You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight

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I'm so saaaaad. You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight didn't work for me as a Horror novel. I had very high expectations and the story ended up going in a very different direction than what I expected. I’ve been playing the part of a girl who escapes a serial killer every night for months. It’s not a game this time. The consequences are real, but we still have to play.’

Theres also nothing that really hooked my interest, despite the premise being very exciting I found the story quite Boring! There's a lot of kids and names to follow which I didn't care about and teenage drama that always makes me struggle reading YA when it is a big part of the book.A haunted lake with a dark past plays host to a group of summer camp counsellors working on a ‘real life horror movie’ in You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight, the latest novel from Kalynn Bayron, her first YA horror offering, and one that explores legacy, family, and what it means to be a Final Girl. I actually hope she remains in this YA Horror lane. I can feel she is a true fan of the genre and I would love to see what else she could create in this space. I have been saving this one for Spooky Season since its release. The cover is giving me all the 1980s-Slasher vibes that I could possibly want. I couldn't wait to dive in.

I enjoyed the nods to different slasher films that all felt natural to the story instead of a *wink wink, look at what I know about* namedrop, particularly the character Paige rattling off horror film logic and the rules to surviving a la that one kid in the original Scream where being a virgin is ironically the only good thing he has going for him. Oh and I enjoyed that this doesn’t shirk from the blood and gore and also doesn’t go over the top with it. Heads up if you are squeamish, there’s some good quality massacring here. This heart-pounding slasher by New York Timesbestselling author Kalynn Bayron is perfect for fans of Fear Street. The ultimate twist of this book is pretty ridiculous. It's so over the top I could not take the story seriously and therefore nothing about it was scary.

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You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight was the perfect book to pull me out of a reading slump! The set up in the first half was better executed than the latter half, but overall it was fast paced and fun. Even though the second half is exactly the type of horror genre and twist that I love! You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight is an instant staple of the YA horror genre, with hair-raising twists and turns and a willingness to get into the gory murk of the terrors unfolding in the night. Keep your wits about you and do not trust anything or anyone. I think I might just not be a reader that gets Bayron's writing. I've read 5 books by this author and I only really enjoyed 1 of them: This Poison Heart. The rest of them I had similar issues with: bare bones character profiles, monologuing villains that didn't feel large enough, exposition that feels last minute and stories that never fully hold my attention. Overall, I think Bayron has really wonderful ideas, the execution just loses me 4/5 times. Alongside the scares, there’s also a nod to the coming-of-age theme of shifting friendships —“Are we growing apart or are we just learning a new way of being friends?”Readers are in for a thrilling ride!