Hannah is struggling to move on after the death of her fiancé. When a mistake at work forces her to take time off, a wellness retreat with friends seems like the perfect reset. At first, things feel peaceful—but that doesn’t last.

There’s a slow build, but once the action hits, it’s nonstop. The kills are gory, the suspense is sharp, and I suspected everyone—and was still wrong! With Hannah’s trauma clouding reality, I never knew what was real, which made it impossible to put down.

Another fantastic summer slasher!

P.S. Read the Author’s Note!

Thank you to Brian McAuley, Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for the ARC! 🖤

Technically, I think I'd give this book 3.5 stars but it kept me entertained and reading so it gets 4.

This horror story is exactly as it is billed - a cross between Midsommer and Scream. The main character is a little uneven but it was easy to overlook.

The ending was good. This book smoothly and definitely fits in the horror genre. If you enjoy horror stories, this is for you.

Sadly this was a DNF for me. It started out fun, but I've actually read a story recently with a much similar plotline that moved considerably faster, with more likeable characters - which made this much less engaging as a result. I'm sure slasher fans will appreciate it, but it took too long to get where it was going for me, and the characters just weren't relatable (appropriately for a horror homage, perhaps!). Apologies.

I 👏🏼 love 👏🏼 it 👏🏼

More slashers please!!! It is such a fun genre! The author did an excellent job of nailing the “slasher rules” we know and love but in a way that wasn’t predictable and still had a shock and wow factor.

I love how when you read a slasher book it is so easy to convert it into a movie in your head , and this plot would definitely make for an excellent movie adaption.

I also love wellness retreats gone wrong so the setting was extra fun for me.

I liked all the characters and was a fan of the final girl her background story was interesting and complex!

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for the gifted copy i am now a huge fan of the author, also the cover art is phenomenal 10/10

Publishes - September 2nd

Thank you Netgalley for the early copy!

I absolutely loved this. A perfect slasher with a creepy villain, great setting and fun characters. Somehow McAuley made a yoga retreat super creepy haha.

This was excellent, I practically finished it in one sitting and I had truly no idea who the killer was!

I,ve never clicked the five stars so fast, honestly one of my best reads of this year so far. It was a very fun read, and the way the humour was incorporated in the narrative, ahh just so good. Perfect little book to read in an afternoon, very fast paced, easy to follow, (I'm goint to repeat myself) fun, idk it was just exaclty what i needed. Loved the slasher aspect, as a slasher girlie mysefl, safe to say i really enjoyed this book, it was also very satisfactory when everything started to unfold, i just loved it, can't wait to read more things from this author

A remote wellness retreat in Joshua Tree sounds like exactly what Hannah needs to get her life back on track after her fiancée's tragic death. Despite her recalcitrance upon meeting the resident Guru, she is intent on getting into the spirit of healing - participating in sound baths, yoga, and vision quests. But when her friends start disappearing and turning up later horribly eviscerated, Hannah realizes that a mysterious killer is intent on taking them out one by one.

McAuley captures the spirit of a classic slasher, feasting on inventive kills with bloody relish. The masked, seemingly invulnerable, killer comes replete with weird and deadly weapon and spooky local legend. The setting of the wellness retreat was fertile ground for humorous dialogue. The characters were interesting enough if a little stereotypical in their archetypes. All in all, an enjoyable, if formulaic read.

This one starts off strong which I loved.

Then it begins to take more of a thriller slower turn. I feel like this book was dark and gloomy and had some gore at the beginning but it’s not the horror book for me unfortunately.

I try to avoid books where a big plot point is grievance or losing a family member and trying to navigate that as it tends to be quite triggering for me and therefore can take the fun out of the reading experience. I was wanting some more bleeding in this and less therapy sessions.

Around 12% I unfortunately had to DNF this one. Please know I’m super picky when it comes to horror books.

I appreciate the opportunity to leave honest feedback voluntarily. Thank you for the eARC! I’m bummed this one ended up not being for me as a reader but I know most horror fans will love this one.

I LOVE a good slasher story (think 80’s horror films)! Breathe In, Bleed Out puts a modern twist on a classic trope and it definitely delivers the gore. All of the characters are annoying and the narrator is unreliable, so basically, a great combination. Some parts did drag (for me), but overall the book kept me reading and wondering and wanting to know what was coming next.


Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this eARC!

🪬✨Breathe In, Bleed Out Review✨🪬

Are you looking to take a journey to a relaxing retreat out in the desert? If so, don’t read this book. Because this retreat is anything but relaxing. In fact, it’s a bit stabby 🔪

Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley is a fun slasher that leaves you guessing til the end.

The novel follows Hannah who is still recovering from a trauma. It’s affecting her job and she needs a reset. Thankfully her friend Tess has just the answer for her—an exclusive retreat that promotes healing. Hannah, Tess, and a group of friends take a journey out in the middle of the desert to have the time of their life… or so they think. Things seem great at first. That is until people start going missing. Will Hannah be able to confront her trauma? Or will she let it be her downfall.

This book was so much fun! It feels like a true Hollywood slasher. As the author note explains, you have odes to Leatherface, Jason, Michael, and so many other slashers!

This book releases on September 2nd, 2025. Be sure to pick this one up if you are looking for

🪬Grief Horror
🪬Slasher
🪬Creative kills

Special thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press books for the ARC!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for my first arc!
Breathe In, Bleed Out was the perfect slasher to kick off my summerween reading, and I’m even more excited for its official release this fall. Brian McAuley delivers a bloody homage to classic camp slasher films, with a modern twist that makes it feel fresh. It’s fast-paced, full of tension, and I can honestly say I had no idea whodunnit.

What sets this apart is how it blends traditional thriller and horror tropes with commentary on influencer culture, tech giants, and the exploitation of wellness retreats. It also isn’t afraid to explore the toxicity of certain long dead friendships that just refuse to end.

That being said, I was a bit underwhelmed by the reveal about what really happened to Ben. But where the mystery slightly faltered, the character dynamics picked up the slack. The tension and fractured trust among the group kept me hooked. I also loved seeing Hannah step up and take control.

Brian McAuley is definitely on my watch list now. I’ll be keeping an eye out for whatever comes next.

As the host of a podcast about contemplative practices, I giggled at the thought of a slasher set in a California wellness retreat. Leave it to McCauley, whose clever slasher Candy Cain Kills was equally fun, to satirize the healing trend with a classic slasher whodunit. Once the kills became fast-paced, I stayed up all night to finish this book. The acknowledgments of recent horror novels have become a bonus and these were no different. McCauley breaks down the slasher genre in film professor fashion while also providing some heartfelt personal context.

Hannah has been living life in a fog after her fiancé tragically passed away on a wilderness trip. No one knows the full story of what happened that fateful day and Hannah has no intention of changing that. Plagued by nightmares she isolates herself from her friends until her best friend Tess shares she’s gotten an invitation to a spiritual retreat for their group of friends. Hannah decides she will embrace this retreat and come back a new and healed version of herself.. no matter what.

4.5 rounded up
~thank you netgalley, and the publisher for gifting me this advanced reader copy~

I am SO pleasantly surprised by this book. I had seen all my instagram mutuals sharing it on their stories and I was obsessed with the cover so when I saw it on netgalley I immediately requested it!

I went into this totally blind, and I absolutely loved the premise. There’s just something about LA influencers in horror books that I’m going to eat up every time. I feel like I love to hate them and reading them in this book was a delight. I also love Joshua tree so the setting was so fun!

All you need to know about this book is that it’s a slasher and perfect for summerween. It’s not out for a little bit but I had such a blast reading this and I can’t wait for everyone else to indulge! Also reading the afterword from the author was so fun because he’s such like me frfr

Wow, wow!! This is one of those books that I couldn’t put down.

The setting of where things took place was very different but cool. It has exactly what a reader is looking for in a mystery/thriller book. You will not regret grabbing this one!

The characters were pretty good and each brought a little something into the story.

Thank you for this ARC NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press!

4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!
Thank you, NetGalley & Poisoned Pen Press, for the eARC of Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley! ⛏️🩸🪬

I’ve been reading quite a bit of horror books lately, and I was beyond excited to receive this eARC! The cover sucked me right in (it’s seriously one of the best book covers I’ve ever seen, but I could be biased since I absolutely adore horror movies) and the description intrigued me even further. The title is also *chef’s kiss* 🤌🏻 It’s the perfect name for this book!

Imagine a cliché slasher film in book form. That’s basically what this is. So of course, I enjoyed it! It had everything that a typical slasher film would have. A mysterious slasher (duh), a group of young people on a quest for adventure (but in this case, I’d say enlightenment?), and a decent balance of scares and humor.

I’ve always enjoyed slashers, so this book was an entertaining read for me. However, towards the end of the book, it kind of just started to lose my interest. The plot twist was a little bit predictable, but to be fair, I had predicted MANY different outcomes. The characters absolutely fit the “progressive LA hipsters with holier-than-thou mindsets” stereotype which became incredibly tiring that I started to roll my eyes at a lot of the dialogue (both internal and external), but that just tells me that the author wrote the book well and portrayed the characters the way he intended.

It was hard for me to like the main character, Hannah, because of her constant hypocrisy and self-righteousness. For example, she thinks that one of the other characters has a bad victim mentality. Hannah… the call is coming from inside the house, girl! 🤨 I know we don’t have to like all the characters of a book but Hannah really gave me a headache by the end of the story.

The horror, though? Top tier. The gruesomeness and the scares are so well-written and witty just at the right moments. I loved the horror aspects and the plot was decent enough for me to keep reading. Lots of twists and turns that had me feeling like, “ok, get to the point,” and then when they got to the point, it felt like it ended just as it started!

All in all, I enjoyed the majority of this bloody good book (wink). It kept me guessing the whole time and it was written extremely well!

The Wellness Retreat of your Nightmares!

Brian McAuley is a master of slasher horror! Not only is this book devious, gory, and gruesome, but it is also beautiful. Hannah, in the face of horrendous tragedy, is struggling to thrive. She is making mistakes and seeing the ghost of her dead fiancé. However, when her best friend convinces their friend group to go to a wellness retreat, the bodies start piling up. I never saw the end of this book coming, despite having some very strong guesses at the beginning of the story. However, this is where I say that Brian McAuley has mastered the slasher. The twists and turns are unique, and as a long-time fan of Brian McAuley, they are some of his best yet!

If you're picturing your favorite slasher, then prepare for something more campy and darker than whatever is in your mind. Brian McAuley captures the spirit of a horrific killer. With a haunting lore that rivals My Bloody Valentine while giving gruesome kills on the level of Hostel. Then you add in the stereotypical characters who fulfill various roles at this wellness retreat. It is the perfect combination of campy humor with creepy plot points and a KILLER final twist.

Check this out - you will NOT be disappointed! And DO NOT SKIP THE AUTHOR'S NOTE! It was just a beautiful addition to this story!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

A definite treat for those among us who love a good down and dirty slasher horror movie, this was a well-written piece of horror work. I enjoyed the approach that the author took to his subject matter immensely. You could tell that he has a deep love for horror and the genre as a whole.

I did think that the characters were a little derivative, but I am also conscious that that’s part of the point of a horror book. There’s something to be said for the charm of a woman who is diagnosed as ‘crazy’ by a physician who encourages her madness rather than tampering it down. The main character was a delight.

I saw inspiration in quite a few of the kills from other slasher films, including ‘In A Violent Nature’ and ‘My Bloody Valentine’. It’s always nice when something nods towards the lesser known instead of relying on the generic.

I did think that there were scenes where the exposition went a little too hard, and some of the characters drove me a bit mental, but it was still a pretty fun ride nonetheless.

I did think that the ending could have perhaps been a little more tied together, but all in all, this was a fun little homage to the genre and to many different facets of it. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Just a really fun, mindless summer slasher I could read in one day, I really enjoyed this for what it was! Twists and turns that I thought I had figured out up until the very end ended up still getting me which was a nice surprise. The characters remained interesting despite their somewhat cringe backstories and dialogue, which I didn’t resonate with me at certain times for reasons I can’t put my finger on yet (it may be my mid-20’s gen z showing here as I found a lot of the quips about social media and younger people a bit eye-rolly). I also think a few characters’ relationships could have been fleshed out a bit more— particularly Tess’ interest in Hannah disappointed me when nothing came out of it, but I still enjoyed the journey of Hannah’s personal story arc and her relationship struggles. Kills were gorey and fun! Love me a mindless Scream-like slasher.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press & Net Galley for this ARC! 🔪📖

4.5 stars rounded up!
I really enjoyed this one! Most of the story takes place on a yoga retreat, where things slowly start to unravel—and not in the peaceful, meditative way you'd hope 😅 Hannah’s going through a tough time, and her friend Tess whisks her away for some healing... but instead they end up tangled in something much more tragic.
McAuley does a great job building the characters and layering the suspense, then throwing in the mystery killer. One of the best slashers I've read thus far. I was hooked by all the little details, and just when I thought I had it figured out, surprise! I didn’t. And I love that. 🙌 I never want to see the twist coming. Bonus points because my best friend Heather does yoga retreats, and while I’m pretty sure hers are way less chaotic 😂, it made this even more fun to read. Definitely recommend if you like a mix of tension, friendship, and mystery with a breath of fresh air (and a lot of blood). 🩸🔪🪓

Thanks to @netgalley , @poisonedpenpress , and @brianmcwriter for this advanced reader's copy! ❤️