This book was such a perfect summer poolside read. I found myself intrigued from page one and couldn't stop reading until we got all the answers. With each page, a new conspiracy arose and I loved it. This book would be perfect for those who love Stranger Things or a darker version of Eureka. I thought it was very interesting that, for most of the book, we don't know the name of the main character but it does not detract from the reader's ability to empathize with him. I really enjoyed the found footage, multimedia aspect of this book as well. I'm sure the audiobook will be PHENOMENAL and I'll likely reread it that way upon release.

A wildly ambitious horror novel that pushes the bounds of the genre. Chupeco took the "found footage" genre and did an incredible job translating it to the written word.

oh it is so fun!!! teens will absolutely eat this one up! im not exactly the target audience but i still had a great time! i really loved the mixed media element

Thanks to NetGalley and SourceBooks Fire for the ARC.

If you enjoy Welcome to Night Vale, analog horror, and strange towns with a few too many secrets, do I have the book for you!

We’re Not Safe Here explores the mysteries surrounding the town of Wispy Falls. A town enclosed by woods that are absolutely not to be explored. Missing persons and monsters infiltrating neighborhoods are just a few small negatives of this otherwise cozy place. Despite most of the population’s acceptance of these quirks, there are a few residents of Wispy Falls that question the normalcy of their town. Storymancer, a teen vlogger who lost his younger brother to the woods as a child, is one of those people.

This book is told through a unique format. A “found-footage” style of storytelling that features transcripts of videos and livestreams, internet forum posts, and text messages. I was very engaged by this method of storytelling and found it to be an effective way of slowly revealing the truth behind the mysteries of Wispy Falls.

I also found the writing in general to be very engaging. Moments of humor were actually funny to me, and did not succumb to the issue in some YA of overusing slang to the point of parody. The descriptions of the monsters were very vivid and truly frightening at times. I think the structure of the book really lent itself to building tension and highlighting the horror elements in the story.

I enjoyed this book a lot and loved how I was left guessing about what was really lurking in Wispy Falls and the woods that surround it until the very end. I would definitely recommend it to horror lovers everywhere!

The mixed media format made this story an experience. I do wish there were more world building, as well as answers. While I found it entertaining, I was left feeling a bit bored overall. I did love the creepy town setting and the cryptids, there just needed to be more.

interesting and moderately effective mixed media horror. the horror definitely builds somewhat well, though the cryptids never really feel deserving of the horror. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

This was a great read! I enjoyed the format of the story told in message board posts and descriptions of shaky cell-phone video. I liked the main characters, though I thought it was a little too easy for JellyBeanFish to come by some of the information she shares with Storymancer. I found the ending satisfying, but I still had a lot of questions. I think this would benefit from a little more world-building to help me suspend disbelief about how the town and Penumbra work. behind the scenes. I will definitely purchase this for my library and recommend to students.

Told primarily through an epistolary format, We’re Not Safe Here pulls readers into its eerie world with an immersive, intimate tone that makes the unfolding horror even more unsettling. As a YA-horror, it strikes a perfect balance—creepy and suspenseful without relying on overly graphic or heavy content, making it an excellent entry point for newcomers to the genre.

The novel’s layered plot adds intrigue, and the author does a great job introducing original creatures in a way that feels both mysterious and accessible—equal parts “what was that?” and satisfying explanation. The atmosphere channels 1984, IT, and The Blair Witch Project, creating a surreal, chilling experience. While the initial goal of finding Lee seems to fade as the story progresses, the unsettling tone and depth kept me turning pages.

By the end, I felt disoriented in a way that might have been intentional—like waking from a vivid dream, unsure of what was real. And honestly? I loved it.

I really enjoyed the formatting of this book, I loved the multi media aspect. It was easy to follow but I found the writing style of the author hard to keep up with.

I did find that I felt as if I was out into the story without being told much info at the start, so I was confused for a while. The descriptions of things in the book, didn’t happen till nearer the end of the book so it was hard to picture what was happening.

I did enjoy it for the most part tho, I loved the uniqueness of the story, I’ve not read anything like this. Hopefully I can pick up another book of hers in the future.

A big thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book!! I didn’t really like it and was bored halfway through. The story was boring and I didn’t really understand what was going on half the time. It wasn’t terrible but it just wasn’t for me at the time.

We're not safe here is a fun fast thriller. It had so many twists and turns i didnt know what would happen.

Rin Chupeco is one of my favorite YA horror writers and "We're Not Safe Here" is their weirdest (complimentatry) one yet.

Part The Village, part Welcome to Nightvale, part I'm not even sure what, "We're Not Safe Here" is told through video and livestream transcriptions, message board posts, and text messages, following streamer Storymancer's investigation into his town, the woods around it, and the cryptids haunting both.

The transcriptions kept me super engaged and intrigued. I also absolutely adored the references to pop culture and internet memes throughout the book- I screeched at the Ogtha reference!

Even though I loved the framing and narrative structure, it did make me feel much more detached from the characters. I really never connected with Storymancer or JellyBeanFish and never really felt like I had a good sense of who they were outside of what they were doing. I think if there had maybe been a few moments of narration outside of the multi-media narrative to help the reader better understand and connect with the characters, I would have been more invested and cared more about the resolution rather than just being along for the ride.

That said, it was a wild ride and I am glad to have been on it! There were some genuinely scary and gruesome descriptions, and I really never knew where we were going next or how everything would be wrapped up. There isn't really anything non-spoilery I can say about the ending, but if you like ARG/analog horror, streamer main characters, or weird towns and cryptids, I would recommend checking this one out!

Thank you NetGalley and SourceBooks Fire for the ARC- all thoughts my own!

I think I keep reading Rin Chupeco's books because I want to revisit the perfection of The Girl From the Well. And in this instance the premise was one of my favourite horror scenarios where the townspeople are told not to leave their house at night or not to go in the woods, etc. I was wary when I saw "Told primarily through video transcripts, message boards, and radio shows" but I felt that such a setup could work and perhaps even bring the story to life more vividly.

So, I did delve in with hopes and anticipation, but it just didn't work for me. The whole transcripts thing caused it to bounce around and rather than giving me a greater sense of the character's voice, it just felt dialogue-heavy. The horror scenes stopped abruptly rather than flowing into the next scenes. The characters felt two dimensional and I never got the full sense of the atmosphere of the woods.

I feel bad giving books 2 stars but in the author's defence could I urge other readers to pick up The Girl From the Well.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC. 

Books with experimental writing styles are always either really good or really bad. Luckily this time the writing style really worked for me. 

The book utilizes video transcripts, message boards, emails, texts, etc. to tell the story. It made me feel a bit like I was watching one of those YouTube videos that recaps an ARG, which is something I love to do, so that is q compliment. 

I'm very impressed with the storytelling and the world building in this this book for something that was written in this style.

I think people who love ARGs, creepy pastas, analog horror, etc. will love this book.

I really liked the idea of this book, but I think it fell flat because of the formatting.

This story follows a vlogger who tries to uncover why people keep going missing (and bodies found) in the woods of Wispy Falls, a place that claims to be so very safe. This location reminded me of Gravity Falls a bit. There are cryptid sightings and spooky happenings.

The thing that made this book not work for me was the writing style/format of this book. This book is written entirely in video transcripts and forum posts/comments. And that made this fall so flat. This made the characters have no depth, they were just vocal transcripts, you get nothing about who they really are as people. I wanted more description and emotion to what was going on, but you really can't get that to transfer via the video transcripts and the message boards.

This really had so much potential, this was exactly the kind of book I was in the mood for, but it didn't work because I couldn't connect to anything that was happening. It felt both dense and unsubstantial at the same time. If this was written in any other way, I really do think that I would have LOVED it!

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

Thank you for Netgalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review
Ok I’m gonna be completely honest, I dnfed it. Idk if it was because I’m in a major slump, or the writing style, or the videos and podcasts and stuff, but I couldn’t stand it. I wish this author well but there is no way I’ll pick up this book again.

The small town of Wispy Falls is quiet, peaceful, and safe—or so the residents believe. Most work for the powerful Penumbra Institution, send their kids to school, and avoid the woods, where people have a habit of disappearing. Everyone knows the woods aren’t safe. Creatures live there. Cryptids, they call them. And then there’s the Backward Lady, who always seems to appear just before someone vanishes. Internet vlogger Storymancer and their devoted follower JellyBeanFish begin an investigation that peels back the layers of illusion around Wispy Falls. Is this town really the last place left on Earth? What’s behind the disappearances, the rituals, and the eerie bloodmoons? The answers may lie in a web of secrets no one was meant to uncover.

THOUGHTS: We’re Not Safe Here is a chaotic, creepy thrill ride set in a dystopian future where big pharma controls more than just medicine—it shapes reality itself. Told entirely through digital media forms like emails, video transcripts, and message board posts, this novel is uniquely immersive and deeply unsettling. A perfect pick for fans of experimental horror, sci-fi dystopia, and stories that blur the line between reality and conspiracy.

as someone who listened to WTNV weekly when it came out, and someone who will eat up any book that is epistolary or transmedia adjacent, the concept of this was thrilling to me. and having read it, it was almost everything i wanted.

i really loved the message board and DM aspects of this book, which makes sense because they were conversationally written, which makes you really feel like YOURE doing the investigating. but i found that the transcripts of video blog entries didn’t read like how a teenager would speak, if that makes sense. it reads like how a teenager would write after a couple of read-overs. i think that the dialogue needed less structure and more… rambling, maybe? to make it more believable that a teenager was speaking these words to a camera and not typing them into a blog.

but overall, i love a cryptid, i love a spooky forest, i love a mysterious town, but the government almost could have used MORE mystery and weirdness. and also i think there should be a floating cat

(ps how many people are in this town anyway bc over 19,000 people liked a definitely-not-reddit thread but this is a supposedly small town and that’s a lot of people to like a single not-reddit thread)

2 stars

Told through mixed media, which is a format I love, a teenager called Storymancer is investigating the disappearance of his younger brother in a town that is filled with missing people, but no one really looks for them. Wispy Falls is an isolated town, surrounded by woods; those who live there believe there’s nothing beyond it (this isn’t explained at all, nor is it explained how the town has internet, get its supplies (what, they make their own chemotherapy there?) and this sort of thing drives me insane, so I hated it pretty much from the beginning.). The woods are filled with they call cryptids, but I don’t know that we think cryptids are the same thing. The shady town is filled with shadiness and shady people hiding shady doings. I really didn’t like it, but it’s YA, so 2 stars instead of just one.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers and the author for an ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

We're Not Safe Here was probably the weirdest book I've ever read. Normally that'd be a bad thing, but in this case it isn't. It actually works, considering the premise. It was meant to be creepy, and it accomplished that, all the while leaving me with more questions than answers. I'll admit, the beginning was very confusing and slow-paced. I didn't understand anything really, but I'm glad I kept reading, because the more I read, the more intrigued and invested I got.

I've never read anything like this where the majority of the story is told by "message boards" (basically Reddit), and 3rd person POV of people filming themselves. My favorite parts were when we got to see the messages between Storymancer (the MC) and another person he meets online. I also really enjoyed the parts where we got to see small snippets/flashbacks/memories of Storymancer and his younger brother before his brother disappeared.

Only two things bothered me. A character's name and the ending. A character is named Madeleine Withers. Okay. But then, suddenly, she's also called Margaret. That's a little weird, right? But it gets weirder. Later, she's called Maisie. So, which is it? Is her name Madeleine, Margaret or Maisie? That was a minor thing that threw me off. The major thing was the ending. It ended rather abruptly. It ended in an odd place. Even before that, the explanation of everything remains unclear. It felt a little unsatisfying because the explanation was so odd, but maybe that was the point. Finally, I noticed that one of the cryptids (that's what the monsters are called), was eerily similar to a famous one called "Sirenhead." Sirenhead was mentioned on the acknowledgements page, so this other cryptid was definitely inspired by it, which is fine, I find that interesting. Overall, I enjoyed this. It had a rough, confusing beginning, but I became heavily invested after reading more. I only wish that the ending was either better explained, or that it ended in a different place. Where it ended was very abrupt and strange.