Reviews with content warning for Stalking - Your Lonely Nights Are Over

Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass

5 reviews

annalisenak97's review

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A solid 3.5 stars. I really didn't know what to make of this book when I first started reading it. The characters felt pretty toxic and there were a lot of unrealistic reactions to the danger that was unfolding. But as the book went on the mystery and the plot absolutely grabbed me. Cole and Dearie slowly became more fleshed out and sympathetic. The writing is definitely geared towards teen readers, and I really appreciated that. It's so immediate and punchy. The comedic timing lands PERFECTLY and doesn't feel out of place in spite of the tragedy and the gore. The moral of this story is that romantic relationships while not always solve your loneliness, community and self love will. And it plays out in a really interesting (and slightly chilling bc murder) way.

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sonygaystation's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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bookcheshirecat's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

“Romance is for straights. Queers get to bicker with each other about petty bullshit while we get killed one by one, you know that.”

➽ Your Lonely Nights Are Over is a YA Slasher about a serial killer who target's the school's queer club! A famous serial killer called Mr. Sandman emerges from retirement and starts to go on a killing spree again. He targets anyone who might be feeling lonely and I found his MO very interesting! It's inspired by the Mr. Sandman song! I liked that we get excerpts from a documentary on the topic in between chapters, as it added another layer to the story. Best friends Dearie and Cole are both in the sights of the killer, who's coming closer and closer to them. Even worse, someone is trying to frame them for the murders and the police is all too eager to blame Cole, a young black man. I liked seeing Cole and Dearie's friendship and how it changed with everything that was going on. The story was dark and suspenseful, touching upon homophobic hate crimes, police brutality and the danger of getting into relationships just so you're paired-up and no longer 'lonely'.

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readthesparrow's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This review is based on a digital ARC provided by the publisher.

REVIEW

As you may know, I have taken it upon myself to create THE SLASHER LIST, a comprehensive list and review of slasher-inspired novels. I’ve been away from the project for a bit (work, life, personal demons, you know how it is), so I haven’t been able to dedicate much time to pursuing the project.

So when I started reading Your Lonely Nights Are Over, I wanted so much, despite knowing it would make the fall worse if I was disappointed.

I am so happy to say that Your Lonely Nights Are Over was everything I wanted and more. I devoured this book in two sittings.

We’ve got twists, we’ve got turns, we’ve got messy queer characters, and, of course, the most important element of every slasher: buckets of blood.

The death scenes and the tension is brutal. These kids die, man, and Sass doesn’t hold back. There’s a Saw-trap-esque strangulation by barbed wire in the first few chapters.

I will say that if you’re like me and you read and watch a lot of slashers and are familiar with the tropes, the twists might be a bit easy to predict. I knew who the killer was pretty quickly (and the twist about the killer, because I’m familiar with Saw and Scream).

That all said, while I caught the foreshadowing and know the genre a bit too well for my own good, it wasn’t frustrating to wait for the characters to catch up with my realizations. Twists don’t have to be unpredictable to be fun.

This is a YA book. I typically don't like YA (I'm just not the target demographic), but I think that this is one of those YA books that, while definitely for teens, is fun to read as an adult, too. (Especially if you were in a queer club in high school. Because, woof, this book captured that feeling of young queer drama well.)

This book has an important message about queer community that is vital for young queer folk to learn, especially in an era of the internet full of toxic queer spaces. Ultimately, Your Lonely Nights Are Over is a story about friendship, community, and recognizing the danger and toxicity of queer abusers, all wrapped up in a witty, barbed-wire slasher with a breakneck pace.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Your Lonely Nights Are Over is definitely going to be one of the crowning jewels of THE SLASHER LIST, sitting in pride of place beside My Heart is a Chainsaw.

If you loved the Scream movies and want a book with that same smart, meta horror vibe, then you’ll have one hell of a time with Your Lonely Nights are Over.

Thank you to Viking Books for Young Readers for providing a digital ARC via Netgalley! If you are interested in Your Lonely Nights Are Over, it is out now!

If possible, support indie bookshops by purchasing the novel from your local brick and mortar or from Bookshop.org.

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nerp's review

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dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I’m not a big slasher watcher, but I loved this book. I’d read 50 pages in a flash and want to keep going. What I particularly love is its irreverence—this is not a story catering to the masses. It’s bloody, it’s sexy, it’s unapologetic, it’s real. The queers are messy AF, not angels. But at its core, it’s a story of two friends who give a new meaning to ride-or-die.

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