this was PHENOMENAL!!!!!!!!

i knew this was going to be five stars early on & i’m so happy that held up as the book went on.

the author did a fantastic job at developing the setting/atmosphere - small town louisiana, eerie dark swamps, & an amateur movie set…. the perfect setting for a horror/thriller book.

i loved the characters!! haze was a great FMC and i found her decision making to be (if slightly irrational) what i would probably do if i were in her shoes. the romantic subplot was so so good & i was hoping it would go in the direction the author took it.

the plot itself had me hooked! this book felt exactly like classic slasher x scooby doo - two of my all time favorite things! i loved all of the references to classic slashers & the concept of a final girl.

regarding the plot twist/killer reveal: i will say that i guessed it BUT i still had so much fun reading this!!! the reveal scene was great and had my heart practically beating out of my chest - i genuinely didn’t know where that scene was going to go after the killer was unmasked.

once again this is me begging you all to read YA thrillers!!!!! some of my all time favorite books are YA thrillers & this subgenre is so slept on.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

"'Scream' meets 'The Reappearance of Rachel Price'" was a perfect description. The story was enthralling from the start and had me rooting for the final girl and her friends the whole time. I enjoyed the plot twists every time a possible murderer was revealed and the ending surprised me.

This book gave me all the 90's slasher vibes I didn't know I needed. I grew up watching films like Friday the 13th, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream so this was nostalgic for all the best reasons! I'll definitely be reading more of Worley's work.

I think this is the 3rd Olivia Worley book I’ve received as an ARC and this. is. the. best! It’s so great to see an author steadily get better. The pacing is perfect, the twist is unexpected, the characters are great. This is the perfect thriller for Halloween for those of us that don’t want horror.
Thanks to the author, St Martins Press, and NetGalley for this eARC.

A perfect book for fans of Scream, Final Girls, or any 80's/90's slasher films. This book follows a character named Haze who has been casted in a low budget horror film. However, once filming begins, a sting of "accidents" starts to occur. Is this just part of the film, is this a copy cat, or was the wrong slasher placed behind bars?

I like to think I am really good at figuring out the killer early on in the book, however, I was very wrong lol. Olivia Worley really lead me on and left things unpredictable.

I loved the cover of this book and it is initially what drew me into wanting to read. Definitely needs to be added to October TBR for spooky vibes!

YA
Graphic Violence
Animal Death
Murder
Parental Trama
Plot Twists

I absolutely devoured this book. This book is a slasher film in book form. It was such a fun read.

Just like watching slasher films, you want to figure out who the killer is. I was so sure of myself so many times. The twist at the end though!

This is such an incredibly written book, purely because it pulls you in so easily. It’s been a while since I’ve sat and just wanted to finish a book in one sitting.

The setting was beautifully described. I could visualize every place they went so vividly in my mind. I almost felt how humid it was from the descriptions.

This book will keep you on your toes. It was described as Scream meets The Reappearance of Rachel Price. I have seen Scream, but haven’t read the Holly Jackson book. This may have convinced me to read it.

There is no spice, which I feel is important to tell readers. Some people don’t like spice, and some people are all about it. There is definitely blood, murder, and violence.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Publishing Group for the opportunity to read this ARC.

4 Stars! Thank you to Wednesday Books for the ARC of this book in exchange for a review. All opinions in this review are my own.

Haze is our main character who is acting in her first film, that also just so happens to take place in her hometown where her dad carried out gruesome murders many years ago. She quickly realizes that the film she's been hired on for is based on those crimes. All seems well until weird things start happening on set, and her costars start winding up dead.

This is the second book by Olivia Worley I've read and I very much enjoy her writing. This book was such a fun and entertaining take on the slasher genre. The pacing of the book felt right with the story. People do start dying fairly early on, but it makes sense in the story as you try and figure out who is carrying out the present-day killings. One critique is that the book did have a large cast of characters, and I did have some trouble keeping everyone straight beyond Haze and Cameron. This may have been a me problem though.

On a gore scale, I would give this at 3 out of 5. It was gorier than I expected it to be, but it didn't take away from the story, and by no means was it overly gory.

Overall, this is a great read for Halloween time. If you enjoy scary movies, definitely pick this one up. It's such a unique take on a final girl trope!

Lights, camera, murder! It’s all fun and games until your horror movie becomes a true crime story.


First Line: It always opens with a dead girl. Any slasher fan worth their salt can tell you that.

Reasons to Read:
🎥 Slasher-on-Set Mayhem — Hazel lands her dream role in a horror movie, only to find herself trapped in a real-life slasher where fiction and reality are slicing together.
🩸 Family Legacy of Fear — Filming in her father’s hometown, the same man convicted as the Pine Springs Slasher, Hazel must face chilling echoes of her past while dodging a killer in the present.
🎭 Killer Twists and Copycats — Every “accident” feels scripted, every scream could be real, and the only way to survive is to figure out who’s behind the camera…before the credits roll on Hazel herself.


Thoughts: I feel like I have read a version of this a few times already: they are doing a slasher film, people start dying, and somehow it’s related to one of the characters. This one is no different, and there are definite homages to Scream and Halloween. This book also has multiple red herrings, so there is a lot to keep you guessing. I felt like it was a fun read for this time of year and very fast paced. Haze as a main character/ final girl really keeps you rooting for her to figure it all out and take matters into her own hands.

Final Cut is one of the best YA books I've ever read - like I'm actually OBSESSED. I read this sooo fast and could not put it down if I tried! I loved the blend of the past/present, the movie shots and the real life moments - I found everything to be really creative. I really felt like I was on set with these characters and then just hanging out with them afterward like we were besties. The location was so good and really added to the vibe of the book. The little romance had me smiling nonstop. I'm obsessed with slashers and am proud to say I was able to guess one thing correctly - YAY ME!! And there was something about Olivia's writing that just really pulled me in. I can't even explain it - maybe it was just the right book at the right time??

Thank you St. Martins Press/Wednesday Books and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!

Final Cut by Olivia Worley is an unputdownable, entertaining, twisty YA thriller/horror! I was hooked from page one! This book is so well written, and I loved everything about it - the concept, the characters, the friendships, the town, the townspeople, the mystery, the movie scenes, and the slasher vibes! This story was anything but predictable, and I was second guessing myself the entire time! That ending was just wow! Highly recommend!

4 stars

Another great book from Olivia. I really liked most of the characters in this book. The ending really surprised me and I, of course didn’t expect the killer. The one I will say is Cal was a bad dude but he also got a raw deal, which kind of made me mad. Also I really wanted to hear what he had to say.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Balancing mystery, suspicion, tension, and terror, I was really impressed by how well this book managed to fit itself into the slasher genre. With a wide cast of characters, and suspects, I was kept guessing right up until the end, and every time I thought for sure I had figured out who the killer was a new twist would happen that turned everything on its head.

I also loved how the backstory for the final girl, Hazel, played out and thought her motivations for wanting to stay and solve everything made sense and felt fresh for the genre. The stakes were high and very real to the characters, and every twist that happened felt natural and never too much or too confusing. This was a fun read, and if you like the storytelling and conventions of slasher films definitely give this a go!

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for an early copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. This book was interesting and I did read it in one day. I loved the storyline and the characters. I thought the characters had great growth. This is a fast-paced and quick book that you won't want to put down! I would definitely recommend this book.

• b o o k r e v i e w •
Final Cut by Olivia Worley

🔪 This is a tribute to classic slasher movies and boy does it pack in the vibes. While yes, this book is YA, it’s immensely eerie and has some light gore. I *felt* the setting of this book - so much so that at times I wasn’t able to read it at night if I was home alone! I’m also a big baby, so factor that in.

🎬 This book follows a film cast and crew in smalltown Louisiana as they try to make a slasher movie where our MC, Haze, portrays the Final Girl. It’s a movie based on the actual slashings that shook the town decades ago. As it turns out, Haze is the daughter of that serial killer. It’s her first time back in town since she was a toddler, when her mom took her to start new lives in the wake of her father being sent to prison.

🎥 Haze and the rest of the cast and crew experience attack after attack: by a prop knife that isn’t actually a prop, falling rigging, and more. She quickly realizes that these are no accidents, and someone is either continuing the work of her father, or her father was innocent all along and whoever is stalking their filmset now is the original slasher. Can Haze trust any of her costars? Will she be the real life Final Girl, get killed herself, or be able to save her friends?

📖 In my mind this book is broken into three sections: vibes and setting building, mystery groundwork being laid, and go-go-go twists and action. I enjoyed each one and was very much still guessing as to who the killer was right up until the end. A YA book centered around young adults portraying high schoolers, this book had a teeny tiny bit of a flirtationship and honestly it was the right amount for the premise of the story. As mentioned, there’s some light gore, a shit ton of creepy, swampy vibes, and some truly gross behavior by adults.

🔪 An engaging and fun read, and I can only imagine even more so if you’re a fan of slasher movies. This book publishes on 10/28!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I must admit that I thought I knew what the final twist would reveal very early on in the book. It turns out I was just as confused as all the characters that believed they would make it safely home after the final girl took her bow.

I flew through this suspense/horror story. I needed to know the answers much in the same way as our FMC, Haze did. There were just enough questions answered along the way to keep the pace of the story moving and enough new questions added to make you read another chapter.

This would be a great book to read in one sitting alone at night, curled up with a blanket with only the light of a few candles to read it from.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted copy.

I've really liked Olivia Worley's other novels, so I was excited to sit down with Final Cut. I absolutely loved the setting of rural Louisiana. The plot moved at a steady pace that kept me locked in until the very end, with a twist I did not see coming. I would recommend this book for fans of Karen M. McManus and Natalie D. Richards.

･ﾟ 𝙰𝚁𝙲 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠 ·˚˖‧
𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒐 𝑺𝒕. 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒏'𝒔 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑵𝒆𝒕𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝑨𝑹𝑪!

╰𝚂𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚛 𝙵𝚛𝚎𝚎╮

✦ Name: The Monsters They Made Us by
✦ Pub Date: October 28, 2025
✦ Rating: 4,25/5
✦ Genre: YA Horror
✦ POV: 1, +alt chapters
✦ Spice: 0/5
✦ Age: 16+
✦ CW: animal d*ath, vi*lence, blo*d, m*rder

࣪ ִֶָ 𝙸𝚗𝚝𝚛𝚘 ·˚˖

She’s the daughter of a kіllеr, and she’s invited to a movie shoot at the place where she grew up, where everything happened… But when people start dуіng on set, could it mean her father wasn’t the real murdеrеr?

·˚˖ 𝙼𝚢 𝚃𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 ˖˚·

At first, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read it, but then my friend said the book was actually good, so I decided to give it a try.

Horror stories are often boring to me, everything happens too fast, and you can see the ending coming right away. But this one felt more like a thriller, full of tension and mystery, with that delicious nervous edge as you try to figure things out.

It’s the perfect read for spooky season. I liked how the book was packed with action, secrets, and twists, just when I thought I’d figured it out, it managed to shock me again.

I loved the slasher movie setting, and the whole idea of the main character being the daughter of a murdеrеr really intrigued me, it reminded me of Scream. The book also gave me A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder vibes, only darker.

I think I’ll check out the author’s other books too!

·˚˖ 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜 ˖˚·

The characters felt real and likable, and I found myself worrying about all of them. I suspected everyone at some point, but in the end, my thought process turned out to be just like the protagonist’s. I also liked the subtle romantic thread running through it.