LOVED THIS ONE. The format of the storytelling was fantastic and super engaging, and the characters and their hilarity worked extremely well with the high-stakes horror element of the plot. I cried and I laughed and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Pining for book 2 already!


Thank you Netgalley and Scholastic for an advanced copy!
Opinions are my own.

I found this book to be an enjoyable read. The story kept me engaged from start to finish and had some moments that really stood out. Overall, it offered an entertaining reading experience.

Loved the inclusion of Queer characters, the descriptions of the area and even the teens mom. She sounded like a blast at the start!

A plague that took over the island, leaving Ollie to tell the story. Ollie was such a real and well written character, it felt as if it was someone I knew and not in a story. How he felt emotionally along with how he handled them made him such a fantastic character. The story is fast-paced, deep and some of the scenes are rather graphic but necessary for you to understand the poor cursed island.

That cliffhanger left me excited for more, can't wait!

After adoring The Honeys but Ryan La Sala last year, I was so excited to get an arc copy of his newest YA horror. I absolutely ate this one up! I loved the oceanic plague premise, the summer island atmosphere, and this band of queer characters whose friendship felt so real and genuine.

Told through a mix of narratives, diary entries, and interviews, I really enjoyed the mixed media elements and found it kept me completely engaged in this terrifying world. And the gore! I really adore Ryan's writing style and that he doesn't shy away from some graphic scenes that don't even need too much description to cause you to squirm.

I will never hold a seashell to my ear ever again. 😅

My only complaint is the cliffhanger it leaves you dangling from and now having to wait for book 2.

Suds for life.

I've never read this author before but this book was sooooo good! The pacing was on point, the flow flowed. Perfect! Thanks for the ARC, I appreciate it!

I went into this book completely blind. I quickly read the synopsis and found it rather interesting. This book takes you on a journey with Ollie with his family and friends as something disastrous happens to their island. This story touched on topics of mother son relationships, loss, grief, friendship, love, horror, survival and queer relationships.

The way the story was written kept me on my toes. I enjoyed the countdown of chapters and the journal entries/notes. It gave the reader a different experience when reading and interacting with the timeline.

I got a vibe with similarities to The Last of Us and little like Midnight Mass. This story was spooky and grips you with the horror aspects. It plays with your emotions when it comes to Ollie's relationship with his mother and his best friends. Being in a small town everyone knows everyone and when this creepy story starts to turn you feel the sadness, the scaredness of the town people and you feel that there are secrets being hidden.

I really enjoyed this book and if it is in fact book 1, I can't wait to see what happens with the government aspect of the story or to see the growth of the remaining townspeople.

It’s not often you get zombies on the beach, and here Ryan La Sala gives us zombies made of the beach, and it is delightful! Heartfelt and visceral, this novel balances its fast pace with creative imagery and a unique take on survivalist horror.

I do need to qualify my review a bit before continuing, though. This is YA horror, and the characters are supposedly fresh out of high school, which usually would align it more on the “new adult” spectrum of YA, but that is not the case at all. None of our main characters read as their stated ages, and it really felt like they should have been starting high school, not having recently finished it. The way the acted, the way they spoke to each other and understood the world, the ways they were treated by the adults, the fact that they kept referring to “the adults” as if they weren’t on the cusps of adulthood themselves… nothing spoke to them being the age stated. That goes for the writing too, which was simple and direct in a way appropriate for the younger side of whoever YA is marketed toward. The novel deals with heavy and important topics and it doesn’t talk down to the audience, but everything is distilled into simple and direct language, hinting at nuance but not delivering on it. This is all perfectly fine, it is appropriate for a YA novel, it just felt really discordant with the stated ages of the characters. I just mentally re-aged them to be 14-15 and everything worked a lot better.

The set-up for this story isn’t entirely original: some sort of zombie-like outbreak in an isolated community complete with untrustworthy scientists with government ties and a mysterious and messy history that can’t be ignored, all set against the landscape of the personal apocalypse of our main character as their life is in its own type of spiral. However, it manages to breathe fresh life into the formula with a wonderful environment and clever world-building which tie directly into the nature of the outbreak itself and the creative nature of the resulting zombies. Our main characters are all interesting and messy, in their won ways. I do feel like the secondary characters all feel a little convenient, but that is in large part because we are told their stories from the main character’s perspectives, so we don’t get any interiority on their lives. That said, they still feel like they have depth and substance to them, and the depth of their relationship with the main character is also tangible. Our main character, Ollie, is in the middle of a whirlwind of emotions, and that lack of stability is effective and believable, and it really helps his character. Aside from the secondary characters there are a handful of ancillary characters that aren’t given much to do but are colorful and feel appropriate for the setting, making the atmosphere and world-building feel more realized. The writing is quick, simple and direct, taking a lot of experiences at face value without much nuance but tackling heavy experiences like grief and loss in honest ways. The writing is smart, with really vivid descriptions, especially of the zombies, but also scattering important details through the whole story, making all of the characters decisions and the ways they react to and fight against the outbreak feel genuine and totally in line with their characters. It doesn’t feel, in the final act, that they have developed magic abilities or that there is anything convenient about how they are in positions to fight, everything is planned but not in a heavy-handed way, instead being skillful and keeping the reader invested.

The story is fast paced, aided by the intermittent use of interview transcripts and the interviewing scientist’s journal entries. This is smart, for a number of reasons. It allows the narration to go back and forth in time, revealing bits of resolution before then showing us how the characters got there, which creates dramatic tension and never feels forced. It also allows there to be time jumps in the main storyline and those details can be filled in without ever leaving the audience feeling cheated or unsure. Using transcripts and the like is always a stylistic gamble, because it sacrifices character interiority in favor of straight exposition. Here, I have to admit it is a little hard to believe that a scientist in these circumstances would ask these questions in this way, it feels a little too convenient and easy to be believable all the time. But I was able to overlook that because it really helps the pacing of the story, it adds to the intrigue and sense of paranoia, and the setting itself is believable and in line with everything else we know about the world of the story. From the very first scenes we are hurdling toward an exciting conclusion, and I really liked the way the story ended. It ended with appropriate levels of action, confidence, and ambiguity and I think La Sala utilized character development and narrative misdirects in a skillful way. This story is listed as “book one” so I imagine there will be a sequel but there will be a sequel but there doesn’t need to be, I think the ending is really strong as it is without the promise of more to come.

I do think the main antagonist felt a little bit of cartoony. Given everything we know about the island’s history and their own history their lack of knowledge about what was going on was hard to believe. If our main characters could gather this amount of information under extreme duress over the course of a few days then surely the antagonist, who has uncountably more resources than they have, could have figured more of this out in the literal years, maybe decades, they have been studying it. I didn’t buy their lack of understanding for a moment and kept waiting for a reveal that they had some other plan in place, but in the end they just seem incompetent. So, the human antagonist was a little bit of a letdown. And this is marketed as an unapologetically queer book, and it is, I suppose, but the queerness seems ornamental. The setting is a combination of Provincetown and Fire Island, a queer friendly summer destination, and our many of our characters are queer… But we never see that in any way, and it doesn’t play any role in the plot nor even in the way they understand themselves in the world. We don’t even see an examples of queer relationships, be they healthy or toxic. There are drag queens, and the characters mention having queer experiences, but otherwise there is no sexuality at all displayed in the story. There is the platonic embrace of friends and some discussion about crushes, but that is about it. Queerness is normalized away entirely, to the extent that this doesn’t really feel like a queer story at all. There is nothing about their queerness that seems to add to their characters nor to the plot, it is literally backdrop. Some folks really love this aspirational queer-utopia setting, but I am generally disappointed by it, as it is entirely disconnected from the real-life struggles and lived experiences of queer people. I do appreciate the casual acknowledgment and acceptance of queer identity, and again if I frame this story as being aimed at an audience of tweens and early teens then it feels less egregious, but it still feels like a lost opportunity for character depth if nothing else.

I do wish the human antagonist and the actual mystery of the island’s history felt more realized, they both felt like the least thoughtful parts of the story. But, overall, it was still a good time. I immediately cared about the main character and recognized how complicated his life had become, the entirely unresolved inner hurricane he was navigating. This was a really smart backdrop to then tell a zombie story, the inner and outer narratives worked really well together. In order to survive he had to face what he was afraid of and remind himself what he was made of, return to things he knew about himself but had forgotten in the face of grief. La Sala manages to explore loss and grief, found family, community, isolation, solidarity, self-confidence, acceptance, and more, all while offering really creative and memorable “zombies” and summer thrill ride.

(Rounded from 3.5)

I want to thank the author, the publisher Scholastic|Push, and NetGalley, who provided a complimentary eARC for review. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The issue with reading ARCs is now I have to wait even longer for the second book!

Wow, absolutely INCREDIBLE. I am such a sucker for the a mysterious illness has hit an island trope, and this was one of the most unique version of it I have seen. The prose was beautiful, the descriptions were spot on, I felt like I was on the island with the Suds going through it.

The characters were diverse and complex, which we love to see. Grief is handled in such a beautiful way in this book. I will never forgive Ryan for the library, he knows what he did.

This was fun, fast paced, deep, emotional and impossible to put down. Perfect spooky vibes in summer and we all love a summerween moment. I am foaming at the mouth for the second book. The ending? The twist? INCREDIBLE.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Netgalley & the publisher for this ARC, I will never shut up about it.

The Dead of Summer by Ryan La Sala is part mystery, part horror, and part beach read.

Situated off the coast of Maine, the island of Anchor’s Mercy has invited visitors from across the world to delight in their pristine beaches and welcoming queer community. But Anchor’s Mercy has a secret. A horrid one that spans decades. And if Ollie and his friends are going to survive the summer and save the island from a supernatural, oceanic plague, they’re going to have to crack the mystery fast.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ five out of five!
This book is exquisite. It reads like a summer from your teenage years: sun-baked days that stretch on forever. But the idyll is shadowed by a mystery that turns into survival horror.

However, beyond the plague and the mystery, there’s a tale of grief, community, and enduring love.

I loved how the story was told, not just in linear chapter-by-chapter fashion, but also with evidence: photos, journal entries, flyers, and interviews. It’s incredibly creative and made for a much more immersive experience.

And the squeal I made when I realized that this was just book 1 of a series!

I only realized when I was halfway through this, but I've read and enjoyed every Ryan La Sala book (the only one I didn't like was Reverie). Enough to consider him one of my favorite authors! I've talked about this before, but YA horror is always a hit or a miss for me. But Ryan's books always seem to hit for me. They don't manage to be scary enough for me, but I think they capture such a perfect and eerie atmosphere, and they're always very creative. This one was no different! This was such a cool book!

I didn't know anything about it going in, because I didn't read the synopsis, so I was a little hesitant when I found out a few pages into it that it's a zombie/zombie-adjacent/disease outbreak type of story. I'm not the biggest fan of that trope/subgenre. Like I already have enough anxiety, I don't need to feel more because of a book. But! I really liked the way it was done in here. They aren't exactly zombies. They're somewhat similar to The Last of Us zombies, but instead of fungi, it's coral reefs and other sea things infecting the people. The infected are also a lot more conscious, and there's more to them than just zombies.

This book also has a mixed media element thrown in, with diary entries, interviews, and maps that make the story feel more immersive. I almost wish I hadn't read the ARC, because I'm guessing the audiobook of this is going to be very cool.

My only complaint is that I wanted more depth before the outbreak happened. I wanted more time with these characters, more time with the drag queens, and more time to get to know the island before everything plunged into chaos. Especially with this being a duology, like I think some things happen in this first book that could have been included in the climax of the second one. So it makes me wonder, what the hell are we going to do in book two?? I hope Ryan sticks the landing 🙏

Anyway, this was fun! I've been struggling with YA, and this was a pleasant surprise! Also, the first book in a while that I managed to read over two days, so it gets points for that!!

Things Ryan La Sala has made me (more) scared of:
• bees
• mirrors
• coral

I don’t mess with the ocean to begin with, so I KNEW going into this one I was going to be at a disadvantage. And YEAH the ocean is still terrifying, but at it’s heart, this book is a loud commentary on the way queer people are left to deal with our own problems with the help of only our chosen families to get us through it. An island, that is a queer destination, gets infected with a mysterious illness and is literally abandoned and its inhabitants left there to die. Chilling!

This is the second Ryan La Sala book the group chat has read together, and bless that, because I needed someone to understand the stress I was vicariously feeling for these teenagers. The notes app theories I have cooked up had me looking like that Charlie Day from It’s Always Sunny meme trying to connect the most pointless things because I was SURE they meant something. I'm still convinced I'm right abut a few of them, but I WON’T KNOW because I was so invested in the book that I forgot until about 75% thorough that that was a DUOLOGY, so there’s an entire second book coming. It’s absolutely going to be worth the wait, but man, the twist right before the ending is EXHILARATING and I am so obsessed with whatever is wrong with Ryan.

These characters they’ve written here are some of my absolute favorites (Wendy Pretendy, a literal goddess of a human) and I'm excited to see the ones that survive the island (and honestly, maybe even the ones that didn’t) in the conclusion of the story because I KNOW it’s going to be such an intense, rocky ride to get to the ending. But they’ll be okay, because suds still together, right? Right, Ryan?

I love the atmosphere Ryan La Sala creates in his novels. The beachy air tinged with mystery and horror was so visceral and brought an element of realism to this book that doesn't come naturally with most horror! The actually layout of the galley was a bit rough though. It wasn't separated out into chapters and none of the art was legible - the pieces of paper and drawings were all over the place, which took away from whatever they would've added to the story.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Ryan La Sala, and Scholastic PUSH for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

Ryan La Sala is truly the king of summerween!! I ATE UP The Honeys when it was released a few years ago, and every summer, I recommend it to new friends. The Dead of Summer is another hit that I absolutely will be recommending to everyone I know. This read wasn't quite as scary to me as The Honeys was, but there is still plenty of horror to be found within (especially of the governmental/corporate type). La Sala's descriptions are incredibly vivid, and the Weepers give me chills just imagining them. Everything is so thought out, from the characters to the plot to most of all the setting. I loved reading how Anchor's Mercy is based off of La Sala's own upbringing visiting Provincetown, and the openly queer setting is absolutely what made this book. Willy/Wendy Pretendy were the absolute stars of this book, and I felt all the emotions reading about queer elders aiding queer youth, both in every day and times of crisis. I do think there was a lot of plot going on here, so sometimes I was a bit more confused than I'd like to be about the timeline, but it is labeled as Book 1, so I am eagerly anticipating word of a sequel (series?) to help clear some of this up! I was pleasantly surprised by some really emotional points, as much as I was about some twists that I didn't expect. My favorite take-away overall, though, was that libraries truly DO save lives (iykyk)!! I already can't wait to see what's next from La Sala, and I hope that the next book set in Anchor's Mercy will be released soon as I need to know what happens next!!

In The Dead of Summer, Ryan LaSala lures readers to Anchor’s Mercy, a remote island off the coast of Maine, where the community is proudly queer and something terrible is beginning to stir. Seventeen-year-old Ollie returns to the island with his mother, Gracie, after months away on the mainland while she received treatment for her cancer, something he's kept hidden from his tight-knit friend group. On the ferry ride back, Ollie meets Sam, a strange and sweet teen visiting his aunt for the summer.

But Ollie’s return feels haunted. His best friends, Bash and Elisa—better known as “The Suds”—aren’t ready to forgive him for disappearing without a word. At home, his once-warm relationship with his mother also has gone cold, her presence oddly distant.

Then the horrors truly begin. One by one, islanders fall sick—water filling their lungs, their bodies slicked with a glistening slime. As fear ripples through the island, Ollie realizes this is no ordinary illness. Something sinister is coming for Anchor’s Mercy.

LaSala has a real talent for digging into the emotional core of his characters, even as chaos unfolds around them. I first noticed this in The Honeys, and it's just as strong—if not stronger—here. Whether it’s the vibrant dynamic of The Suds or Ollie’s deeply personal bond with his mother, The Dead of Summer is anchored by heart. Even the tension between locals and visiting outsiders on the island adds meaningful texture to the story.

It’s through these layered relationships that the novel’s most compelling themes emerge. Both Ollie and Elisa wrestle with complex, evolving feelings about their mothers—navigating the messy terrain of attachment and separation. At the same time, LaSala examines how small, isolated communities react when threatened, and how fear can both divide and bind people together.

The pacing is pitch-perfect, and I appreciated how the narrative shifts between storylines, giving readers the chance to piece together the mystery bit by bit. It’s satisfying without ever feeling predictable.

As far as YA horror goes, this is top-tier. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys stories that are as emotionally rich as they are chilling. I’m already counting down the days until the next installment in the series.

I can’t believe I just finished a 400 page book in two days.

This book was like if The Last Of Us and or Annihilation took place on Martha’s Vineyard… with drag queens.

Ollie and his mom are returning to their home on an island off the coast of Maine, after spending a year on the mainland where his mother was receiving treatment for bone cancer.

On the ferry ride over, Ollie meets a twin flame named Sam, who shares his love of piano and performing. Sam ends up following them to their home, the salt weathered bed and breakfast that they left behind the year prior.

After a small homecoming party with some locals, Ollies frustrations about his mother’s aloofness following the past year comes to a head, and he yells at her, airing out his personal feelings for all to hear.

The next morning, Ollie awakes to find his aquarium full of fish and mostly coral specimens has exploded, and then his aunt attacks him. She is acting erratically, and is covered in a clear slimy substance that seems to be coming from her eyes and mouth.

From this point on, we see the island and is residents falling victim to a strange plague that starts by congealing all the water in their bodies, essentially drowning them, and leaves them as shells of their former selves, weeping jellied tears while singing to themselves and smiling way too big.

I really loved this one you guys. It was so well thought out, and the descriptions of these cosmically crafted coral critters puts a very clear and creepy picture on your head.

Not only that, but the relationships between the characters in this story were so beautiful and parts of it were absolutely gut wrenching because of how close and tight knit this little island community is.

We do not end, we echo.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5 STARS!
OH. MY. GAWD. i am so ashamed to admit that this is the first book i've read from this author. YES, I KNOW! so terrible of me. because THIS... *gets the eebie jeebies* IS SO GOOD! i'm an avid gamer and played The Last of Us start to finish more than once, Part Two too! and this is giving TLOU but creepier and more horrifying. i have thalassophobia, and y'all... when i tell you this had me gasping for air. WHEW! that plot twist AND cliffhanger were both absolutely breathtaking, in the most thrilling ways.

this author wove such an interesting take on zombies and i am living for it! the way they created this world and this diabolical plot is just- *chef's kiss*. super immersive and creates such a vivid mental imagery, so much so... it might be hard to wipe certain scenes from your mind. this also takes you between timelines of the aftermath and pre-apocalypse, which i feel like really sets the tone for everything to play out from the reader's standpoint. i absolutely love the loud and unapologetic presentation of queerness and the queer community in this book. it's like the light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

i think this will be one of my unforgettable reads of the year, or just... forever. needless to say, i still refuse to be in the ocean. which is crazy to say considering i'm from California. will i still reread this and the next book(s) beachside? OH ABSOLUTELY. or maybe just poolside, because better safe than sorry. LOL.

now off to a rabbithole to read more from this author, because i NEED more!

thank you to the publisher and Ryan La Sala for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy via NetGalley. i leave this review of my own volition. all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I don’t even know what to write because this book was so wild but I LOVED it. Ryan La Sala can truly do no wrong in my eyes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book!

I didn't realize this wasn't a standalone book until the end and I will be needing book #2 ASAP! I am a fan of Ryan La Sala's books and this was no exception. The island setting was fantastic--it felt like summer and beaches....until it didn't. The creepy factor was high and the descriptions of everything from drag queens to fog and coral-covered singing monsters were brilliantly vivid. This story has a little something for all kinds of readers. It is very mysterious, there is definitely a government coverup happening, the friendships are heartwarming, and the twists and turns are great. I really enjoyed the structure of the story, which had mostly Ollie's POV but with snippets of interviews with a "test subject" and a scientist. Those moments were really interesting and helped unravel the mystery.

I will be adding a copy of this to my classroom library and eagerly waiting to read the next installment!

Ollie and his mom are back in Anchor's Mercy after a long time on the mainland due to his mom's cancer treatments. When a tropical storm blows in, and with it an unusual sickness, Ollie and his friends have to survive the now dangerous island, and figure out how to save his family and friends from the infected, and from the company trying to cover it all up.

I really enjoyed the format of it being a typical book, then transcripts of interviews. It sort of went back and forth from past to present with the swaps in format, which built a sense of dread and made me want to know what had happened to get us to the present point. The pacing was good, the characters likeable, and I like how everything wrapped up. I wish the reveal at the end had a little more oomph, but overall I very much enjoyed it.
It was a fun, unique take on the zombie genre.

I rated it 4.25/5 rounded down to 4 stars.
Thank you NetGalley and Scolastic for the e-arc!

The Dead of Summer was exactly what I was looking for in a summertime horror, perfectly campy, queer as hell, and with just the right amount of descriptions for the grossness of the plague from the waves. The visuals of the book was also so fun, with handwritten articles, social media posts, and pictures scattered throughout, slowly piecing together the story of what happened to Anchor's Mercy. All in all it was such a wonderful read, and La Sala continues to be one of my favorite queer YA horror authors.