Tastes like Candy by Jessica Lacy

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✦ BLURB ✦

Everyone at Pritchett High wants an invitation to the Senior Scavenge, and this year, Violet Warren and her friends are the lucky ones. Eight girls will break into the Poison Apple Carnival for a nighttime scavenger hunt - a school tradition to welcome the best and brightest into their senior year.

But warm welcomes turn into gory goodbyes as the scavenger hunters become the hunted. One by one, Violet's friends are viciously murdered by a mysterious masked figure running loose through the carnival grounds. As she watches her friends die in a series of increasingly bizarre attacks, she must fight to survive while trying to uncover the killer's sinister motive.

Can Violet survive this roller coaster ride from hell?

Or will her head end up on a cotton candy pike?

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PRE-READING THOUGHTS
High school hierarchies, a scavenger hunt at a creepy carnival, and a masked killer? I expected a teen slasher with sharp humor, maybe a little social commentary mixed with the blood.

POST-READING
✨ As I thought… witty dialogue, fast pacing, and gruesome deaths so absurd they’re darkly hilarious. The carnage and teen drama hit all the notes I hoped for.
✨ It surprised me by… juggling a huge cast of characters and relationships while keeping the story moving at breakneck speed—before I knew it, I was at the climax and reeling from both horror and hilarity.

MUSIC PAIRING
🎵 Featured Song: “Bloody Mary” by Lady Gaga — theatrical, creepy, and campy, perfect for a carnivalesque bloodbath
🎶 Vibe Album: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys by My Chemical Romance — over-the-top, chaotic energy that matches the teen horror spectacle

VIBE CHECK
🎨 Colour Palette: bubblegum pink, deep red, black-striped tents
🎼 Soundtrack: circus music twisted through a horror filter
🍂 Season: late summer, just before school starts
😈 Mood: gleefully murderous
🍬 Scent: cotton candy, popcorn, and something metallic

TAROT PULL
🎪 The Fool (Moon Dust Tarot) — dive headfirst into chaos; fun, folly, and danger go hand in hand.
The Fool captures reckless adventure and the thrill of jumping in without looking. It mirrors Violet and her friends’ wild scavenger hunt, the darkly comedic carnage, and the fast-paced chaos of teen drama colliding with slasher horror. The card reminds us that danger and delight are often inseparable, and sometimes the most memorable rides come from embracing the madness.

FOR FANS OF
📚 One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus
📺 Scream Queens (TV series)

🃏 The deck had opinions: [Page of Cups] — [Blythe, the villian, is a young woman who can't control her emotions; she allows them to get the better of her and drive her to horrific deeds]

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