Kiss Slay Replay by Rachel Harrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
🖤❤️💙🖤❤️💙🖤❤️💙🖤
I feel seen. Rachel Harrison, I love you. You have no idea what your books mean to me.
Thank you for writing with honesty and intention, whilst also bringing the horror and the humor.
Going into this novel, I knew nothing about it. I hadn’t read the synopsis, and apparently hadn’t even looked at the cover that closely. There’s a hint on the cover, a line about what kind of novel this is. I had no clue.
I pick up all Rachel Harrison’s books. It doesn’t really matter to me what they’re about. I’m going to read them regardless. As I started getting into it, as it became clear to me what kind of story it was going to be, I was elated, as it centers around a trope I adore.
The story follow Willa, who has recently broke off her engagement. In the wake of her decision, she’s been left unmoored. Her life doesn’t look how she expected it to look. She’s questioning her choices, and if it’s too late?
Her friends have all been supportive, but it’s been a minute and she worries they’re growing weary of her spiral. With all of this going on, it’s time to attend one of her best friend’s weddings, and her ex will be there. It’ll be their first time seeing each other, and Willa is sick with anxiety.
She can’t ditch out on her besties though, no matter how hard it’s going to be. They’ve been through so much together and she’d never forgive herself. She needs to suck it up, buttercup, and try to make the best of it.
Once at the gorgeous destination wedding location, on a lake in upstate New York, things don’t seem quite so bad. She’s reunited with her besties and has even met Danny, a handsome friend of the groom. Things are looking up.
But after Willa and Danny sneak away for a little private time, they discover a masked killer stalking the reception hall. From there the night quickly devolves into the nightmare Willa always imagined it was going to be.
That’s all you’re getting out of me in regards to this story. From this point on, it’s best if you just sit back and let Rachel Harrison do her thing. I was delighted, frustrated, concerned, moved, and obssessed by Willa’s journey. Oh my lands, does our girl go through it.
I love Harrison’s main characters; all of her characters, really, but the MCs always stick out to me as being highly-relatable. None of them are perfect. They’re just all out there trying to do their best, and trying to survive a world that often doesn’t deliver to them in a way they thought it would.
I particularly like characters like Willa, that have gone through recent break-ups, or disappointments of that kind. I could see my past self in so many of the things Willa was thinking and trying to process.
I loved that Willa’s character goes through so much though, because her journey overall was so satisfying. She learned and she applied what she learned to her circumstances. She didn’t give up, even in the face of seemingly unbeatable odds, and I loved that. What a great example it sets.
I know some Readers might not enjoy Willa as much as I did. Maybe if you haven’t been through similar things, it could hit differently, I don’t know because that’s not the place I’m coming at this from. I can only speak to my own personal experience with this book, and I thought it was fantastic.
Compelling, heartwarming and oozing with Horror goodness in a cozy, relatable way.
Thank you to the publisher, Berkley, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Clearly, Rachel Harrison is one of my favorite authors and I will continue to anxiously-anticipate every book she writes!