I have no idea why I haven't heard more people talk about this book, but it was so good. It had the perfect horror-nostalgia vibes of the 90s, but also was engrossing, and the atmosphere was excellent. Also, I love the cover as well. Fits in perfectly.

Our story is set in rural Tennessee, where the crew filmed "Grad Night" twenty-ish years ago. Ella returns for the reunion special, but she's worried about secrets coming out that should never see the light of day. She's jumpy, tense, and has trouble finding her groove, even with her old castmates. But it's only for one weekend, so she pushes through.

This story is paced out cleverly. It alternates between the original filming, the current reunion timeline, with some script scenes interspersed. It is a somewhat slow buildup, but it never feels slow for no reason. The author does an excellent job of bringing the simmering tension to life, and I think that the slower buildup contributes to the great execution.

The ending was wild. There were some twists I somewhat guessed, but I definitely didn't get all of them, nor get close to them being right. I also liked that in some instances, secrets are still coming out, even when you think you know everything, you don't.

Highly recommend; this book was so much more than I was expecting, and it was a great read.

I was intrigued by the concept: 90s slasher movie cast reunites for documentary after someone goes missing on the original set. Sign me up for a good time.
20 years ago, Ella was the final girl in a B-list slasher movie that has turned into a cult classic over the years. Ella thought this was the beginning of her movie career until something mysterious happened on set. She tried anything to not be a part of an upcoming reunion until her agent Fiona finally talked her into it. There were a lot of frustrating, unlikeable characters. I totally understand why Ella didn’t want to hang out with them again.
The book moves back and forth between present day and the original script from the 90s. While I love a book that moves back and forth between timelines, the past felt like it interrupted the current plot at times instead of adding any background information to it.
The concept had so much promise but it just wasn’t for me. It was a decent quick summer read though.
Thank you Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an eARC copy of Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith.

Smile for the Cameras is a love letter to slasher films, blending Hollywood cynicism with a familiar final-girl formula. It's an entertaining, fast-paced thriller that offers plenty of nods to horror fans, but it doesn't quite deliver the depth or originality that might have elevated it beyond the tropes it so enthusiastically embraces. (Honestly gave me Cabin in the Woods vibes, which is my least favorite movie)

At the center is Ella Winters, a former scream queen who left the industry after surviving both a cult slaher film and a darker, undisclosed trauma behind the scenes. When she's invited back for a reunion documentary with the original cast, the stage is set for a meta-horror whodunit. The storry kicks off with promise-an aging star haunted by secrets, a secluded cabin in Tennessee, and a masked killer picking off the cast one by one.

Smith clearly has reverence for the genre, and her pacing is solid. The chapters are short, the dalogue snappy, and the suspence, while predictable at times, is effective. The books leans heavily into the conventions of slashers-isolated setting, body cout, a mysterious killer in costume-but doesn't always subver them in interesting ways. I was certainly underwhelmed when it came to the psychological or innovative twists to elevate the story.

Ella is sympathetic, if somewhat underdeveloped (downfall of shorter chapters in my opinion), protagonist. Her internal struggle with guilt and trauma adds emotional weight to the narrative, though it often put on the back burner to the action. The supporting characters felt more like slasher-fodder than realized people and gives no emotional impact to their fates.

In the end, it was a bit too safe for me and reminded me too much of horror video games or as mentioned in the beginning Cabin in the Woods to be overly enjoyable.

**3.5 stars**

This was a good summertime slasher, perfect for reading in a cabin in the woods on vacation. It is not overly gory and definitely not overly scary if you don’t like really scary books; more of a darker thriller I’d say.

Ella and her costars return for a 20 year reunion of their huge cult horror movie and bad memories and revenge for what happened 20 years ago comes back to haunt them all now. I liked the back and forth in time and I really liked reading the movie script as well. It did take a little bit to get going, I liked the twists at the end and I didn’t guess the killer which is always a huge plus for me. My reason for 3.5 stars was it took a while to get going and for the action in the present to get going, otherwise it was a very good summertime slasher read.

**Thanks to the author and Random House/Bantam for the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.**

i tend to gravitate towards thrillers that take place or revolve around movie sets, so it was a given that this would catch my eye. the biggest similarity would be to Friday the 13th, and I Know What You Did Last Summer but do keep in mind that the slashing doesn’t actually occur until the last section of the book. Ella was the final girl in a movie called Grad Night years ago, where her and the other cast members held on to a pretty terrible secret. they whole cast is roped into returning for a reunion special by the original director Cole, with things slowly starting to unravel form there.

i didn’t care about any of the characters to be honest and there were several things i seen coming from a mile away. that doesn’t mean that i didn’t have fun with this though, it was entertaining when it needed to be. we get snippets of the old movie script, along with past and present timeline switches and i didn’t always love that.. it messed with the flow occasionally. the reveal of who the killer was this time came out of of nowhere to me, but I would still say this was an okay read mostly.

Terror, Suspense, and SHOCKING TWISTS!

Smile for the Cameras is the return to Camp Crystal Lake-style horror that Friday the 13th fans have been begging for. Miranda Smith blends slasher nostalgia with psychological tension in a way that feels both fresh and reverently classic. Told through the lens of a cult horror film cast reuniting on the set of their infamous movie, this story hits every note of a horror-thriller hybrid—terrifying chase scenes, eerie flashbacks, clever meta-commentary, and a final twist that lands like a dagger to the gut.

Smith shows off her psychological thriller chops here, building a cast of characters who are as layered and unpredictable as they are flawed. Secrets abound, and as the timelines shift between past and present, so do the readers’ suspicions. The book thrives in its atmosphere: it's tense, moody, and dripping with dread. You can feel the unease pressing in, page by page.

But make no mistake—this is also pure horror fun. Smith leans into the genre’s best tropes with affection and skill: the jaded former scream queen, the mysterious on-set incidents, the feeling that something isn’t quite right. And when the horror hits, it hits. It’s dark, it’s disturbing, and it keeps you guessing right up to the very end.

Perfect for fans of Heads Will Roll by Joshua Winning, The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman, or Static Snow by Matthew R. Corr. Smile for the Cameras is creepy, clever, and utterly addictive—an absolute must-read for horror lovers.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy. Smile for the Cameras follows Ella Winters an actress, as she returns for a reunion documentary of Grad Night, the slasher movie that made her famous 20 years earlier. We switch POVs between the current time and when they were filming the movie. The movie is infamous due to the fact that there were rumors that a cast member disappeared. After the movie wrapped up, the core cast agreed to never speak again. I enjoyed the storyline. I had a hard time believing that the murderer would wait so long, but it was still a good fast paced read.

I love 90s slasher movies and thriller books, so of course I was gonna read this. It did not disappoint! 20 years after the filming of grad night, the cast is asked to come back for a reunion. But then the actors start meeting the fate of their characters, and they’re running out of time to find out who is doing this.
An action packed read!!!



Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc.

Real Rating: 3.5* of five

Really fun! In the Stephen Graham Jones territory of making slasher schlock interesting and enjoyable to those who didn't much like it back in the day, though without the same panache. In fact, had I not read Author Stephen's work I would've passed this book by.

The big downside for me was the unanswerable question, "what took you so long?" It dragged a four-star funfest down to a decent three-and-a-half I'm not sorry I read.

I received this DRC from NetGalley.

This was a pretty fast, uncomplicated read. I thought the first twist was kind of dumb and just felt like a forced way for there to be a reveal. The slower reveal of one of the characters being a bad person was a bit better. The structure was interesting, with excerpts from the movie script throughout. The characters felt a bit shallow, but maybe that was on purpose to mimic a horror movie? Overall, it was OK since I was able to read through it pretty quickly.

I enjoyed the '90s slasher vibes of this book! The atmosphere was spot on, and I thought the script pages added something extra to the already creepy atmosphere of the cabin in the woods where the filming is taking place. Everyone is returning for the reunion of Grad Night, the slasher that put many of their names on the map. Ella was the only holdout, but ultimately, she agrees, even though she knows it's going to bring up certain memories she doesn't want to revisit. I loved Ella as our MC, and how once the horror began, it was nonstop until we reached the end.

As soon as she arrived, I loved the atmosphere of the isolated cabin, and having the cast back together. We know something bad happened during the original filming, but we don't know what. Although I think you can guess that whatever it was is going to come back to bite them in the but while they are all back together in true slasher fashion.

I had a great time with this, and I'll definitely be reading more by this author in the future.

This is a solid book that is so fun and twisty and I loved every second of it! This is how you do summer horror right

If you are looking for a thriller with very literal classic summer slasher vibes, this is the one for you. Set in a remote area with a then-and-now back and forth of the filming of a horror movie and the reunion special decades later threatening to reveal the buried secrets of the cast, it was a frightening, but easy to read, summer scare.

I love Smith’s writing. Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith was another amazing suspense story.
Miranda Smith writes dark, intelligent and captivating thrillers that have to be devoured in a single sitting and in Smile for the Cameras, she has once again created a superb page-turner that will blow readers away.
The book is well written, just like all the other books by this talented author are, so there are no surprises. The book sucks you in. It keeps you glued to the pages, and it keeps you interested.

If you go into this book thinking it’s going to be the “locked-room” thriller advertised in the blurb, be ready to be disappointed, because this book isn’t “locked-room”. Heck, it isn’t even closed-loop. That’s not a spoiler–it’s facts, and it might save someone from reading a book they aren’t interested in (like me).

Am I salty about this? Yes. It’s far from the only thing I’m salty about concerning this book, though.

Everything about this book was a bit too on the nose for me and that took a lot of the enjoyment out of the reading experience. When it wasn’t busy seeming to say, “Do you get it now?”, the book seemed to be playing at its own kind of aimless exploitation that left a bad taste in my mouth…in a bad way.

I loved the in-jokes and references to cinematic horror as a whole, but the rest? I don’t recommend it.



I was provided a copy of this title by the author and publisher via Netgalley. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. All reviews rated three stars or under will not appear on my main social media channels. Thank you.

Smile for the Cameras by Miranda Smith
Length: 304 pages
Source: NetGalley eARC
Publication date: June 24, 2025

Summary
Ella Winters’ claim to fame is being the final girl in the cult-classic Grad Night, a slasher movie that came out 20 years ago. But the things that happened off-screen—things that ended in horrible secrets—sent her back to the real world soon after the movie wrapped, and she left Hollywood to take care of her mother and get away from the awful memories. Since her mother passed six months ago, Ella has been toying with a return to acting. As long as the film has held its cult status, Ella has been the lone holdout of the original cast for a Grad Night reunion. But now, agreeing to a reunion is the key to opening the doors to revive her career.

Ella reluctantly agrees to return to Blackstone Cottage—a remote Tennessee cabin where Grad Night was filmed—and is soon proven right to have been concerned about reuniting, as cast members start to die off in the same way their characters did. The killer has figured out the secrets that sent Ella running from Hollywood all those years ago, and they’ve come to get revenge. But for what? What happened 20 years ago when the cameras weren’t rolling?

My Thoughts
If you like 80s/90s slasher-movie vibes, then I think you’ll enjoy this one. It takes a while—quite a while—to get going, and the then/now dual timeline might not be for everyone. It didn’t bother me, although there are also snippets of the script intermixed, so it’s more like then/now/script, and I don’t know if that was necessary to advance the story. The past/present timelines were plenty understandable to follow along.

While I enjoyed the book (because I’m an 80s baby who grew up watching cheesy slasher movies), I can’t say I actually cared about any of these characters. I wasn’t invested beyond finishing the book. I didn’t worry about a particular person getting hurt, surviving, etc., except for wanting the problematic ones to face some consequences. Overall, I had a good time with the slasher-ness of the book, but the characters aren’t ones that are going to stick with me after turning the final page.

— A

Thanks to NetGalley, Bantam/Random House, and Miranda Smith for an eARC of this book. All opinions are mine. Reviews posted regularly on StoryGraph, Instagram, BlueSky, and BookBub.

Book Review 📚
Title: Smile for the Cameras
Author: Miranda Smith

Ella rose to fame after starring in the cult classic slasher Grad Night. But once the cameras stopped rolling, something went terribly wrong. Years later, the cast and crew reunite to film a reunion special but Ella is haunted by the past and can’t shake the memories of what they did! What did they do??
As a horror movie fan, I was really excited about this book. I found the pacing incredibly slow, and nothing about the story truly pulled me in. I kept waiting for it to pick up, but it never quite did. It was a struggle to get through.


Thank you NetGalley, Miranda and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC!

Publication Date: June 24 2025
Rating: ✨✨✨

A Grad Night reunion sparks a possible career revival for actress Ella if she’s able to move past the franchise that made her and the frightening secrets that it holds. But filming at Blackstone Cottage brings back too many painful memories, too many ghosts, too many rumored missing and dead people. In the vibes of Catherine Ryan Howard’s Run Time meets Cabin in the Woods genre stereotype as the main cast is very stereotypical horror movie roles.

This feels very relevant to today, as nostalgia brings back so many people for remakes and reunions and I get vibes of how it felt starting the whole Scream franchise again in 2022. Even though I liked the movie script moments, the script was pretty awful and cringey. Even though the timeframe for the movie flashbacks is likely early 2000s, the script gives very 80s Friday the 13th vibes. So timeline felt disjointed. The flashback scenes were intriguing, really displaying the whole cutthroat nature of the Hollywood scene and catching glimpses of our suspects but not over stretching it out,

The ending is pretty messy, plot holes covered up by memory lapse excuses, one of my least favorite excuses in a thriller, and doesn’t accomplish what the ending tries to do. Almost felt like part of the story had been left out.

This definitely had 90s slasher film vibes and I ate it up. The dual timelines worked well as did the interspersed scenes from the movie. There was a plot point that was a major suprise to me and I was not ready for which made this even more enjoyable. Ella was an excellent final girl, for both the movie and the book (which trust me, isn’t a spoiler if you realize how closely this follows tropes) and her love and dedication for her mother was lovely. If you’re excited for the new I Know What You Did Last Summer then you will want to check this out.

The was such a fun read! I really enjoyed the classic slasher movie vibes this book gave off. The dual timeline between past and present kept things interesting and I especially liked the sections that included parts of the movie script the characters had stared in. The book was fast paced and entertaining from start to finish. While the ending didn’t surprise me, I was still happy with how it wrapped up. This was my first book by the author and I plan to check out more!