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This Delicious Death
From the author of the New York Times bestselling My Dearest Darkest comes another incredible sapphic horror. When four best friends with a hunger for human flesh attend a music festival in the desert they discover a murderous plot to expose and vilify the girls and everyone like them. This summer is going to get gory. Two years ago, a small percentage of population underwent a transformation known as the Hollowing. Those affected were only able to survive by consuming human flesh. The people who went without quickly became feral, turning on their friends and family. Luckily, scientists were able to create a synthetic version of human meat that would satisfy their hunger. As a result, humanity slowly began to return to normal. Cut to Zoey, Celeste, Valeria, and Jasmine, four hollow girls living in Southern California. As a last hurrah before graduation they decide to attend a musical festival in the heart of the desert. They have a cooler filled with seltzer, vodka, and Synflesh… and are ready to party. But on the first night of the festival Val goes feral and ends up killing and eating a boy in one of the bands. As other festival guests start disappearing around them the girls soon discover someone is targeting people like them. And if they can't figure out how to stop it, and soon, no one at the festival is getting out alive.
304 pages, Paperback
First published April 25, 2023
459 people are currently reading
35255 people want to read
About the author
Kayla Cottingham
5 books720 followersKayla Cottingham (she/they) is a YA author and librarian. Her first book, My Dearest Darkest, was a New York Times and Publisher's Weekly bestseller. Originally from Salt Lake City, Utah, Kayla lives in Boston where she loves to go hiking in the woods, play RPGs, and snuggle on the couch with her ridiculously large black cat, Squid.
Kayla is no longer active on Goodreads. As such, please use the contact form on her website if you have any inquiries.
Kayla is no longer active on Goodreads. As such, please use the contact form on her website if you have any inquiries.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,386 reviews
Read
May 21, 2022This book is “I eat boys for breakfast” but LITERALLY
Tropes
🎡 Coachella-Gone-Wrong
👩❤️💋👩 cis bi MC x trans bi LI
💜 best friends-to-lovers
🩸 flesh-eating girls
#OhNoWeAteABoy
How does Kayla mix brutal horror with millennial queer humour so well - i was laughing my butt off from the very first line.
Jennifer’s Body meets iZombie with a dash of Riverdale at a musical festival in the Mojave Desert and they’re all gay AF!
Tropes
🎡 Coachella-Gone-Wrong
👩❤️💋👩 cis bi MC x trans bi LI
💜 best friends-to-lovers
🩸 flesh-eating girls
#OhNoWeAteABoy
How does Kayla mix brutal horror with millennial queer humour so well - i was laughing my butt off from the very first line.
Jennifer’s Body meets iZombie with a dash of Riverdale at a musical festival in the Mojave Desert and they’re all gay AF!
June 14, 2023
Ghoul pandemic
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but it turned out to be good. The author gives a warning at the beginning about graphic content like gore, murder, and flesh tearing and much more. It's a likable story, with a bit of YA content that moves quickly and has enough scary and gory moments to satisfy horror fans.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but it turned out to be good. The author gives a warning at the beginning about graphic content like gore, murder, and flesh tearing and much more. It's a likable story, with a bit of YA content that moves quickly and has enough scary and gory moments to satisfy horror fans.
May 23, 2023
Why does every new YA nervously have to be so woke all the time? 🙄
Read
June 6, 2023DNF, I thought for some stupid reason, this was something else
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
April 15, 2023
This was the queer, flesh eating, best friends love story that I never knew I needed. This book is about a pandemic, but this pandemic left some individuals craving human flesh. The ghouls were initially quarantined but when synthetic flesh was invented ghouls were given basically a pass for killing people and reintegrated into society. Four best friends are heading to a music festival as their first big outing since they all turned. But the music festival holds more than they could have imaged was coming. And while they try to figure out how to protect each other and their freedom Zoey also struggles with a crush on her best friend. I loved this fairly campy but super fun story. Overall I gave it 4.5 stars rounded up for great queer representation.
January 1, 2024
4✨
𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 𝐀𝐩𝐫. 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑
I support cannibalistic queers.
A sharp, quick novel full of lovely horror and gore but with a fun almost sci-fi like twist. This was something so new and unique I had to pick up the ARC when it came into work and im so glad I did.
The cast is so much fun and the whole idea of this is just so fun and almost campy. I felt like I was watching a spoof TV show that was meant to be absurd but in a good way. Definitely a must read.
𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝: 𝐀𝐩𝐫. 𝟏𝟗𝐭𝐡 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟑
I support cannibalistic queers.
A sharp, quick novel full of lovely horror and gore but with a fun almost sci-fi like twist. This was something so new and unique I had to pick up the ARC when it came into work and im so glad I did.
The cast is so much fun and the whole idea of this is just so fun and almost campy. I felt like I was watching a spoof TV show that was meant to be absurd but in a good way. Definitely a must read.
November 5, 2022
CASUAL CANNIBALISM? SAPPHIC BEST FRIENDS TO LOVERS WITH A TRANS GIRL LOVE INTEREST? FREAKY MONSTERS? CAMPY VIBES THAT ABSOLUTELY HIT THE MARK? EPIGRAPHS THAT ARE SO FREAKING HILARIOUS (like, one is Buzzfeed headline, that’s amazing)?
It’s such a wonderful blend of humor and horror, its an absolute blast to fall in love with.
It’s such a wonderful blend of humor and horror, its an absolute blast to fall in love with.
January 22, 2025
This book was a fun, creepy, and unique read! The idea of ghouls instead of zombies was a refreshing twist and made the story stand out. I loved how the group of girls stuck together through the chaos, almost like little detectives solving the enigma of their new, dangerous world. The atmosphere was thick with tension, and the sense of dread was perfectly executed. Plus, I appreciated that every detail was wrapped up by the end. If you’re not into YA or spooky reads, this might not be for you, but if you’re open to something different, it’s an entertaining and weirdly enjoyable experience.
August 8, 2023
What a weird ass book!!
May 5, 2023
This Delicious Death caught my attention with its eye-catching bloody cooler cover. I mean, what’s not to love there?
The cooler is actually filled with synthetic meat because in this story the world has experienced something called “The Hollowing” which appears to be a plague that turned some people into flesh-craving ghouls. Some people just got sick and recovered, some people were eaten and others now and forever will crave the delicious flesh of humans. Fortunately for the remaining humans, science came to the rescue with a synthetic substitute to sate the flesh hunger and allows the ghoul folks to be reintegrated into society.
Sounds a little dangerous to me and this story proves that, well, IT IS!
Four teens all afflicted with the flesh cravings head out to their first event since the trauma of The Hollowing. They’re attending a Coachella-like festival with a cooler filled with flesh snacks. They’re so excited to finally have some fun. What they find instead is a nightmare and a maybe little romance.
This is a fun book in parts and in others it's a little sloggy. The pacing felt somewhat off. Sometimes it was engaging and gross fun and then it would slow down to a crawl and the last few chapters were a whirlwind of action. It’s very gory but there is a campy Scooby-Doo Mystery feel to the whole thing and there’s also a teenage love triangle as one of the characters struggles with her feelings for her best friend as well as a new boy she meets. None of this is a bad thing if that’s your thing but I am of little patience and some of it was frustrating for me.
There is good diversity representation here with the friend group and I loved the flashbacks to the time before - when all of the horrors were going down for society and folks were starting to go feral. In all honesty, I probably would’ve much preferred to read that book instead of the one I just read because I simply didn’t think running around the festival and following them as they attempted to solve a mystery was super interesting. But you may think differently. We’re all different people here.
3 ½ Stars
The cooler is actually filled with synthetic meat because in this story the world has experienced something called “The Hollowing” which appears to be a plague that turned some people into flesh-craving ghouls. Some people just got sick and recovered, some people were eaten and others now and forever will crave the delicious flesh of humans. Fortunately for the remaining humans, science came to the rescue with a synthetic substitute to sate the flesh hunger and allows the ghoul folks to be reintegrated into society.
Sounds a little dangerous to me and this story proves that, well, IT IS!
Four teens all afflicted with the flesh cravings head out to their first event since the trauma of The Hollowing. They’re attending a Coachella-like festival with a cooler filled with flesh snacks. They’re so excited to finally have some fun. What they find instead is a nightmare and a maybe little romance.
This is a fun book in parts and in others it's a little sloggy. The pacing felt somewhat off. Sometimes it was engaging and gross fun and then it would slow down to a crawl and the last few chapters were a whirlwind of action. It’s very gory but there is a campy Scooby-Doo Mystery feel to the whole thing and there’s also a teenage love triangle as one of the characters struggles with her feelings for her best friend as well as a new boy she meets. None of this is a bad thing if that’s your thing but I am of little patience and some of it was frustrating for me.
There is good diversity representation here with the friend group and I loved the flashbacks to the time before - when all of the horrors were going down for society and folks were starting to go feral. In all honesty, I probably would’ve much preferred to read that book instead of the one I just read because I simply didn’t think running around the festival and following them as they attempted to solve a mystery was super interesting. But you may think differently. We’re all different people here.
3 ½ Stars
October 20, 2023
This was okay. There were too many plot holes for me. I don’t like having more questions than answers.
October 13, 2025
Is a zombie romance subplot my new favorite thing to read? Maybe. It might be.
Don't look at me like that.
I ate this up the way these girls are eating up Synflesh, and occasionally, humans.
This was just so entertaining.
GIRLS SUPPORTING GIRLS! GHOULS SUPPORTING GHOULS! This is heavy on the female friendships. I love to see it.
We get some thriller action, and humor, and the roooooommmmannnnceee! (I wish there was more romance.) I care about this way more than I care about the actual main plot.
But thats just me fiening.
Zoey and Celeste!
Honestly, peak. PEAK.
This is good besties.
I like it.
5... sciencey, artificial, manmade zombie food pouches... out of 5.
"No, I like it. You should deflect more often."
"Statistical analysis gives me a heartburn."
"I mean, I definitely didn't just platonically stick my tongue down your throat
Don't look at me like that.
I ate this up the way these girls are eating up Synflesh, and occasionally, humans.
This was just so entertaining.
GIRLS SUPPORTING GIRLS! GHOULS SUPPORTING GHOULS! This is heavy on the female friendships. I love to see it.
We get some thriller action, and humor, and the roooooommmmannnnceee! (I wish there was more romance.) I care about this way more than I care about the actual main plot.
But thats just me fiening.
Zoey and Celeste!
Honestly, peak. PEAK.
This is good besties.
I like it.
5... sciencey, artificial, manmade zombie food pouches... out of 5.
"No, I like it. You should deflect more often."
"Statistical analysis gives me a heartburn."
"I mean, I definitely didn't just platonically stick my tongue down your throat
May 17, 2023
Review coming soon.
March 11, 2023
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
My Selling Pitch:
Do you want a quirky girl YA that is annoyingly woke and full of virtue signaling? Somehow it’s also covid/apocalypse satire with gore and a mystery and very, very gay.
Pre-reading:
The cover is so fun. It makes me want to paint my nails yellow. Suddenly I’m seeing this book everywhere.
(I don’t know why I thought this was a serial killer book. It is not.)
Thick of it:
Oh, she’s got jokes. (This is the only joke I liked in this book.
Misspelled viscous lol
They’re not accosting you? They’re literally just talking to you. Like I know they’re being set up to be the villains, but all these boys did was come up to fellow hotel goers at a public pool.
Pete Davidson already has no sex appeal.
This is woke covid zombie satire?
It’s the boy-Cole because his bandmates don’t know he’s a ghoul. (If you can guess whodunnit immediately upon characters being introduced, there’s a problem.)
This book veers into toxic positivity territory. (Not veers, careens.)
Also, I don’t like how blasé this book and its characters are about killing people. The toxic oh they deserved to die like some kind of revenge thriller. Yuck.
Weird concept that your mother doesn’t want to die? I feel like this goes back to the if you’re pregnant and dying whose life do you save? Mom or baby? Also, her keeping a gun to disarm you, doesn’t necessarily mean she’s gonna kill you with that gun. But like what’s wrong with you? In what world do you want to put your mom at risk? How would you rather not be shot and killed rather than kill your own mother? This book has gone way too in on the idea that they didn’t choose to become ghouls, so any of their behavior is okay. It asks too much for suspension of disbelief. I just don’t believe the government would let people who were infected live as active murderers if there are people who aren’t infected that can still reproduce lol. Especially in other countries? Like this book has such huge world-building failures.
MGK is quaking. (OK, I lied. I liked that joke too.)
I thought they were an indie pop band, but maybe I missed something?
No one is writing female presenting in an incident report. This book gets tiring with the pc language.
But she said she’d never killed somebody before? That was killing somebody? So did she lie to her friends or? (Yet another dropped plot point.)
That’s a really bad comment to make. The period debate around trans people is so touchy. It’s almost like the author’s claiming periods are inherent to girlhood, but then people can pick and choose if they wanna experience it and still experience every part of girlhood. I don’t know. I’m hesitant to even comment on this. Trans women are women. Women have different definitions and experiences of womanhood. Live and let live.
How did her T-shirt survive a year? (Samantha, please stop trying to logic this book. Nothing makes sense.)
Anthropophagi were in that wacky Monstrumlogist series, weren’t they?
Not a cinnamon boy
And the most unsurprising plot twist
Okay Will Smith
Why would the government pay to refrigerate or power a building like this? A building they supposedly tried to burn down and cover-up.
And they’re just free to go after murdering people. OK cool.
Post-reading:
This is a goddamn mess of a book. Its world-building is a catastrophic error, but we’ll come back to that. It is your typical quirky, woke YA fare. Characters are only their tagged diversity labels, and then are so stereotyped it borders on offensive. It tries so hard to be current and funny. It’s not. It definitely has an element of toxic positivity to it.
And I just fundamentally can’t get over how bad the world-building is. It makes no sense, and it destroys the plot of this book. Somehow the reader is asked to suspend disbelief and believe that in the wake of an apocalypse that turns people into murderous ghouls (conveniently, we are never told what causes this beyond a virus awoken from permafrost, but we’re not told how it’s transmitted or how it works) the government allows them to live as long as they check in on a social media app. I- If you can read that and still be on board, I don’t know what to tell you. I just do not buy that they wouldn’t be rounded up and killed. It doesn’t make any sense that they’re allowing infected people to live their lives as normal because they essentially developed faux meat? This book is so chill with needless and senseless murder. It falls into that revenge thriller trap, where they’re like oh the villain deserved it so they can just die and we won’t ever have to feel bad for actively killing them. The more I think about this book and try to articulate how much is wrong with it, the angrier I get.
Let’s just talk about the plot of the novel. Somehow somebody’s dad was doing research to try and make diet pills for zombies. He’s done fucked up and made zombie extra hungry pills. Somehow this was done with mint. Somehow we’re not supposed to question this because we will not be getting an explanation. Somehow, this recipe? seeds? actively grown plants aren’t immediately destroyed? Somehow the building where they did this research survives the government trying to burn it down and cover it up. Somehow it has power and electricity for a refrigerator this whole time which conveniently has the antidote in it. Because somehow they just worked out an antidote and then it works perfectly and there are no side effects and then they didn’t use it on the people they had trapped in their lab. They just left them to rot
and didn’t kill them. Somehow they continue to survive for years in the exact same clothing they were first admitted in Somehow these literal children are trained in medical procedures and are able to use this abandoned antidote in the correct dosage and it’s not expired and we have no idea what it’s made out of and again somehow we’re not supposed to question this. I- This isn’t even all of it and I’m not really trying to be particularly humorous. When I say, this book is a goddamn mess.
Did I mention this happens at not Coachella?
If somehow you’re capable of putting all that aside, this book I guess has a queer friends-to-lovers romance in it?
Who should read this:
No, I’m not recommending this to anyone. Maybe if you like to hate-read YA books
Do I want to reread this:
No
Similar books:
* Retro by Sofia Lapuente and Jarrod Shusterman-cringe YA with a reality completion that abandons logic
* Killing Me by Michelle Gagnon-heavy on pop culture references, quirky, gay
My Selling Pitch:
Do you want a quirky girl YA that is annoyingly woke and full of virtue signaling? Somehow it’s also covid/apocalypse satire with gore and a mystery and very, very gay.
Pre-reading:
The cover is so fun. It makes me want to paint my nails yellow. Suddenly I’m seeing this book everywhere.
(I don’t know why I thought this was a serial killer book. It is not.)
Thick of it:
Oh, she’s got jokes. (This is the only joke I liked in this book.
Misspelled viscous lol
They’re not accosting you? They’re literally just talking to you. Like I know they’re being set up to be the villains, but all these boys did was come up to fellow hotel goers at a public pool.
Pete Davidson already has no sex appeal.
This is woke covid zombie satire?
It’s the boy-Cole because his bandmates don’t know he’s a ghoul. (If you can guess whodunnit immediately upon characters being introduced, there’s a problem.)
This book veers into toxic positivity territory. (Not veers, careens.)
Also, I don’t like how blasé this book and its characters are about killing people. The toxic oh they deserved to die like some kind of revenge thriller. Yuck.
Weird concept that your mother doesn’t want to die? I feel like this goes back to the if you’re pregnant and dying whose life do you save? Mom or baby? Also, her keeping a gun to disarm you, doesn’t necessarily mean she’s gonna kill you with that gun. But like what’s wrong with you? In what world do you want to put your mom at risk? How would you rather not be shot and killed rather than kill your own mother? This book has gone way too in on the idea that they didn’t choose to become ghouls, so any of their behavior is okay. It asks too much for suspension of disbelief. I just don’t believe the government would let people who were infected live as active murderers if there are people who aren’t infected that can still reproduce lol. Especially in other countries? Like this book has such huge world-building failures.
MGK is quaking. (OK, I lied. I liked that joke too.)
I thought they were an indie pop band, but maybe I missed something?
No one is writing female presenting in an incident report. This book gets tiring with the pc language.
But she said she’d never killed somebody before? That was killing somebody? So did she lie to her friends or? (Yet another dropped plot point.)
That’s a really bad comment to make. The period debate around trans people is so touchy. It’s almost like the author’s claiming periods are inherent to girlhood, but then people can pick and choose if they wanna experience it and still experience every part of girlhood. I don’t know. I’m hesitant to even comment on this. Trans women are women. Women have different definitions and experiences of womanhood. Live and let live.
How did her T-shirt survive a year? (Samantha, please stop trying to logic this book. Nothing makes sense.)
Anthropophagi were in that wacky Monstrumlogist series, weren’t they?
Not a cinnamon boy
And the most unsurprising plot twist
Okay Will Smith
Why would the government pay to refrigerate or power a building like this? A building they supposedly tried to burn down and cover-up.
And they’re just free to go after murdering people. OK cool.
Post-reading:
This is a goddamn mess of a book. Its world-building is a catastrophic error, but we’ll come back to that. It is your typical quirky, woke YA fare. Characters are only their tagged diversity labels, and then are so stereotyped it borders on offensive. It tries so hard to be current and funny. It’s not. It definitely has an element of toxic positivity to it.
And I just fundamentally can’t get over how bad the world-building is. It makes no sense, and it destroys the plot of this book. Somehow the reader is asked to suspend disbelief and believe that in the wake of an apocalypse that turns people into murderous ghouls (conveniently, we are never told what causes this beyond a virus awoken from permafrost, but we’re not told how it’s transmitted or how it works) the government allows them to live as long as they check in on a social media app. I- If you can read that and still be on board, I don’t know what to tell you. I just do not buy that they wouldn’t be rounded up and killed. It doesn’t make any sense that they’re allowing infected people to live their lives as normal because they essentially developed faux meat? This book is so chill with needless and senseless murder. It falls into that revenge thriller trap, where they’re like oh the villain deserved it so they can just die and we won’t ever have to feel bad for actively killing them. The more I think about this book and try to articulate how much is wrong with it, the angrier I get.
Let’s just talk about the plot of the novel. Somehow somebody’s dad was doing research to try and make diet pills for zombies. He’s done fucked up and made zombie extra hungry pills. Somehow this was done with mint. Somehow we’re not supposed to question this because we will not be getting an explanation. Somehow, this recipe? seeds? actively grown plants aren’t immediately destroyed? Somehow the building where they did this research survives the government trying to burn it down and cover it up. Somehow it has power and electricity for a refrigerator this whole time which conveniently has the antidote in it. Because somehow they just worked out an antidote and then it works perfectly and there are no side effects and then they didn’t use it on the people they had trapped in their lab. They just left them to rot
and didn’t kill them. Somehow they continue to survive for years in the exact same clothing they were first admitted in Somehow these literal children are trained in medical procedures and are able to use this abandoned antidote in the correct dosage and it’s not expired and we have no idea what it’s made out of and again somehow we’re not supposed to question this. I- This isn’t even all of it and I’m not really trying to be particularly humorous. When I say, this book is a goddamn mess.
Did I mention this happens at not Coachella?
If somehow you’re capable of putting all that aside, this book I guess has a queer friends-to-lovers romance in it?
Who should read this:
No, I’m not recommending this to anyone. Maybe if you like to hate-read YA books
Do I want to reread this:
No
Similar books:
* Retro by Sofia Lapuente and Jarrod Shusterman-cringe YA with a reality completion that abandons logic
* Killing Me by Michelle Gagnon-heavy on pop culture references, quirky, gay
April 28, 2023
This review can also be found at https://carolesrandomlife.com/
This was fun! I thought that I had read books featuring just about every supernatural being out there but once I saw this book I realized that I had yet to pick up a book with main characters that were ghouls. I have read a book or two where ghouls are worked into this story but this was my first experience reading one where the ghoul took center stage and I must say that it was a very entertaining read. I am so glad that I took a chance and decided to give this book a try.
Zoey, Celeste, Jasmine, and Valeria became ghouls after the Hollowing swept the world. They can live a very normal life eating synthetic flesh and are excited to attend the first music festival since the Hollowing. Things don’t go according to plan and Val ends up eating a boy. The group soon learns that there is a more sinister plan in the works. I especially enjoyed the flashback scenes that gave the reader insight into how the change played out for each of the key characters.
I thought that the mystery in this story was very well done and I loved that the story kept me guessing until the end. I thought that the fact that the main characters were ghouls added a very interesting and original element to the story. I really liked all of the characters and appreciated the LGBTQ+ representation. The fact that there is a bit of romance worked into the story is just icing on the cake.
I would not hesitate to recommend this book to others. I found this book to be incredibly entertaining and almost impossible to put down once I started reading. I hope to read more of this author’s work in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Sourcebooks Fire.
This was fun! I thought that I had read books featuring just about every supernatural being out there but once I saw this book I realized that I had yet to pick up a book with main characters that were ghouls. I have read a book or two where ghouls are worked into this story but this was my first experience reading one where the ghoul took center stage and I must say that it was a very entertaining read. I am so glad that I took a chance and decided to give this book a try.
Zoey, Celeste, Jasmine, and Valeria became ghouls after the Hollowing swept the world. They can live a very normal life eating synthetic flesh and are excited to attend the first music festival since the Hollowing. Things don’t go according to plan and Val ends up eating a boy. The group soon learns that there is a more sinister plan in the works. I especially enjoyed the flashback scenes that gave the reader insight into how the change played out for each of the key characters.
I thought that the mystery in this story was very well done and I loved that the story kept me guessing until the end. I thought that the fact that the main characters were ghouls added a very interesting and original element to the story. I really liked all of the characters and appreciated the LGBTQ+ representation. The fact that there is a bit of romance worked into the story is just icing on the cake.
I would not hesitate to recommend this book to others. I found this book to be incredibly entertaining and almost impossible to put down once I started reading. I hope to read more of this author’s work in the future.
I received a digital review copy of this book from Sourcebooks Fire.
June 19, 2023
The writing was pretty brutal. Unnecessary to know the color and gender preference of every character that says anything in the book..”Mark, a white trans boy from our school, waved and says ‘hey.’” The author tried way too hard to be inclusive and it just came off forced and annoying.
Could have been a cool concept but a lot of the BS overshadowed it.
Could have been a cool concept but a lot of the BS overshadowed it.
February 23, 2023
for a YA book, this was pretty damn good. the queer representation is amazing, and it is an easy, quick read.
the hollowing took place a few years ago, when a virus ripped through the world and turned some human beings into ghouls who must eat human flesh to survive. zoey and her best friend celeste have always had a hint of romance between them, but they work better as friends. when zoey, celeste, and the other girls go to a music festival for the weekend, shit starts to go haywire with the hollowed.
flashbacks at the beginning of each chapter gradually lead you into understanding the events leading up to this gore filled weekend. there are great details here on how the ghouls survive on synthetic meat. if i was younger, i would have been all over this book. this is the kind of queer/trans representation we need.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!
the hollowing took place a few years ago, when a virus ripped through the world and turned some human beings into ghouls who must eat human flesh to survive. zoey and her best friend celeste have always had a hint of romance between them, but they work better as friends. when zoey, celeste, and the other girls go to a music festival for the weekend, shit starts to go haywire with the hollowed.
flashbacks at the beginning of each chapter gradually lead you into understanding the events leading up to this gore filled weekend. there are great details here on how the ghouls survive on synthetic meat. if i was younger, i would have been all over this book. this is the kind of queer/trans representation we need.
thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!
March 15, 2024
Sapphic cannibals in the best way possible!!! Put the saying "I'll eat your heart out" to multiple uses. I was already going into this thinking I was going to like it but I ended up absolutely loving it. Kept me hooked the entire time. Fans of "Sister Maiden Monster" by Lucy A. Snyder will more than likely enjoy "This Delicious Death". The virus, response to it and the solution were set up perfectly for the storyline. A friends to lovers trope. Some thoughts:
*I liked that the majority of the book took place at a music festival. It put an interesting twist to the story.
*The Hollowing and Synflesh were pretty stereotypical for a story like this. But I still found it enjoyable.
*Zoey and Celeste's slow burn friends to lovers was very sweet.
*I felt bad for Cole and his incident during the Hollowing. But besides that he can piss off.
*The fact that people were still scared of the ghouls despite there being Synflesh and also hate against them made it seem more realistic. The Hollowing was a horrific and terrifying time and people (despite society slowly going back to normal) would be scarred from that. It would take a lot of time to not feel as on edge and really accept the new reality. I think a lot of people would have one or both of the same feelings of being either scared or hateful towards those that became ghouls in real life. Which is unfortunate since they didn't ask for it but just another consequence of the virus. Also makes you feel even worse for the ones that became ghouls, they got dealt a shitty card all around.
*Without the epilogue it would have felt unfinished.
*The friend group and mild drama was good.
*I liked that some people lost control and still ate other people. That even though Synflesh is widely available there is still a chance of going feral.
*I appreciated that we got a back story to how the girls found out that they were infected and how their families responded to it.
*Adore the cover.
Would absolutely recommend.
*I liked that the majority of the book took place at a music festival. It put an interesting twist to the story.
*The Hollowing and Synflesh were pretty stereotypical for a story like this. But I still found it enjoyable.
*Zoey and Celeste's slow burn friends to lovers was very sweet.
*I felt bad for Cole and his incident during the Hollowing. But besides that he can piss off.
*The fact that people were still scared of the ghouls despite there being Synflesh and also hate against them made it seem more realistic. The Hollowing was a horrific and terrifying time and people (despite society slowly going back to normal) would be scarred from that. It would take a lot of time to not feel as on edge and really accept the new reality. I think a lot of people would have one or both of the same feelings of being either scared or hateful towards those that became ghouls in real life. Which is unfortunate since they didn't ask for it but just another consequence of the virus. Also makes you feel even worse for the ones that became ghouls, they got dealt a shitty card all around.
*Without the epilogue it would have felt unfinished.
*The friend group and mild drama was good.
*I liked that some people lost control and still ate other people. That even though Synflesh is widely available there is still a chance of going feral.
*I appreciated that we got a back story to how the girls found out that they were infected and how their families responded to it.
*Adore the cover.
Would absolutely recommend.
March 18, 2023
It’s a godforsaken bloodbath!
“This delicious death” is the second book by Kayla Cottingham and it’s a ghoulish ride. It stars four ghouls…… Or characters who were affected by The Hollowing three years ago. A event that caused a small portion of folks to be transformed to flesh eating ghouls. Weird, isn’t that just how kids really are these days? Anyway, rather then just have ghouls running around killing everyone a synthetic flesh food for them to eat was invented for them to eat and life returned to normal. Kinda.
Zoey, Celeste, Valeria, and Jasmine are the four ghouls living in Southern California. They are also good friends and are travelling with each other to a music festival (Coachella it seems like) They are having a great time listening to music and not killing anyone when someone tampers with the food and causes ghouls to go feral. Next thing you know Valeria turns up missing and they find her killing a boy and eating him.
My kind of book!
This book is very well written and has a lot of meat on the bones. No pun intended! It’s written in the form of flashbacks by the main characters and we get inside their lives, how they turned into ghouls, and living in a LGBT world. You really felt for them…. Even when they go on flesh eating killing sprees. It’s a great bloody and violent book! Definitely YA but lots of gore.
Highly recommended!
I really appreciate SOURCEBOOKS Fire for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance for a fair review and it has a publication date of April 25, 2023.
“This delicious death” is the second book by Kayla Cottingham and it’s a ghoulish ride. It stars four ghouls…… Or characters who were affected by The Hollowing three years ago. A event that caused a small portion of folks to be transformed to flesh eating ghouls. Weird, isn’t that just how kids really are these days? Anyway, rather then just have ghouls running around killing everyone a synthetic flesh food for them to eat was invented for them to eat and life returned to normal. Kinda.
Zoey, Celeste, Valeria, and Jasmine are the four ghouls living in Southern California. They are also good friends and are travelling with each other to a music festival (Coachella it seems like) They are having a great time listening to music and not killing anyone when someone tampers with the food and causes ghouls to go feral. Next thing you know Valeria turns up missing and they find her killing a boy and eating him.
My kind of book!
This book is very well written and has a lot of meat on the bones. No pun intended! It’s written in the form of flashbacks by the main characters and we get inside their lives, how they turned into ghouls, and living in a LGBT world. You really felt for them…. Even when they go on flesh eating killing sprees. It’s a great bloody and violent book! Definitely YA but lots of gore.
Highly recommended!
I really appreciate SOURCEBOOKS Fire for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance for a fair review and it has a publication date of April 25, 2023.
November 14, 2022
Well, hello delicious 5 star read!
I loved this! It’s funny, sad, romantic, chompy, suspenseful and thrilling all at once. It’s a cannibal love story for the ages and I’m so here for it!
Our girls are amazing and you just want to be friends with all of them! One parental unit is awesome – some others…not so much.
This is a unique and very clever read and I’m so very glad I got to experience it!
• ARC via Publisher
I loved this! It’s funny, sad, romantic, chompy, suspenseful and thrilling all at once. It’s a cannibal love story for the ages and I’m so here for it!
Our girls are amazing and you just want to be friends with all of them! One parental unit is awesome – some others…not so much.
This is a unique and very clever read and I’m so very glad I got to experience it!
• ARC via Publisher
April 30, 2023
DNF @ 41%
The book doesn’t really lean into the absurdity of normalizing cannibalism, but it doesn’t really commit to the horror genre, either. The premise feels like a Scooby-Do gang stacked with gays and POC, who *also* happen to be cannibals. Which sounds like it SHOULD be wonderful, but this book doesn’t fully commit to the bit. There are all these elements that should make the narrative compelling, but just inserting them into the story does nothing if you don’t use them and build on them. The only background we’re provided on the minor characters in as far as I got are the moments they each realize they’ve become hollow - nothing more and nothing less. The descriptions of these scenes are just short, peppered in blurbs that feel non-committal.
And the main character, Zoey, is a snooze fest. Her only intriguing arc is her gay panic for Celeste but even that feels surface level. There are too many plot points in this book for any one to get the attention is deserves. I knew I had to put down the book when I started skimming and skipping entire conversations. I really wanted to power through and finish it, but apparently not more than I wanted to be done with it.
In the concise words of Randy Jackson, it’s a no for me dawg.
The book doesn’t really lean into the absurdity of normalizing cannibalism, but it doesn’t really commit to the horror genre, either. The premise feels like a Scooby-Do gang stacked with gays and POC, who *also* happen to be cannibals. Which sounds like it SHOULD be wonderful, but this book doesn’t fully commit to the bit. There are all these elements that should make the narrative compelling, but just inserting them into the story does nothing if you don’t use them and build on them. The only background we’re provided on the minor characters in as far as I got are the moments they each realize they’ve become hollow - nothing more and nothing less. The descriptions of these scenes are just short, peppered in blurbs that feel non-committal.
And the main character, Zoey, is a snooze fest. Her only intriguing arc is her gay panic for Celeste but even that feels surface level. There are too many plot points in this book for any one to get the attention is deserves. I knew I had to put down the book when I started skimming and skipping entire conversations. I really wanted to power through and finish it, but apparently not more than I wanted to be done with it.
In the concise words of Randy Jackson, it’s a no for me dawg.
December 16, 2022
"When my parents asked if I wanted a Mini Cooper for graduation, I didn't think ahead to whether or not it would have enough trunk space to accommodate my cooler full of organs."
DNF @ 30%
Horror is coming back to YA and I am so stoked. So I try to get my hands on all the new horror releases coming out. I do have bad reading relationships about books that happen during music festivals. Just ask Lord of the Fly Fest... I decided to give this one a try because how could a book about cannibals be so bad?
I was wrong and should have stuck to my rule about books that take place during a music fest. This was horrible. The characters were so dry that I thought I was in the desert dying of thirst. They were also highly annoying and self-centered. I'm just done.
DNF @ 30%
Horror is coming back to YA and I am so stoked. So I try to get my hands on all the new horror releases coming out. I do have bad reading relationships about books that happen during music festivals. Just ask Lord of the Fly Fest... I decided to give this one a try because how could a book about cannibals be so bad?
I was wrong and should have stuck to my rule about books that take place during a music fest. This was horrible. The characters were so dry that I thought I was in the desert dying of thirst. They were also highly annoying and self-centered. I'm just done.
July 23, 2025
Fuck yes
I'll think of memes to add here tomorrow.
Goodnight.
I'll think of memes to add here tomorrow.
Goodnight.
March 27, 2024
Incredibly bingeable and fun! There are a whole list of TW’s in the beginning, but as an adult there was nothing too aggressive, but this is a YA book. If sci-fi horror pandemic novels are your thing- than this is for you! I loved the idea of being turned into a ghoul and what that entails. It reminded me of a longer form RL Stine horror novel mixed with YA LGBTQIA romance. It was sweet and horrifying - yet all around satisfying. Was a great palate cleanser from all the true crime I’ve been reading lately 😅
November 3, 2024
⛓⛓⛓/⛓⛓⛓⛓⛓
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Things I Did Like. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
☠ the characters (sometimes)
☠ man idk
☠ them being creatures...?
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Things I Did Not Like. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
☠ so many plot holes
☠ some many unlikeable characters
☠ so many questions...
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. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Thoughts Before Reading. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
I thought this would be a cute, fast read, that was a little spooky and fun.
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Thoughts During Reading. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
Okay... I wanted to like this so much. I felt like the representation of sexualities was so cool and made for a story that others could relate to and love. I personally do not identify as anything but a cis female so it was very hard for me to relate with these characters in important ways, (I recognize that this story is not written for me and I completely understand that). I did feel like the writing in this book was okay at best and cheesy at worst. I also understand this to be a group of 17-18 year olds, but I truly felt like they were 14-15 in behavior, (maybe I'm just old). The plot was okay as well, I felt as though the author could have done a lot more with it, it was basically a Covid-19 like plot but with zombie/vampire like creatures instead. I loved the in between tidbits like the 'how to raise my Hollow daughter' types of chapters. I felt like those made the entire more fun and added a unique little look at the characters of the book. I hated the male love interest, I didn't like the boy band, I didn't even really like the Coachella type of music festival plot. I don't know why but that part really felt so corny and I didn't think that it really did much, but knowing myself at 17-18 I knew I would have loved to go to something like that.
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Thoughts After Reading. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
I could see how someone would love this story especially around Halloween time, but honestly, this book was just not for me. And that's ok. I'm giving it 3 stars because I really did like the Hallowing, the creature feature idea, and the idea of what this book could have been.
Recommend: not particularly
feel free to add/comment/dm, always looking for interactive friends!
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Things I Did Like. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
☠ the characters (sometimes)
☠ man idk
☠ them being creatures...?
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Things I Did Not Like. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
☠ so many plot holes
☠ some many unlikeable characters
☠ so many questions...
-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Thoughts Before Reading. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
I thought this would be a cute, fast read, that was a little spooky and fun.
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Thoughts During Reading. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
Okay... I wanted to like this so much. I felt like the representation of sexualities was so cool and made for a story that others could relate to and love. I personally do not identify as anything but a cis female so it was very hard for me to relate with these characters in important ways, (I recognize that this story is not written for me and I completely understand that). I did feel like the writing in this book was okay at best and cheesy at worst. I also understand this to be a group of 17-18 year olds, but I truly felt like they were 14-15 in behavior, (maybe I'm just old). The plot was okay as well, I felt as though the author could have done a lot more with it, it was basically a Covid-19 like plot but with zombie/vampire like creatures instead. I loved the in between tidbits like the 'how to raise my Hollow daughter' types of chapters. I felt like those made the entire more fun and added a unique little look at the characters of the book. I hated the male love interest, I didn't like the boy band, I didn't even really like the Coachella type of music festival plot. I don't know why but that part really felt so corny and I didn't think that it really did much, but knowing myself at 17-18 I knew I would have loved to go to something like that.
. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Thoughts After Reading. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁
I could see how someone would love this story especially around Halloween time, but honestly, this book was just not for me. And that's ok. I'm giving it 3 stars because I really did like the Hallowing, the creature feature idea, and the idea of what this book could have been.
Recommend: not particularly
feel free to add/comment/dm, always looking for interactive friends!
July 25, 2023
Best friends who kill and eat boys together, stay together.
This was such a fun queer YA horror book. The release of a pathogen caused a portion of the world’s population to only be able to survive on human flesh. These people, now known as ghouls, went feral attacking people to try and stay alive. However once a synthetic human flesh substitute was created the ghouls were able to reintegrate into society. Zoey and her best friends Celeste, Valeria, and Jasmine are all ghouls on their way to a big music festival. They’re just there to have a fun time, but when something causes one of Zoey’s friends to go feral again they have to cover up what happened and find a fix before they get blamed.
I had such a great time reading this book. All the characters in the friend group were so fleshed out. I loved getting to see the glimpses of their lives as they first became ghouls and how that impacted their relationships with their families. The prejudices that people in this story have against ghouls is a perfect way to provide social commentary. It really reminded me of the BBC zombie show In the Flesh and how different people reacted to the zombies/Partially Deceased Syndrome sufferers coming back into their town.
This is a fast-paced, gory book that also has a lot of humor and heart. And also a sprinkling of a sapphic romance. Definitely check this one out if it sounds interesting to you.
This was such a fun queer YA horror book. The release of a pathogen caused a portion of the world’s population to only be able to survive on human flesh. These people, now known as ghouls, went feral attacking people to try and stay alive. However once a synthetic human flesh substitute was created the ghouls were able to reintegrate into society. Zoey and her best friends Celeste, Valeria, and Jasmine are all ghouls on their way to a big music festival. They’re just there to have a fun time, but when something causes one of Zoey’s friends to go feral again they have to cover up what happened and find a fix before they get blamed.
I had such a great time reading this book. All the characters in the friend group were so fleshed out. I loved getting to see the glimpses of their lives as they first became ghouls and how that impacted their relationships with their families. The prejudices that people in this story have against ghouls is a perfect way to provide social commentary. It really reminded me of the BBC zombie show In the Flesh and how different people reacted to the zombies/Partially Deceased Syndrome sufferers coming back into their town.
This is a fast-paced, gory book that also has a lot of humor and heart. And also a sprinkling of a sapphic romance. Definitely check this one out if it sounds interesting to you.
nope-dnf
July 6, 2023Just too YA for me. The writing isnt clicking.
The teenage crush angst is really boring annoying etc.
The YA version of "sister maiden monster" lol.
DNF @30% I'm not getting along with the writing style and don't want to force through. Let's make reading fun!
The teenage crush angst is really boring annoying etc.
The YA version of "sister maiden monster" lol.
DNF @30% I'm not getting along with the writing style and don't want to force through. Let's make reading fun!
May 16, 2023
queer best friends to lovers horror with a trans love interest? i think yes
December 17, 2024
3.5 ⭐️’s
May 2, 2023
I received an ARC from the Edelweiss
TW: alcohol, anxiety disorder (mentioned), blood & gore, body horror/body parts, cannibalism, captivity & confinement, deadnaming (implied), death of a sibling, death of a grandparent, fire, drugging, gun violence, intrusive thoughts, parental neglect, pandemic, suicidal ideation, transphobia (mentioned)
3.5
I expected cheesy and gory, and that’s what I got! This book really leans into the campiness of zombies, making this whole thing fun and gay.
I also thought the paranormal sleuthing at a musical festival concept worked really well. This felt very Scooby Doo meets Josie and the Pussycats, and I loved that energy.
Still, there were a few weird moments in it- like randomly bringing up periods just to remind us a character is trans. The love triangle, too, felt weak and like an unfortunately cliche way to handle that aspect of the plot.
TW: alcohol, anxiety disorder (mentioned), blood & gore, body horror/body parts, cannibalism, captivity & confinement, deadnaming (implied), death of a sibling, death of a grandparent, fire, drugging, gun violence, intrusive thoughts, parental neglect, pandemic, suicidal ideation, transphobia (mentioned)
3.5
I expected cheesy and gory, and that’s what I got! This book really leans into the campiness of zombies, making this whole thing fun and gay.
I also thought the paranormal sleuthing at a musical festival concept worked really well. This felt very Scooby Doo meets Josie and the Pussycats, and I loved that energy.
Still, there were a few weird moments in it- like randomly bringing up periods just to remind us a character is trans. The love triangle, too, felt weak and like an unfortunately cliche way to handle that aspect of the plot.
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