The Blonde Dies First
Ratings3
Average rating4
15
Ratings3
Average rating4
A group of friends fight to choose their own fates in this trope-savvy, self-referential young adult thriller from the acclaimed author of Their Vicious Games, about a demonic force that acts according to horror movie rules in the spirit of the Scream movies.
Devon is always being left behind by her genius twin sister, Drew. At this point, it’s a fact of life. But Devon has one last plan before Drew leaves for college a whole year early—The Best Summer Ever. After committing to the bit a little too much, the twins and their chaotic circle of friends learn why you don’t ever mess with a Ouija board if you want to actually survive the Best Summer Ever, and soon find themselves being hunted down by…a demon?
But while there’s no mistaking the creeping, venomous figure is not from around here, their method doesn’t feel very demonic at all. In fact, it’s downright human—going after them in typical slasher movie kill order. And that means Devon, the blonde, is up first and her decade-long crush, Yaya, is the Final Girl who must kill or be killed to end the cycle.
Devon has never liked playing by anyone else’s rules though, not even a demon’s, and the longer this goes on, the more she feels Drew and Yaya slipping away from her even as she tries to help them all survive. Can they use their horror movie knowledge to flip the script and become the hunters instead of the hunted? Or will their best summer ever be their last?
Reviews with the most likes.
Thank you so much to @simonteen for the arc! I was over the moon when I got it in the mail!!!!
With a debut like Their vicious games, the blonde dies first set some high expectations and I felt like it completely knocked it out the park for me!
In the beginning it was a bit slow, and me being me I kept getting side tracked BUT once things started to hit the fan I was locked in.
Now Ms Wellington knows how to make a girl feel scared! My imagination is a bit overactive, and she was so detailed with the kills and the way she was describing that monster/demon I legitimately was shaking in my boots and did sleep with my lights on (I'm also just a scaredy cat in general and VERY easily spooked).
The only thing I wanted more of was to get to know more about the rest of the group. Because I would have loved to get to know Malachi, Gael, and Leila on the same level that we got to know Yaya, Drew and Devon. Now the character development between Devon and Drew LOVED that. I loved that we saw there turmoil just bubble over, and become uncontainable. The reconciliation of sisterhood , and the battle they fought between themselves outside of fighting for their lives was just so well done I wish we could have seen more with the others.
Since this was an ARC I'm not going to blab too too much, but this has definitely solidified that I will read anything Joelle Wellington puts out!
