Many thanks to RBmefia and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ALC for my honest opinion.

I think that this was definitely an enjoyable YA book. I really enjoyed the LGBTQ+ representation without it being the main focus of the book. This book has a lot of really relatable topics for teens, that also kept me thinking. Even though this is a YA book I really enjoyed the story and the narration. I really was along for the ride in this book and was able to get invested in the characters and finish in one sitting. I give this book 3.5 stars and I do recommend this book.

I thought Bad Creek was a really entertaining read. I was instantly intrigued by the mystery of the lake, the creepy lore surrounding the town, and all the secrets the characters are hiding. There’s a slow-burn eeriness that builds into a much darker supernatural payoff. I loved how it leaned into that classic summer camp horror vibe with a modern twist.

The atmosphere was great: gloomy woods, family secrets, haunted houses, and a cursed lake. I also appreciated how the characters’ queerness and religious trauma were present without overtaking the story- it felt like a natural part of their identities rather than the main focus.

That said, the pacing and dialogue were a bit uneven in places, which pulled me out of the story occasionally. There were moments where things dragged or felt a little clunky, but overall, the plot and the ending pulled through for me. I especially liked how the ghost story unfolded and tied into the history of Bad Creek.

It’s definitely more “horror-lite” than full-on terrifying, but the dark, nostalgic atmosphere and the grief-fueled mystery kept me turning the pages. If you like eerie lakeside settings, generational secrets, and found-family teen dynamics, this is a fun one to check out.

The narrators Michael Crouch, Suzy Jackson, Nick Mills were SO GOOD! They are all lovely to listen to and absolutely crushed it.

Thanks to NetGalley, RBmedia, Recorded Books, and the author Peyton June for the ALC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

2 stars for this DNF because I might've liked it more if I was a bit younger but I'm not fully convinced of that.

While the narration was wonderfully done I DNFed this book at about 35%. With 3 rotating POVs - none of them felt fleshed out and by that point nothing had really happened. I know grief can be a touchy subject but it felt as if it was being talked in circles and the flashbacks didn't feel clearly marked either.

I'm a bit unsure how to rate this, because, while it didn't work for me, I can completely see that it would work for others. Maybe it was the setting or a small reading slump coming on but I was really uninterested & unimpressed.
I liked the lgbtq reps & thoughts about religion. But the pacing was hard to get into.

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I'm always very happy about an ARC and being able to give it a review! <3

Let’s just take a second to appreciate the cover, okay? I mean, LOOK at it. It's giving spooky YA realness and I was immediately like, "Yep, add to shelf." It totally screams eerie vibes, teen drama, and maybe a few secrets lurking in the dark and I was so here for it.

Now, onto the audiobook: big fan. I love it when a story has multiple narrators; it gives each character a stronger voice and just makes the whole listening experience feel more immersive. It added layers to the storytelling and kept me engaged the whole way through.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the different timelines. I love when a book jumps between past and present and makes you play detective until everything finally clicks. It keeps me on my toes, and this book delivered that in a super satisfying way. It’s one of those narrative tricks that, when done well (like here), just adds so much tension and mystery.

Story-wise, it was a solid read. Nothing that completely blew my mind, but honestly? That’s okay. It hit the spot for what I needed; a good, spooky, in-between read that was entertaining without being too heavy. It gave me chills in a few places, and I was genuinely curious to see how things would come together in the end.

If you’re into YA horror that doesn’t overdo it but still brings the creepy atmosphere, cool structure, and a little bit of emotional depth, this one’s worth checking out. Throw it on your fall reading list, light a candle, and prepare to be a little unsettled (in a good way).

This is such a great summer time read with excellent characters, a really intriguing mystery at its heart and a climax where everything comes together in an extremely satisfying and suspenseful way.

This is a YA title that I think definitely crosses over to a general audience, as the situations and the characters will able to a wide variety of readers. The way that it brings in discussions of sexuality and religion is very timely and done very well here.

I love a small town mystery and disappearances that need to be solved and this is one where the disappearances have occurred over a long period of time, adding even more to the mystery and race to find out what is causing them before someone else is taken.

Bad Creek by Peyton June was an entertaining story.
This book will keep you intrigued to the very end! Well written with fantastic characters. This book kept me entertained through the whole story. It was so interesting I couldn't put it down. I read the book in one day.

I don't think this book was for me. I think the target audience would be really into this book, especially for a summer scares type of book, but it felt a little too YA and predictable for me personally.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced audio-copy.

I desperately needed a spooky summer thriller and this one delivered. Props to the narrators, who crushed it. All three were great to listen to and I fully enjoyed my experience.

Now, the story! We are following childhood vacation friends Iris, Aidan, and Gum. Iris is still reeling from her sister Glory's drowning the previous year at Bad Creek. Aidan was with Glory the night she died but he has no memory of what happened. Gum is having some family issues and then he starts seeing visions of Glory looking like a watery horror. She's whispering at him and telling him that Iris will be next. Iris tries to unravel what happened to her sister and several generations of women who may or may not have been sacrificed to something in the water.

These three friends come closer together through this dark generational horror show and I loved seeing them fight for each other and not give up on each other. It was truly spooky and I would absolutely read more books by this author.

Naw. Missed the mark for me. Felt middle grade. Didn’t like any of the characters. The writing wasn’t bad though. It’d be good for a young teen wanting to start their horror journey

A lightly spooky romp that's perfect for the Summer! A trio of teens carrying on the legacy of their parents as the current day "Disasters' grapple with grief after previously losing one of their own the year prior.

Overall, this was a fun read! However, I feel that the perspective shifts turned things into a bit more of a slog pacing wise and some of the themes were a bit too heavy handed.

A perfect 'summerween' read! 3.5⭐

The vibes are immaculate. It's not the most in your face/jump scare horror type of book but the atmosphere oozed off the pages. I think the audiobook helped with the vibes, I was a huge fan of the multiple POV's it really added to the whole overall vibe. The book is very fast paced which makes it easy to finish in one sitting, especially with the almost non-stop action. Loved the supernatural side to this!

Make sure to add on your radar for this fall!

The trigger list is important to look at with this one, it goes through some pretty intense topics and gore (which is very detailed).

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 for the narration. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book, which was one I eagerly anticipated this summer! This book had a lot of potential and did not come across as a debut. I enjoyed all the characters, including their individual chapter narrations by different actors, and liked the themes of grief and a fractured found family. I thought the storyline about Gum and his religious trauma as a young gay boy to be lacking, it could have been so much richer but only served to act as the plot and not as part of his character. I did not like the romance aspect and thought it was kind of oddly placed. I liked the supernatural elements, but wish they had been dialed up to a 10, instead of like, a 7. I think this will sit well with readers who want a quick straightforward YA horror, and while I didn't LOVE it, I did enjoy it, and in fact listened to about 65% of it in one sitting. Overall, the themes felt a little under developed, but I would still recommend this to anyone searching for a vacation horror/murder mystery with supernatural elements.

Thanks to RBmedia and netgalley for a copy of this arc.

Out of the three narrator’s Suzy Jackson is the highlight for me. She sound young enough to convince me I’m listening to to a high schooler but delivers with an emotional punch that only elevates the narrative.

Michael crouch fits the setting as well and he and suzy match each others southern accents well and that really helped tie the narratives around.

Nick mills while by no means a bad narrator does feel out of place and to old compaired to the others.

The story its self is cinematic. I especially liked the scene at the drive in theatre. Im not usually one to picture the books i read particularly vividly but i really felt like i could see this one.

I do feel like this could have been a little shorter. It meanders a bit and honestly if it had just been Gum and Iris as the pov characters it might have been a bit stronger. Aiden chapters felt particularly long.

This is a ya book but for the most part it didn’t particularly feel like it other then the age of the characters. For me thats a plus but if you really like ya that might not be.

Id recommend Mr.magic by kiersten white and I saw the TV glow for similar subtext themes.

Great narration! The narrators really brought the story to life and I loved the duel narration. Will definitely be recommending the audio to people.

Wow I loved this! I love a good horror book but I don’t usually read YA horror so I was curious to see how it would be. It didn’t feel childish in the slightest and had my attention from the very beginning! The creepy camp style vibes, the summer mystery, the unknown nature of death. Very atmospheric and I felt pulled into the setting and the mystery. There were a few things I wish had been more fleshed out, but overall, a very enjoyable read!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of the book in return of an honest review.

Bad Creek by Peyton June feels instantly familiar. If you’ve read books like The God of the Woods, The Counselors, or The Last Time I Lied, you’ll recognize the setting: summer, camping by a lake and a string of mysterious disappearances spanning years.

While the premise is intriguing, I struggled a bit at the beginning to keep track of all the characters. Several of them weren’t introduced clearly enough, which made it hard to connect or care about who was who. As the story progressed, I got a better sense of who the key players were, but the character development overall felt a bit thin.

The pacing was also on the slower side. I was hoping for more suspense, more eerie moments, and a bit more action to keep the tension high. That said, Peyton June has written a YA thriller that might appeal to younger readers looking for a summer mystery. If your teen is in the mood for a lakeside thriller with a touch of nostalgia, Bad Creek could be a solid pick.

The audiobook narrators did a fantastic job bringing the story to life, and I’d definitely recommend experiencing it in audio format if you’re curious.

This was an interesting one for me. I really liked the narration and thought the narrators did a great job. I liked the character development, but I wanted some more from the story. I didn’t love the pacing and I thought that the story was way too predictable. It was still a fun ride, I was just hopeful for more. Iris and her family have gone to Bad Creek every summer her whole life. Last summer her older sister Glory passed away, but Iris still wants to go. She is determined to figure out what happened because she doesn’t believe that her sister truly drowned by accident. Along with her oldest friends Gum and Aiden she wants to find the truth, but not all truth is waiting to be found. I liked that this book had LGBTQA+ representation as well as questioning of religious upbringing. I wanted to like this one more than I did, but I recognize that might have been me. I gave this one 3.5 stars which I rounded up because there were a lot of good things and this might be a better fit for someone else.

Glory drowned a year ago but her sister Iris does not believe that's really what happened. Glory was able to swim and well. What really happened that night? Everyone is back at the cabins and there are points of view from the teens. But there have been other accidents and deaths at the lake. Is there a murderer on the loose?

“Their blood was in Bad Creek”

“Bad Creek” is a refreshing horror; a familiar tale of death, ghosts, teenagers coming of age, and that backwoods Christian hatred parading around as love. Following the death of her sister, Iris returns with her family a year later to her treasured holiday cabin, reuniting with old friends and digging up trauma that had not been properly tended to. Between the suffocating denial, the dangerous sleepwalking leading below the waves, and a collection of waterlogged ghosts haunting the cabins of Bad Creek, the vacation very quickly becomes an unforgettable experience for the trio.

There are aspects of this book that I had wished would have been dissected further, but with the knowledge that this is a YA novel, I feel like the more mature aspects were handled rather decently. The intersection of a religiously oppressive atmosphere, far too casual homophobia and the lingering effects of trauma upon a person at some of their most formative years, were well worn backbones to the horror. At times, it was tough to read the chapters dealing with Gum’s family; that diatribe of hatred being all too familiar in the world. The sharpness of those comments, spoken with the same breathes that preached about love, really provided an emotional impact for Gum’s struggles, fulled even worst by the ghostly women who plagued his waking moments.

All of the characters were enjoyable, and I wish there had been more of Iris and her mother’s. I wish there had just been more of her mothers in general. The loss of their daughter, coupled with the prior tragedies they’d experienced at this cabin, and the dynamic they would have had with friends who took radically different paths in life could have been a story all its own.

At points the plot struggled, getting a little muddled and repeatable. Overall, though, it was well paced, and I couldn't bring myself to pause the audio book, I found myself that invested in the story being told. The imagery was extremely well written, and the descriptions of the ghost dripping all over the place got me excited each time. Its eerie, even if I wanted a bit more of the horror aspects (a personal preference with understanding of the YA demographic). The characters were enjoyable for the most part, and it's always nice to have queer characters who exist outside of simply being queer. The audio narrators were enjoyable and brought life to the pages.

“Bad Creek” is a well-structured, and well written horror novel, that while it isn’t going to make waves or add anything new to the genre, is worth the read for horror fans.

Honest review given in exchange for an electronic ARC, via Netgalley.