Gingerbread Bones

by Lindsay Lovise

Step into a fairytale, fresh out of your nightmares in this unsettling novel steeped in the paranormal.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Thriller, Paranormal, Mystery, Romance, Psychological Thriller

407 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 2, 2026

About the author

Lindsay writes romances with brave heroines and a twist of mystery, as well as thrilling YA books. Although she earned degrees in English and teaching, she always knew she wanted to write stories about fictional worlds.

When she’s not writing, Lindsay is reading, drinking coffee, and avoiding laundry. She lives in Maine, where the winters make for perfect reading weather.

To keep in the know, sign up for Lovise Letters at lindsaylovise.com.

Reviews

[KC · Rating 3 out of 5]

🌟 3.5 stars 🌟

A fun and creepy twist on Hansel and Gretel!

Georgie’s stepmother, a self-proclaimed “parenting expert,” creates a camp for delinquent teens to help reform them. First to participate are Georgie and her older brother, Hamish. But when they get to the camp, people start disappearing and gruesome scenes follow them. All they can do now is try to survive, even when it seems that supernatural forces may be at play.

I enjoyed this YA horror/thriller. It was pretty bingeable and the mystery had me constantly turning the pages. There are grisly and creepy scenes that will definitely keep YA readers engaged. I had no idea there would be Hansel and Gretel vibes in this and was happily surprised with how it was woven into the story.

I really liked that the beginning of each chapter started with a social media post or news article. It was such a fun way to start each chapter. The comments were definitely ones you’d find online!

Now, I will say, the characters are teenagers, so if you’re looking for maturity among them, you won’t really find too much of it. In my experience with teens, their actions seemed pretty believable, especially when considering the life or death situation they’re put in. I only wish we had more time with other side characters so that their deaths hit a little harder. There were so many that I honestly had a hard time recalling who was who.

While I did predict who was behind all of the disappearances, I was surprised at the circumstances that led them there. And I felt that the ultimate villain never really got what was coming to them. They just sort of vanished?? I would’ve liked for there to have some been some sort of more satisfying end to their storyline.

If you’re looking for YA thriller that will keep you engaged, I’d recommend picking this up.

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled for the advanced copy!

[Katie’s Bookshelf · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️

"I love creepy shit, especially around Halloween, which is only a couple of weeks away now, so why do I keep feeling this scrape along my nerves, as if some dirty, foreboding fingernail is being inexorably drawn up my back?"

A dark Hansel and Gretel story set in the creepy woods during a camping trip gone awry? This was a LOT of fun. Very different from what I have read by LL in the past, but I think she did great work here.

Georgie and her brother Hamish are strong-armed into joining a reality show by their influencer step-mom, Ashley. The concept? Troubled teens spending two weeks unplugged in the woods to experience nature and better understand themselves blah blah. Basically these "delinquent" teens are all forced by their guardians to sign up, some just for the money and some out of genuine concern. But things go sideways quickly and the teens need to figure out how to stick together and survive.

This was weird but in a way that really worked? Like a supernatural murder mystery hike through the woods type weird. I like that the stakes were legitimately high from the beginning- these kids were really surviving in the woods while getting picked off and murdered one by one.

I also think LL did a good job in making the characters distinct. They all had their own personalities and faults without being caricatures of themselves or being there simply for plot purposes. Georgie was a great main character-she isn't perfect and she's well aware. She has a solid moral compass throughout the story, always trying to help others in the group even when she hated them. She continually fought for her brother and fellow campers even when she had no idea what was going on or if she would live

I think there also was supposed to be a map? There was a page for it and everything but it wouldn't load in the NG version I read, which was unfortunate

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishing team for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Natalie Hopkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you so much, Entangled, for letting me read an arc of this book. To start, I usually don’t read YA books because I find it hard to relate to young characters in their teens.

In this story, we follow a group of teenagers who are cast on a reality show similar to Survivor, but for delinquent kids. They are tasked with surviving in the woods for 8 days when something goes terribly wrong and they begin getting hunted down by a supernatural force.

What I enjoyed:
The horror aspect of the book was enjoyable. The author did a great job describing the gore and horror. The pacing was good, and I liked some of the characters and their backstories. I’m always down a dark retelling of a fairytale and this story was creative and original.

What I didn’t enjoy:
I found the story to be filled with plot holes. Everything involving the reality TV show was just covered in plot holes because it wasn’t realistic. No TV show would ever leave a group of teens alone in the woods without any means to survive. I wasn’t a big fan of our main character, Georgie. She wasn’t very relatable to me. Also, the twist at the end was kind of dumb and didn’t make much sense.

[Corinne’s Chapter Chatter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this! It was just what I needed to read right now. Ironically I don’t typically like retellings and I had no idea that this was one until it dawned on me on me on page 50 and boy did it deliver.

Now, would a production company take this type of risk? Well there is a ton of info about the scary teen rehab programs and see the lengths that some networks go for content (Ahem, I’m looking at you TLC) it isn’t too far out there to believe to be honest. So I didn’t let that pull me out of the story.

Speaking of the story, it had me flipping pages so fast as I couldn’t get enough and needed to know what was going to go down. Now for me personally, I foresaw what was to come, twists and all but I don’t actually think it was predictable. It is just my brand of neurospiciness that figures out 95% of thrillers. For me I loved watching how it unfolded.

There are so made good slasher novels coming out right now and this one can easily join the list.
Thank you so much to Mayhem books for the physical ARC of this!

[Michaela | bumblebeeslibrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gingerbread Bones is a summer camp Hansel and Gretel, thriller/horror retelling

I just loved the whole summer camp vibes, but make it creepy, and a reality show, nowhere near civilization, that "delinquent" teens have "signed up" to rough it in the woods for a couple weeks. I loosely say "signed up" because I feel like their parents forced them to. After a long hike just to get to the location, the teens are in for more surprises than just the lack of facilities.

I really enjoyed the way each chapter has a social media post, or email, that starts to give you just teeny snippets of information about the stepmother who set up the show. FMC Georgie and her brother find themselves in this hellscape that they did not sign up for. After the first night at "camp" things get strange, and then very soon, it seems that all the adults have disappeared. Georgie has been feeling something wrong since she got there.

As Georgie and the group trek through the wilderness to try and find their way back out, or to find sign of where the others escaped to, they soon realize nothing is what it seems on this mountain. There is something sinister, stalking, hunting, and quite literally playing with them.

I could not put this book down, I was so eager to know what exactly was out there taunting the group and also nervous of who might be next!! I feel like each character played a role, the quiet one, the smart gamer, the broody mysterious tattooed guy, the stuck up rich kid, the shy one, the natural leader, and then Georgie, the one who fought back and refused to become a victim. Every chapter in the story brings some kind of new supernatural occurrence for the group, who are starting to believe in this creature not being human.

The reveal at the end is such a shock to Georgie, and the reader, and is such an amazing twist! I loved the Hansel and Gretel retelling vibes, which took me some time to realize, but then it was like oh!! This story has it all, summer camp, reality show, horror and thriller elements, action, angst, and a bit of romance.

Thank you so much to Netgalley's Camp Netgalley campaign, as well as Entanlged:Mayhem books and the author for a copy!!

Some fav quotes:
"I never thought pocketing twenties and reselling the vapes I stole from spoiled princesses at my high school would land me on a reality TV show, but here I am."

"You know your stepmother really hates you when she develops a whole-ass television show just to get rid of you."

"Things at the Leider house look pretty from the outside, but so do shiny red apples, even when they’re rotten at the core."

"I usually like the woods in the fall, but today, something about them is giving me the heebie-jeebies."

"I love creepy shit, especially around Halloween, which is only a couple of weeks away now, so why do I keep feeling this scrape along my nerves, as if some dirty, foreboding fingernail is being inexorably drawn up my back?"

"“Why is it so quiet?” I finally whisper. “You noticed that, too,” Mack murmurs. “Where are the birds? The insects? The rustle of leaves? It’s like we’re the only living things out here.”"

"I don’t believe in the supernatural—real life is horrifying enough—but the facts aren’t adding up, and it’s making me uneasy."

"“I guess it felt like I knew your darkness, and that maybe it was time you knew mine. That we could find comfort in knowing we aren’t alone.”"

"I’d almost be okay with dying from natural causes at this point."

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to Camp NetGalley and the publisher for letting me pick this ARC to read early in exchange for an honest review!

I am obsessed with this book. It is up there for being one of my favorites of the year!

I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! I flew through this book, I couldn’t put it down. There was so much action right from the start. From the first couple of pages I could tell this would be a special book! I instantly connected with Georgie, then I slowly started to connect with everyone else. Her way of thinking and speaking was so cool to me.

They need to make this into a movie. I’m serious. I think it would be perfect on screen. It felt like I was there in the most terrifying way. The setting was so alive and vivid. I could picture everything that was happening. All the characters were so real and easy to root for.

I sympathize with pretty much all of them, even if they weren’t great people. That just shows how good of a writer the author is. Even if some of them weren’t helpful or were rude, you still couldn’t help but root for them or feel bad when something bad happened.

I loved Georgie and Hamish’s sibling bond. I love to see that in novels, and the fact that it was throughout the whole entire book was amazing. I am very close with my brother and I would act the same way they did with each other, so it was nice to read about that.

I loved Paxton even though he kind of the worst throughout and not a good person. He was making me laugh the entire time. I couldn’t help it. His banter with the other characters and his one liners, even if they weren’t always the nicest, were a much needed comic relief. What happened with him at the end was satisfying for me.

Mack was great too. I loved how mysterious he was, but also caring. I loved his relationship with Georgie. It progressed very naturally. It was believable. I felt the chemistry.

Madison was the best. She was so cool, calm and collected. So smart! Without her and Ava, they wouldn’t have made it very far!

I wasn’t a huge fan of the romance that was pushed with Ava, it seemed a little forced, but it didn’t affect the story that much.

The rest of the characters I sympathized with, but they didn’t really stand out. Which is fine.

I guessed one plot point, but that didn’t take away from the novel at all!

Even though I believe this is classified as Young Adult, I would be very cautious of younger people reading this! There are trigger warnings in the beginning, so you kind of know what you are getting yourself into. Even still, seeing what is going to happen and reading it actually happen are two very different things! This was a pretty intense novel, not only with the grossness, but also with the heavy topics it discussed. Which those things can be important for younger people to read, but just because the characters are teenagers, doesn’t mean it is a Young Adult book.

All the same, I ate this up! No pun intended. I loved every second of it.

This will be a perfect Halloween read! I was pretty spooked for a lot of it. But honestly I would say to read it any time of year. It is that good.

It even left a little room in my opinion to maybe have a sequel down the line! Not even with just our characters from this book, but it opens the world up to more. I wouldn’t mind seeing our characters again, hopefully in a happier setting!

[Liralen]

4 stars; review to come August 2026

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[⋆˚࿔ Luiza 𝜗𝜚˚⋆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

•°. ❝ I'd thought the show was the worst thing that could happen to me, but life said ‘Hold my beer’ and set out to prove me wrong. ❞ *࿐

✎ᝰ. ★★★★ stars
✎ᝰ. 1/5 spice level (YA novel)
✎ᝰ. tropes:
𝜗𝜚 paranormal romance
𝜗𝜚 fairytale retelling (Hansel and Gretel)
𝜗𝜚 survival reality show
𝜗𝜚 found family

˗ˏˋ ꒰ ✉︎ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

First of all, I would like to thank Entangled Teen and NetGalley for providing me with the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review. Gingerbread Bones comes out on August 04th, 2026!

This was a fantastic retelling of the classic Hansel and Gretel fairytale. I truly loved the way the author, Lindsay Lovise, incorporated the classic plot points into a modern-day setting, especially how she made social media such an integral part of the story in a way that felt natural and seamless.

I’m usually not a big fan of thrillers, but this book had me rethinking that opinion. I really enjoyed the mystery that surrounded the entire story, and the plot twist and final revelation were incredibly well done and, in my opinion, completely unpredictable. The paranormal elements of the novel felt cohesive and intriguing, and they were executed exceptionally well throughout the story.

As for the romance, I found myself more invested in the secondary couple than in the main characters, which made it a little harder for me to root for the central relationship. Although that affected my enjoyment slightly, the romance was a secondary aspect of the story, so I was still fully invested and thoroughly enjoyed the book.

Overall, I would recommend Gingerbread Bones to readers who enjoy paranormal romance, horror, YA novels with a touch of spice, and the found family trope.

•°. ❝ Maybe we're all looking at distorted reflections. If there's one thing I've learned over the past few days, it's that if you peel back enough of a person's layers, you almost always find a little good. ❞ *࿐

✎ᝰ. trigger warnings (possible spoilers): discussions of suicide, murder, sex, and mental health, along with depictions of violence, blood, cannibalism, hunting for survival, and cutting.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an entertaining read that was not only horrific at times, but also had some great moments in the ‘found family’ sphere.

To start, I’d love to give my take on one of things that some others have pointed out when it comes to the idea that ‘no production team would leave underaged teens with just a few adults and scant supplies in the wilderness, even for the sake of television’, but in all fairness, I don’t think there’d have been very many adults advocating for this group, since they’re all supposed to be troubled behaviorally, or criminally, and thus appear to “need something drastic to knock some sense/maturity into them”. And let’s not forget that either they or their parents signed their consent and were being paid for their time and appearance on the show, so the studio did make sure to have all their ducks in a row…even if all of it was at the expense of these teens. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Now I’ll get off my soapbox and move on to other things, like the horror aspect of this book. I’m a sucker for a good, creepy tale, and that’s what initially drew me to this book. I originally thought this was going to be more of a slasher-style thriller and completely ignored the ‘paranormal’ tag, so imagine my surprise when I come across a scene that has some very supernatural things happen to the teens?? It definitely drew me deeper into the story, and I was able to read the book all the way to the end from there.

Another thing I appreciated was the ‘found family’ aspect of this book and seeing these teens working together, some more begrudgingly than others, to make it out of these insane conditions alive. The characters were all interesting in their various ways, and I really appreciated how fleshed out their stories were, enough so that I could feel real empathy towards them and the things that ultimately lead to them ending up in this place. 🥹

Anyway, I’ll go ahead conclude this review by saying again how much I enjoyed this read and recommend it if you’re a fan of paranormal horror, but do keep in mind that this YA, so annoying teens exist, and though this does seem to lean more towards upper YA, it’ll still read as such.

Thank you to Entangled: Mayhem Books via Netgalley for giving me this copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Shelby Russell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this one kind of missed for me overall. The story felt like it had too much going on and random plot points that just kind of make it what it’s labeled (a romance/horror/thriller). I felt like there was a lot going on with the plot, and at the end of the day the twist was a bit random and sort of predictable. Truly I hung on just to see how it would play out.

Although it felt like a lot to get through to get to this point, I did enjoy the character development between the main characters at the end. One other thing I appreciated about this book was the horror elements, which was a bit more gruesome than I thought it would be.

You might enjoy this book if:
- You’re looking for a story that’s like the show Survivor, but the contestants are troubled teenagers are mean to each other
- You’re looking for messy drama
- You’re looking for some gross horror that’s not too over the top
- You need a good mystery

You may not like this story if:
- You don’t like annoying characters that spend half the book fighting with each other
- You don’t like corny dialogue
- You don’t enjoy reading gore

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for this ARC!

[Mandie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fairytale retelling done exceptionally well, and don’t let the YA fool you! I am no stranger to horror novels, but this is the first one to make bile climb up my throat (a GOOD thing!). I especially loved all the character development, the YEARNING, and the found family trope.

Each chapter begins with some sort of social media post which creates its own story within the main story. It was such a unique and interesting way to intertwine the villain’s origin story.

Lindsay knocked it out of the park!!!

[Freya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love all types of fairytale retellings. This is one of the most interesting and sinister ones that I have read. This kept me on the edge of my seat and enjoyed the wicked horror. This is a dark YA retelling of Hansel and Gretel. Story of a wicked stepmother, a missing bio mom, murder, survival, evil and wicked witch. Big reveals and strong character development.

Georgie and her brother Hamish have always had each other’s back. Even more so since their evil stepmother, who is a parenting influencer, has put their lives in danger, all in the name of a reality TV show about rehabilitating teens in the Maine wilderness. Georgie and Hamish alongside 9 other “troubled teens” traverse through the woods and end up at some dilapidated old camp with a sinister past. Their guides disappear first. Then some of the teens and a cameraman separate to go back. Everything just gets darker from there. The remaining characters are left 🩸bloody and 🍭sweet clues by a creature who wants to play a game. If you smell burnt gingerbread, then you better run.

Thank you to the author, Entangled: Mayhem Books and Netgalley for this gifted eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Sasha | omgitssmk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I shift uncomfortably in the hard, wooden chair as four cameras are facing at me in different directions - each one blinking with a red light indicating that they are turned on and currently filming every movement that I make.

"Let's try this again…. Sasha, tell us why you are here."

I move my eyes over to the woman sitting a few feet away who seems to be holding a large card with black writing that says in bold capital letters, "I HAVE AN ISSUE WITH ANGER MANAGEMENT WHICH GETS ME IN TROUBLE WITH ADULTS AND AUTHORITY."

This, of course, is not true as I don't really have an issue with my "anger". In fact, what I might have is a "short fuse" where I bluntly tell people what I'm feeling and what I think of them…and that just so happens to be at times with those who are older than me and occasionally the authoritative figure. That doesn't make me have an "anger management" concern though. They just can't handle the truth and would prefer to live with rose colored glasses at the world as they live out their boring life day by day.

Looking back at the cameras, I state, "I don't know, why don't you tell me?"

The woman shakes her head and frustratedly pulls the card down. She breathes in a deep breath and asks, "Okay, let's try this a different way….why do you "think" you are here?"

I look back at her with a smirk. This is exactly where I want her - frustrated and hopeless….a trait I've come to be very familiar with in my prey to help me in getting what I want and where I want to be. I've tried being nice in this world and you know that saying "nice guys finish last"? That's the damn truth…because being nice has never gotten me anywhere. POWER is what you want to have and FEARED is what you want to be.

If anything, those cards should really say, "I STRATIGIZE EVERY MOVEMENT I MAKE NO MATTER HOW LITTLE OR LARGE WHICH MAKES SOME BIG CORPORATIONS VERY ANGRY WHEN LOSING MONEY."


Let me start off by saying that I originally was skeptical on whether this was going to be the right book for me. If you've seen my reads throughout this year, most of my books are HEAVILY romance focused; so if a book didn't have a primarily romance focused plot, I'd skip over it immediately. Thus, when looking at the premise of Gingerbread Bones by Lindsay Lovise, I can see how this would have probably been skipped over initially from my usually preference in books…..

Our MCs Georgie, the five finger discount thief, and her brother Hamish, the fist fighting machine, have been shipped off to the wilderness in Maine, where they are going to participate in a reality show along with several other troubled teens that their own stepmother is the creator and producer of. For two weeks, Georgie, Hamish, and the other teens will be hiking, camping, bonding, and surviving on their own, while a camera crew follows them every step of the way. All of the teens are, let's say, "more than thrilled" to be in the situation they are; especially with no phones and having counselors that are edging the teens to create drama and sometimes outbursts that they feel are going to make great reality television. What the crew and teens are not aware of is having all of the counselors disappear within the night, leaving the teens on their own to figure out what went wrong and, how to stay together to get themselves out of the current situation they are in. While thinking they are alone in their own "Naked and Afraid" situation, or should we say "Wet Clothed And Afraid" since it's been raining the entire time they have been here, there is something out in the woods watching them and hunting them. In fact, our FMC Georgie has been feeling something off since she's stepped foot in their main camp and it isn't until a severed hand which looks a lot like one of their counselor's is found, that they all really take in that there is, in fact, someone truly out there. The question now is…who (or what) is out there and which one of them is going to be next?

Sounds interesting, right?

As with most thriller/horror books, I always think they sound amazing, but never really pick them up because I know myself and my interests - romance is a huge part of what I love to read. But I kept telling myself that something I wanted to do in 2027 for my reading goals was to try out different genres of books to see if there is something outside of the "romance focused" stories that I might actually find I loved. Thus, this is how I ended up getting Gingerbread Bones in my hands and able to read as an ARC from NetGalley as I wanted to try out something a little bit different than my normal reads I usually go for.

Let me tell you though….I was NOT expecting to LOVE this as much as I did. In fact, this was a solid FIVE STAR for me and could NOT put this down. The main concern of having "limited romance"? Gone. Concerned I was not going to be interested enough without a "bickering enemies to lovers" dynamic? Out the window. In fact, this book kept me on the edge of my seat at all times in anticipation of seeing what happens next. I mean, is this what all of these books are like? If so, sign me up because that was one hell of a ride that I cannot wait to get back on!

Before I go into a little bit more on what I loved about the book, let me explain a little about the tropes you will find in this fantastic read:

👈Hidden Identity
👈Paranormal x Supernatural
👈Dark Fairytale Retelling
👈Forced Proximity
👈Found Family
👈Survival Horror/Slasher

I really enjoyed the pacing of this story; especially how we find out why each of the teens are actually on the show or the social media posting/emails that are shown at the beginning of each chapter in how the story was unfolded both before & during the teen's survival outside the wilderness. It felt like finding little puzzle pieces that you were able to connect and was fun to find out information this way. I member saying in a previous review not so long ago that slow pacing is usually not for me with reading - "slow burn romance" is okay but "slow burn plot" is a different story. Mix this in with being Young Adult (YA), this can sometimes cause books to feel as though they are dragging on without progressing to keep, at least my mind, interested. In this case, I actually retract that back with this book - this is exactly how you do slow, but efficient, pacing in just the right way.

I had also enjoyed that this book ended up being a "retelling". While the title of the book did say "Gingerbread" and our MCs were named "Hamish" and "Georgie", it didn't connect until those little gumdrops were found that this was actually a retelling of Hansel and Gretel. Don’t let this steer you away from picking this up though as this was definitely more mature, dark, and "slasher-like" than the children stories that we grew up with.

Another note that I enjoyed was the main FMC had two different colored eyes - entirely different colors - and really loved the representation of heterochromia within this book. As someone else who has two completely different colored eyes in real life, it was nice to finally see this one someone relatively normal for once; rather than on some sort of monster or witch to show how "different" and "scary" someone is.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed my experience with this storyline and am interested in seeing what else the "horror/thriller" genres have to offer. If you are looking for a great bingeable read to add to your TBR in AUGUST, I'd recommend you pick this up and give it a shot!

[maddy ❤️‍🔥🗡️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for providing me with an ARC of this book. All thoughts are genuine and entirely my own.

“Gingerbread Bones” by Lindsay Lovise is a genre triple threat, giving us a YA horror paranormal romance all in one. The story follows a group of troubled teens who are sent out into the wilderness to film a new reality tv show Forged By The Forest. After their arrival at the filming location, the teens quickly discover the show is not what they signed up for, and that there is something more disturbing out there with them.
This book was my Camp NetGalley pick - I choose this one for the genre, and the title was very unique and intriguing. It was a bit of a slow start for me, but once the story picked up I was hooked. The end of each chapter had me immediately turning the page to see what happened next, I couldn’t put this book down. I loved the main group of characters, all of their different personalities mingled together made a great, entertaining survival group. What I loved the MOST about this book was how effortlessly this author gave us a unique modern take on Hansel and Gretel with this retelling. It was done so well, I was genuinely blown away at how good it was. It was also giving The Hunger Games vibes, there were a few moments that stood out to me as references, and being a huge fan of the series I really enjoyed those connections.
There were so many layers to this story, the characters, and themes. They wove together perfectly to bring the story and characters to life. The writing was amazing, I felt like I was watching a tv show in my head. One aspect that stood out to me that I liked was how the beginning of each chapter featured a “media” piece (instagram post, emails, etc.) that gave us a glimpse into the events happening in the outside world while we followed the groups journey in the forest. The fairytale lore was naturally woven into the story, that even as retelling, still felt new and original. The characters were well written, held depth, and felt like an accurate representations of teenagers. Georgie as a strong FMC, I felt her and Hamish’s sibling relationship was very accurate of real siblings. I enjoyed Mack’s character; the mystery of his character was intriguing and I liked how his past was only revealed to us once he decided to open up to Georgie. Madison and Paxton also stood out to me as strong, memorable characters. Madison’s role in the story felt essential in moving the plot forward and guiding the rest of the group along. Paxton might have been insufferable for the others, but he provided great comedic relief throughout the story. Him and his interactions with the group were entertaining, and made me laugh. Ashley was an extremely well developed villain. The setting was very atmospheric and perfectly suited the story. Taking place in the wilderness and at an abandoned/ haunted camp that had been shut down was the perfect eerie location for the story to unfold. The paranormal aspects brought the forest to life, locking in that unsettling feeling you want from the horror genre.
This story blew my mind — it was the Hansel & Gretel / The Hunger Games/ Survivor genre mash-up I didn’t know I needed in my life until I read it. I genuinely believe even readers that don’t typically reach for YA books would enjoy it. A thrilling read for readers who like their horror with a side of romance.

[BookCharmedLife · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Gingerbread Bones, siblings Georgie and Hamish are forced by their “influencer” stepmother to participate in a reality tv show aimed at reforming troubled teens. Two weeks without their cell phones, (and video cameras capturing their every move), sounds like hell to Georgie, Hamish, and the other teenagers forced to go on this journey. Things go from infuriating to terrifying when they are actively hunted by something lurking in the shadows that treats survival as a twisted game. Even the adults left in charge aren’t sure what to do...

Author Lindsay Lovise brings a tense, eerie atmosphere to the woods, but gives us a little room to breathe with the romantic subplot running throughout. The inclusion of multimedia snippets at the start of the chapters gives the story an interesting and modern flair also.

Gingerbread Bones is a fun, eerie, and ridiculously entertaining spin on traditional slasher and fairy-tale tropes. While it leans a bit more into fun popcorn-thriller territory than pure, paralyzing horror, it’s a great read for fans of dark folklore, reality TV drama, and wilderness survival thrillers.


(I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.)

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC copy

Overall this was a pretty decent book it’s paced fairly well and is pretty entertaining

What Works

The characters are well written, particularly Georgie, Hamish, Mack and Paxton. The characters feel believable and serve a purpose to the story.

The pacing works well for the most part a couple of places where I felt that it could have sped up but didn’t bother me too much.

The ending was good and was a good twist for what’s been happening and enjoyed that it had a vibe of dark fairytales like Grimms and you don’t know if they will get a happy ending.

Why it wasn’t a five

It wasn’t far off a five but I think they could have leant into the horror slightly more and be main characters never really felt in danger of dying.

The deaths could have been shown which I think missed a trick.

Overall a decent book and if you enjoy a dark fairytale this book is for you.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨

What you will get in this book ✨
📍Maine
🍭 Hansel & Gretel Reimagined
🧙Paranomal elements
🍽️ Horror
⚠️ High tension/Action packed
🗣️ Single POV
📖 368 pages

My Thoughts 💭
A group of teenage delinquents are sent to an isolated forest to film a survival TV show. Very quickly they realize that they are not alone in the forest.

I really enjoyed this survival horror story. I thought the author did a great job with writing a modern version of the Hansel & Gretel fairytale.

Right from the beginning the tension was high and didn’t let up the whole story. The horror and paranormal elements were graphic and dark. If you are familiar with the original fairytale, then you may have an idea of what happens to the victims, so check your triggers if you are sensitive.

I really enjoyed this dark story and I am glad I choose this book as one of my Camp Netgalley reads.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and Netgalley for providing the book for review consideration. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[D Dyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting take on the Hansel and Gretel story, a bit slow to start, but once the horror elements started to build more significantly it definitely hits it stride. I feel like the stepmother was a bit thin as a villain, and that the set up that brought us to the woods required a higher level of suspension of disbelief, if the production company had been more established as low budget or particularly open to questionable choices that might have worked better, that said once we are in the woods with the main cast being terrorized by gingerbread scented horrors the tension ratchets up, and the characterization and shifting interactions between characters gave the story a lot of momentum. And I feel that the scraps of text from the outside world at the beginning of chapters served both to deepen the story and keep it grounded in the current moment.

[Christina Penrod · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a unique book! I was definitely invested from the beginning. This book drops a group of delinquent teens into the woods in Maine. They were cast for a TV show and this adventure is supposed to help them become better. They hike three days to this campsite that was a site for an old rehab camp that was shut down in the 90’s and there are rumors of it being haunted. They’re supposed to survive for 14 days at that camp. So many twists, murders and adventures!

This is most definitely upper YA. Personally I wouldn’t let my middle school or early high school student read this. It does get a bit gruesome at the end. There’s a little clean romance between some of the characters. This is a good thriller/suspense.

[Ayra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really unexpected! I went into this book completely blind and what a wild rollercoaster ride.

Even though I didn’t exactly care for any of the characters, I was still really invested in their stories. I think the author did a great job of giving each character a backstory and personality. I appreciated that there was still a little romance mixed into all the chaos and horror.

I could tell this was geared towards teens by the way some things were phrased, but overall it didn’t bother me as an older reader. The experience that all of these teens went through was so crazy. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for a copy of this ARC.

[Malia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read the ARC of this book. It was action-packed, a little enemies to lovers with a bit of slow burn energy. Character development was superb! Scene descriptions were realistic and imaginative! I love how the author incorporated snippets of what was happening on the other side through social media posts and emails. However, the storyline is the masterpiece of this book. The creativity behind the basis of the story is outstanding! I can’t wait to read more from this author. #gingerbreadbones #netgalley

[Barb George · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads give away!!!!

Congratulations, Barb!

You are one of our Giveaways lucky winners! You will soon receive a free copy of Gingerbread Bones in the mail.

Be sure to enter their Give Aways.

[Cheyenne Mcdonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was so good!

It’s a creepy teenage retelling of Hansel and Gretel and I ate this up! I was hooked from the start and honestly didn’t want this to end.

I can’t say much more without giving it away but yall have got to read this!

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for access to this eARC. All opinions are my own. So, onto the review!

Gingerbread Bones is a Hansel and Gretel retelling that finds itself darker than the original story. And if you’ve read it, you know that’s saying something. Even the most sanitized version of that fairy tale is quite dark.

Instead of Hansel and Gretel we have Georgie and Hamish. A set of siblings who have become trouble in life. After their mom abandoned the family eleven years prior, they’ve gone astray. Hamish gets into fights and Georgie steals. They have a half-sister named Bellaleigh from their father’s new wife. Their mom’s best friend, Ashley.

Ashley is the evil step-mom. Sorry to all the Ashley’s out there who may read this book, it messed me up seeing my name in it 😭

Their father has completely checked out. He doesn’t parent and he doesn’t stop Ashley from doing anything. He lets her talk him out of or into anything involving the children and honestly, seeing an emotionally vacant man who is basically a prop for his wife to do what she wants is infuriating. Also who marries their missing wife’s best friend? Ew dude.

Ashley is a parenting influencer (cue the gagging because when I read that I was horrified). Influencers are a thing but when it comes to parenting, I really do not think people should get advice from someone they don’t personally know and don’t really know how their relationship is with their kids beyond the pictures they choose to post online. And Ashley is a perfect example of why.

She posts perfect pictures of herself with products while dishing out misunderstood psychobabble to people who eat it up. While Hamish and Georgie try their best to avoid the woman who lives in their house and actively hates them and their father just ignores it all.

So, I gave this 3.25 ⭐(thanks again PEACH method, seriously makes rating a bit easier for me) and that was mostly for the pplot.

The characters were weak for me and one character in particular, the son of a rich man, is an absolute shit heel and I absolutely hate him.

The basic premise of the story is that a group of teenagers are put on a show that will be on streaming called Forged In Fire. Think of it as one of those horrible “delinquent kids put in the wild to become better people” but recorded for the viewing entertainment of people at home.

Awful right?

Each kid here has some issue that landed them here and I truly think all of them are bull. One kid has oppositional defiant disorder. A real disorder. I don’t know if this was done with the kind of kindness and research that a disorder like that deserves so I can’t speak on it. But then we have Paxton. His father sent him to this show because he tarnished the family image.

No. Something was done to him and his father didn’t like the optics. And what was done was awful, I sympathize. But Paxton is one of the worst, most self serving individuals I have ever come across in fiction.

When things pop off and the children think they’re alone, save for the two camera men, one who is salivating at the arguments breaking out, I tried to follow the logic. The idea that a streaming service would agree to make a show that has the survivalist and the therapist leave the children in the woods alone is something impossibly hard to believe. Like, no. Absolutely not. They don’t want to get sued and this would open a fat lawsuit in the real world.

The characters are teenagers who at some points act like teenagers and at some points are incredibly introspective and articulate about what’s bothering them, what they’re going through. And yet, only one of them changes. The cast of characters is large but even when it dwindles, the only character who has any real change is Georgie. I’ve read a lot of books in my life and the fact that only one character had any change was just weak to me. A side character can also change and grow.

And while, yes, none of these children did anything to deserve being sent to Camp Hell ™️they also didn’t really change a lot. They basically learned they could only trust the people around them in that life or death situation but that was it.

I actually only really kept reading because I was curious about two things, if Ashley would finally get what was coming to her, and how the Hansel and Gretel portion was going to play out. And the last 25% of the book really honed in on the fairy tale aspect.

It was gruesome, dark, violent and I think it was fairly entertaining. I was satisfied enough with the ending that this gets a 3.25 but I don’t think it was anything that I’d be raving to my friends about. Especially because the characters were, for me, the weakest part of the story.

The horror of the ending, the themes of Hansel and Gretel I think were handled really well.

Something that wasn’t was the discussion around race and this comes down to how the author actually did it. There is a character who is described as brown with braids. That’s it. However, there is a character that is explicatively stated as Korean-American. It the Black character herself who calls herself Black. The fact the author could say that one character specifically was Korean-American but had to play around with the Black character was irritating.

It is beyond time for white authors to start calling their Black characters Black. It is not a bad word. It’s not racist to say that the Black character is indeed Black. There is no reason to hide from it.

Also, this thing about tatoos. Hamish has tattoos. He’s not old enough to have them so they don’t look great because he’s not getting them done professionally. She does not judge her brother for his tattoos.

However, there is a boy named Mack. He’s tall, wide, and muscular and he also has tattoos. Georgie takes the judging him based on this. Based on the fact he doesn’t talk and he has these tattoos which she focuses on as an important detail of his personality. She assumes he is a bad person because of the fact he has them.

Say her own brother’s look “prison bad” but when it comes to Mack’s, which are more professional, she thinks he’s a bad person because he has them.

Authors, I am begging y’all to stop equating tattoos with badness. With evilness. With someone who cannot be trusted. There are so many people in the world who have tattoos and they don’t mean anything about them. Teachers, surgeons, doctors, the people that we’re basically trained to respect. Firefighters, EMTs and cashiers. They’ve got tattoos and it does not instantly make them evil or bad people because they chose to have art on their bodies.

All it means is they got a tattoo.

It’s right up there with giving a villain a facial scar so that we know they’re evil. It’s lazy writing and it demonzies things that have no business being demonized.

Like I said, I gave the book 3.25 but that was my own curiosity and how satisfied I was with the horror and how well the fairy tale was followed.

I’m not sure if I would read this author again.

[Nicole Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Entangled: Mayhem Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

“Gingerbread Bones” by Lindsay Lovise is basically Hansel and Gretel if you mixed it with reality TV, influencer parents, survival horror, and a very hungry witch who absolutely does not believe in second chances. This is definitely an upper YA story.

And honestly? It’s weird in the best way.

The setup is already chaotic: Georgie and her troublemaking younger brother get dragged into their awful influencer stepmother’s newest reality show, which is basically “Survivor for troubled teens” except somehow even less ethical. They’re dumped in the woods with a bunch of other teenagers, barely any supplies, and cameras meant to capture all their suffering for views. Right away, the book makes it clear that the adults in charge are the real villains long before the supernatural stuff even starts.

And wow, Georgie’s stepmother is awful. Truly one of those characters you love to hate. She exploits her kids for content, manipulates everyone around her, and somehow keeps finding new ways to be worse. The little snippets of her social media posts throughout the book were such a good touch because they really showed how fake and performative her whole online persona is while everything is actively falling apart behind the scenes.

Georgie herself is a solid main character. She’s mostly just trying to survive long enough to get money and freedom away from her stepmother, which honestly makes her very easy to root for. Some of her inner thoughts can feel a little cliché, but overall she works well, especially because her relationship with her brother adds a lot of emotional weight. Their sibling bond is probably one of the strongest parts of the book; it feels real, messy, protective, and never gets overshadowed by the horror.

And the horror definitely delivers. At first it feels like a survival thriller with kids stuck in the woods, no rescue coming, group tensions rising, but then things start getting weird. Candy shows up in the forest. Body parts move where they shouldn’t. The woods feel alive. There’s this constant feeling of being watched, and it becomes obvious pretty quickly that something supernatural is messing with them.

And yes, there is absolutely a witch.

Not just any witch but a witch who seems to be specifically targeting “bad” kids and turning the whole thing into some kind of twisted morality game where the punishment is being eaten. The book gets surprisingly graphic with the gore too, which I appreciated. As said earlier, this is definitely older YA horror, not a soft spooky fairytale vibe.

The retelling elements are done really well, especially once the story starts leaning harder into the Grimm inspiration. By the time the teens reach the gingerbread house, it feels genuinely unsettling instead of cute. I never thought candy could feel threatening, but apparently it can.

There’s also a found family vibe with the group of teens slowly learning to trust each other, which helps balance all the murder and trauma. The romance, though, I could’ve taken or left it. It’s not bad, but in a book where everyone is actively trying not to die, it sometimes feels like there just wasn’t room for it.

I did have some issues with the reality show premise because legally, absolutely none of this should be allowed. Like, none. The amount of negligence here is almost comical, and you definitely have to suspend disbelief for the entire setup to work.

There’s also one character who is so relentlessly terrible that every chapter with him felt like emotional damage, and his late attempt at redemption didn’t really work for me.

But the twists? Surprisingly strong. There’s a really good reveal involving the witch, Georgie’s family, and the stepmother’s connection to the past that actually made the whole story hit harder. It ties the fairy tale retelling together in a way that feels clever instead of forced.

And the ending is great; there is a big chaotic final showdown, everyone teaming up, using the original Hansel and Gretel story almost like a survival guide, and finally getting revenge where revenge is very deserved.

The extended epilogue was also a nice touch because after all that trauma, it was nice to actually see the aftermath instead of just ending at the climax.

Overall, “Gingerbread Bones” is fast-paced, creepy, messy, and a lot darker than the title makes it sound. If you like fairy tale horror, survival thrillers, evil stepmothers, and stories where candy somehow becomes terrifying, this one is a really fun ride.

[Alexandra Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, Entangled Publishing, and Lindsay Lovise for an eARC in exchange for my honest feedback!

I requested Gingerbread Bones because it was the only book that sounded interesting to me that was apart of the Camp NetGalley challenge! And I want that dorky little badge!

This book genuinely did intrigue me though - the cover and the description are absolutely something I would pick up on my own.

Since I didn’t see the Hansel & Gretel blurb my first thought was we were getting some sort of winter themed slasher.

I’m not going to lie, I fully anticipated Gingy from Shrek to be going around with a candy cane axe decapitating people.

This book absolutely delighted me!

I think Gingerbread Bones is one of the more well done re-tellings I’ve read - and I’ve read a lot!
It is a meta re-telling and directly referenced Hansel & Gretel. Even the way the story is told is very Hansel & Gretel.

I felt like I was getting edged with context and information at points and then I thought to myself “oh my god, the author is bread crumbing me!”

This kind of blurs the line of summerween and winter slasher: the camp setting feels very summerween but there are snow storms.

At first some parts were a little cringe because it’s been a hot minute since I’ve read a YA novel. Georgie is a borderline edge lord. However, as we get further into the narrative I can see that Georgie’s POV and the banter between the teen characters are quite genuine and really funny.

Like most YA novels, the adults are cartoonishly evil and it’s up to our scrappy band of misfits to save themselves.

Our group of troubled teens have big hearts under their prickly exterior. I feel like the circumstances of each of them could have been delved into deeper, however.

The Troubled Teen industry is such a special interest of mine and I would have liked to see more of the motivations of the parents who sent their children here as well as the circumstances that contributed to our teens being troubled.

Each character could have had really powerful narratives but it felt like we only saw surface level on some of them.

I was anticipating the romance to be insta-love and to really ick me out but it felt really natural and wasn’t too much. I’ve seen some authors who really push the boundary of what’s appropriate romance for a YA novel, but Gingerbread Bones is more sugar than spice.

It was also not central to the narrative.

I would say the sibling and parent child relationship dynamics are the heart of this novel, which may be disappointing to those who picked this up expecting a paranormal romance like the subtitle suggests. You could take the romance out of this and it doesn’t change the narrative completely.

But for me? That made the book more enjoyable!

There was also way more gore than I was anticipating from a YA novel! As a horror girly, I loved it. There were scenes that genuinely grossed me out. This could completely turn off folks seeking paranormal romance, but the blurb comparing Gingerbread Bones to Scream and Final Destination are right on the money.

Gingerbread Bones is a modern spin on Hansel & Gretel that brings killer gore, a lot of heart, and commentary on the Troubled Teen Industry, parenting influencers, and the relationships between mother & daughter.

This book was so much more than I expected and I found myself taking my time while reading because I fell in love with these characters. These are kids I would absolutely love working with, flaws and all, when I worked in higher education.

It was truly so much fun - I told my husband that this book is the perfect type of campy thriller I love.

I’m giving Gingerbread Bones a 4.25 star rating! My highest rated eARC yet!

Overall, this book was an awesome YA thriller / horror that kept me guessing and genuinely surprised me.

My only critique is I think there was opportunity for more spotlight on the supporting cast of characters and their backgrounds. I know we only had Georgie’s POV, but I think it still could have been done!

On my NetGalley bio, I note that I am interested in making book club experience kits for books that I rate 4 stars and above and/or I think will be buzzy book club picks.

I have already started working on one for Gingerbread Bones with my husband. These kits will include discussion questions, activities like bingo and puzzles, and a full food and beverage menu. Stay tuned!

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

With a title like Gingerbread Bones, I knew this story was going to be sweet... sickly sweet. (See what I did there?) That's what first caught my attention when I was asked to review it. The synopsis also mentions teens being sent to participate in their stepmother's survivalist reality show. I love shows like these, so I thought that aspect would be fun as well. I was absolutely right.

Georgie and Hamish are sent by their parenting "expert" influencer stepmother to the remote Maine wilderness to participate in a reality show she helped create about reforming troubled teens by teaching them to work together and survive under unusual circumstances. Unsurprisingly, neither is excited about the prospect. Once there, it initially seems to be little more than a group of unhappy teens complaining about everything. Then there's Mack. He seems older, ripped, and heavily tattooed. Georgie is certain he's the only one who's truly dangerous. Before long, events force the group to split in two, and overnight, the remaining adult disappears. Even worse, something seems to be hunting them, toying with them almost like a cat with a mouse, in this delightfully suspenseful spin on Hansel & Gretel.

The story is narrated entirely by Georgie in the first person. "Troubled" is a good word to describe her, although her reasons are completely understandable. She is an exceptionally well-rounded character, but early on she embodies the frustrating self-centeredness that often comes with being a teenager: everything is the worst, and this experience is surely going to ruin her life. She demonstrates considerable inner fortitude and grows exponentially before all is said and done. That growth made the opening feel a touch slower than the rest of the novel, even though the pacing itself never truly drags. Once Georgie begins to change, the story flies. The other characters we spend time with are also well developed, including the true villain. Don't get me wrong, the villain is unquestionably evil, but they didn't begin that way.

This story explores several themes in an immersive way, the most central of which is how the pursuit of perfection is insatiable. No matter how much you have, it's never enough because true perfection doesn't exist. Two of the other standout themes are self-worth versus external validation and appearance versus reality. The novel also explores choice, agency, and coercion, asking what real choice actually looks like.

Lovise's writing is atmospheric, cinematic, and relatively fast-paced. The scenes in Gingerbread Bones unfold vividly, almost like watching a horror film. The forest, eerie setting, and ever-present gingerbread scent create a pervasive sense of dread. It feels haunted from the moment the characters arrive at the campsite. The novel is also highly suspenseful and emotionally resonant. Beneath the horror, it thoughtfully explores grief, family, self-worth, and longing. My heart ached for Georgie, Hamish, and Mack.

Gingerbread Bones surprised me. I enjoyed it even more than I expected I would. I've not explored this genre much before, but this book is perfect for readers who enjoy YA survival horror, modern fairy tale retellings, supernatural suspense, and stories that blend pulse-pounding tension with thoughtful themes.

Content Warnings: Graphic child death, gore, and vomit • Moderate panic attacks/disorders and death of a parent • Minor animal death

Nerd Rating: 🤓🤓🤓🤓— a haunting fairy tale nightmare

I read a digital copy made available by Entangled: Mayhem Books through NetGalley, and this review reflects my honest opinion.

📚 More book reviews and bookish content:

https://www.ispeakbooknerd.com

[Insert Name Here · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wilderness therapy camp. A reality show. A group of teens nobody expects to succeed. And something in the woods that is far more dangerous than any of them imagined.

📚 Pre-Reading Thoughts
I was immediately intrigued by the combination of wilderness therapy camps, reality television and teen horror. Each of those things already has plenty of uncomfortable questions attached to it, so putting them together promised something interesting - and Gingerbread Bones absolutely delivers.

📖 Post-Reading
As I thought...

Lindsay Lovise takes some very real fears about how teenagers are treated and turns them into something much darker. The book combines the worst elements of teen therapy camps, reality TV and influencer culture, creating a situation where the teenagers aren't just struggling with being away from home - they're also being watched, judged and turned into entertainment.

What works especially well is how slowly the horror arrives.

The first part of the book has the feel of a tense teen thriller. We're learning about the camp, the other teenagers and the strange dynamics alongside Georgie. The fairytale and horror elements creep in gradually, meaning that when things become more frightening, we are discovering the truth at exactly the same time as the characters.

It surprised me by...

How effectively it balances different kinds of fear. The human behaviour is already unsettling before anything supernatural enters the story. The adults' decisions, the cameras, the manipulation and the way the teens have been labelled all create a sense of danger before the bigger threat reveals itself.

The fairytale influence is cleverly woven through the story rather than simply placed on top, creating something that feels familiar and strange at the same time.

There are some genuinely creepy moments, as well as a few more graphic scenes, so readers should be aware that this isn't a gentle campfire story. The atmosphere is one of isolation and growing dread: damp leaves underfoot, frost creeping through the trees, and the uncomfortable feeling that the forest has gone too quiet.

But at its heart, this is also a story about people finding each other when they have every reason not to trust anyone. The teenagers may have arrived as a collection of problems and labels, but they become something much stronger together.

🎧 Music Pairing
🎵 Featured Song: Running Up That Hill – Kate Bush

A song about struggle, impossible choices and trying to understand another person's experience.

🎶 Vibe Album: dark fairytale soundtracks and eerie woodland folk.

🌲 Vibe Check
Colours: forest green, icy white, candle flame orange, muddy brown
Season: late autumn sliding into winter
Soundtrack: silence where there should be birdsong, footsteps behind you, branches cracking in the distance
Scent: damp leaves, woodsmoke, cold air and gingerbread spices
Mood: fairytale horror with a survival instinct
🃏 Tarot Pull
Seven of Wands

Georgie is constantly forced to defend herself - against assumptions, against manipulation and against the idea that she is simply a problem to be fixed. The Seven of Wands represents standing your ground when everything is pushing against you.

It also reflects the wider group. These teenagers have been told they are trouble, but they discover that together they are stronger than the people who underestimated them.



👀 For fans of
survival thrillers
dark fairytale retellings
teen horror
stories about found family
wilderness settings with something lurking beyond the trees

[donutdot · Rating 5 out of 5]

thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the e-arc!!

wow. that was a whole ride. this got me scared, shocked and tearing up a bit at the end so this was really something. this was advertised as 'upper ya horror for fans of scream and final destination' and while i don't think that was accurate i ended up loving this anyway.

firstly, the cover is so perfect for this book. the teenagers in the endless woods with nothing but their packs and flashlights are so accurate. and the colour palette!!

i've always liked the smell of cinnamon and gingerbread. i might not always crave or want to eat it but the smell is always comforting somehow no matter then context. somehow gingerbread bones managed to twist that into horror and i might never think the same of the scent again, which means this was done splendidly. honestly i didn't even realise thisnwas a very f-ed hansel and gretal retelling until halfway through.

wbk ashley was horrible and hated her stepkids, but who knew she was a murderous btch?? well i guess everyone reading did. jokes aside i thought the atmosphere and the reality tv-ness of the cast getting into arguments over everything really carried the first half of the book. i wasn't sure how they were gonna get out once they realised the threat was real, but i was sat for all the conflicts. my one gripe is that while we do get to know most of the cast (hamish, ava, mack, paxton, talia, madison) quite well through georgie's eyes, i wish we got to see more of their povs. maybe at least both the leider siblings'.

genuinely did not expect the plot twist of who the witch actually is. spoilers, it is their mum who supposedly left them but was killed by ashley at the campsite. the twenty questions game was so tense, and after when the witch took over. but glad that their mum is probably at peace now.

that being said i loved georgie and hamish's sibling bond. it really says something the way they stick together is the only constant throughout the entire quest and it speaks to how they only ever had each other to rely on. i love hamish being protective of her, and georgie thinking hamish deserves better. the way they care for each other, their conviction that if one goes, the other does too, was honestly the highlight for me. i was very worried throughout that one of them might not survive, but so glad they both did!!! happy that they and hamish get their new lives at the end away from the past.

"you and me, pest. always you and me."

"no matter what's happened to me, i've always had hamish, and he's always had me. even now as we face down imminent death."

i think it was a bold choice to focus on this relationship rather than the two romances (georgie/mack and hamish/ava) but this worked so well and it wouldn't have been the same otherwise.

the romances were cute, of course. i liked how mack and ava eventually opened up to the respective leider siblings, and somehow they managed to stay together afterwards!! maybe if this was a longer book, they would have had more focus.

anyway, still thoroughly enjoyed this!!