It would have been great if that was really what the book was about. And for much of it, the author does create a mood of fear and foreboding. But then the story takes a turn for the weird, going a paranormal route but not fully committing to going there. For me, it just got weird and the ending was a huge disappointment. 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! I also feel like the story was one note. It could have been a better experience for me had it been even more campy. That may sounds strange, but I would have enjoyed some humor, or even just more witty banter.

There is a very specific set of vibes that comes with the "summer camp gone wrong (in a murderous way)" type of premise that..... intrigues me for some reason. I cannot even really explain why but it just calls out to me. Though initially this YA horror novel ( with queer rep!) is your usual final girl survival story/‘teenagers getting obliterated by a deranged serial killer at a summer camp’ fare, somehow Bayron still makes it feel fresh. (Think Fear Street: 1978vibes.) And then . . . well, the rest of the book after that point had me scratching my head with utter confusion at the odd creative choices. For me, it goes left. Alllll the way left. 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. Okay, Kaylnn Bayon is on a ROLL. Wow. So, earlier this year I read MY DEAR HENRY, which is a reimagining of “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde,” and it was amazing. (My daughter is currently reading and loving it.) Last year I read her middle grade debut, THE VANQUISHERS, and that one was excellent as well. Now, here she is again, taking on a completely new genre of writing with this book. Is there anything she can’t write?

The premise was really cool and I did enjoy how Bayron set that up in the first few chapters of the book. I didn't expect that much action right away and it worked really well to establish the tone of this story and also to introduce our main character, Charity. 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.

Will Charity’s role as final girl become all too real? Who, or what, is lurking in the camp? Are the legends of murder there true? 🔪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. In this story, Charity doesn't feel fleshed out enough as a character. We get some details of her home life sprinkled in but other than knowing that she likes the responsibility of running the camp, there's not much to her personality wise to grab onto. All of the other characters felt even less defined. We know Bezi likes animals and that's really it. Similar to Cinderella Is Dead, when the reveal of the big bad comes (which I saw coming), they weren't in the story enough to make them truly scary. Also, the red herring bad guys were so out of left field conceptually that it almost felt like I was reading a different book. Charity works at what is essentially an irl Camp Crystal Lake horror experience. It's a camp guests can come stay at and live in a reproduction of a slasher movie. It's all fine and good until her coworkers start going "missing" and creepy figures are beginning to be seen around the camp... Maybe I had my expectations just a little bit too high for this book because the slasher horror vibes were what I was expecting here. Parts are like Friday The 13th meets Fear Street!

I feel like this takes a while to get going for how short it is and And honestly kinda hard to follow. It took me a while to figure out why the kids were being murdered and hunted. 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.I'm sorry this is so silly "I will make this land run red with the blood of a thousand camp counselors". The dialogue in this is painful and the writing is very cringey. I'd love to hear from the targeted audience of this and see if they could appreciate it. Maybe I'm just too old and need something a little more serious? 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.