Title: This Delicious Death

Author: Kayla Cottingham

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire 2023

Genre: YA Horror

Pages: 290

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR

Two years ago, a small percentage of population underwent a transformation known as the Hollowing. Those affected were only able to survive by consuming human flesh. The people who went without quickly became feral, turning on their friends and family. Luckily, scientists were able to create a synthetic version of human meat that would satisfy their hunger. As a result, humanity slowly began to return to normal.

Cut to Zoey, Celeste, Valeria, and Jasmine, four hollow girls living in Southern California. As a last hurrah before graduation they decide to attend a musical festival in the heart of the desert. They have a cooler filled with seltzer, vodka, and Synflesh… and are ready to party. 

But on the first night of the festival Val goes feral and ends up killing and eating a boy in one of the bands. As other festival guests start disappearing around them the girls soon discover someone is targeting people like them. And if they can't figure out how to stop it, and soon, no one at the festival is getting out alive.

Well that was delightfully fun! A very YA (but don’t let that scare you off) horror romp set at a music festival in the desert. The teenagers felt very much like Zillenial teeneagers, but not in a terrible way. I actually really liked getting a look at the younger generations outlook on life through the lenses of a pseudo-zombie storyline. Thankfully this book gets right into the weird and the spooky not dwelling on a ton of exposition right away Instead, we dive right into the music festival and then learn about the characters backstories through chapter starters. Overall a fun romp for spooky month.

Next up on the TBR pile: