scooby-Doo-ish by the end? I don’t know, I just wasn’t feeling it as much once the killer was unmasked.

I would still 100% recommend this to horror fans and those who want a thriller that isn’t super dark and is more campy and fun. I had a very good time reading this one, and big thanks to Random House Ballantine and Netgalley for this ARC!

20 years ago, Ella Winters starred in the horror classic, “Grad Night.” But her life after filming wasn’t picture perfect, and she eventually left Hollywood to care for her dying mom.

Rumors of a haunted set and the disappearance of a crew member added to the film’s legacy. So when the 20th anniversary was approaching, the original cast agreed to go back to the filming location for a reunion.

Will this reignite their careers, or dig up secrets better kept buried?

***

This was disappointing for me. The premise was promising, but I didn’t care about any of the characters. They never developed beyond their horror-film tropes.

The twist was weird and seemed forced. And Ella spent the whole book referring back to their dark secret (but we only discover it at the end). The constant allusions were distracting—I GOT IT, THEY DID SOMETHING BAD.

I get the sense that the author was trying to add a deeper meaning, while I was just hoping for a scary good read.

Neither one of us achieved their objective.

Thanks to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Smiles for the Cameras by Miranda Smith
⭐️⭐️

Smile For The Cameras has a few things in common with books like Horror Movie, Burn The Negative, and, to some degree, The Remaking: Like these other picks, it’s concerned with the making of a cult classic horror film and the revisiting of it by the people who made it many years later; it unfolds in dual narratives, one in the past and one in the present; and at the heart of the whole thing is something tragic that occurred on set all those decades ago, and which has remained buried ever since.

In this case, we’re concerned with Ella Winters, once poised to become the Next Big Thing before she bowed out of the industry after making a huge splash in cult classic slasher Grad Night. Years later, there’s a Grad Night reunion in the works — and although Ella has, in the aftermath of the loss of her mother, wanted to dip her toe back in the industry, she absolutely didn’t want to do it like this.

She may not have a choice, though; if she wants to get back in the game, her agent tells her, this is the best — and possibly only — way to do it.

But once Ella has arrived back at the place where it all began, things start to go south with alarming speed — because, well… the things you try to bury? They won’t stay that way forever.

I’ll admit that ultimately, I found this one more a thriller than a horror novel — but then again, the line between the two is often blurred, and how a work reads in relation to them frequently depends on the individual reader. It’s still an enjoyable read, and worth picking up if you're looking for something with some twists and turns this spooky season.

Ooh, this grabbed me and I couldn't put this book down. I felt like I was in the horror movie, Going back and forth the POV from today, when everyone is back on the set of the horror movie that was filmed 20 years ago, the twists and turns kept me engaged, and turning pages.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for the ARC!

I Had to DNF this at 35%. I'm not interested in the classic horror movies and this really felt like that. I did like the real time timeline, but I just couldn't read the recaps

I was immediately hooked by the premise: a 90s slasher movie cast reunites for a documentary after someone goes missing on the original set. That set-up practically screams fun, nostalgic, and eerie all at once — sign me up.

Twenty years ago, Ella played the “final girl” in a low-budget slasher that, over time, has gained a devoted cult following. For Ella, the role felt like the start of a promising film career, until something strange and unsettling happened on set. Ever since, she’s avoided any connection to the film — including a reunion she wanted nothing to do with. But when her agent Fiona convinces her to attend, Ella finds herself face-to-face with a cast of frustrating and unlikeable personalities, reminding her exactly why she wanted to keep her distance.

The novel alternates between present-day events and excerpts from the original 90s script. While I usually love a dual-timeline structure, here the script sections often felt more like interruptions than enriching background, pulling me out of the momentum of the current story.

Overall, the concept had incredible potential — creepy nostalgia, a meta-horror vibe, and plenty of room for suspense. Unfortunately, it didn’t quite land for me. That said, it was still a quick, entertaining summer read with a clever hook that will likely appeal to fans of slashers and horror nostalgia more than it did to me.

I was so excited to get an ARC copy of this book for review. I had heard great things about it from friends and was ready to dive in. It immediately hooked me in from the very first chapter and I had a hard time putting it down. This was a quick easy read that I was able to finish in two days..... it would've been one day had I not had grown up responsibilities. ha! Miranda Smith had me guessing what was going on from the very beginning. She has a wonderful way of writing that really makes you feel that you are right there with the main characters. I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves suspenseful novels! I had never read a Miranda Smith book before this one but I will be checking her other books out soon!

Reading this felt very similar to watching a B horror movie where you maybe saw the preview at some point and made a note to catch it on streaming, or you've just gotten obsessed with some CW-esque actor with an iffy history of choosing scripts but you're gonna watch this one anyway because you're knee deep in this thing now. You know?

And then you finish it and you're sort of pleasantly surprised because it wasn't like, the best thing ever, but it was very capably done and you don't really have any complaints tbh. So: this is worth reading if you're into this sorta thing. Hey, I've damned with fainter praise before!

I received a DIGITAL Advance Reader Copy of this book from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

My first thought after I finished this was meh with a shrug. It was fine. I get that we needed the backstory for everything but we had to wait till over halfway through the book for the killer to show up in the present storyline. I had to go back to the synopsis to see if there was supposed to be a killer at all or not. It was a big slow burn up until that point. Once we reach that point it goes from 0 to 100 and finishes so quickly.

I enjoyed the big twist because I did not see that coming at all.

I you like slasher films, you will love this book! Ella used to make horror movies for a living but never thought she would be in a real life one. There is a reason she left Hollywood and didn't come back. That reason for leaving is coming back to haunt her in a way that she never imagined!

Thank you NetGalley! Another great read by Miranda Smith. I was excited to be able to read this one. I absolutely loved the cove how it looked 90s/slasher like. The book drew me in from the very beginning. The switching between characters and past and present helped set the scene

This was such a fun thriller and a great concept. The novel definitely has the vibes of gory, 90s slasher movies and the movie set being the setting is perfect.

With two distinct time periods, one where the main characters are working on the set of the original movie and the other being the same folks on a "reunion" set for the movie.

The FMC is a strong woman who felt she'd played a part in a terribly unfortunate event as a young woman on the set of her first big movie. She never wanted any reminder of that time, until she is given no choice but to return to the scene with all the folks who witnessed the original tragedy. When the reunion of a horror movie turns into the scene of a real slasher, everything turns to chaos and FMC has no choice but to do anything she can to survive - including facing the reality of her own memories.

Smile for the Cameras is an atmospheric, emotionally engaging slasher with a dash of meta flair. It may not terrify you, but it’s delightfully twisty and emotionally resonant—a perfect beach or summer read with a horror-camp punc

I ended up DNF this one. I just couldn’t not stay interested whatsoever. I don’t know if I just wasn’t in the mood for this genre when I tried reading or if the writing just wasn’t grabbing me.

#SmileForTheCameras by #MirandaSmith

A BIG thank you to #NetGalley and #RandomHousePublishingGroupBallantine for allowing me to read this ebook in exchange for my honest review!

About the book: 20 years ago Ella Winters starred in a horror movie cult classic called Grad Night, where she played the “final girl”. But something truly awful happened off camera, and Ella and the rest of the crew agreed to never speak of it again.
Shorty after the movie premiere, Ella quit acting to help take care of her sick mother. She never spoke to anyone from the movie set since.
After her mom’s passing, Ella is asked to return to the silver screen a a Grad Night reunion. Ella feels guilty about what happened in the past, but she apprehensively agrees to return for the reunion. She will after a decade return back to the same move set with the same actors and crew.
But then the actors begin to start meeting the same gruesome fate their movies characters met in the original movie. It’s clear that someone knows their secret from all those years ago and now wants revenge…but who?

What I thought: I thought this sounded like it would be a super fun book to read. I’m a sucker for a good horror/slasher movie, so I thought the book would be right up my alley. I will say that the book is pretty good, but nothing really happens until more towards the end of the book. I don’t know if I’d say it was “slow”, because it did hold my attention enough that I wanted to keep reading. I like that it kept switching from present to past, so you were able to see the build of for the big awful “secret” that had happened in the past. And the ending twist did get me. All in all I thought it was a decent read and I’d definitely recommend it to those that love horror/slasher films and books. It would be great to read during spooky season! I’m going to rate this one 3.5 out of 5 stars 😁