Sarah O'Connor

“‘I’m the final girl…Guaranteed to survive the night,” (Bayron 49).

Charity Curtis loves her summer job playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake, where a popular slasher horror movie, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake, was made. Guests come to Camp Mirror Lake and pay to be scared in recreated scenes from the movie in a full contact game where there are few survivors. But as Charity and her co-workers begin to close for the season they find some of their colleagues missing, another dead, and suddenly everything is becoming too real. Charity and her girlfriend are determined to survive the night, but they’ll need to find out more about Mirror Lake’s dark past first.

I don’t like slashers, or many horror movies in general, so it was a wonder why I’d like this. I saw it come up on my Goodreads and was intrigued by the concept, and if the book had focused more on the horror movie game aspect maybe I’d have liked it better. But for an incredibly short book, Bayron gets straight to the details, and I can at least respect her for that even though I think it made for a weak story.

None of the characters in You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight are very fleshed out, but maybe that’s just how slashers work. Maybe the characters are supposed to be weak in the name of the blood and gore and sudden revelations that are to come in slashers. I’m not sure, but I definitely think this book could have been extended a little to really pack the punch it wanted too.

I will say that Bayron does an excellent job creating the creepy, wrong atmosphere of Camp Mirror Lake, and there were some excellent descriptions that really showed the horror of what was happening. I also think Bayron did a wonderful job of not explaining a horror so that the reader had to piece together what happened, which was horrifying. Charity and Bezi’s relationship was also good, not gross and clingy as many YA romances tend to be but genuine and real which is a relief to see, especially for a queer couple. There were also some cute nods to scream queens and horror movie actors, like Charity’s last name being Curtis and Sheriff Lillard, and probably more I didn’t pick up on since I’m not big into the whole horror movie thing.

I’m also CONVINCED this book was supposed to be called Survive the Night but because two horror books already exist with that title, it got this clunker of one instead.

If you like slashers then you’ll probably enjoy You’re Not Supposed To Die Tonight, but I was not the right reader for this. But if you’re having a slasher summer, don’t miss this!

Publication: June 20 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Pages: 230 pages (Hardcover)
Source: Library
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Horror, Queer
My Rating: ⛤⛤.5
Summary:

Charity Curtis has the summer job of her dreams, playing the “final girl” at Camp Mirror Lake. Guests pay to be scared in this full-contact terror game, as Charity and her summer crew recreate scenes from a classic slasher film, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. The more realistic the fear, the better for business.
But the last weekend of the season, Charity’s co-workers begin disappearing. And when one ends up dead, Charity’s role as the final girl suddenly becomes all too real. If Charity and her girlfriend Bezi hope to survive the night, they’ll need figure out what this killer is after. Is there is more to the story of Mirror Lake and its dangerous past than Charity ever suspected?