Hi all!

Welcome back! In October, we read The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington for The You’ll Read Too Bookclub! Spoilers ahead!

Quick Reminder: This month we are reading ‘We Used To Live Here’ by Marcus Kliewer.

Today I’m going to give a quick plot summary, plus my overall star/scare-factor ratings. Then I will share the discussion topics and trivia questions. Please include all of your answers and opinions down below. I want to know exactly what you thought. I’ll also leave the answers to the trivia questions at the very bottom of the post. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

THE BLONDE DIES FIRST BY JOELLE WELLINGTON – OCTOBER 2024

 PLOT SUMMARY

Devon is always being left behind by her genius twin sister, Drew. But Devon has one last plan before Drew leaves for college a whole year early – The Best Summer Ever. The chaotic circle of friends soon learn why you don’t ever mess with a Ouija board, if you actually want to survive the Best Summer Ever. It isn’t long before they 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.

OVERALL STAR RATING 

Originally, I gave the book 3.5/5 stars, but thinking about it more/discussing it with my fellow bookclub members, I dropped it to a 2.5. My main issue was the novel didn’t know what it wanted to be. It fluctuated between a teen drama and a horror, but not in a seamless way. It felt like one thing or the other, not a blend of the two. Furthermore, the characters were all so unlikable, including the protagonist. I wasn’t sure why I should be rooting for them. The story had a great concept, but lacked follow through. 

OVERALL SCARE-FACTOR RATING

I gave it a scare-factor rating of 3/5. I definitely found it chilling in parts. I’m always freaked out by entities that can assume the form of people you know. It did that well. Having said that, the demon was very weak and easy to evade, time and time again. I wish there had been a steady stream of kills, like a regular slasher.

DISCUSSION TOPICS 

1.)  Which archetype from the book do you relate to most? 

I’m definitely the horror film nerd archetype. I would be schooling everybody on the stereotypical tropes to look out for and predicting what happens next. 

2.) Did the supernatural slasher angle work for you? Why/why not? 

I liked the idea of it, but the execution was poor. I didn’t understand what the entity was by the end. It was very confusing and well explained. 

3.) Just for fun, what are some of your favourite slasher films?

Halloween from 1978, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre from 1974 and A Nightmare on Elm Street from 1984. 

TRIVIA QUESTIONS 

Easy: What was the name of the film the story was based on? 

Medium: Which friend was the film-nerd archetype?

Hard: Where did Devon and Yaya confess their love? 

I hope you enjoyed the book club discussion. As mentioned above, share all of your thoughts in the comments below! If you have any feedback/suggestions to improve the book club, please let me know. I look forward to talking to you all next month! Thanks for reading!

Peace & Love xoxo

TRIVIA ANSWERS: Easy: ‘Read Your Rites. Medium: Gael. Hard: A dance studio.