I’m not a fan of horror films but I found this YA book to be a good read.
Thanks for the opportunity to read & review it.

How to Survive a Horror Movie was an excellent debut novel from Scarlett Dunmore. I’m seriously impressed, and impressing me with a YA thriller is no easy feat. There wasn’t anything super special about it but it was a really fun and really quick read. Which are mega positives for me.

I loved that every chapter title was a different tip for surviving a horror film. They were great at foreshadowing what was going to happen in the chapter without giving too much away.

Personally, I don’t think the twist is super guessable, at least not for me. I would never have suspected the killer as it’s really not obvious. I’m trying to not give too much away, which is so hard when reviewing these types of books, but it’s really not someone you would expect and their reasoning is also so out of left wing (is that the right phrase?).

The setting for this book was perfect. Someone going on a killing spree in a boarding school on an isolated island *chef’s kiss*. I love that there really was no way for them to get away and boarding school settings always hit for me. Especially in thrillers and mysteries.

Another area of this book that was perfect was the pacing. You’re constantly moving forward and the building tension really keeps you turning the page. I read the majority of this book in 24 hours, which based on my current reading habits, is very impressive. The narrative felt very fresh and I liked how easy it was to read.

A sequel has already been confirmed and I’m so excited that this will be a series. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Welcome to the YA horror pantheon Charley Sullivan, final girl candidate and slasher / horror movie fiend extraordinaire.

After being offered a 'fresh start', Charley has enrolled at a girls’ boarding school on a remote island and everything is ticking along just fine until someone starts killing off girls in her year group. The school head, determined to avoid headlines and controversy labels them as accidents but Charley knows the rules of horror and knows that there is no way that these are anything but the actions of vicious serial killer. Adding a complication to the situation, she finds herself haunted by the ghosts of her dead classmates and quickly realises that it's up to her, her best (only) friend, Olive, and hopefully the ghosts, to solve the murders, survive the killings and not get kicked out of school.

This was such a fun, fast-paced and humorous YA horror debut from Scarlett Dunmore and thankfully is the opening book in a series.

The book is broken up by Charley's rules to survive a horror movie, rather than traditional chapters and it's absolutely filled to the brim with slasher and horror movie references, and plenty of Stephen King. I think Charley would get on very well with Mindy Meeks-Martin and Kirby Reed (from the Scream franchise), with her encyclopaedic knowledge of horror, especially teen horror and slashers and it's worked into the story effectively to help her work out the solutions to the murders.

I did wonder as I was reading if the target audience would appreciate the references used as at points this does read like a younger YA with the narrative voice, but as an adult reader who grew up with it all I lapped it up!

Considering that it does read as a younger YA there were some surprisingly brutal scenes, but again, as an adult reader I appreciated that it didn't shy away from clearly being a horror though it may be a little much for some younger readers. There are some tongue-in-cheek elements that help give a break from the tension and I appreciated the fast pace and what felt like non stop action which kept the story moving forward.

I'm excited that this is the opening book in a series, especially after the cliffhanger at the end and I'll definitely be picking up book 2 when it's released!

4.25*

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Tiger Group | Little Tiger for this digital review copy of "How To Survive A Horror Movie" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

This was so much fun!! I honestly read the last 55% of this book in one solid go because it genuinely is such a fast paced easy to get absorbed into story!

Our MC Charly is a big fan of slashers, so not only did we have tons of references to movie and book classics, we also had her pointing out all the tropes and standard slasher scenes as they happened to her. It was such a great way to play on all the traits of this genre while not feeling like it was cliché.

The setting was perfect, the humour was great, and I was actually surprised by some of the twists which doesn't happen often! I love that there seems to be more sapphics in horror books lately, especially ones like this where its just a character trait like any other and not the main focus of the story!!

I also LOVED that the chapters were all titled with rules on how to survive a horror movie, that became relevant to the events of that chapter.

I was surprised to see this will have a sequel, the only problem is waiting until 2025 to get it!! (Unlike Charly and Olive, I love a sequel)

thank you to netgalley for this arc!

this book was really good! i’m a big horror movie fan, so i enjoyed seeing all the references. i also really liked the characters, especially the ghosts.

the mystery itself was well written. i enjoyed trying to guess who it was, and the small hints where well done. i also loved the twist at the end, and i’m really hoping for a sequel!

How to Survive a Horror Movie is a wonderfully meta slasher horror comedy story that will keep you up until the early hours racing through the pages.

I loved all the film references to other horror narratives, particularly often with a knowing wink to the audience. By making Charley a horror head, it allows her to see the rules of the story unfolding in front of her. The issue she has is convincing other people to listen. It sits so well with The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington, Let’s Split Up by Bill Wood and I Was a Teenage Slasher & The Indian Lake trilogy by Stephen Graham Jones – aka some of my favourite YA and adult horror stories of recent memory. That additional layer of unpicking the story as it pans out is just delicious and allows the author to play with these expected tropes, subverting them and delivering them in equal measure. For me, this is just delightful and I will continue to read many more books in this style. With Charley it is also a form of escapism for the secrets she is running from, a twisted sense of moving away from reality for just a little while. It adds another layer to her character and reminds us of the comfort and catharsis we can have from confronting our fears on screen and on the page.

Dunmore delivers this with aplomb. We have some extremely creative scare and kill scenes that combine these expected tropes and plot beats with inventive spins and unexpected surprises. The mystery plot Dunmore has created is exceptional, with brilliant pacing and suspense throughout. I especially enjoyed the inclusion of the Ghosts and everything they added to the story, they were a higlight for me. There is a romantic plot as well, which I enjoyed, particularly for the sapphic representation. However, it was the chills and thrills that definitely kept me hooked. Seeing how everything pieced together was fantastic. Dunmore keeps the classic villain explanation scene and it is delectable. There are just so many great nods to the classic structure of slasher stories and great horror films. No spoilers here but the final sting of the book was just fantastic.

How to Survive a Horror Movie is a thrillingly good time and perfect to pick up as the weather turns colder and the nights grow darker.

Thank you NetGalley, Little Tiger, and Scarlett Dunmore for my advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Read if you like:
- isolated boarding school setting
- murder mysteries with ghostly helpers
- horror movie/book obsessed FMC
- twisty YA with some good horror imagery
- sapphic romance undertones

I really enjoyed this book! I’ve only just started to pick up YA horror, but so far this is my favourite! While there is not overwhelming descriptions of horror/gore, there is enough to unsettle and spook you. The premise of the book was right up my street, I found the pacing to be good and it definitely kept me guessing! There were parts of this book that had me laughing out loud and the horror movie tie-ins were so nostalgic; this is for sure a summerween / spooky season must read!

I think my only peeve for this one was the overwhelming number of Stephen King name drops - I understand our MC is horror obsessed, but literally this was the only author I saw mentioned when there is just so many others that could’ve been mentioned, just to change it up a bit! I found that after a while it took me out of the immersion and that sucks.

Absolutely will be reading the sequel 👻

This would make a really good YA introduction to horror- I think I was a bit out of the target audience for this one and maybe thats why I didn't really connect too well with the characters but I can absolutely see a younger teen loving this. The descriptions were gross but not too explicit, and it was a nice mix of horror and teen angst.

A good autumnal read for teens!
This is a slasher-type horror novel with pop classic horror references throughout. The writing does read a bit young for YA so I’d recommend for teenagers - this would be a good read for Halloween as an intro to the slasher genre.

OH MY GOD THIS BOOK WAS SO GOOD!!!!! The ending?! I literally gasped so loud reading this book.

Okay, a proper review now.

Character wise there were points that I found Lottie to be a little hard to like, she had some moments where I just wanted to smack her upside the head. But aside from that, I thought all the characters were good, especially the ones who had come back as ghosts!

The writing was so good, I loved the chapter headings and the way the story still had a little bit of humour and fun. It was really easy to read, and not in a bad way either.

And atmosphere wise, it was literally set on a creepy island at a boarding school?! How much more atmospheric do you need!

The plot was the real standout for me. The entire story was excellent, the twists and turns and the way the author featured the characters love of horror movies and their survival rules was brilliant.

This genuinely is one of the best books I've read this year!

A young-skewing YA intro to horror tropes and genres, although as an adult reading this I very much enjoyed all the references. The book is fast-paced, fun and quite gruesome in it's body count!

As a YA book this is a good dip into horror genre. I didn't particularly like any of the characters and I defiantly wasn't routing for the main character Charley. I felt the dialogue was quite childish and over explained situations and the constant mention of Stephen King got old. The ghosts were a good twist and I liked the relationships they built over time.

The story does follow the horror movie trope which I understand it set out to do but I expected there to be more of a twist. Without the gore this could have been a Goosebumps book, which isn't a bad thing but I think for a YA it should have been fleshed out and topics could have been delved into like suicide and sexuality rather then them just being there for shock value.

There is going to be a second book which I might pick up just to see if there is any character development.

A perfect autumnal read, packed to the gills with slasher-movie references. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this before publication.
Charley has been offered a fresh start. She doesn’t like being the new girl in the remote school for girls that she has been sent to. While her roommate, Olive, shares her fondness for horror movies there’s not much else about the school that she likes. However, it’s an opportunity for her to be remembered for something other than the events that led to her being asked to attend the school.
It doesn’t take long before we start to learn something is very wrong. A student is found dead, and it’s labelled a suicide, but when Charley starts seeing her body it’s evident that something is not quite right. Then more students turn up dead and Charley is haunted by their spirits. It’s down to Charley and Olive to use their shared love of horror movies to help them work out what’s going on.
Our big question is, will they survive?
Hard to put down. With plenty of wry humour this is a book I’d recommend, though the ending felt a little less plausible than it might have.

Thank you for the ARC

unfortunately this book was a DNF for me
firstly I think this book reads very young compared to most YA books, which is odd given that its horror movie based, I feel the age this is for wouldn't understand the references at all.
I also didn't like the lack of clear chapters, as a girl who reads until a chapter ends it was difficult, I also think it made it harder to follow as one moment they are doing one thing and the next its somewhere different and yet there was no chapter

Brilliant! What a great book I couldn’t put it down! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book.

i knew i’d enjoy this book but i was shocked by how much!!! truly a phenomenal story and so tense too!! i love it when the characters know how to survive and still somehow make weird choices haha!!

I absolutely loved this book and its references to horror movies, the story was very well written and had clearly been well thought out. I thought I had an idea of who the killer was but the ending did surprise me. I loved this book from start to finish and highly recommend it.

A fun slasher to read during spooky season. It does get predictable but that’s ok because I enjoyed the horror movie references

I am not a huge fan of Horror but this tongue cheek look at the genre was fun and I really did enjoy reading it.

The protagonist is Charley, a teenager with a dark past who has come to attend a boarding school in the middle of nowhere, perfect setting for a horror. Cue the spooky music :)

It had twist and turns that kept me engaged right to the end and I was rooting for Charley to be that girl that make it to the end.

Does she…. Read and find out ;)

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐨 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐀 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭 𝐃𝐮𝐧𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: 𝐇𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 𝐘𝐀
𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫: 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝟓𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫!
𝐌𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝟑.𝟓 ⭐️

What a fun read!! This will be perfect for the slasher fan for Halloween.
A murder mystery with a lot of horror movie references (Scream, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween)

There are #33 rules to surviving a horror movie, I enjoyed how each ‘chapter’ was a rule to surviving but it flowed in nicely with the storyline.

For a YA horror it had the predictable cheesy dialogue and I did roll my eyes a few times at how many times Stephen King’s name popped up, but I did enjoy some really creepy moments that I could visualise perfectly and the death scenes were pretty gruesome for a YA book.

100% recommend if you like
-Popcorn Slashers
-Slasher Movies
-Fast Paced
-Paranormal
-Dark Academia Setting
-An Easy, Quick Read

Thanks to @netgalley & @littletigerbooks for this eArc!

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