“Mind games. Murder. Mayhem. How far would you go to survive the night?

Blackmail lures sixteen-year-old Ava to the derelict carnival on Portgrave Pier.

She is one of ten teenagers, all with secrets they intend to protect whatever the cost.

When fog and magic swallow the pier, the group find themselves cut off from the real world and from their morals.

As the teenagers turn on each other, Ava will have to face up to the secret that brought her to the pier and decide how far she’s willing to go to survive.”

Hello and welcome to damppebbles. Today I am delighted to share my review of Good Girls Die First by Kathryn Foxfield. Good Girls Die First was published by Scholastic on 2nd July 2020 and is available in paperback and digital formats.

I do love me a spot of YA horror! And this book grabbed my attention thanks to a fellow blogger’s post on Instagram (#instagrammademebuyit). As soon as I saw this book and read the blurb, I knew I had to purchase a copy. I HAD to own this book!

When Ava receives an anonymous invitation alluding to know her darkest secret and inviting her to a derelict carnival, she reluctantly heads out to discover who sent the invite and what they want. After all, Ava will do anything to protect her secret. On arrival, she is surprised to find nine other teens, all familiar faces, have received a similar invite. As the night presses in, it becomes clear that something else is at play here. The teens are in terrible danger, particularly from each other. Can Ava protect her secret or will it be the death of her…?

Good Girls Die First is a gripping, heart pounding read which I really enjoyed. I will say at this point that I am not the target audience for this book, being a YA novel, but it can be enjoyed by adults and older teens alike. I certainly appreciated the author’s writing and the way the suspense built as the situation the teens find themselves in spirals out of control. I found the first half of the book to be a slow burn of a read, where we get to meet and know the characters in more depth (there are 10 of them so it’s worth noting their names and back stories as they’re introduced – or perhaps that only applies to my fellow older readers 😂). Once the action kicks in, it doesn’t really slow down until the final word on the final page.

I absolutely loved the concept of Good Girls Die First. Books where characters are picked off one by one according to a dark, dastardly secret no one else knows, gets my vote. I enjoyed trying to work out what the secret would be and how the characters would meet their end (that sounds a bit weird but I hope you know what I mean!). Very few of the characters are likable (exactly as it should be, I feel) but you get a good feel for what makes them tick in most cases. The setting was perfectly creepy and I could picture the decaying carnival perfectly.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. Good Girls Die First was a fun read, something a little different to everything else I’ve read recently, and I enjoyed it. I am keen to read more by this author. So much so, I have added their second book to my wish list and shall look forward to reading that in the future. An enjoyable supernatural thriller packed full of devastating secrets, a delicious sense of impending doom and bucket loads of tension. Recommended.

Good Girls Die First by Kathryn Foxfield was published in the UK by Scholastic on 2nd July 2020 and is available in paperback and digital formats (please note, the following links are affiliate links which means I receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no extra cost to you): | amazon.co.uk | Waterstones | Foyles | Book Depository | bookshop.org | Goodreads | damppebbles bookshop.org shop |

Kathryn Foxfield writes dark books about strange things. She blames her love of the creepy and weird on a childhood diet of Point Horror, Agatha Christie and Dr Who. She writes about characters who aren’t afraid to fight back, but wouldn’t last 5 minutes in one of her own stories. Her first book GOOD GIRLS DIE FIRST was published by Scholastic UK in 2020.

Kathryn is a reformed microbiologist, one-time popular science author, cat-servant and parent of two. She lives in rural Oxfordshire but her heart belongs to London. You can follow her on Twitter @iloveweirdbooks or visit her website kfoxfield.com