ARC review, book review, young adult

Eat Your Heart Out by Kelly deVos (ARC Review)

Title: Eat Your Heart Out
Author: Kelly deVos
Type: Fiction
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Horror
Publisher: Razorbill (Penguin Random House)
Date published: June 29, 2021

A complimentary digital copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

In the next few hours, one of three things will happen.

1–We’ll be rescued (unlikely)

2–We’ll freeze to death (maybe)

3–We’ll be eaten by thin and athletic zombies (odds: excellent)


Vivian Ellenshaw is fat, but she knows she doesn’t need to lose weight, so she’s none too happy to find herself forced into a weight-loss camp’s van with her ex-best friend, Allie, a meathead jock who can barely drive, and the camp owner’s snobby son. And when they arrive at Camp Featherlite at the start of the worst blizzard in the history of Flagstaff, Arizona, it’s clear that something isn’t right.

Vee barely has a chance to meet the other members of her pod, all who seem as unhappy to be at Featherlite as she does, when a camper goes missing down by the lake. Then she spots something horrifying outside in the snow. Something…that isn’t human. Plus, the camp’s supposed “miracle cure” for obesity just seems fishy, and Vee and her fellow campers know they don’t need to be cured. Of anything.

Even worse, it’s not long before Camp Featherlite’s luxurious bungalows are totally overrun with zombies. What starts out as a mission to unravel the camp’s secrets turns into a desperate fight for survival–and not all of the Featherlite campers will make it out alive.

A satirical blend of horror, body positivity, and humor, Kelly deVos’s witty, biting novel proves that everyone deserves to feel validated, and taking down the evil enterprise determined to dehumanize you is a good place to start.

⤖ My Review ⬻

Where to begin with Eat Your Heart Out? Maybe I’ll start with what I noticed first–the cover. I absolutely loved the pink and also the style used for the illustration. Plus the fierce girl as well as the blood on the cover gave me hope that this book would be full of action and gore.

I’m happy to report that I was not disappointed! There was lots of action and lots of blood. Also, a lot of badassery from said girl on the cover (as well as some of the other characters). I liked the writing in Eat Your Heart Out and how easily it helped me visualize everything. I also really liked how the author wove body positivity in with horror! I haven’t read a book that mixes these particular elements together in quite this manner. And it worked really well too!

Additionally, the character development was enjoyable to read about and was also realistic. I liked that the author told the story in Eat Your Heart Out from numerous perspectives. I will say, however, that the writing style could have differed a little more when changing POVs. I found myself having to go back to the start of a chapter a few times to check which character’s perspective said chapter was using.

And lastly, I wanted to mention that I (unrealistically) went into Eat Your Heart Out expecting a lot less…death. Like I said, unrealistic. This is a zombie book–don’t have any doubt about that. Eat Your Heart Out isn’t only realistic when it comes to character development, but also regarding what happens during a zombie apocalypse. I definitely recommend this one to horror fans!

⤖ About the Author ⬻

Kelly deVos is from Gilbert, Arizona, where she lives with her high school sweetheart husband, amazing teen daughter and superhero dog, Cocoa. She holds a B.A. in Creative Writing from Arizona State University. When not reading or writing, Kelly can typically be found with a mocha in hand, bingeing the latest TV shows and adding to her ever-growing sticker collection. Her debut novel, Fat Girl on a Plane, named one of the “50 Best Summer Reads of All Time” by Reader’s Digest magazine, is available now from HarperCollins. Kelly’s work has been featured in the New York Times as well as on Salon, Vulture and Bustle. 

⤖ Places to Purchase the Book ⬻

⤖ Let's Chat ⬻

Thank you for reading my review! Have you read this book? What did you think? And if you haven’t read it yet, do you plan to? Let me know in the comments!

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