How to Survive a Slasher

by Justine Pucella Winans, SJ Valiquette (Narrator)

Bloomsbury presents How to Survive a Slasher by Justine Pucella Winans, read by SJ Valiquette.

You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight meets Scream in this YA slasher that turns classic horror tropes on their heads.

Few people can say they faced the infamous Satterville Wolf Man and lived. But CJ Smith can.

She doesn’t talk about that, though.

CJ has survived the horror movie that is her life by following one blend in and stay out of it. But that’s hard to do when your trauma gets turned into a bestselling book series. The Slasherville books are a true crime phenomenon, documenting the Wolf Man massacres that changed CJ’s life forever. CJ hates everything about the books and their fans, but at this point she’s just grateful there aren’t any more murders to write about.

Until one day when an unpublished Slasherville book shows up on her doorstep predicting new Wolf Man killings. CJ is sure it’s a bad prank. But then the events in the book start coming true, and when CJ breaks her one rule, the Final Girl—the person who, according to the book, was supposed to stop the Wolf Man—ends up dead. Suddenly, blending in and staying out of it is not an option, and CJ will have to use everything she knows about the rules of horror to make it out alive.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery, LGBT, Queer, Audiobook

Audible Audio

First published March 11, 2025

About the author

Justine Pucella Winans (they/she) is a critically acclaimed and award winning author of queer fiction. They have written a variety of funny and/or scary books across age ranges, receiving accolades such as a Stonewall Honor, Indies Introduce, Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections, and multiple starred reviews. When not writing, she can be found taking too many photos of her cats, training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, actively avoiding real life scary situations, and working their true goal of becoming a Pokémon trainer.

Reviews

[Sarah ♡ (let’s interact!) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summer is the perfect time for slasher-horror stories. How To Survive A Slasher was pretty good, some quick killings scattered throughout, if a little predictable. The twists at the end are decent though; where it reveals the identities of the mysterious author, Moon Setter, and the villain, the Wolf Man.

With it being YA, the story itself is quite tame for a horror, but the characters are built up quite well- especially the main character, CJ. The LGBTQ+ representation is good too, this was definitely one of the best parts to me.
Despite all the positives, it did fall a little flat for me, despite it being one of my most anticipated new releases of the year.

3 Stars 🔪💀🐺

[Mikey ಠ◡ಠ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

If you like the Scream movies, this is the book for you. Non-binary lead, the main characters/love interest actually communicate, and so funny. Also hallelujah the cat lives! And so does the lesbian!

That’s all you get. Read this book right now or I’m coming to your house and flushing all your socks.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[☠︎︎ A.K. ☠︎︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5 ✩

“It’s over. Finished. Up in flames. Maybe not forever. That’s the curse of having a life like a horror story. Even at the end, there’s always a possibility that the threat could come back.”

QUICK SUMMARY
How to Survive a Slasher is a fun, meta approach to slasher stories that puts a spin on the familiar, campy tropes of the genre. Although predictable at points, there are enough surprises in the narrative that keep things fresh, exciting, and engaging. All the relationships felt real, CJ was an engaging lead, and the supporting cast was a balanced element to the story.

R.E.A.D.S. REVIEW
As I mentioned, I liked CJ as a character, especially as the story went on and they began to understand their worth. Their dynamics with the other characters, both familial and otherwise, were great and made the story feel more rounded. Although there were times when I found certain characters a little annoying - Nadia had her moments - none of them felt like useless or stupid additions to the narrative. I also appreciate that characters’ identities were part of discussion without making them cringe-y or some misplaced plot device.

I loved the trope-y horror setting of How to Survive a Slasher, however, there was something lacking with the overall atmosphere. I think Winans could have spent a touch more time on creating a sense of space to help this story come to life, though I think the tone and pacing of the narrative make up for it well enough.

Yes, this story was predictable - I guess the killer pretty early on - but damn was it fun. And, like I said in the summary, there were surprise elements that I wasn’t anticipating that made the predictability far less jarring. The meta twists and turns allowed the predictability to somewhat fall to the wayside, allowing me to just have a great time reading. As a horror fan, I’ve encountered all kinds of meta storytelling before, but Winans put a spin on this story that I haven’t yet seen, and it was refreshing in its silliness.

So, although there were cliches, tropes, and cringeworthy moments, somehow they didn’t cloud the narrative or make this book any less fun. The tropes were used intentionally, they were poked at, and ultimately they were spun on their head, and overall it made for a charming new addition to the slasher genre.

R.E.A.D.S. SCORE
R: 8/10
E: 8/10
A: 6/10
D: 8/10
S: 7/10
Total: 7.40/10.00

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Queer YA slasher? I need this NOW

[Stay Fetters · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Why does the Final Girl have to kill the big, bad Wolf Man? It's simple: because he keeps destroying what matters to her the most."

Scream meets You're Next with a splash of Happy Death Day in this ya horror novel that'll have you howlin' in fear!

Horror is my favorite genre; it's my go-to for comfort. When I saw the cover of this book, I screamed with delight—it immediately caught my attention and reminded me of one of my favorite horror movies, "Creep." We all know what I'm talking about, so it was a no-brainer for me to get my hands on a copy.

The story began in typical slasher fashion, featuring a great backstory, a terrifying villain, and an even better climax. However, I was disappointed with the big reveal(s). Who was behind those tell-all books? And who was the person wearing the big, scary wolf mask? I guessed the answers as soon as that character appeared. When everything was finally revealed, I shouted, "I told you!" Unfortunately, no one knew what I was talking about, and I was shushed in my own library. Ugh!

Although I figured out the plot early on, I still found enjoyment in the elements that unfolded along the way. It was a lot of fun and quite gory—who doesn't appreciate a bit of gore on a rainy fall day? The intense atmosphere really contributes to the appeal of this story, making it likely that readers will fall in love with it.

"How to Survive a Slasher" was an enjoyable read, although I felt a bit let down by the ending. Figuring out who was behind the events was somewhat disheartening, but I still found myself enjoying the rest of the story. I believe horror fans will appreciate this book for what it has to offer.

[paula ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ⭐

It's not bad, but it's not that great either.

The characters are quite fun, and the plot (despite being very predictable, in my opinion) is pretty good.

I figured out the killer's identity 60% of the way through the book, so that part was a bit disappointing for me. However, I was glad to see there were some small plot twists I didn't figure out.

[Sasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

edit: i've given this a lot more thought and feel like i judged this too harshly initially. even 80's slashers frustrated me in a way that made me say, "don't go in there!" and "how are teens this horny??" and that's the point of this novel. i still don't like the weird racial bits and that a white person narrated this when there's so much spanish and repetition of maeda's name but how to survive a slasher is enough campy fun to bring my rating up from 2 stars to 4 stars.

----

i'm tired of my favorites disappointing me this year and also too lazy to write a full review so here are my notes:

- hell for the person who wrote slasher-fic books about someone who is alive, whose family gets traumatized by killers with the same modus operandi multiple times, who saw their father die, and profits off of it. i know they served to move the plot along and i loved the twist (which i half-predicted), but i didn't feel like the narrative (ex: could use the online community) checked the author for that ugly behavior enough with respects to the family. but then again, anita de monte laughs last and bright young women exists so does art imitate life or life imitate art? idk.
- stop hiring white audiobook narrators if you're gonna have characters of color speaking their native languages. the japanese name, maeda, was constantly pronounced "may-duh" (supposed to be closer to "mah-eh-duh") and the spanish was cringe. tio and tia were said with a hard-T like "tia and tamera." they should have hired a latine narrator with a theater background like anna garcia.
- the amount of times they mention his latine accent was weird like it's giving white fetishist. the first time to describe him? fine. the 5th time to describe a reason why they think he's hot? not fine.
- if i found out the guy i liked pretended not to know who i was to get closer to me after everything i'd been through and i found out he enjoyed reading fanfic about my trauma before he met me, it's over and done. they're young so i get it. young people do stupid things but the dynamic has changed and it's not cute anymore so i'd stay off of the horny train.
- speaking of horny, why is this book so hormonally-charged? sure, teens are hormonal and maybe it's an homage to movies like friday the 13th but those were the aspects i hated the most about 80's horror thrillers. the horny bits always took me out of the story, especially because these characters saw people they knew and cared for, die. speaking from experience, grief is one of the biggest boner-killers.
- why would you make the latine lesbian say half of the weird, tactless shit that she says like, "your dad in this fictional recollection exploiting your ptsd is a dilf." excuse me, HUHHH??? wHaT?!? WEIRD.
- the ending twist that revealed who evan miller's real killer was goofy as hell. it doesn't make sense for the detectives to not be able to put that together. just because they were holding a clean blade doesn't mean they wouldn't be covered in blood with the amount of stabbing they did.

idk this book was not what i expected. i don't even think how to survive a slasher knew what it wanted to be. does it want to take itself seriously and act as an allegory grappling gender identity and trauma or does it want to be a campy slasher-fic? does it want to be a book where the reader doesn't have to suspend any disbelief, help the protagonist deduce clues, and have characters rooted in reality or does it not want readers to think too hard because if we do, the plot falls apart and it's supposed to be fun? there was no good balance to being both. i would've preferred if the narrative stuck to the campy parts because they were enjoyable until they were immediately undercut by strong emotional turmoil and teenage romance drama, giving me genre whiplash whenever the story started taking itself too seriously again. it was giving bianca torre is afraid of everything (a 6-star read) but make it weird. the problematic 80's nonsense belongs in the 80's. i think there's a way to do it right, but not like this. i'll keep reading from winans but this was a huge letdown.

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cover artist: aleksey rico

[Rocio Voncina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Titulo: How to Survive a Slasher
Autor: Justine Pucella Winans
Motivo de lectura: -
Lectura / Relectura: Lectura
Físico / Electrónico: Electrónico
Mi edición: —
Puntuación: 2.5/5

La idea general de esta novela prometía mucho, y aunque es un libro catalogado dentro del género young adult, pero lo encontré muy infantil (demasiado), y en mi caso me aburrió.

Los personajes nunca parecen evolucionar, la trama avanza, da la impresión de llegar a un desenlace, para que después la historia parece otra vez volver al principio.
Hay subtramas dentro de la historia que no están muy bien conectadas con la trama principal, y eso hace que la historia se sienta con "saltos", quitando fluidez a la lectura y haciendo que la trama sea caótica.

La inclusión queer esta tan, tan forzada que se siente falsa, una verdadera pena.
Todo muy predecible y forzado.

[Liselle Sambury · Rating 5 out of 5]

A meta thrill ride into a book that feels like your favorite slasher movie come to life. Pucella Winans skillfully subverts horror tropes and shares the journey of a Final Gay who you’ll be delighted to root for. Among the quippy one liners and gripping kills you’ll also find a heartwarming story of queer love and friendship, family, and community. Slasher fans will definitely want to be seated for this one.

[nico · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf @ 30%. tries to be Scream very badly but fails miserably. it’s missing the charm, the humor and the homage to the horror genre. it’s dull and I certainly did not give a fuck about the family dynamic. friendships felt forced and uninspiring. the only reason why I’m giving 2 stars and not 1, it’s because of inclusivity.

[Rye · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could have never possibly imagined a book being this bad but here we are.

[marc | bookmarcreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally predictable, but the characters were decent despite their endless quippy banter in the midst of a serial killer slaughtering people left and right kinda ruined the realism for me. This book felt like a modern YA take on Scream with the meta-horror posturing and commentary on the typical horror story tropes and final girl slasher rules. It was a decently fun Summerween slasher read.

[exorcismemily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Predictable but fun

[Stephanie ((Strazzybooks)) · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it. perfection.

[Rielle · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Xenomorph will forever be Gary to me now

[Stacee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything pitched as "Scream" meets "You're Not Supposed to Die Tonight" is something that I'm absolutely going to read.

I really liked CJ. She's smart and tough in a way most kids don't have to be. I enjoyed reading her navigate her scary reality, making friends along the way. Of course this family is bonded in a weird way, but CJ's mom is the absolute best.

Plot wise, it's a bit of a slow burn build up, but once it gets going, it's going. There's a good amount of misdirection and it had me second guessing everything, which I always love. My only complaint is that I wish there was a bit more of an explanation for why as that part didn't quite feel fleshed out.

Overall, this was a fast paced story with characters who were easy to get invested in.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the arc free of charge**

[Jenna Elizabeth ×͜× · Rating 5 out of 5]

God this book was perfect! A YA Mystery/Thriller/ Slasher book with a Queer Main character. I really enjoyed CJ’s P.O.V and the plot of “How to Survive a Slasher”. The different comedic dynamics CJ and their friends and family were well fleshed out and memorable. The last paragraph gave me chills!! I really enjoyed this book and I will definitely be checking out more of this authors writing!!

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Queer young adult slasher? Count me in!
I love meta slashers that are self aware about being a slasher book. Very reminiscent of how scream does the whole implied slasher rules. Wholesome, funny, & it has great gender identity commentary.

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5* I really enjoyed this! It was one of the better YA Slasher books I’ve read, and I really enjoyed CJ and her crew trying to figure this out!

[Troy Feldman · Rating 3 out of 5]

StoryGraph Rating: 3.25
*Read for Book Club*

Some non-specific spoilers ahead
This was fun! As an introduction to the horror/slasher genre for young readers, I think it does a great job of including so many of the classic tropes (some a little more on the nose than others) while still keeping it palatable. At the same time, it's very meta and I think Winans uses this effectively to play with audiences who are more familiar with the genre. As a massive Scream fan, I really appreciated this.

One area that really lacked for me was the relationship building between our protagonist and their two very new friends. Sebas and Nadia's immediate romantic and platonic attractions to CJ felt unearned and forced, which would be fine if that was intentionally used as a red herring for them being suspects, but that was never really a thought (except one very, very fleeting moment). I needed more time spent between the three of them as ultimately they all ended up feeling like very one-note, uninteresting characters with boring dynamics.

The representation in this story was fantastic with all kinds of identities being shown and even celebrated. However, I did feel that there were several times I was taken out of the story by the author to deliberately point out and mention the representation of these identities. On the flip side, I understand this is YA and that sort of bluntness can be important to ensure the representation is understood by a younger audience.

The plot was fun, if not a bit predictable. While I was able to successfully guess the culprit about 60% into the book, their motivations definitely kept me guessing and, ultimately, surprised me, which was nice!

My final thoughts are that this is such a fun entryway into the world of horror, slashers, and mysteries and the representation it provides for young queer people is always welcome. While it might not have fully been my cup of tea, I also recognize I am not the target audience and that is okay!

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

This book is good... for a very particular audience. It's self-aware horror, meta horror, tongue-in-cheek horror. And I liked it. I loved it. But it definitely won't be for everyone. It feels like it is meant for the same audience who liked My Heart is a Chainsaw, which is another sort of niche audience. So is this a general recommendation? No. But if you don't mind a bit of blood splatter and you're a big fan of horror as a medium, this one might just hit the spot.

Anyway, I've got more to say. A lot more to say. But I'll save digging into that for my full review, available at Gateway Reviews on February 28, 2025. Swing by if you feel like it!

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

You all know I’m a sucker for a good slasher book, and let me tell you, How To Survive A Slasher does NOT disappoint! If you’re into that Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer vibe, then you’re gonna want to grab this one ASAP. We’ve got a fierce non-binary main character who’s not just trying to survive the legendary Wolf Man but is also on a mission to keep everyone else alive. Talk about a total badass! This YA horror read had me turning pages way past my bedtime, and I loved every chilling moment. Big shoutout to @NetGalley and @Bloomsbury for the advance copy. If you’re a fan of slasher flicks, this book is a must-read.

[Jennifer Cutler · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another "difficult to rate" book - an obvious killer, a boring romance, but the characters were pretty cool... and I loved the meta references to 90s slasher movies (not to mention the suburban Cleveland setting!) But some parts were soooo slow and the killer was soooo obvious. And the motive was a true cop out... I'm not sure there's enough redeeming qualities of this book other than the diversity of the characters. 1.5 stars?

[Shannon Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's just so bad. I read it because I really wanted the bookmark, and this was the first book I could get on Libby. It's all of the gen z BS wrapped up in one book. The language and pronouns are so hard to read. It is a YA book, but it's just soooo bad.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have so many complaints about this book but honestly the idea of wasting the time it would take to write them out pisses me off so I’ll just say: we need to take the concept of “meta” away from some people.

[♡ A ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

How to Survive a Slasher follows CJ, a Slasherville survivor. While her hometown is actually called Satterville, it was dubbed Slasherville after two horrifying massacres: the first, CJ’s dad survived, the second, CJ survived. CJ’s mom trains their entire family in case another killer tries to come after their family. A paranoia that works in CJ’s favour when a unpublished manuscript shows up on their doorstep written by the author who sensationalized the murders in two books. This new book says a new killer is in town and CJ attempts to stop it from happening.

This was a fun slasher! YA horrors like this are a lot of fun, and this one is great if you don’t like the plot to be centered on the killings. There’s a great deal of friendship and romance and family that really balances the plot so it’s not super, crazy intense. The pacing was mostly good, but I found it a little slow at times and I guessed the twist pretty early. But I really enjoyed the family dynamic and how set CJ’s mom was on ensuring her family was prepared and protected. It was nice to see such involvement in her children’s lives. I also really enjoyed all the LGBTQ+ representation in this novel!

CJ is a great main character. I liked how set they were on not being a Final Girl and the reluctance to accept the role. I also liked how they were actively trying to protect themselves and their family—it was really sweet. It was also sweet that they got to open up and find new friends with the killings going on. Sebas and Nadia were so great!! Such a funny duo and added great comic relief and horror trope lecturing. I really enjoyed the dynamic between this main trio.

Overall, this is a fun slasher with great representation!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury YA for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Teresa (blewballoon) · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5

There's some really good YA horror and this is one of them. I had a great time with this story. One thing I like about YA horror is that it's usually a little less depressing than adult horror. I typically don't have issues with gore or body horror, but I often find with adult horror the characters are unlikable in ways that feel too real and that bothers me more than the horror elements. In this book, the protagonist is actually surrounded by lovable characters and has a fantastic support system, but there are still problems, and the biggest one is the town's bloody history of masked murderers.

The only negative comment I have is that I am not sure how I feel about the meta elements of the story. There are times where it took me out a bit and I wasn't sure what the author was really going for.

The audiobook narrator nailed it, bringing the right energy to the darker and lighter scenes.

Content Warnings:
Graphic: Death, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Gore, Violence, Grief, Death of parent
Minor: Bullying, Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Excrement, Outing

[Rachel Dalton (relisedreads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️

I'm going to start this by acknowledging that I'm not they attended age audience for this book. But I was able to predict who was behind the killings the very first time they were featured on page. The same with who was the author behind the Slasherville books. I was hoping for some shocking twists that would make those obvious reveals be more exciting but everything was pretty straight forward.

I did really like CJ's close knit family and how the youngest generation has inherited their father's family trauma. The constant safety drills that CJ and their siblings undergo under their mother's supervision because they weren't convinced that the Wolf Man was gone for good. It really showed the family's resilience that they were always ready. I also liked the complexity of the Final Girl being a non-binary character. Everyone in CJ's life has accepted them being non-binary so it only made sense that the Final Girl mentality was adapted to that as well. Overall this was a fun, campy horror set in Ohio that was done well enough, I just wish it was twisty-er.

[ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

☆☆☆.5

“but regardless of what my future holds, and no matter what happens next in slasherville, i know i’ll be okay. because i’m a fucking final girl.”

how to survive a slasher is a super fun slasher summer read! if you love the meta slasher aspect of scream, then i think you’ll enjoy this as well! how to survive a slasher follows cj smith and their family as they navigate life in their town of satterville where, nearly a decade prior, their father was murdered in the second killing spree by the infamous satterville wolf man. when cj’s parents were in high school, the wolf man brutally murdered kids at summer camp, friday the 13th style. both her parents survived, but the wolf man came back years later to enact his revenge on the survivors and their families. cj and her brother survived, and their family has spend every day since the second attack preparing for the inevitable: the return of the wolf man. when a mysterious book shows up on cj’s doorstep that seems to be predicting the details wolf man’s third massacre, cj is forced to put everything she knows about surviving a slasher to the test.

not only is this a perfect read for slasher summer, but it’s also a perfect read for pride month as cj, the main character, is nonbinary and queer! i really enjoyed their internal monologue, specifically as they explain/think about their relationship to their gender. i also love that the storyline also touches on cj’s romantic life/how they navigate their queerness as they explore their first romantic relationship. more queer, YA horror!!!!

[Elise Aragon (Tzuyu's Version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't care, this is a 5 star. I loved this so much, I mean...I'm a huge Scream fan, but I'm also a big Scre4m stan too. And this book reminds me more of the 4th one, rather than the first one. I do agree the romance was a bit insta lovey...but isn't that kind of accurate to horror slashers? I love the characters, Nadia was definitely my favorite. CJ's mom was a badass, and I love the romance, even if it was pretty insta lovey. I love slashers, Scream, and a fun time...this was all of that.