This story was gripping the entire time through! It was very reminiscent of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, two movies I’m very fond of. I thought I knew where the book was going to go, but it surprised me! Ella and Aries are two great characters - as are Petra and Riley. I also found myself connecting to Fiona and sympathizing with her quite a bit. Overall, I really enjoyed this read. I couldn’t stop myself from finishing it and it’s one of my favorites that I’ve read recently. It was a fun mystery and a good light horror/thriller. Eager to read more from this author in the future!

This is a 2.5 rounded up. The cover though, perfect.

I didn’t hate it but it wasn’t thrilling at all. I don’t think things really picked up until, like, almost 80%? And that’s just too long for nothing to really be happening.

I will say that even if I didn’t love it, it was an easy read and fast paced which helped.

The first reveal I did not like, the rest were just fine. Aries was the only character I liked and almost wish she was the main character.

This is far from the worst thing I read but it wasn’t great. Just not for me.

This book was so spooky! I loved how this book played out, and it was hard to take a break once I started reading it. Such a great summer read, especially for those of us going camping!

This book was just okay to me! It took a loooong time to get going and it was just nothing particulary new for the slasher genre. Overall, just okay.

Okay, so I am OBSESSED with this book. I’ve had a thriller-shaped hole in my heart lately, and Smile for the Cameras filled it perfectly. I’ve been really into time jumps and nostalgic media lately, and this one delivered. If you love classic slashers, it pays homage in all the best ways. Major Scream and Halloween vibes. If you liked Good Girl's Guide to Murder, this WILL be a big hit for you.

The predictability level was spot on for me! You could make some educated guesses and feel smart, but the killer still genuinely shocked me. There were just enough breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout, and in hindsight, the reveal made total sense. The explanation felt earned, not forced, and I was guessing until the big reveal.

The ending was so satisfying. It truly felt like justice was served, and it gave me the kind of resolution that feels like the big relaxing exhale at the end of all good scary stories and movies

A solid 4 stars from me. Can’t wait to read more from this author!

Slasher summer is here and Smile for the Cameras was the perfect read to kick it off!

20 years ago Ella starred as the final girl in cult horror movie Grad Night. Now, she’s desperate to make a comeback in the acting world, and participating in a documentary to celebrate the anniversary seems the best way to do that. But secrets from the past that should have stayed buried soon resurface and soon the bodies are piling up.

I had a lot of fun reading this book. I’m a huge horror movie fan, so I really appreciated all of the behind the scenes flashbacks we got from when Grad Night was being filmed. There were plenty of homages to actual movies here, which I also liked. I thought Ella was a great main character and actually enjoyed all of the secondary ones as well. There were plenty of twists along the way, some I didn’t see coming, and I had fun guessing who the potential killer/s may be.

Thank you to Ballantine for a review copy.

Miranda Smith’s Smile for the Cameras is a chilling, nostalgic slasher that blends Hollywood glamour with real-life horror. Twenty years after starring in the cult classic Grad Night, actress Ella Winters returns for a reunion documentary—only to find herself reliving the nightmare when cast members start dying in ways eerily similar to the film.

Told through present-day scenes, flashbacks, and snippets of the original screenplay, the story builds suspense with clever pacing and eerie atmosphere. Ella’s struggle to confront past trauma while surviving a new threat makes her a compelling “final girl” worth rooting for.

Perfect for fans of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, this thriller delivers campy chills and twisted secrets, though the ending may leave some readers wanting more.



Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Bantam for this ARC!

Read this one during spooky season! Miranda Smith pays tribute to classic slasher films with her debut adult novel, Smile for the Cameras, about a cast of actors brought back together on the set of the film that made them famous ... with deadly consequences.

Ella Winters starred as the final girl in slasher smash hit, Grad Night, that propelled her to stardom. But she left the burgeoning spotlight soon after the movie's premiere some 20 years ago under the pretense of caring for her mother. In actuality, something terrible happened on set that Ella is desperate to hide.

Now, however, Ella is looking to return to Hollywood, so she finally agrees to film the Grad Night reunion show. As the reunion's long holdout, Ella was the one keeping the group from coming back together, but with her acceptance, memories of what happened on set all those years ago are sure to come up.

Ella believes things are going smoothly ... until some strange things start happening on the grounds of the cabin where they are staying. When events start to mimic those so famously portrayed in Grad Night, Ella can't help believe that someone has discovered their secret and is picking them off, one by one ...

Smile for the Cameras is a thriller-horror hybrid, perfect for spooky autumn reading! The movie at the center of Smile for the Cameras - Grad Night - pays homage to all of the cheesy, racy, and violent slasher films of the '80s and '90s, and even mentions a few by name to kick up the nostalgia even more! Setting this book in a cabin in the Tennessee woods was also a power play, as it creates the perfect dark and ominous atmosphere needed to tell a scary story.

While Smile for the Cameras definitely has its entertaining bits and pieces, it does run into some trouble with characterization and the climax. The two male leads are written so similarly that I honestly didn't even bother distinguishing them in my mind. We are also introduced to EVERYONE on set, likely to provide red herrings for the big reveal at the end of the book, but frankly, it just made this book feel like work to keep everyone straight. And lastly, that big reveal ... it was unfortunately a let-down.

In all, Smile for the Cameras wins the major awards for setting, theme, and tone, but loses points when it comes to telling a twisty tale of horror.

a million times yes. Fast pace, looking past and future but never did we lose the plot. Everything moved along quickly being such a page turner! So much nostalgia while reading, bringing me back the vibes of the old teen scream slasher movies. Thank you to Netgalley, Miranda Smith, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and Bantam for gifting me this ARC in exchange for an honest review

3.5 ⭐️ A veryyyy easy light summer thriller. It’s the same vibes as 90s horror movies that aren’t really scary but are super campy and keep you on your toes just enough. It’s just supposed to be fun! This book never kept me awake with the spooks but I was always happy to go back to it.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the eARC!

For starters, thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story had me engaged and hooked from the second I started reading it. It starts right off the bat with the script for a scary movie. From that point on, I could not put this book down.

I will say, there were times when it was a little dry and boring, but those moments were few and far between. It seemed like something was always happening, either in the script, in the flashback perspective, or in the present perspective.

I was not a huge fan of the ending and the reveal of the killer because while they did have a motive for the killer, I saw this book ending completely differently and for a whole different reason. Then when I read the ending, I liked the ending I had predicted way more than the actual ending. I thought it was a bit too out there for my likings in Thriller Books.

This book was so good. I did enjoy the back and forth from the past to the present. I wish some of the characters and movie scenes were more thought out and the killer at the end was kind of meh.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for this ARC! 20 years after Ella's star status had fallen, she wants to go back and become the "It" she once was in a horror cult classic having to leave to take care of her mother. When its decided to bring the cast back together to the original location, things start to go very wrong. None of the characters were very likeable and seemed like the story has been pushed thru with no real feeling behind it. After reading her previous books; was looking forward to it but it did not stack up at all to her previous ones.

This book's premise really caught my eye, and I really was excited to read a book that had to do with a movie set along with the fact that I love summertime books. I do wish it had more action throughout the book but unfortunately it didn't happen much until the end. This definitely gave me "I Know What You Did Last Summer" vibes considering everyone experienced something they all collectively decided to keep secret. I'm honestly not a big fan of books that jump around timelines like this one did. I did think including parts of the script was very engaging and a great additive to the theme. This book just didn't really read like a horror, which was disappointing for me, but I still enjoyed the read.

I received an ARC from Random House Publishing - Bantam via NetGalley. This adult horror felt like an homage to I Know What You Did Last Summer and Scream. Years ago Ella was in the hit horror movie Grad Night with a masked & gowned villain and they want them all to come back for a reunion documentary. However, something bad happened on set that only the cast knows about and she doesn’t want to go back. In order to jump start her next career Ella agrees to go back and confront her fears. Told alternating between Then and Now with bits of the screenplay written in, this is a fun mystery with blood, twists, and turns. References to classic horror for fans included.

Such a fun popcorn thriller! Kept me guessing until the very end! Definitely recommend if you like moves like scream and I know what you did last summer!

And at least one death happened here that wasn’t caught on camera.

Twenty years ago, Ella starred in the horror movie Grad Night. A small budget film that became an instant hit and has developed a cult following with the progressive sequels. While the film jump started her career, it emotionally destroyed Ella and after a few years on a popular sitcom, she left Hollywood to take care of her sick mother. Now that her mother has died, Ella's ready to try and revive her career. A middle aged woman has a harder time landing roles, so Ella's agent pressures her to do a Grad Night reunion documentary that fans have been clamoring for, in hopes it will open doors for her. Ella lost touch with her cast mates and has tried to steer clear of anything Grad Night, as one murder happened on set that wasn't filmed. Back at the cabin in the woods that started it all, it seems that the secret Ella and her cast mates worked so hard to keep quiet is known by someone and they're willing to murder over it.

A tall figure stands at the railing, also dressed in a graduation gown and with a blood-spattered lion mask covering the person’s face, an axe with a bloody blade in their hands.

As a big movie slasher fan, I was excited when I read the synopsis of this. It's told in alternating timelines, Then – 20yrs ago with the movie being filmed and Now – present time with Ella back to the film's location and everyone filming the reunion doc. The alternating timelines are to keep moving the story along in the present time but with the mystery kept quiet until the end of what really happened twenty years ago. There's also add-ins of the movie script, which I really enjoyed as a movie fan. I liked how the story was structured and set-up but I'm not a big fan of unreliable narrator and that tactic was deployed to keep the killer a secret; it feels too cop-out manipulating for me. I enjoyed the first half but then the middle and beginning ending started to sag as Ella and her cast mates kind of just moped around. There were some interesting aspects to the secondary characters but as this was told from Ella's point-of-view, everything is from her perspective, so readers never really get to know the cast until the very end. The story started to ramp up around 60% when the present time murders began to happen and we finally got some slashing.

You don’t think about what you’re doing, you just do it.

The vibe of the story felt like a vehicle to go over the #METOO movement and sexism and predators in Hollywood, which, ok, but a lot of the time this was focused on, it felt like the story stopped and we got some awkward fitting pulpit preaching. There were some surprise reveals and just a little head scratching at the who and motives, but still entertaining. Structured interestingly, dragged out in middle because I'm not sure Ella was a strong enough character to carry the story, unreliable narrator, kind of awkwardly fit in preaching, surprising reveals, and some chills and thrills. There were a few call-outs for lovers of the horror movie genre to appreciate but I thought the nine month's into the future epilogue could have used someone popping out of a lake to liven things up.

I enjoyed this horror debut! It felt very nostalgic to old slasher films. I will say that it took quite a while for any action to kick in, but since I genuinely liked the 4 main actors, I didn't mind spending so much time following them around and getting to know them. However, if you're looking for something fast-paced, don't expect that in the first half of the book. I'll admit that some of the twists I definitely didn't see coming, which was exciting. However, I also didn't love the way a certain character who was "unmasked" then had their storyline end...it felt a bit too cheap and convenient and isn't a plot device I ever enjoy reading. But otherwise, this definitely kept my attention and was a fun ride, and I'll be keeping my eyes out for what the authors writes next!

**Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you so much to Ballantine Books for the gifted book!

3.5 Stars

This story revolves around actress, Ella Winters and her return to the set of the once wildly popular film, Grad Night. After 20 years, she's heading back to the cabin in the woods where the film was originally recorded and where her life changed forever. Everyone has been keeping secrets, and they're all about to be exposed!

Overall, this was a total breeze to read! I was quickly drawn into the reunion storyline and was so eager to find out what happened to Ella to make her into the woman she is now. Since some are calling this "light horror" I was worried I would be a little bit spooked, but I'm glad (and slightly sad) that it never really scared me, and it definitely didn't feel too different from a typical thriller I'd read.

I thought the surprises along the way were fun and one major twist actually had me shocked!

There were some heavier parts, so check content warnings if you're concerned!

I think a lot of thriller reads would have a lot of fun with SMILE FOR THE CAMERAS!

The setting was really cool with the cabin in the woods and the lake and some awesome cliffs, especially at that time of day with the clouds! If you are a fan of the slasher movies, then this book will be nicely enjoyable because there is a well used axe and a creepy lion mask wearing person lurking around!

I found it to be a fast read and hard to put down as it jumps back and forth between past and present with the making of the movie and then twenty years later for a reunion. I did like Ella, who seemed like a decent person, even if she has been tormented by the events around the time of the first movie. Lots of blood, both fake and real and some good, if tragic twists, that kept me stuck in the book to see how many people were going to make it out alive, and if they deserved to after what they may or may not have done in the past and present.

I enjoyed this story though now I have a strong desire to go watch a slasher film! Too bad Grad Night is not a real movie. lol!