The Blonde Dies First

By: Joelle Wellington

Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt

A group of friends fight to choose their own fates when faced with a demonic force that acts according to horror movie rules in this trope-savvy, “script-flipping hair-raiser” (Publishers Weekly) from the acclaimed author of Their Vicious Games.

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?

Wow, Joelle does it again!!

Loved this fast paced, dynamic, YA homage to slasher films. It kept me on the edge of my seat & i didn’t want to put it down. The dynamics between the friend group were well developed & their banter was stellar.

Great read

Loved this book. It was an easy read and I was hooked once I started.

Good book but pretty predictable

I enjoyed the modern commentary but the horror story within was predictable to horror fans.

Very teen writing, very breathy narrator.

Narrator was breathy AF and had some weird NY accent she was trying to do, but wasn’t accomplishing it with any real skill. Story was decent, sorta like the horror film Cabin in the Woods but VERY teen.

Fun, Nostalgic & Clever

I don’t know bout you but being an adult reader in the YA world hits different. This story was just such a fun dive into old school horror elements but with much of today’s quirks. You felt as if you had each one of these kinds of friends growing up. Narration was great and the story had me guessing.